Province of Spain – Joint Formation Brothers and Laity
On the weekend of 16 and 17 March, a joint formation meeting of Brothers and lay people in Shared Mission took place, the content of which was The Global Education Pact.
Let us recall that Pope Francis, in September 2019, called on all people and institutions to rebuild the global educational pact and to reflect on what educational model Humanity needs in order to respond to this systemic, social and ecological crisis. In the midst of this malaise, education is a key element in adapting to change and transforming the world in which we live. Gonzalo Violero García, technical secretary of the REDES association, was present to inform us about this pact. This association has been operating since 2003 and brings together 55 organisations for development cooperation.
Gonzalo Violero presented the path of his association, the framework document of the Network of Entities for Solidarity Development Education and what we mean by a Transformative Education Centre, which is what it is all about:
- An educational centre, inclusive and oriented towards global justice and human rights.
- An educational centre that is dialogical, democratic, it networks and works with the environment, and is attentive to relations of power and care.
- An educational centre that promotes advocacy, gender equity and sustainable development.
- An educational centre that promotes reflective, shared, meaningful, critical and evaluable learning.
- An educational centre with methodologies and strategic documents that incorporate transformative education for a networked global citizenship.
His presentation and the videos we were able to watch on the message of Pope Francis and other experts gave rise to the dialogue. Afterwards, we saw a series of good practices carried out in various educational institutions, because, ultimately, the role of teachers is essential and central in promoting a new, more humanising and transformative educational model. We were happy to see that many of the activities carried out in our centres are along the same lines.
Even so, on Sunday morning we carried out an exhaustive analysis, by educational communities, through the self-diagnosis questionnaire developed by the REDES association, to see if we are doing enough to work for a different world and in which areas we want to insist on transforming it.
Gathered in a large group, we learned about the state of each of our centres and different proposals were put forward. Finally, a very enlightening video was shown by the Superior General of the Piarists, Pedro Aguado, who summarised the keys to “transforming ourselves into a transforming centre in the key of the pact”, and his conviction that “the world can change, but only through education; that education can change, but only through educators; and that educators can change, but only through children” was very motivating. We have a challenge on our hands for which we have already taken steps, although we must bear in mind that this is an ongoing, and sometimes slow, process. But the effort is worth it because we are convinced that we want to contribute to the creation of a better, fairer and more united world. And by working together as a network, we will achieve this.
We must highlight in these meetings of Brothers and Laity the moments of reflection, joint prayer and Eucharistic celebration, which strengthen the bonds among us and strengthen us as a fraternal community, helping us to walk in Shared Mission.
MCG Training Team
