Charismic culture ? Encountering the Gospel in Marist schools

CAHIERS MARISTES N° 17 SOMMAIRE - Michael Green, fms, Charismic culture - Encountering the Gospel in
Marist schools - Paul Sester, fms, M. Champagnat et ses Frères - André Lanfrey, fms, Sur la Société de Marie comme congrégation secrète - Paul Sester, fms, Frère François, Retraite de 1840 - Bibliographie Notice sur les auteurs les plus cités par Fr. François - Documents Fr. François, Extraits du Carnet 10 (suite)
Charismic culture - Encountering the Gospel in Marist schools 4
Introduction 4
"Charismic culture" 4
Overview of the study 5
A snapshot of the culture of the Australian Marist high school 5
Indicators of an authentically Marist charism 8
Areas of possible concern 9
Conclusion: a charismic culture in Marist schools 10
M. CHAMPAGNAT et ses FRERES 12
SUR LA SOCIETE DE MARIE COMME CONGREGATION SECRETE 24
LES TEMOIGNAGES DE M. FAILLON 24
PRECISIONS SUR M. FAILLON 25
PRECISIONS SUR M. LIBERMANN (1802-1852) 26
LA LETTRE DE FAILLON A LA LUMIERE DE CES PRECISIONS 26
LE SECRET 27
DANS QUELLE MESURE FAILLON EST-IL INFORME ? 27
LES SOURCES MARISTES ET FAILLON S'EPAULENT MUTUELLEMENT 28
LES CONTACTS ENTRE MARISTES ANCIENS ET NOUVEAUX AVANT 1827 28
DES LIENS DISTENDUS ENTRE SOCIETE DU SEMINAIRE ET SOCIETE SECRETE ? 29
APRES 1827, CONSTITUTION D'UN « NOYAU » AUTONOME A VALBENOITE 30
LA SOCIETE SECRETE APRES 1829 31
L'APPORT DES MARISTES DES ANNEES 1825-35 A LA S.M. DE 1836 32
CONCLUSION 32
ANNEXE I : Séminaristes de St Irénée impliqués dans la Société de Marie 35
ANNEXE II : Les aspirants maristes des années 1816-25 37
Frère François, RETRAITE 1840 39
BIBLIOGRAPHIE : Notice sur les auteurs le plus cités par Fr. François. 49
?uvres : Vie de Saint Louis-de-Gonzague, Rome 1606 52 Charismic culture - Encountering the Gospel in Marist schools
Michael Green, FMS Br Michael Green is currently a member of the Provincial Council of the
Province of Sydney where he has full-time responsibility for the
supervision and animation of the ministries of the Province. In this
article he reports on his doctoral research which studied the contemporary
expression of the Marist charism in the culture of Marist high schools in
Australia.
Introduction
They were all assembled in one of the classrooms. The Brothers
handed out paper, pens and ink for a test, but scarcely had they received
their sheets of paper than the boys covered them with all kinds of
scribbling, then overturned the inkwells, broke their pens and began to
dance on the trestle tables, several of which were overturned.[1] So the pen of Brother Ludovic Laboureyras recorded the inauspicious
beginning of Marist education in Australia on 8th April 1872. Garbed in
their unusual French religious costume, four Marist Brothers attempted,
without immediate success, to establish order among 139 curious and lively
boys crowded into a makeshift schoolroom. The small gallery of clerics and
other distinguished visitors who witnessed the scene wondered if the years
of negotiation and anticipation around the Brothers' arrival had been worth
their effort. The place was The Rocks, a poor, port-side quarter of inner
Sydney; the pupils were neophytes to the culture that their European
religious masters would have them enter. Not used to the expectations of a
classroom teacher, nor socialised into the ways of a school, and largely
unpractised in either the discipline or the sensibilities of their Catholic
faith, the young members of this school were unlikely characters to open
the story of Australian Marist education. It is a story that has unfolded richly in the following 128 years, and
today continues to be written in more than fifty schools across the
country. What would be the best words to capture the essence of these
contemporary Australian Marist schools? Would the words be the same from
school to school? How would today's Marists - men and women, lay and
religious - describe themselves and the places where they carry on the
story that had its beginning at old St Patrick's School? What Marist
education has become, and the challenges with which it is currently
presented, formed the context of this study.[2] Its subject was the
culture that has evolved in Marist schools, and the charismic roots of that
culture. The study explored the lived experience of the present-day
members of the schools and the extent to which they share a distinctive
cultural expression. It looked at the ways in which the culture is a vital
one, identified the points of cultural diffusion, and considered the degree
to which it could be described as authentically Marist.
