The acting Visitor, Br. José Manuel Sauras, asks you to pray for Togo so that the Holy Spirit may inspire both sides to opt for a compromise beneficial to the country, already impoverished by being cut off for 14 years from cooperation with the European Community, main sponsor of funds for Togo. Dear Brothers, pray with us for peace in Togo, which celebrates tomorrow the 45th anniversary of its political independence.
^{(Br. Michel Koassi Messan, Aux. Vis.)}

Accompanying Senior Brothers – Griñon, Spain: The session for Accompanying Senior Brothers has just ended in Griñon, Spain, where the CIL Staff and 19 participants explored issues that revolve around ageing and retirement.

Some of the areas included Ageing Well, and the Spiritual, Psychological and Physical Aspects of Ageing. Many of the presentations were made by experts from the Tres Cantos Center run by the Religious of Camillus de Lellis as well as by members of the faculty and staff at the Lasallian University Center in Aravaca. As part of our program we visited both of the aforementioned centers.

We took advantage of free days on the weekends to visit Toledo, Segovia, the Royal Palace at La Granja, and will eventually go to Ávila and The Valley of the Fallen.

The various communities here were very welcoming and made our stay very enjoyable. The opportunity to live, dine and pray with senior Brothers who form communities here was a very important and integral part of our course. Their example of fidelity and joy were positive signs to us of God compassion and presence.

The session began on April 3 and ended on April 29, 2005.
^{(Br. Michael French)}

News from the Delegation of Toronto: The Delegation of Toronto has established the Superior General's Scholarship at De La Salle College 'Oaklands'. The scholarship was presented by Br. John Patzwall, Delegate and Chairman of De La Salle's Board, in the name of, and in honor of, Br. Alvaro Rodriguez, Superior General, on the occasion of his official visit to the Delegation. It represents an expression of gratitude to Brother Superior for his support and concern for the Delegation. It was established to allow a qualified student to be admitted to De La Salle College who ordinarily would not be able to attend for financial reasons. This scholarship represents part of a new effort undertaken by the Brothers of the Delegation and the Board of Directors of the College to make a Lasallian education more accessible to the poor. At the same dinner, Brother Domenic Viggiani, President of the Delegation and Principal of De La Salle College, presented a gift [a statue of St. La Salle] to Brother William Mann, Vicar General. The Brothers of the Delegation are particularly grateful to Brother Vicar for the fraternal and pastoral accompaniment he provides to the Brothers in Toronto on a continuing basis.

On the same occasion, the Delegation recognized and presented gifts to Ms. Mary McCrorey, Treasurer for the Brothers, in recognition of her twenty-five years of distinguished and devoted service to the Brother of Ontario.

The Board of Directors of De La Salle College 'Oaklands' has commissioned a study aimed at producing a first ever strategic plan so that the authentic mission of the Brothers may continue in Toronto into the future. The planning process, under the direction of Br. John Patzwall, Delegate and Board Chair, is being led by Governance Committee Chairman, Tom Woods, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The final plan is expected to be adopted in June, 2005. It is anticipated that part of the plan will include a new Sponsorship Covenant between the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Ontario and the Board of De La Salle College.
^{(Br. John Patzwall)}

Tenth ASSEDIL Congress held in Budapest with 140 Lasallian Executives from Europe: ASSEDIL (European Association of Lasallian Associations) was founded in 1992 and it gathers together Headmasters from Lasallian educational centers in Europe.

There were over 140 participants from Austria, Germany, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain, France, Hungary, Holland, England, Ireland, Italy, and Romania who got together in Budapest to participate in the 10th ASSEDIL Congress.

The event took place, with simultaneous translation into 7 languages, from April 15 - 18, 2005. In attendance were Brother Claude Reinhardt, General Councillor, and several Brother Visitors from European Districts.

The Brother Visitor from Austria opened the event in the name of the organizing committee.

The first day saw the presentation of the Lasallian reality in the different European nations as well as the statutory General Assembly of ASSEDIL. The central topic of the Congress had to do with the use of languages in our Lasallian school network in Europe. Seven experts presented interesting experiences, among them, that of teaching in the Basque language. The final presentation was given by a representative from the European Union who detailed the different aid programs (Socrates, Comenius...)

Shared prayer at he beginning of each day was carefully prepared by persons from different countries. The Eucharist at the weekend was celebrated in a boat while navigating the Danube River. It was, without a doubt, an unforgettable experience.

