New Visitors attend session in Rome: A New Visitors Session was recently conducted at the Casa Generalizia. Twenty-three Brothers, who had in recent months been appointed as Visitors or Auxiliary Visitors of Districts and Presidents of Delegations, were called to Rome by the Superior General to participate in this formation session that began on 16 May and concluded on 28 May.

The session began with the celebration at the Casa Generalizia of Founder’s Day. The mass for the day was celebrated by Archbishop Franc Rodé, C.M., the prefect for religious. Mass was followed by dinner with the new Visitors and Auxiliary Visitors joining all of the Brothers of the Generalate. Br. Superior seemed a bit nervous at the end of the meal cutting the cake which had a digital picture of John Baptist de La Salle as the icing. He delicately cut a small piece from the corner and then allowed the staff to continue the cutting of the cake.

During the session, some time was spent in prayer and reflection. Significant time was spent in language groupings and social gatherings to share experiences. There were individual meetings with the Superior General and his Council. Time was spent with different departments of the General Services of the Institute. There were also a number of talks (see, for example, those of the Superior General and the Vicar General).

As these Brothers concluded their time together on 28 May, they spoke to one another and the General Council about their hopes and desires as they prepared to return home to their Districts and Delegations. “This was for me a rich experience of brotherhood among the Visitors and between the Visitors and the General Council … the sense of being a brother among my brothers … the sense that we are together.”

“We have perceived ‘the newness’ of this present moment in history … I bring back with me to my District a sense of vitality … of hopefulness … of prayerfulness … of enthusiasm … We have, it seems more clear to me, a union and more common vision … than I would have suspected … of where we are going … even if the way to get there is not yet clear.”
^{(Br. Bill Mann, Br. Donald Johanson)}

Lasallians at World Youth Day (WYD) in Cologne: World Youth Days are now fast approaching. The central events of the “XX World Youth Day” will begin in Cologne, Germany, on 16 August and end on 21 August 2005. The French Young Lasallians have taken the initiative to organize a Lasallian gathering for this occasion.

They require help in organizing an evening between Lasallian people during WYD. A church (capacity of 1,200 people) is already booked for this purpose! They are asking that each group of Young Lasallians that is taking part in WYD get a short skit/sketch ready to perform about one of its country’s saints, including one of its country’s traditional songs.

The aims of the evening are (a) to create links between different groups of Young Lasallian, (b) to discover the culture of each of our countries, and (c) to have a memorable evening between Christians.

To indicate you desire to participate and for more information, you can contact the “Institut Supérieur Agricole de Beauvais” (ISAB) at the following address:

Marie Périsse & Gabriel de Lépinau
147 promotion
14 rue Pierre Waguet
60 000 Beauvais FRANCE
E-mail: jeunes.lasallien@isab.fr
^{(Ivan Grech, Malta Lasallian Youth Link, lasalleyouth@yahoo.co.uk)}

Second International Symposium of Young Lasallians to be held in Rome in 2006: The First International Symposium of Young Lasallians was held in Quebec in 2002. The Second Symposium will be held at the Generalate in Rome (Italy), from the 25th to the 31st of July 2006. This gathering, of about 150 Young Lasallians, will be reserved principally to Young Lasallians from the age of 16 to the age of 35. The title of the gathering will be: “Mission Possible (A Shared Dream)” and is based on the main theme of the gathering: the Lasallian Educational Mission in all its forms and aspects.

This notice will soon be followed by another written by the two Regions that are in charge of organizing the Symposium (Italy and ARLEP). That notice will contain more detailed information about how to participate in the gathering.

We hope that this Symposium will be a new chance of living our faith, of sharing our experiences of service in community with the Brothers and the lay Partners, and of continuing our reflection on the future of an International Movement of Young Lasallians. For this reason, we strongly encourage the participation of every Region of the Institute; and efforts are being made to assure that Regions experiencing economic difficulties will receive some assistance in this regard.

For any other information, continue to visit the Lasallian Youth portion of our webpage or you may send an e-mail to icyl@lasalle.org. We trust that you will share this information with other interested parties, as appropriate.
^{(Br. William Mann, Mr. Davide Smaldone, Coordinators of ICYL)}

From the São Paulo District; Formation of Teachers, in the Field of a Mission: From May 2 - 7, fourteen Lasallians - among them Brothers, undergraduates and teachers from the São Paulo District - were in Esperantina / PI - Brazil. They organized a Pedagogical Seminar and distributed a number of vocational publications. At the end of the seminar two hundred three teachers received a certificate of participation at the event. Besides them, another 65 educators had a casual participation. The seminar was a real success not only because of the serious preparation and dedication that had taken place, but also because of the zeal and reception of the local population.

We Lasallians had been supported by the AMARE - an association directed to the young, and subsidized by a German NGO. Esperantina is a small town in upstate Piaui, a state in the northeast of Brazil where the Lasallian Brothers don’t have any educative work. However, after some missionary works the Brothers are known there and actually two Young Brothers, two Postulants and one Aspirant of the Brothers are from that city.

The highest point of this pedagogical and vocational week was the renewal of vows of Brother Roque do Carmo Amorim Neto at the parish Church, which was crowded, in a mass celebrated by three priests. He promoted and coordinated this great week.
It is important also to emphasize the vocational triduum in one of the Chapels of Esperantina, the visits to the students of the local schools, the participation in several programs of the local radio stations and the interviews with the TV and newspapers from the capital of that state.
^{( Br. Paulo Petry)}

Br. Álvaro receives honorary doctorate at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Commencement: On May 14, 2005, Br. Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, Superior General, was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters by Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. In the picture is Br. Superior with Br. Louis DeThomasis, FSC, Ph.D., then president of the university.
^{(Br. Donald Johanson)}

World Union of Lasallian Former Students (UMAEL) meets in Malta: The UMAEL Board members recently held a very successful meeting in Malta. Present at the meeting were, Jose Ramon Pres., (Spain), Umberto (Mexico), Alfred (Austria), and Br. Claude Reinhardt. Pictured is Br. Martin Borg, introducing the Board members to the Past Students Associations of De la Salle College, Cottonera, and Stella Maris College, Gzira. During the meeting, Jose Ramon stressed the importance of commitment to the Lasallian cause by members of UMAEL.
^{(Br. Martin Borg)}

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