Vince Andiorio is a teacher at Marist High School. We first met him when my sons Dan and Tom went to school there and he is still teaching there as granddaughters Caitlin and Kelly attend the now coed school. Vince is also a parishioner at my parish, St Julie Billiart. The following article by Vince appeared in the Spring, 2008 issue of Today's Marist Brother. Thanks go to Brother Hank Hammer, FMS a member of the editorial staff of that publication and also a long standing staff member at Marist HS.  

LOOKING BACK AT ONE HEART ONE MISSION: Where do we go from here

Vince Andiorio (left) and Hank Hammer attended the recent “One Heart One Mission” International Mission Assembly in Mendes, Brazil.  Here are some of Vince’s thoughts on the experience and his ideas on the implications of this assembly for all Marists throughout the world.

 

First Impressions

Arriving in Rio

After a three-hour flight from Chicago to Miami, a mad rush to make our connecting flight to Brazil, another eight hours of flying time to Rio … and then to realize that we had made it to Rio but our luggage had not, cranky would be a kindly expression of how I was feeling.  Following a rather frustrating interview at the airline’s “courtesy desk,” I asked Hank as we were leaving the baggage area, “Do we know who’s meeting us?” 

I found out around the next corner, when we saw a small crowd of teenagers in “Marista” t-shirts in front of a very large sign with the “One Heart, One Mission” logo.  When we identified ourselves, two of the students welcomed us in remarkably good and almost accent-free English.  While we waited for several other arrivals and the bus that would take us to Mendes, they brought us to a snack bar, helped us order lunch, showed us the sites we could see from the airport windows, and carried on a very friendly conversation.  I began to feel reassured and relaxed and excitement and curiosity began to replace the fatigue.

The first hour of our bus ride from the airport took us past literally mile after mile of Rio’s favelas (we’d call them shanty-towns or “cardboard cities.”)   Rio de Janeiro is a contrast of glitz and poverty, and crime is rampant.  The second hour of the trip felt almost vertical as our bus wound its way up the mountains past village after village that looked only slightly better than the favelas.   I found myself engaged in a conversation with a layman and a Brother from Sri Lanka and, mercifully, the trip passed rather quickly.

Mendes

Mendes is a somewhat shabby little village stuck on the side of a mountain.  The buildings were mostly faded stucco (many with satellite dishes!) and there were little shops, bars, and “lanchonettes” throughout.  Farther up the mountain we finally reached “Fazenda São José das Paineiras,” the Brazilian Brothers’ training house-turned-hotel.  This sprawling facility on three different levels is surrounded by mountains.  The grounds were immaculate and carefully groomed and the profusion of flowering bushes and trees reminded me that we were indeed in the tropics. 

Hospitality

Another welcoming committee met our bus, showed us to our rooms and invited us to the “English-speakers orientation” to begin in fifteen minutes.

In contrast to the beauty of the grounds, the bedrooms were rather spartan: the mattresses a whopping three-inches thick, simple wooden furniture, only cold water coming from the taps.  The shower heads were actually electric water heaters, though, and I was grateful for the hot water though a bit unnerved by what looked like bare wires connecting them. 

Erica Pegorer from Australia, a member of the planning committee, provided our orientation to the property and the general routine for the next few days.  At supper we met those who had already arrived and experienced our first taste of the excellent food which we would enjoy throughout our stay. 

The Participants

Just how many continents is that?

People kept talking about the fact there were representatives there from five continents and I kept counting: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia …that was six already and I wasn’t quite sure where to include Sri Lanka, or Papua New Guinea, or even New Zealand.  I soon realized “the Americas” were considered one continent, and I should have said “Oceania” instead of Australia.  I got into more trouble trying to determine which country belonged to which province!

Just how many languages are we speaking?

The four official languages of the assembly were Portuguese, Spanish, French and English, but there were many folks there for whom none of those was their first language.  There was a rather effective spontaneous translation system for the official sessions, but at meals, during social times, and even as Mass and prayer, you never knew what you were going to hear.  This was often the source of good humor … though occasionally maddening.  

Energy, enthusiasm and warmth

The sum of all those variations could have been real culture shock, but I found just the opposite.  We were from many countries, with many languages, doing many different types of work and living greatly diverse lifestyles … but there was a link that was almost palpable. 

Have you ever met a distant relative and felt an immediate sense of recognition in a facial feature, or an idiosyncrasy or perhaps a turn of phrase?  That was what I felt here.  We were all “Marist.” and, while we were to work hard to define exactly what that meant in today’s world, our family name and our common heritage and for sure our early history shaped who we are today, and those realities were operative even before we were really conscious of it.  The Marist world is very broad, very much alive, and very energetic.

The Breadth of the Marist World

I’m going to share here just a few of the many stories I heard regarding the work of Marists throughout the world.  While they are just a small part of the work currently being done, they were the endeavors that stand out in my own memory.

Welcome centers

In many countries Marist people have developed centers to provide young people with whatever they need to survive.  The venue varies from area to area – from alternative schools to situations in which the young people and Marist adults are actually living together.  So many young people in the world are receiving from our Institute everything that a parent would provide: food, shelter, medical care, clothing, education, guidance, etc., etc.  In Rio we visited a school for rather privileged young people (in an incredibly beautiful and well-appointed facility) which also operates within its walls a welcome center for children from the favelas blocks away.

