IALU-Europe Formation Seminar took place at the Generalate in Rome from 7 to 11 April 2025, with the participation of 34 Lasallians from various European University Centres, including Brothers and lay people who carry out teaching, research and administrative work.
This Seminar is held periodically and means a formative opportunity for the teaching and administrative staff of the Lasallian University Centres of IALU network in Europe, with the aim of “strengthening the Lasallian identity of the participants, so that it can resonate into a greater sense of belonging”.
On this occasion, as well as reflecting on the Lasallian Mission today and on Association, with the attendance of Br. Carlos Gómez, Vicar General of the Institute, the participants in the Seminar discussed the challenge of making University Centres “aboratories of fraternity”, a topic which was addressed by Brother Jacques d’Huiteau, from the District of France and French-speaking Europe.
“The first element is that a fraternity is effectively built around a project, a project for the education of young people because we are becoming aware that education and training are an important lever to ensure that the world can become more fraternal”, remarked Br. Jacques. “We reflected on how our schools can be laboratories of fraternity”, continued the Lasallian religious. “This depends, on the one hand, on the professionalism of our schools, because to help young people we need to be good professionals, good educators (…) And then we also talked about the importance of a type of management; that is to say that a manager in our schools must believe in his or her staff and the staff must believe in him or her, which effectively allows a relationship of trust to grow, and fraternity is also based on trust”.
With regard to relations between young people and adults, “fraternal relations” could become a “kind of beacon” for young people and among young people themselves. “In Lasallian thinking, the group is the lever of training; it is not simply top-down training, it is also training that can be described as horizontal. And so, fraternity in this context is an essential element of training”, concluded Br. Jacques.
In summary, Br. José Andrés Sánchez, from Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios La Salle Madrid, who was part of the team organising the seminar – together with Br. Jacques d’Huiteau, Mr. Iñigo Pradera, Ms. Nina Hoffman and Mr. Jérôme Colin – declared, “Over the last few days, we have listened to those who run the different departments of the Generalate”. In addition, “an important element for everyone has been being able to share some time with Bethlehem University. The professors have been able to show the solidarity of us, the universities of Europe, with this part of the Lasallian Family that is now suffering. We have felt very close to them”.
Before the end of the seminar, the participants took part in a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica as part of the Jubilee Year celebrations.
“The pilgrimage was, in fact, a very sacred moment. We all went together, as a family, to visit this sacred place (…) to pray for everything that happens in that world. It was truly a moment of peace”, were the words of Diala Bitar, from ECAM La Salle Lyon (France).
We invite you to watch the LaSalleOrg News briefing on the IALU Europe Formation Seminar.