Indian Montfort brothers draft global education charter

(December 31, 2009) Montfort brothers in India have taken the lead in drafting an education charter for their congregation’s educational institutions around the world. Brother K.M. Joseph, national president of the Montfort brothers in India, said that his Indian confreres took the lead because “we are the most vibrant group” in the global congregation. The European membership is “dying out” and Africans are “just catching up,” he said. Indians account for some 600 of the 1,200 Montfort brothers in the world. “We are roughly half, and the other half is spread across several nations and is aging,” Brother Joseph said. The charter, when adopted, will be applied to Montfort educational institutions in the 34 countries where the brothers work. The leaders of seven Montfort provinces in India met with 200 teachers from the order’s educational institutions at a conference December 27-29 in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh state. They drafted the “Montfortian Education Charter for the 21st Century” that is to be finalized at a meeting of worldwide Montfort brothers in Rome in February. The charter calls for a shift in the content and methodology of education, Brother M.A. George, national coordinator of the conference, said. The congregation wants to link educational technology, managerial competence and leadership initiatives for a fast changing world, Brother George said. It also wants to stress Bible values so as to help build a just society. The Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel congregation, which manages institutions for “total education,” was founded by Saint Louis Marie De Montfort in France in 1705.