Br. Superior's Pastoral Letter: Every year, Br. Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, Superior General, writes a Pastoral Letter to the Brothers. This year the letter is entitled "Associated with the God of the Kingdom and the Kingdom of God, Ministers and Servants of the Word." Published on December 25th, 2004, it is presented here in PDF (Acrobat Reader) format.

Although it is addressed to the Brothers, it is well worth reading by all who are involved in our Lasallian partnership. This, and the other Pastoral Letters of Br. Álvaro, can be found in the Publications section of this web site.
^{(Br. Donald Johanson)}

UMAEL in Cochabamba, Bolivia: The Executive Committee of the World Union of Lasallian Former Students – UMAEL – held its annual meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on November 20-21, 2004. The members of the committee were warmly welcomed by the Brother Visitor of the District of Bolivia, Brother Marcos Pacheco, as well as by the entire educational community of Colegio Lasalle in Cochabamba, headed by Brother Carlos Bustillo. The committee then began its pressure-filled work program. The work program was quite demanding since the 5th National Congress of Lasallian Former Students of Bolivia was also held in Cochabamba. This congress was attended by former students from Tarija, La Paz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Trinidad, Oruro, Puerto Rico-Pando, and Cochabamba. At this congress, the FELBO (Federation of Lasallian Former Students of Bolivia) was set up and Helder Bravo Chávez, from the Santa Cruz Association of Former Students, was elected president. The members of the Association of Lasallian Former Students of Cochabamba, chaired by Oscar González, were responsible for the excellent organization, and they were congratulated by UMAEL. We visited the Postulancy and the Scholasticate of the Brothers in Cochabamba, as well as the formation house for the Guadalupanas Sisters of De La Salle.
^{(Alfred Meindl, Trasurer of UMAEL)}

Lasallians present at the first Forum for Children in the Canary Islands:On Grand Canary Island, Spain, last November 18-19 the First Form for Children was held. A total of 150 children and 50 teachers from 32 schools from across the archipelago attended the sessions, and the meeting centered on the objective of setting up a space for participation and dialogue around the Rights of the Child. This was the first step in creating a Council for Children in the Canary Islands.

Organized by the island government with collaboration by, among others, UNICEF, the La Salle Arucas school offered its own input by means of the participation of five students and one teacher who, previously, along with the rest of their companions, had worked on the values of tolerance, respect and coexistence in the classroom, based on the Declaration of the Rights of Children.

This school year they have opted to work on the objective of Educating for Justice and Solidarity in our school. Their participation in this island meeting has been another step in the realization of this objective.
^{(Luis e Isaac Fayna)}

If you have news notes that you would like us to consider publishing, please email us:lasallew@lasalle.org