Handbook for leaders of Marist Laity Groups

- Part III

- In the Mind of the Founder

The Holy Spirit graces the Church and the world with spiritual gifts through the founders of religious movements. The ideas of these founders deserve special attention and study.

This section summarizes the unique understandings and insights of the founder of the Marist family, Father Jean-Claude Colin, S.M. It is now acknowledged that his ideas especially about the Church and the laity were ahead of his time. This claim is best explained by comparing Father Colin’s writings with the teachings of Vatican II, Paul VI, and John Paul II.

The Vision

We believe Colin and his companions, both men and women, were chosen by Mary to have a special relationship with her and to allow her to continue her work through them. They had a strong sense of personal destiny. They knew they were called to be something and to do something; to a special way of living and to a special purpose for living. In other words they received through Mary a spirituality and a mission. By a spirituality is meant simply the way we relate to God, to ourselves, to our neighbour, and to the world. It is the way we try to live the Gospel. Like the first Marists we believe “we are the bearers of a particular grace in the Church and for the Church. We do not hide it under a bushel, we wish to share it.”

From the beginning Mary was central to the whole Marist enterprise. In an “age of indifference, of unbelief, an age of crime, of false learning, of this earth” as Colin described it, the first Marists believed Mary had taken a special initiative to bring the loving and healing mercy of God to all people, especially to those who needed it most. They believed she had chosen them and given them her name as a sign of a special relationship with her. Mary became a living presence in their lives. But the reason for the choice and the relationship was that Mary wanted something. The words which expressed this best were the words which Colin said presided over the early days of the society: “I supported the Church at its birth; I shall do so again at the end of time.” Mary would be that support through them. A modern way of expressing it would be: “The times are evil, and I have charged you with their remedy.” Like the early Marists we are called to be for the world what Mary was for the world. We are to be a living Marist presence. ( Taken from Frank McKay, S.M., The Marist Laity, pp. 60-62)

Goals and Aims

Father Colin expressed his ideas about the Marist laity as early as 1833, when he, Father Peter Chanel, and Father Jean-Antoine Bourdin petitioned Pope Gregory XVI for approval of the lay branch. The first two paragraphs of that petition clearly state the aims Colin had in mind for the lay branch of the Marist Family:

In this petition Father Colin presents the laity as collaborating with all their strength with the religious. The laity in this petition share the same spirit and mission as the other branches of the Marist Family. All members of the Marist family are to work for conversion—they are to be evangelizers.

In 1874 (41 years later) Father Colin wrote the Constitutions for the lay branch with this title: Constitutions
of the Confraternity or Association
under the Auspices of the Blessed Virgin Mary
for the Conversion of Sinners
and the Perseverance of the Faithful

Thus we see that Colin remained faithful to his ideas for the lay movement to the end of his life.

In Article I of the Constitution, “On the Origin and Aim of the Association,” it is clear that the laity are to be concerned with the salvation of all people, and not only with personal holiness. The laity are called to evangelization.

Relationships Among the Branches
of the Marist Family

Relationship among all the branches

One of the most important symbols of the Marist family—a tree with many branches—helps us understand the relationship among all the branches of the family. This symbol has existed since the earliest days of the Marist spiritual movement. The tree is a symbol of unity and the beliefs held in common by the branches of the family.

Relationship of the laity and the priests

Father Colin entrusted the lay branch to the Society of Mary (priests and brothers). In the Constitutions for the Society, the priests are “to enable the laity to live more fully their Christian vocation and exercise their role in the life and ministry of the Church.”

Ahead of His Time: The Laity

While Father Jean-Claude Colin was a visionary in several areas, here we will consider specifically his views about the laity. Father Colin did not accept the role commonly assigned to the laity in his time, but rather he looked ahead to the role of the laity that would eventually be taught by Vatican II.

