A Letter from Br. Abunya Moses, Lwanga District-Nigeria: Greetings from Yola, Nigeria where we continue to touch the hearts of young people entrusted in our care. As I write this, religious tension is rocking the city of Maiduguri (5 hours drive from Yola) as Muslims are on a rampage killing Christians and burning down churches as a protest to the infamous Danish cartoon. It’s unfortunate to see so many people dying innocent deaths for something they have had no hand in. A priest friend of mine was burnt to ashes in his parish house in that city. These are realities that we face as Young Lasallians! That is our dilemma as there are many such situations around the globe, but that is also where our mission is. Pray for us and other troubled areas of the world.

This week our school will be hosting 12 of our Lasallian Youth students from Mount LaSalle College, Naka, Nigeria for a Lasallian Youth symposium. The symposium is titled "You are called to be ministers of Reconciliation." Perhaps this symposium will help our young people reconcile the religious crisis described above even if they don’t understand it. Due to many divisions, our continent, like others requires young people to learn to forgive the past and the present. The symposium is sponsored by funds I received from SECOLI last year. We remain grateful to donors such as this. The symposium will bring together a total of 65 students, primarily from our school. The kids are all looking forward to it with great excitement. Take care and keep faith.
^{(Br. Abunya Moses, Lwanga District-Nigeria)}

Celebrating Saint Mary’s College’s Lasallian Volunteer Collaboration: More than 70 people gathered at a special luncheon to celebrate Saint Mary’s College’s collaboration with the Lasallian Volunteer Program, including Brothers, faculty, staff, students, Lasallian Volunteers and Alums. The program featured the testimony of four Saint Mary’s College graduates, including the current Lasallian Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator and a current Lasallian Volunteer.

In a discussion that followed the speeches, numerous Lasallian Volunteers testified to the “vocational” dimension of their choice to become a Lasallian Volunteer, to a sense of God’s call to serve and to God’s call to a life of service in the Lasallian tradition: touching the hearts of the poor and being transformed in the process.

Jim Ruck, the Lasallian Volunteer Development Director, thanked the Saint Mary’s community for all its support for the Lasallian Volunteer Program and briefed the guests on the Lasallian Volunteer goal of doubling the size and impact of the program. Half of the money has been secured toward a $300,000 challenge grant from the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation, which will fund this effort.

Guests left the celebration with a keen sense that God’s spirit is alive and active in the talented Lasallian Volunteers that graduated from Saint Mary’s College. The SMC campus is a rich environment for students to grow in Faith, Community and Service. The Lasallian Volunteer Program provides for many of them the next venue for this Gospel living.
^(ICYL)

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