Bernard John Pascal Pâris, or simply Bernard, as he liked to be called, was born in Paris on 01 February 1928 and became one of the four co-founders of the Latin American Movement Gente que Avanza, formerly Viva la Gente. (People on the Move)
He was considered the "pillar of action" of the Gente que Avanza Movement, because of his natural tendency to go out to meet people at all levels of society to "OFFER" - as he always emphasised - the possibility of working together to build a better world, better organisations, starting from the change of perspective and attitude of the people, men and women, who make it up.
Bernard had a born charisma, which generated closeness with all people, breaking the ice and leaving any expected scheme, which opened doors for him to gain the trust of people of different ages and backgrounds. Another element that characterised him was his way of saying things, the good and the not so good... He was honest, without filter, straight to the point!
His love for people and places took him to several continents. He worked in Africa and around 1955 he decided to visit Brazil, arriving in Rio de Janeiro, where he enjoyed its beautiful beaches, the warmth of the people and 'other things', because he had not yet changed.
It was while in Brazil, and thanks to the contacts of his older sister, Elsa Vogel, who was part of the full-timers team that Moral Re-Armament -MRA-, now Initiatives of Change, had in that country, that Bernard got to know first-hand the work of Moral Re-Armament.
In those years, the impact of the work of MRA in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina was evident in helping ordinary people, some in privileged leadership positions, to make decisions for change based on the four absolute principles of Moral Re-Armament: absolute love, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness and absolute honesty.
Bernard was no stranger to that impact, and, as he recounted countless times, it was thanks to a short but powerful conversation with Dr. Raul Migone, then Argentina's Minister of Labour and Social Security, that Bernard accompanied a small MRA delegation to Buenos Aires/Argentina. Dr. Migone told him: «I did in Paris what you came to Copacabana to do... don't waste time». The clarity and forcefulness of Migone's message, made Bernard lock himself in that very night to do a 'life review' in front of the four absolute values; finding areas of his life that he needed to fix. That was the trigger that led him to commit himself to the mission of MRA and dedicate his life to the training of people for a better world.
Then he met Omar Ibargoyen Paiva -Uruguay-, Jeanette Alonso de Ibargoyen -USA- and Jeanne Azam -France-, with whom they started a training experience that transformed the lives of thousands of young Latin Americans in what was called El Elenco Latinoamericano Gente que Avanza, formerly Viva la Gente, which was born on January 2, 1970, in Montevideo/Uruguay, as an inspiration of the work of Moral Re-Armament in Latin America.
Bernard's personality was very intense and he knew how to put it at the service of MRA's mission in the plays and speeches that had to be translated from English into Spanish, on its tour around various Latin American countries.
Some of his tour colleagues from those years, among them Niketu Iralu, from Nagaland, India, says: «When Peter Howard needed to be translated into Spanish, he would ask Bernard to be the translator, because "he adds emotion to what he is translating"».
Undoubtedly, those of us who had the privilege of knowing, sharing and living with Bernard, had a great gift from God / from life. His way of stepping in, without asking permission, but with love, made us open the doors of our intimacy, explore and heal those areas that were hidden, in silence, in fear. Bernard opened the doors of the whole world to those of us who hardly looked at the nearest neighbour. He always said: «when you visit another place, always do it on the basis of appreciation, not comparison».
Bernard passed away in the city of Montevideo on 22 July 2014. He had no wife or children.
