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 News of the Institute and Lasallian Family
Rome, January 13, 2004
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One hundred years of La Salle in Nicaragua (1903 - 2003): In May
of 1901, those in charge of Charity in León gave an old building that
had been used as the Hospital in San Juan de Dios to Father Mariano
Dubón.
 Father Dubón established a shelter there for the orphans from León and
its regions. Thus, the hospice of San Juan de Dios was created. When the
priest encountered difficulties in developing this project, he asked for
the collaboration of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, through Dr.
Maximo Hermenegildo Zepeda.
On November 15, 1903, six Brothers arrived at León to continue the work
initiated by Father Dubon. Since then, hundreds of orphans have found
parents, brothers and much needed homes in the Hospice.
Since 1970, the Hospice stopped being a Traditional Center and became a
Technical school. Old occupations gave way to new careers that the
country needed to develop.
Today, nearly a thousand young people, with limited economic resources,
are studying in Polytechnic La Salle in order to be able to work in the
business world. After one hundred years of difficult work, Polytechnic
La Salle has given Nicaragua youth who are worthy and ready to serve the
country and develop it.
 Correos
de Nicaragua, in coordination with the Lasallian schools, has produced a
collection of seven stamps to honor their anniversary. The stamps are
shown here.
Congratulations to the District of Nicaragua for its many years of
service to its people.
(Br. Benito Agustín Díaz López) |
 The
formation of social conscience: a Lasallian commitment. : This was
the theme of the first MEL Forum of the District of North Mexico, as
part of the process in preparation for the International Assembly for
the Lasallian Educational Mission to be held in 2006.
The forum took place on November 21-22, 2003, in Monterrey, Nuevo León,
Mexico at the La Salle Center for Advanced Studies. The objective was
to study the factors which influence young people today as regards the
development of their social conscience.
 Brother
Nicolas Capelle, Secretary for the Lasallian Educational Mission (MEL),
participated in the assembly and he was joined by 122 Directors,
teachers and students from 21 Lasallian Colleges and Universities from
across the District.
The dynamics of the forum included formal conferences as well as the
sharing of concrete experiences in the area of social commitment. These
conferences and experiences enriched the thinking as well as the
discussions and recommendations that were made in the small groups for
the purpose of refocusing the District's educational work.
Some of the proposals that were made during the forum are:
To evaluate the programs and projects related to the formation of social
conscience which are being developed within the District to see if they
reflect the current, real situation.
To involve the entire educational community, especially parents, in the
programs and projects that will be drawn up.
To refocus educational practice, so that they deal with student
development in a more integral way, especially as regards social
development; to ensure a better and more committed integration in the
social context in which students live.
To see to it that in our schools there is a commitment to the poor, a
fundamental trait of the Lasallian charism, beyond mere awareness, to
carry it out so that this commitment turns into active solidarity.
These are only small examples of the richness of the discussion
contributed by the Brothers and other teachers who participated in the
forum.
(Brother Lorenzo González Kipper) |
France - Anniversaries : Here is a series of significant
anniversaries for the Institute. Between 1903 and 1905, the Institute
was established in ten countries:
1903: Malta, Poland and Nicaragua
1904: South Africa and Panama
1905: Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cambodia.
In addition, the suppression of the Institute in France in 1904, where
there were 10,000 Brothers, led to the sending of French Brothers,
sometimes in large numbers, to countries where the Institute was already
established. 1,000 were in this category in 1905. This was often a
positive factor, as in Spain, but there were also places where it
created tensions, notably in Quebec. In 1905, 2,700 Brothers withdrew from the Institute in order to maintain the schools in France
while seeking to remain faithful to their vows. The absence of precise
directives from the Superiors about what to do in this case was a cause of confusion. For many years
this presented a delicate situation for the Mother House because many boarding
schools and the French houses of formation had been moved into Belgium, Italy, the Channel Islands, the Low
Countries, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Brother Henri Bédel's book, The XIXth-XXth Centuries, 1875-1928,
which came out in November as number 11 of the Lasallian Studies
series enables us to situate these events within the History of the
Institute as it unfolded.
A Colloquium, organized by the French Major Superiors in Paris at the
end of October, discussed the suppression, in 1903, of the "non-authorized" Congregations (the majority of congregations) including
the Brothers of the Christian Schools which was suppressed in 1904.