"Charismic culture" The study proposed the concept of "charismic culture" as a way of bringing
together the theological concept of "charism" with the sociological
metaphor of "organisational culture". Father Claude Maréchal, the present
Assumptionist Superior General, has called charisms "the great gospel
ideas" that have given structure, being and action to the gospel and have
proven over centuries to be fruitful.[3] They have shown themselves to be
accessible, inspirational and effective ways of promoting the reign of God,
and they continue to do so as people are graced to renew, re-interpret and
re-vitalise them. They have given people a story to enter, a language to
speak, a group to which to belong, a way to pray, a work to undertake, and
a face of God to see. In this sense a charism is never a-historical or a-cultural. A natural,
symbiotic relationship can develop between a charism and the culture of a
group or institution, and so a spiritual tradition is introduced into the
life of the Church. It becomes a way of giving the reign of God a
"personality", of incarnating it. Indeed, as an authentic expression of
the gospel, a charism is essentially incarnational, as it allows God to
"pitch his tent in our midst" (John 1:14). In Champagnat, and in the
living tradition to which he gave birth, we have such an incarnation of the
gospel. The charism shared by a particular community acquires, over time, a
cultural expression, a corporate personality. If this cultural expression
is faithful to its founding charism and to the gospel, if it remains vital
and relevant for its present-day followers and circumstances, and if it has
all the usually accepted elements of a strong and functional organisational
culture, then the school could be said to have a charismic culture. It
would be a place where the Gospel can be incarnated. The purpose of this
study was to explore the nature and authenticity of a charismic culture in
Australian Marist schools.
Overview of the study The approach of the study was entirely qualitative, employing a grounded
theory methodology to give some definition to the lived experience of the
culture of a selection of Marist schools, and to determine the extent to
which there was a set of distinctive cultural features common among the
schools. Data were accessed through semi-structured interviews, and
presented and analysed in narrative text. A staged research strategy
included a representative sample of eighty people from five schools in its
initial phase, with further extended interviews held with ten key
informants from outside these schools. There were several major conclusions that were drawn from the data. A
strong, explicit and consistently expressed culture was shared among Marist
schools and among those who led, worked and studied in them. Although the
schools were not culturally identical, they did have in common core
cultural values to which they gave articulation and expression in very
similar ways. The priorities of their educational endeavour, their ways
of relating, their styles of pastoral care and their approaches to young
people, their corporate self-perceptions, their purposes, and the
environments they created were consciously shaped by what they understood
as the "Marist" or "Champagnat" charism. None of them was a pristine
expression of the core Marist values on which it was centred, and each
school varied to some degree in the ways it expressed its ideals. There
were, also, members of each school who were disconnected and even alienated
from the mainstream culture. It was manifestly evident, nonetheless, that
there was sufficient commonality of purpose and expression to identify a
charismic culture present among these schools that call themselves
"Marist".
A snapshot of the culture of the Australian Marist high school The following precis is written in words, phrases and a structure which
attempt to be as faithful as possible to the data of the study: Family spirit presents itself as the appropriate root metaphor for the
culture of Marist schools. The emphases and biases of the schools, and the
quality, nature, style and significance of interpersonal relationships
within them, are analogous to those that might be expected in the
intuitions of a functional and loving family. Priority is placed on each
person's feeling known and loved, and being accepted not only for what he
or she is but also what they can become. Whereas academic and other
achievement is prized, it is not pursued with the same imperative as the
well-being of individuals or that of the school community. A tone of
homeliness is characteristic of the schools. They