This article by Mark O’Farrell, Assistant director of the Secretariat of Laity, which was published in the Marist Institute’s Sharing - The Lay Marist Vocation newsletter:

“When we speak of Christian spirituality, we refer to that unquenchable fire that burns within, filling us with passion for the building of the Kingdom of God. This becomes the driving force of our lives as we allow the Spirit of Christ to lead us” (Water From The Rock, Introduction).

The recent XXIII Marist General Chapter provides the vision and call for all Marists of Champagnat to look forward to a future with courage and trust to be ‘Builders of the New Hermitage’. “Two hundred years ago, Marcellin Champagnat and the first Brothers raised stone upon stone in the valley of the Gier to build the Hermitage. They worked with bare hands, great courage, and unwavering faith, but always with deep trust that the work was God’s”. As the psalmist reminds us, and as Marcellin always said: “If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labour” (Psalm 127:1). How does this call continue to invite us to be Marist protagonists building and updating the house for new times?

Today, the vision of a new Hermitage invites us to look beyond and to walk with boldness, tenderness and hope, to be pieces of a beautiful mosaic that reveals the face of a Marist family committed to the poor, grounded in prayer, guided by servant leadership, united in fraternity and open to new generations. We are called to build a New Hermitage, a living reality that moves like the river Gier itself, wherever Marists live in faith, create fraternity, and bring life to our world. (Builders of a New Hermitage – Message of the XXIII General Chapter pp.3-5).

THE NEW MADE VISIBLE THROUGH ENCOUNTER

The New Hermitage is not first a building, but a way of living the charism a new – born of encounter, carried through transmission, sustained by shared responsibility, and made visible in the Spirit alive in people who profess and commit to it. Across more than eighty countries, thousands of Lay Marists of Champagnat embody this way of life each day through pastoral, social, and educational ministries. Recently, in Guatemala and El Salvador, I witnessed firsthand the quiet yet powerful way this charism continues to take flesh, transforming lives and communities, and revealing that the New Hermitage is already being built wherever the Marist spirit is lived with faith, courage, and love.

Many Lay Marists are still working today side by side with the brothers in a mission field whilst for many also they remember the mission of the Champagnat and the brothers as a story told to a new generation but with no visible presence of the brothers in their community. Through encounter, the reception of our spiritual heritage, and the transformation of identity expressed in the lay Marist vocation, we are drawn into a shared mission that responds to the diminishing presence of the brothers with greater lay responsibility, leadership and structures that moves us forward together in a spirit of synodality and hope as we build the ‘New’ Hermitage envisioned by the XXIII General Chapter.

ENCOUNTER: WHERE THE “NEW” FIRST TOOK LIFE

In 1997 I was a young teacher in a Marist school in Randwick, a suburb of Sydney, participating in a Marist formation programme called Sharing Our Call at The Hermitage (of the South) in Mittagong, about an hour and a half from Sydney. The site, the former Novitiate of the Marist Brothers since 1906, continues to this day as a place of Marist spirituality and heritage, forming new generations of staff in the Marist way.

This was my first significant Marist formation experience since my senior school retreats. I cherished listening to the stories of Marcellin Champagnat, his life, his faith, and his journey. During that retreat I met a young American brother visiting from Rome, where he was working on the General Council. I did not know it at the time, but that encounter would change my life forever as you will see. A simple powerful moment of presence.

Ten years later, in 2007, now happily married and a new father to our beautiful daughter Samantha, I was teaching at another Marist school in Campbelltown. One day I met a wise, elderly brother, a former Superior General, now in his retirement — who came to our home for lunch. Once again, the encounter endured far beyond the moment itself and proved to be deeply formative for my Marist journey. The significance of these two meetings, beyond the fact that both men were Marist Brothers and both highly influential leaders for their time, was that they were profoundly alive in the Spirit. I sensed it then, and nearly thirty years later I recognise that same Spirit living through me, as I help form and accompany the next generation of Marists. Like Saint Marcellin, Br Sean Sammon and Br Charles Howard were builders — builders of lives, builders of hope, and ultimately builders of the Kingdom of God. Their presence in my life was a great gift that continues to inspire me today in my work. Our spiritual heritage continues to live for new generations of Marists.

GRATITUDE FOR A GIFT GIVEN: SPIRITUAL HERITAGE RECEIVED ANEW

When I first visited Champagnat country in 2018 as part of the annual Marist Pilgrimage, I do not think I fully understood, as I do now, the depth of what we mean by spiritual heritage. That pilgrimage focused on walking the paths Marcellin himself travelled: from his birth in the hamlet of Le Rosey, to his baptism in Marlhes, his life on the family farm, his studies in Lyon, participation in the birth of the Marist Project at Fourvière, and finally his parish ministry in La Valla at the age of twenty‑seven, Champagnat saw the ‘new’ needed for this village. ‘’We must have brothers!” was his cry to evangelise the youth of La Valla and our spiritual heritage was founded upon very human traits of action and encounter.

