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 News of the Institute and Lasallian Family
Rome, December 9, 2003 |
Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría elected President of the USG
(Union of Superiors General): In late November, Br. Álvaro became
the first non-cleric to be elected President by a plenary assembly of
the USG. (He had been vice-president and was elected President by the
Executive Committee in June 2001 when the former President ceased to be
Superior General of his Franciscan order.)
Upon his election, we posed the following three questions to him:
1. What do you see as the role of the USG in the Church today?
 The
purpose of the Union of Superiors General is to promote the life and
mission of the different religious Institutes in service of the Church.
It does this in response to the needs of the world by means of mutual
collaboration among the Institutes themselves and with the Holy See. It
is an organization of co-ordination and not one of government.
At a time such as ours in which for some it seems that the religious
life has lost its energy and significance, our Union has even greater
meaning. Together we must search for ways for updating. We have an
excellent tool for this in our assemblies which occur every six months
and which allow us to go deeply into current topics of great interest.
Our assemblies are times of significant ongoing formation and
extraordinary fraternity. For example, during our assemblies in the
recent past we reflected on globalization which will bring about
multi-ethnic and multi-cultural communion within our Institutes. These
reflections have a whole series of ecclesiastical implications for the
government of our Institutes. We also reflected on the economics and the
mission of consecrated life today. The last three assemblies dealt with
the topic of dialogue: dialogue in and with the Church and with lay
persons in order to face the challenges of mission in the Church today.
We see inter-religious dialogue as a priority.
2. What do you see as significant about your being a Brother and being
elected to the Presidency?
 It
seem to me that beyond my own person, with all my limitations, it is a
recognition for consecrated life "per se," lived in complementary ways
that enrich and diversify the unique charism of the religious life. In
this regard it seems important to me to recall that according to the
statistics published in the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod on
Religious Life, it was noted that 82.2% of all religious life is lay.
Vatican II, for its part, states: Lay religious life, both for women and
for men, constitutes in itself the fullness of the profession of the
evangelical counsels (PC 10), but nevertheless the lay religious life is
not always appreciated or understood by the other members of the people
of God or it is considered incomplete or "second class."
The fact that the Superiors General elected me with a majority vote
seems to me to be a very important sign of the value of religious life
itself and of the Brothers' vocation within the Church. We still have an
unresolved problem today in mixed Institutes where Brothers do not enjoy
the same rights in carrying out positions of authority as the religious
who are ordained. Nevertheless the synod Fathers raised this issue
during the Synod and the Pope expressed the hope in article 61 of Vita
Consecrata that all the religious would be recognized as having equal
rights and obligations, with the exception of those which stem from Holy
Orders.
3. What are your hopes, expectations and visions for your mandate as
President?
 Our
Institutes today are certainly not lacking for challenges which I
consider to be exciting, especially at this historic time in which we
are living with its problems and hopes. It seems to me that we should
start from a religious life which is not centered on itself but is open
to the needs of the world from the standpoint of a God who wants
everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2: 4), so that our religious life can be
not just a past memory but above all a prophecy for the future (NM 3).
It seems to me that the major event we will have in the next three years
will be our Congress in November 2004. We have entitled it Passion for
God, Passion for Humanity and it has this focus: How is God's Spirit
emerging among us, where is it leading us and how can we respond to the
challenges of our time? I would hope that this Congress might be for us
an act of faith in our lives and in its enormous evangelical potential;
an awareness of the two coordinates around which we ought to act: God
and the human person, the mystic and the prophetic; an act of faith in
our vocation and its value for the world today, so that we can continue
being for the world "the prolongation in history of a special presence
of the Risen Lord" (Vita Consecrata, 19); a religious life with "charm"
that demands one's attention by its way of being and living in a period
of disillusionment; a religious life alternative to the values which the
globalized world offers us today and which makes real the invitation of
Jesus: But it must not be so among you (Mark 10: 42 - 43).
(Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría
Rome, December 1, 2003)
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Visit to Pakistan: From 31st October to 4th November it was
Pakistan's turn for a visit by the Superior General. There being four
Communities in the sub-District of Pakistan, the Superior was able to
spend just one day in each of the houses, except for the community in
Karachi in the Sind Province, some 600 km away. He paid a visit to all
the projects undertaken by each community.
 During the five-day visit Br. Superior General, accompanied by Br.
Victor Franco, General Councillor, met all the Brothers working in
Pakistan and held personal interviews with all of them. A large number
of our students and teachers were also very grateful for the opportunity
to meet the Superior General as he traveled through the schools.
One of the more lasting impressions from the visit is that our schools
in Pakistan have succeeded in becoming centers where respect, tolerance
and dialogue are possible as a result of the openness that exists
towards diverse cultures and religions.
(Brother Herman Nanayakkara)
The Superior Visits La Salle Higher Secondary School, Multan,
Pakistan: The famous Smiling Brother Álvaro, stopped by the Pakistan
Lasallian Family on 3rd November, 2003. The Brothers in Pakistan had
gathered in their numbers - over 19 of them - on a busy Monday morning.
The students of La Salle Higher Secondary School gave the visiting
Brothers, Álvaro and Victor Franco a fitting welcome. The students were
all eager to meet and listen to this smiling Brother whom they soon
recognized as one of their own.
 Brother
Álvaro has a kindly, friendly, open manner and a ready smile. He relates
easily to people. He is genuinely interested in people. A good listener,
he was very keen to understand the aspirations of the students as well
as to appreciate the value of the works established in the Pakistan.
He has a deep spirituality. He understands well that the Preventive
System is not just for dealing with the young but it is the Lasallian
spiritual way of relationships and as such is in continuous need of
rediscovery, viz. caring for others; being sensitive to the needs of
others; being available; being appreciative and grateful.
However, behind the friendliness and cordiality, he has a keen awareness
of La Salle's dream on the future of the Congregation and the grim
realities of the contemporary world. He spoke about the need for
vocations to continue La Salle's mission. His sympathetic understanding
of the Brothers vocation was refreshing. He is especially anxious that
young Lasallians deepen their spiritual life and share their spirit and
mission with others.
(David McAuley,
Class 8th C)
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 Bogotá,
Colombia: On November 14, La Salle University in Bogotá celebrated
the 40th anniversary of its foundation.
 La
Salle University in Bogotá was founded on November 15th 1964 by the
Brothers of the Christian Schools. From its foundation it has tried to
fulfill with quality, efficiency and its recognized prestige, the
mission of offering to society an alternative higher education inspired
by the Catholic Education Model, which guides the line of approach of
the Pastoral Ministry of the University staff, characterized by its
scientific support and its wide human and social content.
 It
began its academic work in the first semester of 1965 with programs in
Economics, Philosophy and Literature, and Civil Engineering; with
Degrees in Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Physics. Nowadays it
offers 29 Undergraduate academic programmes in different fields of
knowledge - of which 9 deal with education - and 16 Postgraduate
academic programmes - including 3 in education. It has 12,500 students
who are looked after by about 900 teaching staff and 570 persons working
in administration and services.
Congratulations to Brother Fabio Gallego Arias,
Rector, for the University's many years of service to the people
of Colombia.
http://www.lasalle.edu.co/
(Br. Donald Johanson) |
Dedication
Weekend at the New CBC High School in St. Louis, USA: A weekend of
dedication events marking the opening of the new Christian Brothers
College High School drew several thousand visitors to the campus.
On October 11-12, the chapel and school were dedicated in a celebration
that brought the construction of the school full-circle. A week later,
alumni and the general public had the opportunity to walk through the
school.
The dedication events came after an aggressive building schedule that
saw the completion of the school in 15 months. The ceremonial
groundbreaking event was held in May 2002.
The Dedication Weekend was truly a time to celebrate.
The Chapel Dedication was led by Bishop Joseph Naumann, who joined more
than 300 friends and benefactors in a prayerful celebration of
dedication. The next day, more than 1,800 donors to the FOREVER CBC
Capital Campaign joined the Christian Brothers in dedicating the new
campus.
