To Brother John Johnston
Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian School

The great Jubilee of the Incarnation will be the occasion of a double anniversary for the Brothers of the Christian Schools. In the course of the month of May, there will be celebrations to mark the centenary of the canonisation of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the founder of your Institute, as well as the fiftieth anniversary of his proclamation, by my predecessor Pope Pius XII, as Special Patron of all educators of children and of youth. This double event affords me the opportunity to unite myself profoundly with your prayers and thanksgiving, as well as with those of all the members of your religious family, and to address a cordial greeting to all, especially at this time when there is gathered about you the members of the 43rd General Chapter of your Institute.

By his pedagogical genius, Saint John Baptist de La Salle was an illustrious pioneer of the education of children and youth of the common people. A veritable apostle, he knew how to be of service to the children who attended his schools, applying himself in the first place to the formation of their teachers. Such an insight remains fundamental to this day, because it underlines that education presumes on the one hand the transmission of human and Christian values, and on the other the example of adults who can demonstrate to the young the nature of a beautiful and well-balanced life. Education is then more than a trade, it is a mission, which consists in helping each person recognise that he or she is irreplaceable and unique, so that each can grow and develop fully. By proclaiming your Founder Patron of all educators of children and of youth, the Church proposes him as a model to be imitated and as an example for all those who have an educational task, inviting them to demonstrate resourcefulness, patience and devotedness, and to discern the needs of youth, responding in this way to their deep aspirations.

It is for the Brothers to make known the grandeur of the apostolate and Saint John Baptist de La Salle's Christian vision of the educator, which retain all their relevance for the world of today. His charism, nourished by the assiduous contemplation of God, Creator and Saviour, and lived out according to the religious ideal of an existence consecrated to the Lord in a fraternal community life, shows that educating, teaching and evangelising form a whole. Education remains incomplete if it does not lead to learning respect for life and liberty, the service of truth and the desire to give oneself. By announcing the Gospel in the schools, which is the aim of your apostolate, you set yourselves to forming each person, to forming the whole person.

I therefore encourage all the Brothers in their mission of education and of evangelisation, especially of poor children and youth and of those experiencing difficulty, showing them that each one is infinitely precious in the eyes of God. In this way they share in a prominent way in the mission of the Church. I exhort them to be true sons of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, supporting one another mutually along the way of holiness. By taking their share in "the work of God" and in fully living the catechetical dimension of their noble task, may they confront at all times in the numerous countries where they are to be found, present and future challenges, especially in these times, in a world in evolution, where many points of reference of moral life are disappearing. As I said to you at the time of your last General Chapter, on the 14th of May 1993, "in all circumstances be teachers, witnesses to Christ and Christian educators by example and by word". May you by this double commemoration in the heart of the Jubilee year, revive the mission which is yours and call on young people to follow the Lasallian ideal in the religious life.

Entrusting you to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and of Saint John Baptist de La Salle - you and all your Brothers, teachers, students of your schools and their parents, as well as former students and the Lasallian family who collaborate with you in your mission, I impart the Apostolic Blessing to you with all my heart.

From the Vatican, 8th May 2000.

Joannes Paulus II
(signed, in the French original)