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Chapter I:
The Champagnat Movement (§.1-6)1. Its source and inspiration.
The Holy Spirit is stirring up lay people in the Church today, sparking a new response to their vocation as followers of Jesus and sharers in His mission of evangelising the world.
As a result, numbers of people closely associated with the Marist Brothers around the world asked the Brothers to help them make their personal, daily commitment more profound and concrete.
They want to share more fully in the spirituality and sense of mission which the Brothers have inherited from their founder, Blessed Marcellin Champagnat.
2. About the founder, Blessed Marcellin Champagnat....
Marcellin Champagnat was one of a group of seminarians who banded together in 1816 to found the Society of Mary.
Their aim was to help in the renewal of the mission of Jesus and His Church, following the French Revolution.
Marcellin was a man blessed with a powerful sense of God's love for him, of being personally loved by Jesus and Mary.
He was also very open to people and their needs.
These two qualities led him, early on in his ministry in the village of La Valla, to realise the crying need for religious teaching among all the poor people there, especially the young.
And Marcellin Champagnat was a very practical man.
When he had the experience of instructing a dying boy who knew nothing about God, he determined to find a way of teaching children, on a regular basis, about God and His love for them.
He often said, "Every time I see a child,
I long to teach him his catechism,
and help him know how much Jesus Christ loves him. "
3. About the Marist Brothers...
Inspired by his ideal, Father Champagnat founded, on January 2, 1817, the lay institute of the Little Brothers of Mary, dedicated to the Christian education of young people, especially those most in need.
He saw his Institute as a branch of the Society of Mary.
In 1863, the Holy See approved the new congregation as an autonomous institute of pontifical right. While respecting the original name, it gave the institute the title of Marist Brothers of the Schools (Fratres Maristae a Scholis or F.M.S.)
4. The Champagnat Movement: its birth and foundation
In 1985, the Institute's General Chapter launched the lay movement called:
The Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family; describing it in Article 164.4 of the Marist Brothers' Constitutions as follows:
This Movement is "an extension of the Marist Brothers' Institute. It is a movement for people attracted to the spirituality of Father Marcellin Champagnat.
In this Movement, affiliated members, young people, parents, helpers, former students, and friends, deepen within themselves the spirit of our founder; so that they can live it and let it shine forth.
The Institute animates and co-ordinates the activities of this Movement by setting up appropriate structures. "
5. Basic structure of the Movement: Small Groups
Members unite in small groups to share and nourish their common ideals.
The internal life of each Champagnat Group is the responsibility of the members themselves.
The Superior General of the Institute has the final responsibility for ensuring that the whole Movement remains faithful to the spirit and tradition of Father Champagnat.
6. How to join the Movement...
The Movement is open to any individual Christian who feels called to commit himself or herself to a closer following of Jesus, according to the spirituality of Blessed Marcellin Champagnat.
To become a member of the Movement, a person makes a request to be admitted into one of the Groups.
After a time of preparation, he or she is then accepted as a fully active member.