First day of the 7th EDUCAR Meeting

We began this exchange of experiences and innovations among Augustinian Recollect educational leaders, who will remain in Guatemala City, specifically at the Agustiniano School, until Friday, November 17.

Especially, the day started with the Eucharist, celebrating the feast of all the saints of the Augustinian Family, coinciding with the birth of St. Augustine and the beginning of our meeting. The celebration was presided over by Fr. Ángel Córdoba, the institution's rector, and was attended by all OAR priests and event attendees.

As part of the first day, each delegation had the opportunity to introduce themselves and share their expectations for this 7th meeting. We got to know the representatives of educational centers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Spain, the United States, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

Later, we shared a presentation by Jorge Peralta, the school's director and coordinator of EDUCAR projects, who shared a bit of the history of our International Network, marking an important milestone in our educational mission. Likewise, Fr. Antonio Carrón shared the current panorama of our network and the commitments we must address to continue walking together, as well as the objectives of the meeting.

The last presentation of the day was given by Fr. José Uriel Patiño, OAR, from Colombia, who shared the topic of updating the strategic option, objectives, and indicators of the Institutional Educational Project (PEI). The presentation set forth objectives with their respective improvement plans and indicators, responding to the four fundamental thematic axes of educational actions:

• Leadership Objectives:

  1. Promote the Augustinian Recollect charisma of the Recollect Augustinian centers.

  2. Strengthen network collaboration to implement the educational project.

  3. Consolidate the shared mission.

• Evangelization Objectives:

  1. Consolidate educational centers as evangelizing platforms embedded in a pastoral school.

  2. Strengthen spiritual experience in centers through increased participation of the educational community members.

  3. Enhance evangelizing work in our educational centers, implementing the JAR itinerary and processes of vocational promotion and family support.

• Social Action Objectives:

  1. Promote solidarity, justice, and environmental care.

  2. Encourage social and missionary volunteer programs.

  3. Foster a culture of good treatment.

• Pedagogical Objectives:

  1. Develop Augustinian pedagogical foundations with concrete methodological proposals.

  2. Promote relationships between teachers from Order educational centers to share pedagogical experiences.

  3. Implement the training plan for EDUCAR network teachers.

At the end of the presentation, participants divided into regional working groups to propose strategic actions that respond to these objectives and indicators. Undoubtedly, this first day has been the beginning of a true exchange of experiences to continue advancing the educational mission of our Augustinian Recollect Order."