From September 24 to 30 of this year, a group of religious specially dedicated to youth ministry met in Suba (Bogotá, Colombia). In the group, there were seven religious coming from Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Dominican Republic and Venezuela. José María Sánchez, general councilor and president of the General Secretariat of Education Apostolate and Youth Ministry convoked this meeting. This task is incompliance with the Ordinance 9.1 of the General Chapter in 2010: “Let them draft and publish a formative itinerary for the RAY, as well as materials pertaining to formation, prayer, community life and social action.”
The team programmed a work-plan with various phases. In the first phase, they studied thoroughly the statutes of the RAY and they introduced some amendments to it. The second phase focused on searching for a common itinerary of the RAY within the whole Order. Having reached an agreement among the members of the group, they proceeded to the third phase of the work, namely, to draft a simple Manual that would explain the nature of the RAY, its objectives, the persons involved and their functions. Finally, in the fourth phase, they proposed a work-plan for the next three months, during which the members of the team will elaborate the stages of this itinerary with its objectives, themes, celebrations, materials . .
. Catholic Movement
At this point, the proposed changes in the statutes, the manual and the drafted work-plan are yet to be presented to the Father General and his council.
Indeed, this meeting leaves a mark of a past and of a future, not only at the level of communion and common task among the provinces, but also in the very history and development of the RAY.
RAY stands for the “Recollect Augustinian Youth.” It is a Catholic movement founded by the Order of Augustinian Recollects. It aims to experience and promote the Augustinian charism among the youth. Its growth as a movement within the apostolate of the Augustinian Recollects is uneven. In some countries like Argentina and Venezuela, there are now numerous members of pre-communities and RAY communities. RAY groups in Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Philippines, Guatemala, Panama are now taking some important steps. In Chile, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Mexico and Peru, the Ray movement is a bit slow. They are either at their initial stage or they have not yet started.