Benedict’s school within a school

Benedict To’oming, a married licensed electrician with seven sons of his own, runs a vocational school in conjunction with the traditional school in Papua New Guinea.  This program was developed in response to the needs of children who had been forced to serve as child soldiers during that country’s recent civil war.  For four years their lives had been interrupted, education suspended, some orphaned.  All, as expected, had significant psychological problems.   Benedict’s school gives essential job skills to those who must support themselves and/or their siblings.  Their first projects: the dorm they live in, the school they learn in and a chapel.  Several have already graduated to “real world” jobs.

$140 a month

Michel Beaulac from Quebec was sitting at table with a bunch of young African Brothers when they told him the story of a young girl in one of their schools who, several years ago, had lost her parents and thus her ability to pay tuition … the equivalent of a whopping $140 a month.  They discovered during that meal that Michel had been the anonymous benefactor who had written a check to cover a full year’s tuition.  Before they rose from the table, he had developed a plan to fund the education of ten children per year.  Michel is a financial adviser and planner who has worked for years with the Brothers in Canada.

Reaffirmation of Champagnat’s Vision

The title of the Assembly, “One Heart, One Mission,” offered us a challenge and defined our work.  As Marist, Brothers and laypeople, we were to respond to two essential queries: 

• Do we live, think, act, work with one heart, true to Champagnat’s mandates?

• What is the essence of our mission, and, are we one in mission?

Openness to the Spirit

Perhaps the biggest challenge involved in this process was a personal one, as each of us was asked to allow the Spirit to work within us. On the outset, this was a scary process, but it became clear, as one day moved into another, that we were being reaffirmed in what was uniquely ours yet challenged to become energetic, bold and even risk-taking in living out our Marist heritage. 

Journey with the young, especially the neediest

For sure, our focus on youth emerged as a theme that seemed stronger than ever.  Up against the reality that, even in our so-called civilized world, children and young people are being neglected, used and abused, poorly educated and/or indoctrinated into materialistic and God-less cultures, the needs of the young seem ever more poignant.  Even in our own country, while we continue to struggle to engender a Catholic Christian spirit in our young people, we cannot neglect those who lack even the most basic of human needs…a re-affirmation of what we are doing and a challenge to look further!

To make Jesus known and loved

The most essential task of evangelization, to make Jesus known and loved, emerged as the critical persistent theme of all that we hope to do.  Again, through the work of the assembly, we offered ourselves that basic challenge: in whatever we do, do those with  whom we work  meet Jesus and learn to love Him?

Who is Marist?

To me, the most intriguing work of the assembly consisted of the threads of questions about our own identity woven throughout our discussions, both formal and informal.  We struggled to find a language that captured the current and emerging relationship between Brothers and the laypeople who share their life and their mission. 

We know that there are many laypeople who see themselves as simply employees of the Brothers’ institutions: they do their work, collect their check, and go home.  On the other end of the continuum are those who have been so affected by Champagnat’s example and charism that they see themselves as Marist.  Diverse in lifestyle, still their identity, their spirituality, their way of engaging others and their lifework is genuinely Marist.

What shall we call ourselves?

Language both expresses and forms the nature of a community.  We struggled to find terminology that could express the identity of laypeople who would call themselves Marist.  Associates, colleagues, collaborators – those terms seemed weak.  Lay Marists?  That, too, seemed to be lacking.  Champagnat brothers and sisters?  Confusing.  No satisfactory terminology has yet surfaced, yet the challenge remains to envision and develop an Institute in which both consecrated religious and committed laypeople share all aspects of what it means to be Marist. 

Where Do We Go from Here?

Dare we dream?

Many questions remain:

What form will our work take in the coming years?  Will some endeavors need to be abandoned to focus on new objectives?

Will new forms of lifestyle emerge to meet the needs of the times?

What is the relationship between work and lifestyle, especially with regard to Marist laity? 

Do we envision a future in which laity fully share in responsibility and therefore in authority, use of resources, etc.?

What about formation for Brothers and for laypeople?  What is needed?  Can it be done together?

Risk-takers

Champagnat was a genius in reading the needs of his time and bold in doing what needed to be done to address those needs.  What about the Marist Institute today?  What about each of us who calls himself or herself Marist?  Can we, will we, be risk-takers in our goal of following the movement of the Spirit?

What will become of One Heart, One Mission?

These are the memories, thoughts and questions that remained with me as I hit ground at O’Hare Field after two weeks away.   They bother me still, even as I struggle to catch up and to focus on the people and work that are part of my life.  For me, it was an exciting, intriguing, and challenging experience and I am still thrilled by the honor given me in asking me to go.  I feel strongly that the Marist world is alive and well and I look forward to an exhilarating future as the work of the Mendes assembly filters its way into our provinces and local communities.

If you haven’t done so already, I strongly suggest that you log onto www.champagnat.org, find the section related to “Marist International Mission Assembly,” and read at least the Final Document.  You’ll also find a day-by-day narration of the work of the Assembly and hundreds of pictures.

 

The Marist people have been in our lives since 1970 and I count several of them as those who have touched my life and left me better for it. I am impressed by their dedication to God and to the education of children and young people. They are truly an example of Ordinary people doing Extraordinary things.

Grandpa Don Plefka

A Witness to Life Ordinary People - Extraordinary Actions Many people, ordinary in every way, do extraordinary things. Very often, they themselves do not feel that their actions are anything but what is expected of them by God. They are an example to all of us, a witness to a way of life that is reachable to the rest of us ordinary people. These pages are their stories.
ONE HEART ONE MISSION Vince Andiorio 05/12/2008
The World of Grandpa Don www.plefka.net
Free JavaScripts provided by The JavaScript Source