The Meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the 44th General Chapter: We, the Brothers on the Preparatory Commission for the 44th General Chapter, met for the second time in Rome from February 12th to 25th 2006. During these two weeks we continued our discussions with a view to producing an interactive preparation plan and an alternative way of running the Chapter. This model implies thinking in a different way about how the Chapter develops so as to favour discernment, enriching ourselves with cultural diversity and growing in hope. A prayer and logo for the Chapter will soon be produced.

The proposal was presented to Br. Superior and his Council for their study, approval and dissemination throughout the Institute. We kept all the Brothers and members of the Lasallian Family in mind and we ask all of you for your prayers so that we can all begin to see the will of God at this moment in history.
^{(Br. Lorenzo González)}

Brother Superior’s visit to the District of Valladolid: On February 8, Brother Alvaro arrived in Bujedo to meet the retired brothers from Bujedo and Burgos. He congratulated them on their fidelity throughout their lives and for the welcome they gave to everyone who came to their house.

Here is the route that Brother Alvaro followed during the rest of his time in the La Salle District of Valladolid:

There were first of all visits to the two Lasallian establishments in Palencia. In La Salle College a meeting took place with the secondary school students, who declared how much they appreciated the new educational experiment known as “Cooperative Learning Experience”, and the opportunity they were given to work together in what are called “Assemblies”. In Managua College, a school for about sixty students unable to fit into the usual educational system, Brother Superior had a long discussion with the staff, who told him how in that small college they were able to delve to the very depth of themselves and where they had begun to devise innovative methods of helping young people in difficulties.

Next there was a visit to Lourdes College where Brother Alvaro met the students who organize and run various activities of a pastoral, social or athletic nature. He also watched students using the most advanced information technologies current in the field of education.

A meeting with the management team of La Salle College in Valladolid was next. The team is very active in training new teachers in the Lasallian spirit. As in other places, Brother Alvaro emphasised the importance of those teams, and he remarked that the high quality of personal relationships among the team members shows that they are members of true Lasallian communities.

Meeting with the directors of Christian groups in Valladolid. Some thirty persons told of their commitment to helping the young in their search for a genuine Christian life of community. All these persons recalled how helpful in discovering the roots of their Christian vocation have been the communities of the Brothers.

Visit to the Hostel in Braga, Portugal, which lodges youngsters with family difficulties. While there, Brother Alvaro had an evening meal with some ninety young people who have found a home and family in the hostel, and he was taken round their bedrooms where photos of some of their activities were on view.

Meeting with Lasallian Christian communities. There are five such communities with forty members all told, including some of the Lasallian Associates of the District. These communities live according to Lasallian principles and have made the teaching of our Christian Faith the main element of their Christian commitment. Two of these communities have demonstrated their Christian community life by living in the same house. Brother Alvaro recognised the care which the district has always given to the growth of this kind of community. The eagerness to encourage community life in its various forms has always been a visible characteristic of the District of Valladolid.
^{(Br. Juan Pablo Martin)}

A Letter from Br. Abunya Moses, Lwanga District-Nigeria: Greetings from Yola, Nigeria where we continue to touch the hearts of young people entrusted in our care. As I write this, religious tension is rocking the city of Maiduguri (5 hours drive from Yola) as Muslims are on a rampage killing Christians and burning down churches as a protest to the infamous Danish cartoon. It’s unfortunate to see so many people dying innocent deaths for something they have had no hand in. A priest friend of mine was burnt to ashes in his parish house in that city. These are realities that we face as Young Lasallians! That is our dilemma as there are many such situations around the globe, but that is also where our mission is. Pray for us and other troubled areas of the world.

This week our school will be hosting 12 of our Lasallian Youth students from Mount LaSalle College, Naka, Nigeria for a Lasallian Youth symposium. The symposium is titled "You are called to be ministers of Reconciliation." Perhaps this symposium will help our young people reconcile the religious crisis described above even if they don’t understand it. Due to many divisions, our continent, like others requires young people to learn to forgive the past and the present. The symposium is sponsored by funds I received from SECOLI last year. We remain grateful to donors such as this. The symposium will bring together a total of 65 students, primarily from our school. The kids are all looking forward to it with great excitement. Take care and keep faith.
^{(Br. Abunya Moses, Lwanga District-Nigeria)}

Asia-Pacific Lasallian Educators Conference (APLEC 6), Dec. 12-14, 2005: The APLEC and the Pacific Asia Regional Assembly (PARA) were scheduled one day apart in order to cut down on the participants’ travel expenses. Many of those attending PARA were expected to attend the APLEC that preceded it, making this a week-long Lasallian formation activity.

PARC has sponsored an Asia-Pacific Lasallian Educators Conference (APLEC) every two or three years since the late 1980’s. This year’s theme was, “The Future of Technology and Mass Media, and Their Implication on Youth and the Lasallian Educational Mission”. Some seventy participants attended, representing all the PARC countries except Myanmar and Vietnam.

The speakers were generally well received and the group discussions generated productive exchanges. Dr. Miguel Rapatan’s talk on “How Emerging Technology Can Help Shape Pedagogy” was among the more appreciated presentations.

The general conclusions of APLEC 6 appear to have been that:
1. technology will continue galloping forward at an amazing rate, and mass media, which utilizes this technology to its advantage, will continue to be a powerful instrument to promote values and ideological stances;
2. Lasallian educators need to develop critical thinking in their students so that they do not readily accept everything that is presented to them;
3. Lasallian educators must assist their students in exercising discipline when choosing what is available in cyberspace; and,
4. Lasallian educators are encouraged to employ modern technological tools for the teaching of Gospel countercultural values.
^{(Br. Victor Franco)}

Celebrating Saint Mary’s College’s Lasallian Volunteer Collaboration: More than 70 people gathered at a special luncheon to celebrate Saint Mary’s College’s collaboration with the Lasallian Volunteer Program, including Brothers, faculty, staff, students, Lasallian Volunteers and Alums. The program featured the testimony of four Saint Mary’s College graduates, including the current Lasallian Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator and a current Lasallian Volunteer.

In a discussion that followed the speeches, numerous Lasallian Volunteers testified to the “vocational” dimension of their choice to become a Lasallian Volunteer, to a sense of God’s call to serve and to God’s call to a life of service in the Lasallian tradition: touching the hearts of the poor and being transformed in the process.

Jim Ruck, the Lasallian Volunteer Development Director, thanked the Saint Mary’s community for all its support for the Lasallian Volunteer Program and briefed the guests on the Lasallian Volunteer goal of doubling the size and impact of the program. Half of the money has been secured toward a $300,000 challenge grant from the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation, which will fund this effort.

Guests left the celebration with a keen sense that God’s spirit is alive and active in the talented Lasallian Volunteers that graduated from Saint Mary’s College. The SMC campus is a rich environment for students to grow in Faith, Community and Service. The Lasallian Volunteer Program provides for many of them the next venue for this Gospel living.
^(ICYL)

A Project of UMAEL (World Union of Lasallian Former Students) - Lasallian Solidarity Day: The UMAEL Executive Committee that met on November 19th and 20th in Philadelphia, USA, is proposing to all the Former Students and also to any member of the Lasallian Family who wishes to participate, a Lasallian Solidarity Day: April 30th , anniversary of the birth of St John Baptist de La Salle. On that day, the Lasallians are invited to make a donation equivalent to a day’s salary to a Lasallian solidarity project (of the District, the Region, a Lasallian NGO, of UMAEL, ….).
^{(www.umael-lasalle.org)}

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