Because our Founder was ahead of his times, it was difficult for him to express himself in easily understood language. The exact terminology he needed did not exist yet. But, if we compare Colin’s statements with those of Vatican II and John Paul II, we can recognize the same vision.

In Father Colin’s time, the main reason lay persons associated with religious congregations was to grow in personal holiness. This holiness was to be achieved through imitation of ordained and/or vowed religious. Father Eymard, therefore, well before Colin wrote the Constitutions for the Laity, did what everyone else was doing with Third Orders. Eymard named the Third Order groups he organized the “Third Order for the Interior Life,” and he said that the members were “destined to live like religious in the world.” Membership in these groups was limited to a few, very pious people.

Yet, as we have already seen (in Goals and Aims), Father Colin stated that the main purpose of Marist lay groups was evangelization—“to collaborate with all their strength with the Religious of the Society of Mary in the work of converting sinners and ensuring the perseverance of the faithful.”

Furthermore, while Colin entrusted the laity to the Society of Mary (priests and brothers), the laity were not to be servants of the priests. Father Alphonse Cozon, S.M., who wrote down what Father Colin said in 1874-1875 of his thoughts on the Marist Laity, and later in 1919 wrote a commentary on the Constitutions for the Laity, explained his meaning:

In the mind of the founder, the Third Order ought not to be confined within the limits of the Society. It ought to be, in a sense, a work outside the Society, to which the Society ought to communicate its own spirit, which is the spirit of the Blessed Virgin. Its development, therefore, ought not to be restricted to the proportions of the Society; we are not to retain it in our hands, but only let it pass through them. Thus, it is not a piece of the mechanism in the Society’s clockwork, it should not revolve around us, so to speak, like a planet around its constellation, but it should shine out into the Church. Thus, it is no longer a precious way to help the Society by drawing the interest of pious faithful to the Society, but rather it is a way to extend the Society’s action over the world, in such a way that the same thrust, going forth from Mary, passing through the Fathers and the members of the Third Order, might go forth and lose itself in the Church without any personal consideration. Vatican II, in quite different language, also taught that the laity are called to the Apostolate:

. . . they (the laity) have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God. In the concrete, their apostolate is exercised when they work at the evangelization and sanctification of men. . . ( Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, 1965)The apostolate is the work of an apostle—all kinds and areas of work that serve God, the Church and other people. Thus, both Father Colin in the 1800s and Vatican II in 1965 taught that lay people have an equal responsibility along with ordained and/or vowed religious for the evangelization of the world. (More excerpts from the Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People appear in the “Documents” section of this Handbook. It is important that lay people study this decree from Vatican II.)

In 1988, John Paul II gave us the encyclical, The Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People, about the role and formation of the laity. The encyclical begins with a discussion of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard from Matthew’s Gospel. John Paul insists that the call of Jesus, “You too go into my vineyard,” applies to “every person who comes into this world.”

The 1985 General Chapter of the Society of Mary called for the “integration of lay Marists into the global mission of the Church in the way envisaged by Father Colin.” Father Frank McKay, S.M., explains in The Marist Laity that the “biggest single shift in the thinking about the Marist laity has been to see it as an evangelizing movement.”

Father Colin’s vision of the laity as evangelizers throughout the whole world obviously calls for inclusiveness—anyone can join. It also calls for groups to work everywhere in the world especially where there are no priests or religious. It calls for a variety of forms, structures and names so that the work can be accomplished in all cultures and countries.

Ahead of His Time: A Marian Church

Father Colin looked ahead to a Marian Church—a Church with a gentler nature than the Church of the 1800s, although his loyalty to the Church cannot be questioned. Vatican II and John Paul II have also embraced the vision of a gentler, more motherly Church.

In 1846 Father Colin made a remark that became famous, “The Society must begin a new Church over again. I do not mean that in a literal sense, that would be blasphemy. But in a certain sense, yes, we must begin a new Church.”

