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 News of the Institute and Lasallian Family
Rome, November 25, 2003 |
 Bethlehem
University Launching its 30th Anniversary Celebrations:
On Thursday,
October 2, at 5:30 PM an Academic Convocation was held in the Plaza of
the newly constructed Millennium Hall. The festive ceremony was attended
by dignitaries and friends of Bethlehem University.
The entry procession was beautiful and profoundly dignified. H.E.
Monsignor Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Delegate and Chancellor of Bethlehem
University opened with an invocation reminding us of our uniqueness and
the dignity of every individual, and calling for God's blessing on us
all.
 Brother Vincent Malham, President-Vice Chancellor, welcomed the guests
and stated that "In the Latin Catholic Church today is the Feast of the
Guardian Angels. How appropriate it is that on this day we recognize and
give thanks to our guardian angels: His Beatitude Monsignor Michel
Sabbah, Mr. And Mrs. Richard Moley, Brother James Gaffney, Dr. Conor
Ward and Dr. Colete Dowling, and Mrs. Julia Dabdoub, Dr. Daoud Salameh,
and Mr. Bishara Daoud - for watching over, guiding, encouraging, and
giving hope and financial support to help maintain and develop this
young university. We are indeed honored to have this opportunity today
to express our gratitude to them."
Patriarch Sabbah addressed the assembly and spoke of the role of
Bethlehem University as a site of religious coexistence and tolerance
between Christians and Moslems. He acknowledged the role of the De La
Salle Christian Brothers over the years in the service of this
University. The Patriarch expressed his wish that the spirit of this
University will spread to all of society, in order to develop a new
generation, new modes of thinking, and a new spirit altogether in the
Holy Land, one that rejects oppression, violence, and the wars carried
out by man supposedly in the name of God.
Among those in attendance at the Convocation were Mr. Regis Coetschet,
Consul General of France; Mr. Jose Maria Ferre De La Pena, Consul
General of Spain; Father Elias Chacour, notable author and President of
St. Elias College; Mr. Hanna Nasser, Mayor of Bethlehem and Chairman of
the Board of Trustees; Mr. Raji Zeidan, Mayor of Beit Jala; Dr Niall
Hollihan, Head of the Representative Office of Ireland, and Dr. Jack
Keutgen, Director of the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem.
http://www.bethlehem.edu
(Br. Jack Curran)
|
 Student
Life Center at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco:
The long wait finally ended for students at Sacred Heart Cathedral
Preparatory in San Francisco this week when the school unveiled its new
44,000-square-foot student center.
In September, the students gathered at the plaza outside the Sister
Teresa Piro, DC, Student Life Center where Principal John Scudder
welcomed them to the $16 million facility that includes a 600-seat
dining hall and 1, 500-seat athletic pavilion. It represents the
second-largest project ever undertaken by the archdiocese of San
Francisco in its 150-year history.
On Sunday, October 12, the community gathered for a special dedication
ceremony and Mass, with Archbishop William J. Levada presiding.
As the oldest Catholic high school in San Francisco, a university
preparatory school with 99% of graduates attending university each year,
a world-renowned chorus and a Fightin' Irish athletic program, Sacred
Heart Cathedral Preparatory has much to celebrate and be proud of.
Congratulations!
http://www.shcp.edu
(Br. Kevin Slate) |
"Best Teacher Award" conferred on Br. Arulsamy by the Tamilnadu
Government: We received this happy news as we celebrated the feast
of our Holy Founder in India.
Br. Arulsamy started his teaching career in year 1972. He served for the
past 29 years in our schools - St. Lasalle, Tuticorin (21Yrs), St.
James, Suranam (5yrs) and B.J.T. Jr. College, Keesara, A.P. state (3
yrs). He was Headmaster and Principal for the past 20 years. He has
Masters Degrees in History, English and Education. He is a Doctorate
holder from De la Salle University, Philippines in "Religion and Value
Education." He is the first De La Salle brother to be trained in India.
He has become a model for all of his junior Brothers in the Delegation.
Congratulations on behalf of the Delegation of India.
(Br. John Fernando FSC, President) |
 Encuentro VII, January 2004: Encuentro VII will be held between
13 and 17 January 2004 in Barcelona on the campus of the university
colleges of "Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle". This debate will be
continued on an optional basis on 18 and 19 of the same month in Madrid
at the "Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios La Salle".
 Encuentro VII will be a meeting point for the presidents of the
university institutions affiliated to the International Association of
Lassallian Universities (IALU) with the ultimate goal of laying the
foundations for convergence towards an established Worldwide University
System. Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría will begin the sequence of
seminars with the conference, "University education within the
Lassallian mission"
The main points of the debate will be: the promotion of the Lasallian
dimension in higher education, the formation of students in all aspects
and the lifelong commitment this represents, the adoption of an
international system enabling easy understanding of academic
qualifications and marks, the promotion of consistency between
establishments and qualifications offered, support for the creation of
new establishments and study courses, the promotion of mobility,
internationalism as a value, the promotion of computerisation in
universities, the promotion of the collective development of research
methods, the transfer of technology and the creation of businesses. More
information:
http://www.ialu.net.
