Brother Carlos Eduardo Everton: “My vocation is service, dedication and commitment to the salvation and dignity of every person”

“I am a De La Salle Brother because, above all, I feel fulfilled as a person. In the vocation I embraced, I found meaning for my life and my story”. With these words, Brother Carlos Eduardo Everton, of the Brazil-Chile District, joyfully shares the moment he is experiencing as he approaches the celebration of his Perpetual Profession on 12 April, the day on which he will publicly express his desire to consecrate his life entirely to God as a Brother of the Christian Schools.

Brother Carlos Eduardo was born on 5 June 1989 in São Luiz, the capital of the state of Maranhão, in north-eastern Brazil. During his childhood and youth, he stood out for his community leadership. It was then that he decided to explore in depth the call God was making to him, through the vocational guidance offered to him by the De La Salle Brothers.

He began his Lasallian formation in 2013 in Ananindeua, in Pará, where he undertook the Pre-Postulancy stage and had his first experience of the Lasallian Educational Mission, whilst also becoming immersed in the dynamics of community life and the life of prayer within the religious community. 

He then travelled to the south of the country, to the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where he completed two years of postulancy in the city of Esteio. During this time, he began his studies in theology at La Salle University-Canoas, and, at the same time, joined La Salle College in Esteio as a teacher of religious education and pastoral animator.

In 2016, he continued his third year of postulancy and pre-novitiate in Sapucaia do Sul, where he continued his process of maturing in the faith and in the essential aspects of the life of a Brother; he completed his theological studies at the University and served as a teacher and youth and vocations animator at La Salle School in Sapucaia. 

The following year he entered the Novitiate in Porto Alegre and took his first vows in 2018, an experience that left a deep impression on him “not only because I made them publicly before God and the Church, but because it was one of the happiest moments I could give my mother: seeing her joy that day touched my heart deeply and confirmed my choice”, says Brother Carlos Eduardo.

Since then, he has been involved in the Lasallian Educational Mission in various communities within the Brazil-Chile District, where he has consolidated his vocation and his decision to give himself fully to God. He recalls, in particular, his time at one of the Lasallian schools in north-eastern Brazil that had just opened and was still grappling with the aftermath of the pandemic: “there were many challenges, especially in the process of training staff and in the search for pedagogical innovation”.

In recent years, he has made a significant contribution to the mission led by the Brothers of the Lucas do Rio Verde community, in the state of Mato Grosso, working at La Salle School and La Salle University Centre. There, he has continued to nurture his vocation with joy and fidelity.   

“My vocation is service, dedication and commitment to the salvation and dignity of every person,” says Br. Carlos Eduardo. “Through education – which is our mission as Brothers – I recognise God’s call, which takes shape every day on my journey”, he adds, expressing his fervent desire to “work to ensure that the Kingdom of God is within reach of all those entrusted to us, especially through human, Christian and fraternal formation”.

“He who has a why can bear with any how,” he affirms with conviction, evoking an inspiring quote from Friedrich Nietzsche that sums up his journey: “when the call is clear and the meaning is deep, challenges become part of the journey, not obstacles that paralyse us”, he concludes.

As the Lasallian Family, we join in faith, hope and fraternity with the Brothers and Lasallians of the Brazil-Chile District as they joyfully celebrate Brother Carlos Eduardo Everton’s definitive ‘yes’ to God’s call within the Lasallian charism. We entrust his life and vocation to the Lord, through the intercession of Saint John Baptist de La Salle.

* Article written in collaboration with the Brazil-Chile District. Photos: private archive.