Father Jan Snijders, S.M., explains Colin’s meaning:

Vatican II also speaks of Mary as a model for the Church:

In 1979, John Paul II, began a speech to the bishops of South America with this statement:

Mary must be more than ever the pedagogy,in order to proclaim the Gospel to the men and women of today. A pedagogy is a method of teaching. John Paul II is saying that more than ever we need to proclaim the Gospel in the manner Mary would proclaim it.

Father Antoine Forissier, S.M., also contributes to the description of a MarianChurch in his book about Marist Founders and Foundresses:

There is a Marian way of acting, namely, in God’s service which is more evangelical and, no doubt, more fruitful. This manner is characterized by discretion, forgetfulness of self, dialogue and service, confidence in meager resources—“the unknown and hidden in this world.” It can be lived out on a personal level by every priest, every member of the faithful, and at work level by work chosen for its intrinsic missionary worth. (For a Marian Church, p. 238 ) Understanding Our Founder:
How Far Have We Come?

Father Jean-Claude Colin, S.M., began recording his inspirations about the Marist spiritual movement as early as 1816. It was not until 1833, however, that he was able to actually travel to Rome to request approval for the four branches—priests, sisters, brothers and laity—that he had in mind. On August 23, as Father Colin prepared for this trip, he wrote the first text about his vision for the lay branch:

Not at all are the doors of the Society closed to laypeople . . . as Mary is the Mother of all so perhaps all might be able to share in the graces of this Society and grow in devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. With these words Father Colin expresses the dominant theme of his entire life: Mary is the mother of all. If Mary is the mother of all, then no one can be excluded from her love and mercy, from her protection and guidance. Father Colin understands that it is Mary’s plan that her society include everyone.

The next day, August 24, Father Colin wrote

. . .already there have started . . . meetings of people under the title of Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin for the Conversion of Sinners and the Perseverance of the Just. In this passage Father Colin uses the title for the lay branch that he will use again near the end of his life when he writes the constitution for the laity. The categories of “sinners” and “the just” include everyone in the Church—indeed in the world. Again we see the language of all-inclusiveness. Father Colin’s statement that “every kind of person” may belong to the lay branch follows quite naturally from these beginnings.

Father Colin stayed in Rome for several months in 1833 and he spent some of that time rewriting his ideas. It is believed that he wrote this paragraph about the lay confraternity in December:

Three years later, Father Colin received approval from the Church for the congregation of Marist priests. On September 24, 1836, the Marists fathers held their first profession ceremony and elected Father Colin their first Superior General. Immediately, Father Colin faced the enormous task of sending missionaries to Oceania. For the next 18 years, he not only attended to all the duties of a Superior General, but he also played a central role in the founding of the sisters and communicated regularly with Marcellin Champagnat about the teaching brothers.

The passages above are nearly all Father Colin wrote about the lay branch until the year before his death. There are a number of reasons for this gap. His efforts and energy as the Founder were, of necessity, directed elsewhere for the most part. Also, Father Colin wished to maintain good relationships with bishops and the diocesan clergy. When they resisted the founding of another lay association that could draw from their congregations, Father Colin did not press forward with the founding of Marist groups.

It is also a fact that Father Colin was ahead of his times in his vision about the role of lay people in the Church. It was difficult for him to express clearly his views because the language to express them was not in place until Vatican II in the 1960s. As Father Colin aged and his health failed, others became more and more concerned that he had not yet written a constitution for the lay branch. With their encouragement, barely able to see and unable to write, Father Colin dictated a constitution for the laity to his assistants and finished the task in 1874.

But lay people had been attracted to the Marist spirituality even before the fathers had approval from the Church. The earliest groups, The Tertiary Brothers of Mary and The Christian Maidens, requested spiritual direction from the priests. In December 1845, in response to one of these requests (and thirty years before the constitution for the laity was published), Colin appointed Father Peter Julian Eymard as spiritual director for a group of lay women. Julian Eymard was a talented administrator. Within a short time, he wrote rules and established a structure for lay groups. Soon groups sprang up everywhere.

