August 23, 2007
The Feast of Saint Rose of Lima

Dear Friends,

What is the goal of every Marianist Community????

          This questions has a simple two word answer – “TO BUILD.”

          What do we build?  We build Community.

First we build community through prayer. 

Each day as Marianists we come together to build community through prayer.  We gather three times a day to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, (the prayer of the Church) in the morning, evening and night.  We also gather for the daily celebration of the Eucharist and for meditation and times of Eucharist Adoration– all done as sons of Mary and brothers of Jesus.  As religious Brothers we dedicate ourselves to Mary each day and ask her to be with us as we grow in faith and serve the church in mission.

Second we build community through common living. 

Like the early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles we come together and share all we have– our vow of poverty.  In a world of having– none of us owns anything.  We live by the work of our hands, do our own cooking and have a strong sense that the working of a religious community depends equally on all.  Like Mary, we dedicate ourselves body and soul to God – our vow of chastity.  Like Mary, we listen to the words of God and remember the words of Jesus, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it – our vow of obedience.  In addition all Marianists take a fourth vow – the vow of stability.  Here we commit ourselves to persevere in Mary’s society and promise to make Mary, known, loved and served.

We build community through prayer and common living.  The extension of this community building or the grace of this community building is seen in our mission of Catholic, Marianist Education at Chaminade, Kellenberg Memorial and Saint Martin de Porres Marianist School.  In addition this energy continues through our retreat work at Meribah, Emmanuel and Founder’s Hollow and in other “mission settings” like Project MAST in the Solomon Islands.

Our goal is to create a Christ-centered atmosphere in each school where we educate both the mind and the heart.