SOLIDARITY MATTERS MARCH 2024

FROM THE CEO BEC BROMHEAD

SOLIDARITY MATTERS

AUTUMN 2024

Welcome to the first edition of Solidarity Matters for 2024. It’s hard to believe we’re already a quarter of the way through the year. It has been a busy start to the year for our AMS team.

We recently held a 2-day Immersions Workshop which highlighted the importance of the work we do alongside our project partners throughout the Asia Pacific. The Workshop involved passionate Immersions Coordinators from Australian Marist schools and ministries. We also had several guest speakers, including Bishop Tim Norton of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

A recurring theme of the Workshop was interculturality - how our own cultures influence our worldview and how to best encounter another culture. This is at the heart of the immersion experience for our students and staff. It also is the heart of solidarity: offering something of ourselves, of our Australian way, in service of our neighbouring nations.

As is observed by those who lead immersion programs, it’s a two-way exchange. Indeed, immersion participants often gain more from an immersion experience than what they offer their host community.

Our work of solidarity invites us to learn a new way of being in our world. For our friends and supporters, hopefully through AMS and publications like this edition of Solidarity Matters, you are exposed to new ways of thinking and being.

As Pope Francis expresses in his Message for World Mission Day 2024, “The Gospel...calls individuals to encounter one another.”

So, thank you for connecting with AMS. We hope you and your family have a blessed Easter.

Yours in solidarity,

Bec Bromhead, CEO