Our history as a Network began in 2019, when the Secretariat for Education and Evangelisation organised a listening process with various experts to get to know the multiple realities that the Marist world presents in terms of youth evangelisation. In 2021 and 2022, following this listening and networking, a global team was formed to systematise the data obtained from the local and provincial Marist realities and to offer an inspiring and guiding proposal for those working in the evangelisation of young people, according to the document In the Footsteps of Champagnat: Marist Educational Mission (nº 71)[1].
An itinerary of celebration was then drawn up to prepare for the launching of the Marist Youth Global Network, with local, provincial and regional meetings, culminating in July 2023, during the Marist Youth Festival.
Made up of representatives from the regions, the purpose of the Network is to serve the evangelisation of children, adolescents and young people, especially the poorest, by animating the programmes, activities and strategies of Marist Youth Ministry among the regions of the Institute. Following the appointment of the General Government, its specific objectives for the next three years will be:
– To create spaces for children, adolescents and young people to connect, collaborate and dialogue about their realities as a Global Family, generating links and deepening their Marist identity.
– To promote the experience of spirituality, with Jesus as an example, favouring the maturing of faith and the construction of the life project of our children, adolescents and young people.
– Encourage practices of listening, participation and accompaniment of children, adolescents and young people, making our spaces safe and attentive to their needs, favouring their protagonism.
– Offer training opportunities for animators to share, learn and adopt ideas and practices relevant to the needs of the children, adolescents and young people they serve.
– Support and accompany the needs of the MYM in each region, creating connections with other networks of the Institute.
Among the next actions of the Network is the Jubilee of Youth in July 2025. For this celebration of the Church, a celebratory itinerary will be sent out with proposals for local, provincial and regional meetings, inspiring all Marist Units to become pilgrims of hope, as proposed by Pope Francis[2]. For those in Rome between 28 July and 3 August, a Marist Youth Meeting will be organised at the General House. More information will be sent to the Provinces in the near future.
The Network does not build itself. It relies on the minds, hands and hearts of many Champagnat Marists who believe in the vocation of young people. It is hoped that it will nurture the feeling of a Global Family, in which each reality, in its own way, points and walks towards the purpose of the Marist mission: To make Jesus Christ known and loved.
[1] INSTITUTE OF THE MARIST BROTHERS. In the Footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat: Marist Educational Mission. Rome: Casa Generalizia dei Fratelli Maristi delle Scuole Fratelli Maristi, 2023.
[2] FRANCISCO, Pope. Spes non confundit – Bull proclaiming the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025. Vatican City, 9 May 2024. n. 1.
Marist Youth Global Network