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 News of the Institute and Lasallian Family
September10, 2002 |
Accompaniment Session for Directors and Formators:
 From
July 20th to August 10th a group of 25 took part in the
PARC Accompaniment Session for Directors and Formators
held at the Redemptorist Centre in Pattaya, Thailand.
The group was composed of 7 Lasallian Sisters (from
Thailand, Vietnam and San Jose, California), 17 Brothers
(from Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Australia,
Philippines, India, Singapore, and Ethiopia) and 1
Lasallian partner from the Philippines. Two of the
Brothers were Gabrielite Brothers from Malaysia. A
further 10 Brothers and Sisters were unable to attend
because of visa difficulties. The Session was directed
by a team of Brothers led by Bro. Aidan Kilty, Formation
Secretary, and lasted for three weeks. The first week
was devoted to Accompaniment Skills for Directors and
Formators while the second week, directed by Bro.
Joseph Schmidt from the Staff of Sangre de Cristo, was
entitled A way of spiritual growth through
journalling. The final week was a Directed
Retreat through Journalling. The evaluations of the
Session were most positive with the hospitality of the
Thai Delegation being particularly highlighted. |
 Bro.
Marc Hofer reports about his visit to Pakistan: Br.
Marc Hofer, General Councilor, animated the annual
retreat of the Sub-District in August. Today there are
19 aspirants, 1 postulant, 1 novice and 22 Brothers in
the Sub-District. In Multan and in Faisalabad there are
two famous English High Schools whose students are
mainly Muslims. These High Schools support several
Secondary and Primary Schools whose students are mainly
Christians from economically poor families There are
also two hostels for students. The formation Center for
aspirants is located in Faisalabad. It is encouraging to
see young and old people, Christians and Muslims, living
together and working together in all these Lasallian
Educational Centers where inter-religious dialogue is
experienced daily. These Lasallian Educational
Institutions are signs of hope and of universal Brother
and Sisterhood in a society where the Christians
constitute a tiny minority. In Kushpur the Brothers run
the only formation Center for catechists in Pakistan. In
this Christian village, they opened a reading Center for
adults and two vocational training centers for cooking
and sewing. In Karachi the Brothers are involved in an
orphanage and in a rehabilitation Center for drug
addicts. What vitality! What diversity of apostolates of
the De La Salle Brothers!
Unfortunately, the wars and the menace of wars against
Muslim countries have a negative impact on the
relationship between Muslims and Christians in Pakistan.
Many people see in it a long-standing confrontation
between two civilizations, i.e. two religions. In
Lahore, where I had the opportunity to visit some
tourist sites before going to the international airport,
I saw very few "western" tourists.
It is amazing to see the wonderful development of
agriculture in many parts of Pakistan thanks to its
remarkable irrigation system; all this in spite of the
rough climate with heat waves of more than 45 ° C during
the summer season. |
 New
Institute Web Page: In October, the Institute web
site will take on a new look. Aided by the staff of La
Salle University in Manila, Br. Donald Johanson has been
working to revise our site. We hope the new look and
expanded contents helps our Lasallian world with its
information and communication needs. When the new web
site is published, there will be an online survey that
you can complete to give us your comments and
recommendations. We look forward to hearing from you. |
 The New
Edition of the
Rule: In April, the new edition
of the Rule, in Spanish, English and French, was completed and went to press
and included minor changes asked for by the 43rd General
Chapter. In his
letter introducing the new edition, Br. Alvaro says "Now
we are making only a limited press run keeping in mind,
especially,
the new Brothers who are joining our Institute. But we
are keeping
very much in mind Proposition 38 from the 43rd General
Chapter,
which stated: That Brother Superior General and his
Council appoint
an ad hoc Committee to study what implications changes
in the Church
and in the Institute might have for the present text of
the Rule. Therefore it will be the next General Chapter which will
determine the needed
changes for our current text. That will also be the
appropriate time to
review the translations which some have requested." The
new Rule will be included in the PUBLICATIONS
section of our new web site. |
 San
Francisco District Assembly on Mission: To
fulfill Propositions 5 and 6 of the 43rd General
Chapter, Rome, June 2000, an historic District Assembly
on Mission was held in summer 2002. Assembly delegates,
including more than 130 Brothers and Partners from
across the District of San Francisco, formulated
direction for educational mission in the San Francisco
District and designated means for fulfilling it through
the next four years, 2003-2007. Decisions made by the
Assembly will be reviewed by the Brothers' Eleventh
District Chapter convening in October 2002. The
first-ever assembly gave the Brothers' colleagues an
opportunity to take a more active role, with voice and
vote, in the Brothers' deliberative bodies. For
extensive coverage of the assembly, visit
http://www.delasalle.org/assembly/index.shtml |
If you have news notes that you would like us to consider
publishing, please email us: lasallew@lasalle.org |
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