Future Congresses will be held in Malta (2006) and in Rome (2007) and will be linked, respectively, to the International MEL Assembly and the General Chapter of the Brothers.
^{(Br. Nestor Ferrera)}

The Papal Nuncio in Spain receives a visit from the ARLEP Regional Coordinator: On April 21, the Papal Nuncio for His Holiness in Spain, Monsignor Monteiro de Castro, received Brother Ismael Beltrán, the Regional Coordinator for ARLEP, at the papal diplomatic mission. Brother Ismael was accompanied by Brother Néstor Ferrera, Executive Secretary.

After receiving warm wishes on the occasion of the election of the new Pope, the Papal Nuncio was informed about the Lasallian reality in the Region. This report was supported by accompanying documents which traced the rich past of one century and the educational and evangelizing presence of the Brothers, including even in simple, rural areas. The Brothers have also been present in both traditional and non-traditional educational works, in schools within the capital city, in Church organizations such as those dealing with Education and Management, the Episcopal Conference, the Diocese, Fere, and CONFER. The Papal Nuncio requested information about our Universities in Barcelona and in Madrid. He was also informed about the Saint Pius X Institute and some of the difficulties there given the recent episcopal decisions.

The meeting then shifted its focus to talk about future trends, restructuring the ARLEP Region, and the idea of creating a common space for the 7 current Districts. Monsignor Monteiro showed interest especially as regards the concept of Shared Mission and Association.

The Papal Nuncio offered his encouragement in facing the challenges of the future courageously, and he stated that he appreciated the effort being done in the area of evangelization on the part of our Lasallian educational works.

The visit to the papal diplomatic mission concluded with an interesting dialogue on the situation of the Church in Spain and the difficulties encountered by Catholic educational centers due to legal restrictions.

Monsignor Monteiro accompanied Brothers Ismael and Néstor to the door of the mission, and he thanked them for the visit, wishing the best for the Brothers of the Christian Schools and for all those involved in the Lasallian Educational Mission.
^{(Br. Nestor Ferrera)}

In the week of mourning for our Pope John Paul II, the two Commissions of Association and MEL had their regular meeting in the month of April: The Association Commission examined the various forms of association which are developing in Districts before pursuing the matter of planning of the Institute Bulletin on the question of Lasallian Association which is to appear in September 2005.

The MEL Commission carried out a wide survey of educational activities which have been going on in Districts these last months. It noted the setting up of MEL assemblies which will allow Brothers and Laypersons to give concrete expression to their partnership. Then it did some work once again on the topic “characteristics of Lasallian works” before beginning the planning of the Institute Bulletin for the year 2006.

Then the two Commissions established the PREPARATORY COMMITTEE for the International Assembly of 2006. Nine members of the two Commissions form this Committee. The Committee set to work immediately making some decisions about dates, responsibilities, the common report of the Partial Assemblies which are to begin soon, participation and designation of delegates and so on. The Preparatory Committee thus gave a big push towards what constitute our immediate horizons: the Regional Partial Assemblies and the International Assembly of 2006. The year 2005-06 entitled “Associated for the Lasallian Educational Mission” is thus well launched.

The Committee is to meet again in mid-September 2005.
^{(Br. Nicolas Capelle)}

EDDE (Education and Development): In France there is a “SECOLI” which is called EDDE (Education and Development). This association tries to open up our 170 Lasallian schools (in France) to an international perspective and to concern for the poor. The money collected is used to support Lasallian works in the Third World. EDDE was recently able to contribute €4862.47 to the Tsunami Relief effort.

Directed at pupils, EDDE proposes projects which allow pupils to get to know the world a little better and to have exchanges of ideas with the people in charge of the projects. During the year 2005, four projects have been presented. They are for Ethiopia, Rwanda, Cameroon and Bolivia.

Directed towards adults, teachers, parents of pupils, past-pupils, we ask them to support the survival of the Brothers’ school in Bethlehem which is going through a difficult socio-political time. In urgent cases we support aid projects, such as the one this year for South Asia via SECOLI. EDDE was recently able to contribute € 4862.47 to the Tsunami Relief effort.

Finally, on request, we try to promote exchanges of teachers for training other teachers.
In 2005 a formation session for technical teachers will be held in Douala (Cameroon) which will be run by two volunteer teachers from schools in France.
^{(Br. Noel Bois)}

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