Many Marists around the world undertake this pilgrimage each year. It is a powerful experience—one that stays with pilgrims long after they return home. I believe the journey truly begins when the pilgrim leaves the rugged landscape around Saint‑Chamond and allows Marcellin’s spirit, charism, and intuition to be carried back into local communities, where it must be lived anew within changing local contexts.

In my own country of Australia, this has been evident in recent years with the establishment of two new Catholic schools: Notre Dame College in Bells Creek, Queensland and St Marcellin Catholic College in Madora Bay, Western Australia. Both communities have intentionally adopted Marist spirituality as the foundation for their identity and mission. For me, this is a clear sign of the enduring and living nature of the Marist charism.

The New Hermitage is being built by communities precisely in this way, as a contemporary expression of living the Marist charism anew. It is born of encounter and experience: of St Marcellin, of the first Marist Brothers, and of the distinctive characteristics, traditions, and pedagogy that continue to shape and flavour Marist education today. Here, the New begins.

FROM HERITAGE TO RESPONSIBILITY: THE NEW TAKING SHAPE

The following year my own journey shifted. I moved from working solely in Marist schools to joining the Marist Mission and Life Formation Team in the Province of Australia. In 2022, at the invitation of my Provincial, Br Peter Carroll, I joined the Secretariat of the Laity and participated in the International Forum on the Lay Marist Vocation in Rome. For eight days, nearly one hundred Marists, Brothers and lay, from across the world gathered at Nostra Signora Madre della Misericordia in Monte Cucco. It was a profoundly international Marist experience, and, like my pilgrimage to Champagnat country, it transformed me.

Slowly, through these experiences and many others, I found myself being reshaped in identity, in expression, and in vocation. I was not a brother, yet what bound us together was the charism of Saint Marcellin and the shared mission of bringing Jesus to young people. At the same time, I became increasingly aware of the fragility of the mission. Since my earliest encounters with the Brothers in 1978, their numbers have steadily diminished. This reality stirred something new within me: a deep sense of responsibility. The charism I had received could not simply be remembered; it had to be carried forward.

THE LAY MARIST VOCATION: LIVING THE NEW HERMITAGE

At some point, I recognised my call clearly — to live and express the charism of Saint Marcellin as a lay Marist. Participation in the International Forum gave language and structure to what I had long felt: that the future of the Marist mission depends on shared responsibility, shared leadership, and shared life.

The transmission of charism is like the gift of faith itself. It’s true value becomes apparent only when we are invited to speak of it, to share it, and to entrust it to others. In doing so, we discover that we receive far more than we give. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the breath of Ruah continually inviting us into newness, gratitude, and hope.

Br. Sean Sammon reminds us:

“We live out this Christian spirituality in a distinctive Marial and apostolic way. It is an incarnated spirituality springing up in Marcellin Champagnat. It developed with the first Brothers who handed it on to us as a precious heritage” (A Revolution of the Heart, p. 47). This precious heritage now calls us to build something new.

THE NEW HERMITAGE: A HOME BUILT TOGETHER

The message of the XXIII General Chapter names this call clearly:

“To build such a home requires us to walk together in a spirit of synodality — listening attentively to one another and to the Spirit, discerning our common path, and sharing responsibility for the journey. This is the face of the Marian Church that we wish to grow… These values are the foundation stones of the New Hermitage.”

The New Hermitage is not simply a place, but a way of being: open, attentive, humble, and shared. It is the Spirit alive in people, just as I first encountered it in two Brothers many years ago and as I now hope to embody and share it for others.

As my closing prayer, I offer the words of our Annual Moment of Renewal, recently prayed in my local Marist community, with a heart full of gratitude for the gift of my Marist life and vocation, and with the hope that, as a builder of the New Hermitage, it may continue to unfold in new fields and unfamiliar spaces, as the Spirit gently breathes new life in me and, through me, into the lives of all whom I encounter.

It is with a sense of hope I continue my Marist journey
as a member of the Marist Association;
With the support of the Marist family,
I am living my faith with Mary as a source of inspiration,
and Marcellin as my model for responding
to the needs of the young;
With a Marist heart I am fostering connection
and belonging with others to live the Gospel
in the way of Mary;
With joy, I am attuning to God and pondering
what the Spirit is bringing to my life,
as I do my bit to bring a voice of hope
and renewal in the Church, and in the world;
With humility and gratitude,
I am embracing opportunities to bring Christ-life to birth
in the ordinary events of my local community.
Let us stir up and seek from the Lord
the power of the Holy Spirit
to go forward in greater unity:
as a renewed movement within the Church,
as anointed and sent members of the Body of Christ.

St. Marcellin Champagnat, Pray for Us.

Reflection Questions

Where have I experienced the “unquenchable fire” of the Spirit in my own life, and how is it calling me now to take greater responsibility in building the “New Hermitage”?
Who are the people or encounters that have shaped my faith and Marist identity, and how might I now become that same life-giving presence for others, especially the young?
In my local context, what does it mean in practical terms to build a “living Hermitage” — a place of prayer, fraternity, and hope — and what courageous step is the Spirit inviting me to take next?

Mark O’Farrell
Assistant director of the Secretariat of Laity

Please note: All Champagnat Marists are invited to subscribe to the Sharing newsletter.