Vicar General Visits Schools in New Orleans: Brother Vicar General William Mann recently visited the three Lasallian schools and communities of Brothers that were evacuated when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the USA on 29 August 2005. While the schools and communities are now operational, many families of students, faculty, and staff still struggle in difficult and challenging circumstances. Huge sections of New Orleans (where De La Salle High School and Christian Brothers School are located) and the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain (where the St. Paul’s School is located) remain devastated or uninhabitable even eight months after the storm.

The visit was intended to be an expression of interest, concern, and solidarity on the part of the Institute and Lasallian Family for the many Lasallians who suffered great loss and displacement in the days and months that followed the immediate destruction wrought by the hurricane. It was, as well, an opportunity to understand better the challenges that this sector of the Lasallian Family presently faces and to affirm the Lasallians in the schools and the communities of Brothers for the very significant, and often heroic, contributions they are making to provide a more normal environment for many youngsters and to help rebuild the badly tattered fabric of life in the Metropolitan New Orleans area of the USA.
^{(Br. Bill Mann)}

Lasallians Building the Future: The 1st ARLEP Mission Assembly, "Lasallians Building the Future," was held April 26 to 29 in Sant Martí de Sesgueioles.

There were 51 participants from the Region's 7 Districts, including two representatives from the Sub-District of the Gulf of Benin. Two-thirds of the participants were lay persons and one-third were Brothers, including all the Brother Visitors and Auxiliary Visitors. Invited guests included Brother Juan Pablo, General Councillor, and Brother Antonio Botana, Secretary for Association.

This Assembly was the "partial" Assembly in preparation for the International Assembly on Association for Mission that will be held in October-November of this year. In addition, this was the 1st Mission Assembly ever held in the Region of Spain and Portugal.

Topics of Mission and Association were dealt with, as well as the challenge that the process of restructuring brings in ARLEP. The three intense days of sharing were the opportune time to speak honestly and to embrace the spirit of fraternity that unites all of us as Lasallians.

Commitment to create new mission structures in service of the young, to continue promoting Lasallian communities, to continue working for the spirit of association with the Mission at the center were the core topics of this Assembly.

There were also several festive moments in terms of sharing the typical culture of each local region, with the presence of the "70 x 7" musical ensemble, made up of young Brothers and former students, who brought us closer to the different realities of our society, with one of its excellent musical compositions.
^{(Brother Néstor Ferrers, Executive Secretary General for ARLEP)}

Br. Vincent Malham inaugurated as Christian Brother University's (CBU) 21st President: On April 23, Br. Vincent Malham was inaugurated as CBU's 21st President (Memphis Tennessee, USA). It was on 30 June 2005 that Brother Vincent completed nine years of leadership at Bethlehem University and after a brief sabbatical he was appointed President at CBU in December 2005. In his inaugrual address, Br. Vincent said, "As I continue the responsibility as President of Christian Brothers University after five months in service, I find the University to be locally strong, nationally respected and internationally aligned. CBU is one of the 235 Catholic colleges/universities in the United States, and like each of these schools, it is important that CBU nurture its own distinctive qualities and areas of special emphasis."

Congratulations and best wishes to Br. Vincent and to the students, faculty and staff of Christian Brothers University.
^{(Br. Donald Johanson)}

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