The inevitable had happened. The earliest Marist lay groups were organized according to the accepted ideas of the time instead of according to the vision of our Founder. The basic elements of Father Colin’s vision for the laity were not clear to others; and even if they had been clear, practical guidelines compatible with his vision were not in place.

What were the accepted ideas about lay associations in Father Colin’s time? Organizations of lay people had existed for a long time. Some groups were associated with the Church in a formal way and some were not, and they were organized under a variety of titles. The concept of “orders” was already in place at the time of St. Francis and St. Clare in the thirteenth century. Male religious were the “first order,” female religious were the “second order,” and lay men and women were the “third order.”

St. Francis was the real founder of the first authentic Third Order , and he founded more religious societies than did anyone else in the history of the Church. St. Francis and St. Clare organized religious communities with a structure and terminology that came to be imitated again and again.

Third Orders resembled religious congregations as to purpose—Christian perfection of the individual. It was thought that lay people became holy by imitating ordained and/or vowed religious, and by turning their backs, so to speak, on the world. Third Orders were highly structured organizations. They had a rule approved by the Church, requirements for admission, a novitiate and a permanent profession. They did not have public vows and community life. The ordained and/or vowed religious were the active evangelizers of the Church. Members of Third Orders looked to parent congregations for instruction and direction. Holy lay people were passive lay people. In general, the laity evangelized only by the example of their lives.

These structures and traditions were so well established by the nineteenth century that the early Marists, including Father Colin at times, used the term “Third Order” to refer to Marist lay groups. Father Colin, however, as we have already noted, had a vision of a lay movement that included everyone, while existing structures and traditions for the laity in his time were for the few.

This divergence between the vision of Father Colin and actual practice continued for decades. In 1850, at Father Eymard’s request, a petition for approval of the Third Order of the Society of Mary was submitted to Rome. Authority to grant Father Eymard’s petition was given to Archbishop de Bonald, of Lyons. The Archbishop issued his approval: “The Third Order itself will be founded next Sunday, December 8, 1850.”

Father Colin and Father Eymard held each other in high regard, but Father Colin had not known about this petition. The situation caused tension between the two priests. In 1851, Father Eymard had an inspiration to found a religious congregation dedicated to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Eventually he received permission to leave the Marists, founded the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament, and wrote several books on the Eucharist. Father Eymard died in 1868 and was canonized in 1962.

If not for Father Eymard, many people would not have learned about the spirituality of the Marists at all. The good works of the early lay Marists, especially their support of the foreign missions, would have gone undone. It was lay women of the Third Order of Mary who went to Oceania and from whose work the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary developed.

The Third Order of Mary flourished under the rules set up by Father Eymard until many decades after the constitutions for the Marist Laity were written. Father Alphonse Cozon, S.M., the priest to whom Father Colin entrusted much of his thinking about the Marist Laity, worked diligently to convince others that the existing structures for the laity did not match Colin’s vision. But Father Cozon did not prevail. For decades the Society of Mary did not change its direction of the laity. Father Eymard’s model was strong and had been in place for a long time. It was difficult to take seriously the idea that it did not somehow conform to the vision of the Founder. And then Vatican II happened and everything changed. Vatican II plays a vital role in the history of the Marist lay movement.

In 1965 Vatican II issued the important document: Decree of the Apostolate of Lay People. This document reminds us that imitation of ordained and/or vowed religious is not the correct measure of holiness for lay people. Lay people become holy by doing the work God has given them in the world. They become holy in their own “here and now.” Lay people have a mission of their own by reason of their baptism, and that mission takes them into all the various parts of society. Lay people have a responsibility for the evangelization of the world that is equal to that of ordained and/or vowed members of the Church. No longer are lay people third in importance or responsibility among the people of God. No longer does the Church have first-, second- and third-class members. The work of the laity is essential. Lay people need formation in order to do their work, and they are free to organize in order to fulfill their mission.

