YEAR 12 Marist school students from Queensland and northern NSW gathered in Toowoomba recently to discuss their faith and spirituality.
Campus minister at Mt Maria College, Mitchelton, Ash Higgins said the event was one of three organised each year by Marist Youth.
Marist Brother Tony Leon, who is Vocations and Marist Life director for the order’s Sydney province, facilitated the weekend.
“The weekend is a fantastic opportunity for our youth to listen and discuss their faith and spirituality in a group forum which shares the Marist mission, and I have often seen that the relationships that our young men and women build continue to exist both post the forum and school life,” Mr Higgins said.
He said Marist Youth also would hold a gathering of student leaders to discuss leadership and the Marist charism, and a Year 11 gathering at the end of September.
The 24 students who attended the recent Year 12 gathering came from Mt Maria College, Enoggera and Mitchelton, Brisbane; Marist College Ashgrove, Brisbane; Trinity College, Lismore; St Peter Chanel, Gladstone; St Teresa’s College, Noosaville; and St Peter Claver College, Riverview.
“For the student leaders’ gathering and Year 11 forum we are also joined by Marist College, Emerald, and St Augustine’s, Cairns,” Mr Higgins said.
Forum convener and co-ordinator for Young Marists in Brisbane Christian Nobleza said the Year 12 weekend provided students with an opportunity to connect with issues of justice and solidarity in a fun and creative way.
“The students are challenged in their attitudes and thinking towards the areas of justice, peace and solidarity, and they also learn useful techniques and strategies of engaging with those areas in practical and concrete ways,” Mr Nobleza said.
He said one of the major features of the weekend was the creation of a mandala of coloured rice, with the students encouraged to think about their own gifts and talents that they bring to areas of justice and solidarity and to capture this in a symbol.
“The result was a beautiful work of art that amounted to nearly 48 hours of work, but at the conclusion of the weekend the mandala was destroyed and was then mixed into one pile of colour, and students were each given a bottle of the rice to remember the sharing of the their stories with each other,” Mr Nobleza said.
He said the weekend’s keynote address was delivered by Passionist Father Ray Sanchez, who spoke on his experiences of justice and solidarity.
Fr Sanchez also celebrated Mass for the forum.
“I believe (the weekend) affirmed a strong sense of the Marist charism …,” Mr Nobleza said.
“My hope is that many of these students will remain connected in with the Marist family, and part of my role is to ensure that there are opportunities for that to happen.”
He said the Vocations and Marist Life team was preparing for the Year 11 forum to be held in September. More information about Young Marists in Brisbane is available by email at cnobleza@fms-sydney.org.au
