Suggested questions for reflection and discussion

1.       Disciples of Marcellin Champagnat

1.             What moment from Marcellin’s life has a special significance for you?

2.             What aspects of his character do you find attractive?

3.             What aspects of his spirituality appeal to you?

4.             What elements of Marcellin’s story have you found that speak to the hearts of young people?

5.             It is sometimes said that we also live in a time of ‘crisis’. What challenges do you find that you have in common with those that Marcellin faced?

2.       Brothers and Laypeople, together in mission, in the Church and in the world

1.             What points made in this Chapter strike you?

2.             What has contributed in a significant way to your convictions about ours being ‘a shared mission’?

3.             In what way do you personally identify with Marcellin’s charism?

4.             What personal challenges do you find in the ideal and practice of ‘a shared mission’?

5.             In what ways is your community, be it in a school or other setting, being called to grow towards a greater experience of ‘shared mission’?

3.       Among the young, especially the most neglected

1.         What is new for you in this chapter/

2.         What are the most pressing issues facing young people in your society?
(Cf. articles 57-59 but add others to be specific to your society)

3.         What historical developments in your society and Church give you hope?

4.         Describe a situation confronting young people ( a young person) which evokes your compassion or outrage.

5.         In your society, who are the young people who are the most excluded, those whose material poverty leads them to be poor in other ways (cf. art. 55)?

6.         How could we be more "daring and decisive" in reaching out to such young people?

4.          We are sowers of the Good News

1.         "A good Christian and a virtuous citizen". How would you express this central phrase of Champagnat in contemporary words?

1.         How would you explain your mission (your vision of your fundamental aim as an educator)in your own terms?

1.         Art. 86 speaks of the diversity of our religious settings. How would you describe your own setting and what are the implications of this for your mission of evangelisation?

1.         In your place of work, what have you found to be the greatest challenges to evangelising young people?

1.         What points made in the Chapter challenge you the most personally?

1.         "The young people also inspire and evangelise us." Describe some way in which you have experienced this.

5.       With a distinctive Marist style

1.         "To bring up children properly, we must love them, and love them all equally". This is sometimes called the ‘Golden Rule’ of Marist education. What does it mean to you?

2. What do you find distinctive about working in a Marist work?

3. Take each of the characteristics in turn:

a.          what points do you want to underline for yourself?

b.         what are some concrete examples (structures, attitudes, practices) of where you see this characteristic in evidence where you work?

c.          what are some concrete ways in which you are being challenged to grow, either personally or as a group, in living this characteristic more fully?

6.          In schools

1.         What ideas in the Chapter are new or fresh for you?

2.         How would you describe the social profile of your school?

3.         What challenges have you found in developing programmes, content, and methods for all the students, specifically those with greater difficulties (articles 132, 133, 159)?

4.         "As a Catholic school, it is a community setting in which faith, hope and love are lived and communicated, and in which students are progressively initiated into their life-long challenge of harmonising faith, culture and life." (Art. 126) What is going well for you in the regard? What difficulties are you having?

5.         How do you go about educating in and for solidarity (articles 152 - 154)?
(Do the "least favoured" feel at ease in your school?)

6.         "Transforming our schools": what challenges or possibilities do your see for your school in relation to the areas spoken of in articles 158 - 162?

7.          In other pastoral and social ministries

1.         "The compelling needs and aspirations of today’s young people, especially those who are most deprived or disturbed": how would you describe the needs and aspirations of the group of young people to whom you are ministering?

2.         For each of the 4 broad areas described as ways of entering into the world of youth other than in school settings:

a.          what ideas mentioned strike you most forcefully?

b.         how successful are you in being able to address the whole person of the youth with whom you are working (Cf. Article 170)?

3.         What encourages you most / discourages you most in your ministry?

4.         What are your hopes for the future of your ministry?