See additional Dedication Weekend photos on our website -
www.cbchs.org.
(Rob Staggenborg)
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 International
Council on Communication meets in Rome: From November 19 to 22, 2003
the International Council on Communication met in Rome to discuss the
communication needs of the Institute. The agenda of the meeting
included an evaluation of our Institute publications, both print and
electronic; an input session on our institutional image; a discussion on
specific recommendations from our 43rd General Chapter concerning
communication; and strategic planning for the future.
Some of the input for the evaluation session came from the survey that
is on our web site and from a questionnaire that was sent to the
District Communication Coordinators/Teams. Thanks to all for their
input. Our Institute web site was revised last year as a response to
these surveys and the Council's recommendations. As the General Chapter
of 2007 approaches, we look to another revision.
The session on our institutional image generated a lot of interest.
Thanks to Mr. Luis Carlos Herrera of the University of Mexico for his
interesting input. I had to spend time on the internet following the
meeting to try to understand "semiosis", an important concept developed
by Mr. Herrera during the discussion. His presentation will be used by
us as we try to develop the "communication policy" that was called for
by the 43rd General Chapter.
The 43rd General Chapter, an international planning meeting of our
congregation which took place in the Spring of 2000, made three
recommendations specifically dealing with communication. These
recommendations dealt with "new and modern means of communication" (Rec.
44), a "policy of communication" (Rec. 45), and "new communication
technologies" (Rec. 46). One of the tasks set by the International
Council was that we recommend to the Superior General and his Council
some strategies for complying with these recommendations. We will work
on this during the next months, especially concentrating on
Recommendation 45 which asked for a policy on communication. We hope
that this policy will be helpful not only to those of us who work with
the Institute's official communication, but also to those who work on
District communication teams.
Other areas involved in our strategic planning included our developing
better communication with our Districts' Communication
Coordinators/Teams. We will be spending time trying to build better
bridges both between these entities and the Communication Team in Rome
and among the various District Communication Coordinators/Teams.
 On the final evening of our meeting, Br. Álvaro, Superior General,
hosted the International Council at a reception and dinner. At the end
of the Dinner, Michael Rapatan, of the District of the Republic of the
Philippines, presented Br. Superior a CD recently released by the
Philippine District for use by various members and communities of the
Lasallian Family. The interactive program enables anyone interested in
St. John Baptist de La Salle to know more about his life, works and
writings. The CD (in English) contains a short biography of De La Salle,
a chronology of his life, a compilation of short inspirational messages
taken from De La Salle's writings for each day, and a collection of key
texts and important documents related to our Institute. The CD costs US$
10 and copies may be ordered from: La Salle Greenhills Provincialate,
c/o Mr. Michael Gamo (District Bursar), Greenhills PO Box 560, 1502
Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. Fax: 63-2-721-5409 or
email brarmin@lsgh.edu.ph for
further information.
http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/offices/crem/portfolio/default.asp?ID=4
(Br. Donald Johanson) |
 University
Ramón Llull, Barcelona: On October 14, the School of Engineering and
Architecture of University Ramón Llull, Barcelona, was awarded the Cross
of Saint George, the highest honor awarded by Government of Catalunya.
The award honors 100 years of La Salle University's work in Catalunya.
This Lasallian University Center, administered by the Brothers, offers
12 university careers and 25 Master's programs.
 The
student body has more than 4000 students. Fields of study include
Telecommunications, Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, Sound and
Image, Multimedia, Architecture, Quantity surveyors, Management and
Administration. The Center also has an Important Technological and
Managerial Park which coordinates projects with numerous companies that
do research and with various departments of the University. For more
information see: salleurl.edu
Congratulations to University Ramón Llull and to its School of
Engineering and Architecture.
Brother Josep Martí
Visitor of the District of Catalunya |
If you have news notes that you would like us to consider
publishing, please email us: lasallew@lasalle.org |
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