(Euroinform)
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 The new IALU website; Keeping you informed about La Salle Universities:
The International Association of Lasallian Universities (IALU), which
was started five years ago with the objective of coordinating the
activities of all the La Salle centres worldwide, now has its own
website: http://www.ialu.net
This project has been developed by and is being coordinated with the
Barcelona-based university, "Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle". At
present, information categorising the entire range of undergraduate and
postgraduate studies offered by La Salle Centres is being put online. In
a recent study of La Salle Universities all over the world and their
university programs, 8 areas of undergraduate study were identified,
together with more than 100 subsections. Distinctions were made in these
areas between: Management, Science, Arts, Technical and Engineering
Programs, Social Sciences, Health and Medicine, Law and the Military.
(Euroinform)
|
 The Central
Community Welcomes CIL to Rome: On Tuesday Oct 7th the Central
Community in the Generalate hosted an informal dinner to welcome the
participants of the new session of CIL which began on Oct 5th. The focus
of the session is the preparation of formators, in particular, formators
for initial formation. There are 40 participants registered - 37
Brothers and 3 Sisters (2 Lasallian Sisters and 1 Guadalupana Sister) -
but the arrival of 4 of the Brothers was delayed because of visa
difficulties. In comparison with other CIL groups, this is a relatively
young group with the average age being 41 and 2 months. The youngest
participant is 29 and the oldest is 63. There are 20 Spanish-speakers,
12 English-speakers and 8 French-speakers. The first week has been taken
up with orientation and the community project. This will be followed by
a week devoted to the birth of the Institute presented by Br. Jean-Louis
Schneider. This will serve as an introduction to the Lasallian
pilgrimage to France "in the steps of the Founder" which is scheduled
from Oct 20th to Oct 30th. Br. Michael French (Midwest) is the Director
of the Session and he is assisted on the CIL Staff by Bros. Robert Comte
(France), Br. Alfonso Novillo (Madrid), Br. Constant Wenckstern (South
Belgium) and Br. John D'Cruz (Penang) who joined the Staff during the
summer. The two Secretaries for Initial Formation, Br. Alberto Prada
(Colombia) and Br. Aidan Kilty (Great Britain), are also involved in the
session full-time.
(Br. Aidan Kilty) |
The
Village of Agüimes: The village of Agüimes held celebrations in
honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, patroness of the village, from
September 27 to October 11. These celebrations were officially declared
in 2002 as part of a National Tourism Package. We Lasallians in Agüimes
participated in significant ways in these celebrations because we
believed that our participation would help us enter more deeply into the
tradition, recover those values which our predecessors considered to be
sound ones, and which perhaps today are appreciated less - values like
the family, solidarity and common effort.
The community of Brothers, along with a representative group of Young
Lasallians, took charge of leading various liturgical celebrations.
 The
participation of the Lasallian Association in the religious procession
was significant. The theme for this year's float was "The Barber Shop"
in tribute to the veteran barbers of the village. This represented an
old barber's shop where Domingo Estupiñan carried out his trade and the
site was passed by during the procession.
The Association of Young Lasallians provided over 400 kilos of food
which was collected by members of the Association the previous week
during the Kilo Campaign.
 On
the occasion of the celebrations on the Feast of the Rosary the third
issue of the Naife magazine hit the street. This was published by the
Association of Young Lasallians and it was a monograph that dealt with
the devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary. Information was given as regards
the activities held this summer by the Association.
This was an intense summer for the Association, a summer that began at
the end of June with creating "salt rugs" for the Corpus Christi
procession.
July gave us the opportunity to participate, by means of sending a
representative, in the European Meeting of Young Lasallians. Young
people from Agüimes participated in this international forum which
recognized the vitality of our association as a point of reference for
other young people who seek inspiration in the charism of De La Salle.
It was also in July when those of us in Agüimes began to feel an
attachment to the inhabitants of San Lorenzo in Guatemala. This was a
summer of service and collaboration with those who have very little but
who give a lot as they welcomed us with open arms.
 In
August there was time for recreation and social activities. With a sense
of collaboration and helping we went to the Iberian Peninsula. We spent
ten days sharing in the suburbs of Madrid. Along with the younger
residents of the La Salle youth home which the Brothers manage and where
we volunteered, we were able to see the reality close-up of some
children who have not been favored by life's circumstances. We realized
how really fortunate we are.
In September we began the activities pertaining to Operation Kilo.
(Br. Fernando Manzanares Abegón)
|
 Web
Notes: The entire works of the founder in French in PDF format can be found on
the French Canadian website at:
http://www.delasalle.qc.ca. We have linked them on our web page in
the
French publications section.
(Br. Donald Johanson) |
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