Brothers and lay Lasallians building a more fraternal world

When the General Council of the Brothers of the Christian Schools proposed that Lasallian Reflection 12, for the period 2026–2027, should be co-authored by a Brother and a lay Lasallian, neither Br. Rafael Cerón —who served on the General Council between 2025 and 2026— nor Adriana Bolaños —who is a member of the International Council for Association and Lasallian Educational Mission (CIAMEL)— could have imagined that they would be working together to produce an inspiring text for the entire Lasallian Family.

“I felt very excited, but on the other hand it was also a little daunting to think about it – to think that it was going to be a document that would resonate throughout the entire Lasallian world,” says Adriana, who is part of the Mexico North District. From the outset, she knew that, in undertaking this mission, it was essential to “be consistent in our approach to education and in making our voice heard – particularly the voice of women (…), and well, the truth is that, working with Brother Rafa, with whom we have crossed paths on many occasions, it was a very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable process”.

For his part, Brother Rafael, who was appointed Visitor of the Antilles-Mexico South District in July, explains that “without knowing that [the person I would be working with] was going to be Adriana, my first thoughts were, well, in which language are we going to talk? Where are we going to meet? It was a bit about the logistics. When I found out it was Adriana, I was pleased because we know each other; we have a history together. And also the fact that she is an author, a laywoman – we only became fully aware of that later on. It was more a case of the process unfolding; I think that’s what we’re experiencing – decisions being made with that mindset of inclusion, dialogue and equity.”

This perspective shaped the creative process behind Lasallian Reflection No. 12, entitled: “Building a fraternal world. Pedagogy of Fraternity, Pedagogy of Encounter”, always with the aim of offering a fresh, audacious and coherent perspective. “I definitely believe that each person contributes from who they are, what they experience, and what they have learnt,” explains Adriana. “So, what I contributed—as we were saying a while ago—I brought from my experience as a woman, as a layperson, and from discovering La Salle throughout my life; and this process made me look back in retrospect at the immense riches that La Salle has given me as a person, as a professional, in my spiritual life, the people I have met, the experiences I have had, and so I believe that all of that, in one way or another, was shared so that everyone might undertake this process, and so that we might truly educate in the spirit of fraternity, which I believe is one of the hallmarks of La Salle – not only because it is one of La Salle’s hallmarks, but because it is what is needed right now in the world in which we live.” 

Brother Rafael, acknowledging that “this whole issue of fraternity, put into practice today”, was one of the fundamental insights that guided the writing process, “and how, in our day-to-day work in each of our institutions, we ought to be realising this ideal that we have not yet fully achieved: the fraternity that we ought to be living out in each of our institutions”.

With regard to the question of fraternity and in light of the global educational landscape, Brother Rafael and Adriana emphasised the centrality of children and young people in the Lasallian Mission: what would they ask us? What would they want to know? How would we respond to them? “And so, this approach to the text gradually took shape. Because what we want is for this to be an invitation for institutions to replicate it and to discuss fraternity, to share experiences, to share the journey, because fraternal relationships build people,” explains Adriana.

Indeed, according to Brother Rafael, “our education makes no sense if we do not place the pupil, the student and the educational community at the centre. So, we realised that this was not a theoretical reflection, but something experiential and practical, arising from those we care about and to whom we are trying to show that a fraternal world is possible”.

Download Lasallian Reflection 12, ‘Building a fraternal world: Pedagogy of Fraternity, Pedagogy of Encounter’, HERE.