Another Vatican II document that has had a major effect on the Marist family is titled: Decree on the Up-To-Date Renewal of Religious Life. This document explained that a renewal of religious life requires two things: a continual return to the original inspirations of religious institutions and constant adaptation to changing conditions. It is necessary to return to the original inspiration of a religious movement because that is the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church—that is where the graces are. Religious orders and congregations were instructed to seek a genuine understanding of the vision of their founders and to preserve that spirit faithfully. The work of putting a charism into practice in an ever-changing world is a difficult and never-ending process. Marists have a term for this work—creative fidelity.

The Society of Mary responded to this call from Vatican II. In 1977, Father Jean Coste, S.M., a Marist historian, presented a paper about Father Colin’s vision of the lay branch at the General Chapter of the Society of Mary. Father Coste’s work aroused interest in the place of the laity in the mission of the Society.

Soon after, in 1979, the General Administration of the Society of Mary held a Conference in Rome for English-speaking Promoters of the Third Order of Mary. Father Coste was the principal speaker. Again, he presented Father Colin’s vision for the laity. Fourteen Promoters of the laity attended. According to Father Edwin Keel, S.M., who attended the Conference as Promoter of the Laity for the Washington Province, this event was a watershed event for Marists.

In opening remarks, Father Bernard J. Ryan, S.M., Superior-General, stated:

We are all conscious in some way that this Conference is of capital importance for the future of the Society. Just as our reading of Holy Scripture over the years reveals to us hidden depths and meanings, so our studies and reflections, helped by Father Coste and others, of the words and actions of Father Colin, reveal to us deeper and more pertinent elements of his thought. The Marists have done an incredible amount of research. Father Philip Graystone, S. M., in his book, A Short History of the Society of Mary: 1854 to 1993:explains:

The circular letter of John Jago, (Superior General), “Mary, Mother of our hope,” which marked the 150th anniversary of the Society, identified signs of hope for the future and dealt at some length with the measures needed to ‘refound” the society by rediscovering its Marist vision. By this Marists would be challenged, amongst other things, to enable the laity to play their full part in the Church’s life and mission. This was the theme taken up by the 1988 Council of the Society, which approved the initiative of the General Administration in appointing an International Animator of the Marist Laity, and asked all provincials to ensure that the implementation of the Colinian vision of Marist laity be part of the agenda of their provincial chapters. The views of Father Jean-Claude Colin for the lay branch have been explained in numerous publications: Lay Marists: Anthology of Historical Sources, translated and edited by Father Charles Girard, S.M.; Like a Bridge, by Father Laurence Duffy, S.M., and Father Charles Girard, S.M.; and A Certain Way by Father Craig Larkin, S.M. There is no longer lack of clarity about Father Colin’s vision for the laity.

Father Colin had a vision of lay people who would actively work “in the world” to “make the whole world Marist.” He saw a movement that was inclusive—that was not just for the more devout among us. He saw the laity organizing themselves according to what was possible and effective in their own times and places. He did not lay down strict rules or describe organizational structures. Father Cozon was amazed that Father Colin wanted such a degree of independence for groups, and he asked how there could be unity. Father Colin answered: “There will be uniformity in the spirit, but not in the practices . . . “

Father Edwin Keel, explains Father Colin’s vision this way:

it is really the job of the clergy to assist the laity in their mission, which is the mission of the Church, to witness to the Word in the world, to evangelize the world.

Lay Marists have a complicated and confusing history of attempts to understand and apply the vision of Father Colin. We have had to change—in how we think about our vocation and our mission, in how we organize and invite others to join us. We will always be challenged to make the vision of Father Colin a reality in an ever-changing world. But the vision of our Founder has not changed and will not change. The vision of our Founder is where we find the grace to be Marist.