As a result of the II International Young Brothers Assembly (II IYBA), we are pleased to present the document that collects the lived experience which, as the introduction reads, “is leading us along new paths to transform lives”.
Written in an epistolary style, very close and profoundly fraternal, the first part of the text covers the journey lived from the preparation of the II IYBA to its holding at the Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Rome in October 2021. In this last part of the process, “36 Brothers from all the Regions of our Institute came together to embrace with responsibility the calls of the Church and of the General Chapter in a spirit of synodality and fraternity as consecrated Brothers who are passionate about proclaiming Jesus Christ“.
Experience of faith and fraternity
In the second part – the most extensive – the document evokes the methodology of the II IYBA, which made possible an experience of faith as “passionate witnesses of fraternity at the service of a world in need of greater solidarity“, based on three essential convictions:
- The centrality of our life is Jesus Christ.
- Passion, life and fraternity expressed through the donation of ourselves to others.
- The Lasallian dream of finding God in those most impoverished, in the peripheries, being a reference point for solidarity and justice.
What are our strengths and hopes? What do we feel called to in the Church and in the Institute? What are our dreams and what are the barriers are preventing us from achieving them? These are some of the questions proposed to the young Brothers – valid also for all Lasallians – from which emerge four great dreams for the coming years:
- In the year 2029, all the Brothers of the Institute will live an experience of evangelisation through catechesis.
- In the year 2029, the Brothers of the Institute will have made the peripheries their home. They will be poorer and more consistent with our founding inspiration.
- In the year 2029, Brothers and Partners will be less stressed, more motivated and fulfilled in their vocation.
- In 2029 the Institute leverage the interculturality in order to be more supportive and mindful.
Audacious projects and proposals
In line with these dreams, the Young Brothers are committed to five major projects in the areas of community life, internationalisation, spirituality, formation and catechesis, which are set out at the end of the second part of the text and which also give rise to three “audacious proposals”:
- Establish international prophetic communities.
- Promote an integral formation programme.
- To convene a Lasallian year of catechesis.
The third part of the document reports the lessons learned and the calls that emerged from the meeting with the Young Lasallians during the last week of the Assembly. “Being with the young people made us recognise that in La Salle we are more and more every day. The desire to serve and to bring hope to other places, but above all to proclaim Jesus Christ from what we live day by day.
The fourth and final part of the Young Brothers’ text echoes the words that Brother Carlos Gómez, Vicar General, addressed to the Assembly at the end of the meeting: believe, create and take risks.
We invite you to download, read and share the Document of the II International Young Brothers Assembly (II IYBA).