MLNNA held its winter meeting at St. Mary?s University in San Antonio, Texas, from February 17- 20.

During the weekend gathering MLNNA folk met with members of MLCs in San Antonio, shared reports, and helped plan future events, including the Marianist Lay Continental Assembly.

The Assembly, which is being coordinated by Rey Gustamente, will occur at St. Mary?s University from July 27-30. All members of the Marianist Family?lay and religious?are invited!

The Martins, Art and Ardelle, of the Faith and Family MLC in Winnipeg, Canada, are featured in a recent edition of The Prairie Messenger, the Catholic newspaper for Western Canada.

To learn more about Ardelle and Art and what keeps their 28-year marriage strong, see the story below.

The International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities has been invited to send two delegates to a Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities (May 31 to June 2, 2006). The theme of the Congress is ?The beauty of being Christian and the joy to be found in its communication.?

The World Congress will end on June 3 with an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. It is an honor for all Marianist Lay Communities that our way of life is invited to participate in such events.

MLNNA is a part of the International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities. If you think it is a good idea for MLCs to have representation and a voice in such endeavors, please consider supporting MLNNA by a financial contribution.

If you would like to help offset the expenses for MLC/CLM's to participate in this Congress please send any contribution to MLNNA, 1341 N. Delaware Avenue, # 302A Philadelphia, PA 19125.

(Tony Garascia, President of the International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities and Treasurer for MLNNA)

Comunidades de Base Marianistas in San Antonio hosted the Passion play at Holy Rosary and the surrounding neighborhood on March 5.

The Gospel reading for the day was acted out in church and was followed after Mass by the Stations of the Cross procession through the neighborhood.

People were asked to take turns carrying the cross, so Roque (Rock) Avila took the cross representing the men and Angie Cortez dragged the cross for the women.

?I couldn?t quite pick it up," said Angie. ?It was a humbling experience. By the time of the crucifixion in front of the church many persons were weeping.?

After the Passion the quiet and thoughtful crowd was led to the church hall and given a salad lunch served by the rest of the comunidad members. All the ?actors? were introduced and thanked individually, and they gained two more people for their ministry.

The actors collect people at each church where they are hosted so that by the time Holy Week comes around, the group is quite large and represents a number of churches and neighborhoods.

Forty-four student retreatants, along with fifty-two student staffers, prayed, reflected, and danced during Chaminade University?s ?Awaking Retreat,? held in early March.

Comments made by student retreatants after the closing Mass on Sunday all focused on the personal growth they experienced and their hope to assist in future retreats.

(Left to Right) Retreat coordinator Brandon Alana; student staff member Dan Mannell; Campus Minister Kay Stone; Campus Ministry Director Father Ken Templin, SM; and Lionnel Ronduan, student worker; took part in the weekend. (Dan and Lionnel also are members of the Marianist vocations discernment group.)

Resource Packet on the Marianist Pledge to Eliminate Racism

Every Marianist Lay Community and group will be receiving a copy of the packet in the mail within the next 2 weeks. Contact Jim Vogt, jimvogt2@yahoo.com, if you did not receive one.

Interested in Joining an Issue Team?

Two Teams are meeting soon to plan their programs for the next year: the Death Penalty Team in Baltimore on May 5-7, and the Anti-Racism Team in Dayton on June 16-18. They welcome new members or folk who just want to ?come and see.? Contact Jim Vogt, jimvogt2@yahoo.com, for more information.