ANNUAL SCHEDULED PROGRAMS AND RETREATS
Programs and events 2025
The 2025 Programs and Events booklet is your guide the following faith formation opportunities delivered by the Marist Mission and Life Formation Team:
Staff Programs
Online Modules
Marist Association Regional Gatherings
Hermitage Retreats
Marist Tertiary Education
Conferences and Events
Marist Youth Ministry Events
Australian Marist Solidarity Events
To access the Programs and Events 2025 booklet click here
Contact: Tony Clarke | tony.clarke@marists.org.au
National Staff Spirituality Program:
PILgrims of hope: look beyond
The National Staff Spirituality Program invites participants to take up their role as Pilgrims of Hope in the world and to look beyond as they engage in the evangelising mission to make Jesus Christ known and loved.
As many Marists would be aware in his 2022 address to the participants of the General Conference of the Marist Brothers, Pope Francis urged them to “remain faithful to the service of educating and evangelising young people, according to the charism of Saint Marcellin Champagnat. He knew how to look beyond, and he knew how to teach young people to ‘look beyond’, to open themselves to God, to the horizons of love according to the Gospel.”
Pope Francis expresses the importance of being open to the transformative love of God. A love which can open new horizons of hope for those we encounter.
Contact: Tony Clarke | tony.clarke@marists.org.au
IN THE MARIST WAY:
NEW STAFF FORMATION PROGRAM
This program introduces staff to the story, spirituality and pedagogy of Marist education in the contemporary Catholic school. It is an initial formation program designed for staff who are new to Marist schools.
Participants will explore the Marist mission as a mission of the Church and gain an insight into the charism of the founder, St Marcellin Champagnat.
Contact: Paul Harris | paul.harris@marists.org.au
FOOTSTEPS 1 AND 2:
MAKING JESUS CHRIST KNOWN AND LOVED
A three-day residential program for staff who have been in Marist schools and ministries for two years or more. It explores Marist charism, identity, pedagogy and spirituality.
Footsteps provides an opportunity for participants to strengthen their understanding and practice of Marist pedagogy using core documents, formation processes and community building. This understanding is enriched through gaining a greater appreciation of the Marist story and charism of St Marcellin Champagnat. It also provides a platform for participants to enrich and deepen their own faith journey through exploring contemplative practices of Marian spirituality.
All Footsteps programs are held at The Hermitage, Mittagong NSW.
Contact: Mark O’Farrell | mark.ofarrell@marists.org.au
Marist Solidarity Retreat
A three-day program where participants encounter the living spirituality of the desert and witness the Marist ministry of solidarity in Central Australia.
It is suitable for anyone who has been in Marist ministry for three or more years.
The retreat offers a rich experience of indigenous culture and provides spaces for reflection upon our world and our individual faith journeys. Spending significant time with the local community of Santa Teresa, participants are able to gain an appreciation of how the Marist story is being lived and loved.
Providing a rich background of desert environs, it is a retreat that connects with the land, its people and the Marist mission.
Contact: Paul Harris | paul.harris@marists.org.au
ECOLOGY OF THE HEART
RAINFOREST TO THE REEF RETREAT
This three day retreat provides time and space to reflect on the exhortation of Pope Francis to see creation through the eyes of the creator. Nurturing and transforming creation is a command God gives not only at the beginning of history but to each one of us. Participants will be challenged to respond to this sacred task as we journey through the rainforests of Far North Queensland and the wonder of the Great Barrier Reef.
Stewardship starts from a position of humility. Through prayerful listening, learning, walking and reflecting, participants will engage with the deep springs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture as we travel from the rainforest to the reef. As this retreat involves journeying through natural environments, a reasonable level of fitness is required.
Contact: Tony Clarke | tony.clarke@marists.org.au
Marist Pilgrimage
This 19-day experience invites participants to a journey of the heart and to the sources of our Christian tradition and life. Pilgrims will immerse themselves in the development of the early Christian Church in Greece and Turkey, our Catholic life in Rome, and the Marist project in Lyon and Notre Dame de l’Hermitage.
The possibilities for spiritual and intellectual growth are endless as we walk together as Marist disciples and pilgrims. It is an opportunity to help change our consciousness and our perception of our spiritual identity and how we fit into this world.
Contact: Tony Clarke | tony.clarke@marists.org.au
Mid-Winter Retreat
Our annual retreat offers a time of insight and renewal through a process of quiet reflection, spiritual reading and quality input. In 2025 the retreat will be facilitated by Dr Sally Longley. The retreat will take up the formation theme, Pilgrims of Hope, with a focus on the biblical notion of hope, grace and choice.
Sally is a retreat leader, spiritual director, and author based in Sydney and is a past president of the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction. Her most recent books include Walking the Labyrinth as the Beloved in John’s Gospel and Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul.
Contact: John Hickey | john.hickey@marists.org.au
LITURGICAL MUSIC masterclass
Join students and staff from Catholic schools across Greater Brisbane or the Sydney basin to be trained in new liturgical music and experience liturgical music leadership from one of the bestselling Catholic liturgical music composers in the English and Spanish-speaking world. Participants will learn about hymn choice, vocal and musical leadership, integration of soloists and choirs into strong assembly-focused hymn singing, instrumentation, orchestration and the place of incidental music.
The masterclass is for musically proficient students who have an interest and/or experience in liturgical music, and staff who accompany these students should be musicians with responsibility for leading liturgical music in their school communities.
Contact: Brother Michael Callinan | michael.callinan@marists.org.au
CARE FOR THE SOUL
How do we nurture the Spiritual in the midst of our daily routine? This retreat offers participants a quiet and reflective space away from the busy nature of daily life. A variety of input, prayer experiences, spiritual accompaniment and silence is offered during the retreat. This retreat is an ideal place to start if you have never experienced a silent retreat. The Eucharist is celebrated on the final day of this retreat.
Contact: John Hickey | john.hickey@marists.org.au
MARIST MIDDLE LEADERS PROGRAM -
‘SACRED HEART HEART INFINITE MIND’
This program is designed for educators who hold positions of Middle Leadership in Marist schools. It is an opportunity to explore and deepen their leadership capabilities within the Catholic schooling context, as well as mapping their professional and vocational growth as educators. It draws upon the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) to build upon their understanding of teaching and leading in a Marist school.
This program is practical, future-oriented and provides spaces for ongoing reflection, learning and action. Based on the three Marist Virtues of Humility, Simplicity and Modesty and the writings of Saint Marcellin Champagnat, these interactive sessions will engage with contemporary research and practice, enabling participants to explore their sacred role within the school community.
Contact: Brother Tony Leon | tony.leon@marists.org.au
