News from the AtlantaProvince Laity Service Committee
September, 2006
Greetings in the name of Mary!
We are the Marist Laity Service Committee of the AtlantaProvince and this is our newest mode of communication for those who would like to share the Marist Laity Spirituality in our country and around the world. We have chosen to utilize the simple email format so that more of you might receive the information we would like to share in a timely and efficient manner. We hope that you will share your thoughts about this newsletter!
Our goal for this letter is to further advance the Marist Laity by sharing council news, local group news, educational assistance and just helping each other to become familiar with another branch of the Society of Mary. This newsletter will be available on our web page and we can also email this to those on our list. Group leaders, please feel free to print and copy the newsletter for your group members.
Please pray for the Marist Laity Service Council and for their efforts in furthering the work of Mary.
The Atlanta Province Marist Laity Service Committee was formed in the late 1990s to address the laity concerns in our province. After the First National Laity Conference in New Orleans in 2000, we responded to many of the attendees who wanted more educational and training materials, a central group of lay people to hear and respond to their needs, and a more structured lay branch of the Marist family. The Service Committee evolved from these needs and has grown into a group who attends to these concerns. Our spiritual leader is Father Edwin Keel, S.M. and we meet twice per year in New Orleans to discuss, discern, contemplate and prayerfully consider all components of being a member of the Marist Laity. Our membership comes from all parts of the Atlanta province so we feel like we have an excellent representation of Marist Laity.
Our time together is short, but we work hard to serve the Marist lay movement by:
Developing educational and training materials for Marist laity groups
Identifying and visiting groups and offering support to leaders and members
Assisting new group development
Maintaining our Marist web page (
Sharing group information from around the province
Developing a database of Marist laity
Growing in our own spiritual formation
Our agenda is completely dependant on the people we serve. We are gathered to help with all of your Marist Laity concerns. Please let us help!
What do you do at your meetings? Are they structured and formal, or causal and laid back? Here are a few suggestions about improving the quality of your meetings. (This was taken from a letter from Fr. Ed Keel, SM.
- Prayer Obviously prayer will have a place at your meetings. The important thing to remember is that while vocal prayers are good and helpful, there is also need for silence, just to sit in silence with our loving God. May I recommend that as part of your prayer at your meetings, you invite everyone to five minutes of silent prayer and adoration?
- Spiritual Development The main purpose of your meetings is spiritual development. This is the component that should occupy the bulk of the time at your meetings. It should be educational: your members should go away from the meeting feeling they have learned something. There are many ways to handle this part of the meeting: guest speakers, the exercises suggested by the formation leaflets you all have; reading and discussion of something from the Marist books in your group library (you don’t need permission to photocopy any of the material in those books.) I believe that it is only if the meetings are interesting, educational, informative, and spiritually profitable will your membership keep coming. And only if what you offer at your meetings provides nourishment for people’s spiritual hunger, and shows them how to grow spiritually, will new members be attracted to join.
- Business Any kind of group activity will require that some business be discussed from time to time. But it is important that the business part of your meetings not take up too much time, and not get bogged down. The business part of the meeting should normally come after the spiritual development part of the meeting. And it is best, if whenever possible, your council of officers have discussed the business beforehand and have clear proposals to make to the group. The group must be allowed to discuss the proposals freely, and make decisions freely, but the process must be expedited so that you don’t get bogged down.
- Social There should always be a social component to your meetings. Spiritual friendship is an important element of Marist lay life, and this will develop as people get to know one another. And, most important, guests and new members must be made to feel at home, made to feel more the center of attention, and not feel lost on the periphery of the group.
- Joy Joy was the hallmark of Mary’s life, a deep spiritual joy underlying even the dark moments of her life. Joy is the hallmark of being Marist. Joy, friendliness, hospitality; this is the spirit that should pervade your meetings!
Please pray for the members of the Atlanta Province Laity Service Committee as they continue to use their time and talents to minister to the laity of our Province.
Pray also for Father Ed Keel, S.M. as he serves the Marists by helping to develop the Marist Laity.
Pray for new groups of Marist laity and their leaders.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death!
Please pray for the Marist Laity Group in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Their pastor, Marist Father Jim McCafferty was recently transferred after over nine years at Holy Rosary Parish. Fr. Jim was instrumental in introducing parishioners to the Marist Laity as he traveled with them to both Marist Laity Conferences and supported the group at the parish for over six years. He encouraged the study of the Marists and their spirituality with his extensive library of Marist books and literature. Good luck, Father Jim. May God be with you in your new assignment.
To Ponder…
In order to be effective evangelizers, Marists take Mary as their model. They should think, judge, feel and act in a new way—the way of Mary. This is a new approach to life.
The Marist Laity, a Basic Guide