(Brother Alain Houry) |
The International Council of Young Lasallians (ICYL) met for the
second time at the Generalate in Rome from December 30, 2003 to January
3, 2004. The council consists of the Vicar General, Br. William Mann,
FSC and 15 members, representing the Americas, Africa, the Mid-East,
Asia, Australia and Europe. The ICYL was established by the invitation
of Superior General Brother Alvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, FSC and the
General Council. The ICYL met for the first time in June of 2003, since
this time the council has focused its efforts on four main projects,
working towards the global mission of the Lasallian family.
 The
four projects include:
Developing a proposal for an International Lasallian Youth Gathering in
mid 2005. This includes seeking support for the idea of the gathering
and future proposals for the details of the event.
Creating connections with Lasallian Youth of each of the 60 sectors in
order to share experiences, projects and further develop the
expectations and aims of the ICYL by gathering information.
Working on developing the Lasallian Youth page of the Institute website
and producing articles for the Intercom publication, in order to
accompany the 60 sectors in sharing their work and information with the
Lasallian world.
Working towards a complete synthesis of the international discussion at
Quebec in 2002, in order to further the links and development of an
International Lasallian Movement.
Meetings are conducted in a similar manner to the existing councils of
the Institute. For last six months, the coordination has been assumed by
Br. William Mann and Andoni Rodríguez Blas, and this last one has been
replaced by Yanick Chamberland-Richer. The Council has the ability to
provide simultaneous translation in Spanish and French, though meetings
are primarily conducted in English. Sharing occurs in small teams
divided into linguistic and project groups in addition to table
discussion including all 16 members. The daily meetings begin and end
with prayer, and the Council continues to emphasize faith, service and
community in their daily work and activities.
La Salle's spirit is alive in us! Let us all be part of this universal
movement of young people striving to make this world a better place.
Live Jesus in out hearts!
icyl@lasalle.org
(International Council of Young Lasallians ) |
Forum of Lasallian University Teachers: For the last ten years,
ILMES, which is made up of the Mexican Lasallian Institutions of Higher
Education, has been organizing Forums in order to bring teachers who are
working in our Universities together in a Lasallian environment and give
them formation. The tenth of these Forums took place last year between
the 13th and 14th of November. The host institution was La Salle
University of Morelia which carried out its commitment conscientiously
with a great sense of organization, with splendid generosity and in a
very cheerful manner.
In the setting of the beautiful city of Morelia, cultural Patrimony of
Humanity, while living together in an excellent spirit and under the
central theme of "The Lasallian University teacher, agent of the
integral formation of the young", talks were given, workshops were
organized, successful experiences in the area of total formation were
shared and very moving testimonies were presented of service to the
handicapped and of positive attitudes towards life. About 320 persons
took part, including Rectors, Vice-Rectors, Directors of Courses and
Departments but it was teachers who predominated with the intention,
precisely, of motivating them and of providing them with instruments to
enable them to contribute to the proposing of values, attitudes and
standards of behaviour, from the classroom and the subject they were
teaching. We also appreciated very much the active and friendly presence
of Br.Nicolas Capelle, Institute Secretary for the Education Mission.
The talks dealt with "The characteristics of the young people of today,
in the context of post-modernity" given by José Antonio Pérez Islas,
Director of Investigation and Studies of Youth, from the Mexican
Institute of Youth; "The classroom as a space with opportunities for
integral formation" given by Carlos Domínguez Trolle, Director of the
School of Education Sciences of La Salle University in Mexico city; and
" An integrated view of the components of education in Lasallian
Institutions", given by Br.Nicolas Capelle, Institute Secretary for the
Education Mission.
We are now left with the aim of deepening these themes and of following
up the commitments in each of the Universities.
(Brother Adalberto) |
 Sudan:
Here are some pictures, taken in November, of Br. Georges Absi, Visitor
of the District of Proche-Orient. He visited Sudan where Br. Michel
Fleury has worked for several years with catechists and teachers. The
Institute thinks that, together with the Districts of Lwanga and Proche-Orient,
there is a possibility of establishing a permanent community there.
(Br. Georges Absi) |
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