The practice of Local Association Coordinators across Victoria has been to gather online several times a year, to share ideas, plan calendars and dream for the future of their local groups. This year, the desire was heard loud, clear and early to come together in person, for a statewide gathering. As expressed by the Coordinators, ‘we see each other, but our group members would love to meet members from other groups and share what it means to be Marist’.

On Sunday 16 November we held our inaugural statewide gathering at Marcellin College. We dared to hope that 20-30 members would attend, and, instead, were overjoyed to welcome 50 members from across the state. In attendance were members from Shepparton, Bendigo, Kilmore, Traralgon, Warragul, Sale, and of course, a large contingent from Melbourne, including several Marist Brothers.

We began with a beautiful celebration of Eucharist in the newly refurbished Marcellin College Chapel and then proceeded to share lunch and conversation, followed by a presentation from Br Tony Leon on the 2026 theme “Full of Grace: Transform the World with God’s Love.” With the television show Amazing Race for inspiration, Tony set us Amazing Grace challenges through dialogue and storytelling about key moments, places and people who have inspired our Marist journey.

It was a wonderful, relaxed and engaging gathering and hopefully the start of a regular occurrence. Special thanks to Geralyn McCarthy for hosting at Marcellin College, Richard Quinn (Executive Director Marist Association) and Michael Neylan (Mission & Life Formation Team) for joining us from Sydney. And, of course, enormous gratitude to Tony Leon for launching his 2026 program for Association groups and enlivening our conversation. However, the biggest thanks are reserved for our Association members who travelled from far and wide to celebrate our Marist family spirit.

Andrea Grant
Mission and Life Formation Team