News of the Institute and Lasallian Family

Rome, April 03rd, 2007

ADAMPAN – SRI-LANKA – DIFFICULT SITUATION FOR THE SRI LANKAN BROTHERS: Love and greetings from Adampan. Here we are in good health. Hope and pray that you too are in good health.

As you would have heard the situation n Sri Lanka is going from bad to worse and the only two roads to Vanni and Jaffna (LTTE Controlled area) have been closed from August 2006 until now.

The A9 road to Jaffna is permanently closed and the road to our area (Vanni) is open only on Mondays and Fridays. Though the road is open for two days in a week only very limited people are allowed by the Sri Lankan Government (Army) and by the LTTE, after very long and strict procedures.

Schools are functioning but very few teachers and about 60% of the students are coming to school and the rest are displaced in various areas both within the country and in India. Most of the people are displaced due to the continuous harassment, bombing, shelling and killing. Also farmers are not allowed to cultivate paddy and fishermen are not allowed to do fishing. People are finding extremely difficult to manage their day-to-day expenses. Also they are very expensive and not available, even the food items like……

Regarding traveling, to go out of this area (LTTE) we have to obtain a special pass from them and very recently we obtained it. But we both can’t go together, one of us goes to Mannar on an allowed day to purchase things and to attend to other works. Though the people are going through tremendous hardships both physical and mental they expected a positive outcome of the peace talks held in Geneva, but that also failed and people now have lost their hope and live in fear and utter frustration.

Concerning our existing house, that doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to the Bishop of Mannar. Due to the heavy and continuous rain the rooms are leaking. Also we had dug a safety bunker to protect us from shelling and bombing but that also due to rain was filled with water and got destroyed. This is also the season for snakes and other numerous reptiles and insects like mosquitoes. They are our frequent visitors and make our lives more interesting and alive.

Though the situation is bad, lives are in danger, things are not definite and the future is uncertain, we with our surrounding villagers including priests and Sisters are living happily and hoping for the best.

As pioneers, representing the De La Salle Brothers we are happy witnessing the suffering Christ and making known the presence of God and of our congregation among the people.

We do thank and appreciate all your prayers, concern and your continuous support. We assure you that our love and prayers are always with you.
^{(Brother Christy Croos - La Salle Postulancy)}

SCAMPIA (A RUN-DOWN SUBURB OF NAPLES) - ITALY – A NEW ASSIGNMENT FOR THE ITALIAN BROTHERS: At the beginning of 2007 we celebrated our first three months in Scampia…months of discovery, of learning, of reflection, of prayer…It is difficult to get used to seeing the continuous selling of drugs, the decaying of the surroundings and the dirt.

What can we Brothers do in Scampia?
First of all a bit of cleaning; we get a hand from the mothers who know that we have come here to help their children. In the afternoons we help the children during after-school classes in the parish: they are children who rarely go to the regular school; children who are often led into a life of crime by their own parents or by their older friends; children who pass their days in idleness…
We collaborate with the Jesuit Fathers, with the Sisters of Providence and the Society of the Sacred heart.

Our relations with the civil authorities are improving with time. Given our availability, we have become involved in the tiring search to set up resources, skills, funds, energy and ideas to combat the negative mentality which seems to reign in this suburb. We have also come to understand that it is the adolescents who need most help: this is the area to which we dedicate most of our efforts. Another world which we are learning to know in concrete form and which needs to be approached is that of the Rom (gypsies). There will be much to do with them!

In January we were visited by Br.Rafael Matas, Visitor of Valencia (Spain), who would like to send a Brother from his District to join our Community: this would be the beginning of a European Community in the service of the Lasallian charism.

e-mail: lasallescampia@hotmail.it
http://lasallescampia.blogspot.com
^{(Brothers Enrico and Raffaele Lievore)}

NAIROBI – KENYA – PARTICIPATION OF THE FSC AT THE NAIROBI WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Encouraged by the Superior and General Council, I attended the,
“A better World is Possible,” in the third week of January. I was received and housed most warmly at the scholasticate by Br. Dominick Ermantraut and his community . I was further fortunate in having the companionship of Yolanda Leòn from Catalunia, a teacher of performing arts who had taken part in the Lasallian summer projects in Togo.

Although the reach of the gathering was world wide, the theme was played out in a very African setting. Each day the “Human rights” marquee staged lectures and discussions on the impact of climate change, of globalised economics and of political activity on the developing communities of the continent. Virtually all day, a succession of demonstrations marched round outside the national stadium, drumming, dancing and shouting slogans. Notable causes were the education of women, the right of women to own land and the plight of child soldiers.

Inside the stadium, in cordoned sections of the tiered seating, NGOs and interest groups set out their proposals for a better world to audiences varying from a handful to several score. Caritas Internationalis and CRS had large and well attended tents. There were a number of associations concerned with HIV/AIDS and TB. We met two Bishops who are involved in our South Sudan Project and are fast becoming familiar friends. And the Jesuit Rector of the Catholic University of Ghana made some helpful suggestions.

My briefcase is marked “La Salle Leeds 2004". Several people came up to me to say how they knew the Brothers and where. Br. James Kimpton was especially frequently mentioned. It could be that the setting up of networks and the exchanging of cards with different persons and organisations constituted our greatest practical action during the jamboree.
^{(Brother Anton de Roeper)}

BOGOTA – COLOMBIA - SCHOOL OF YOUNG LASALLIAN ANIMATORS: From February 18th to 22nd the first level of the new District School of Young Lasallian Animators was held in the facilities of Edén in Bogota. There were 71 young people from the different Lasallian works in the District present.

In the course of the meeting there was an intense atmosphere of fraternity, prayer, critical reflection and sharing on the theological, pastoral, pedagogical, didactic and methodological elements of the animation of youth groups.

Br.Eduard Quitián, Sub-Director of the Pre-Novitiate, shared with us the work that was carried out during his course in Brasil on the history of youth pastoral ministry in the Latin-American Church and in the Lasallian District of Bogotá, especially in relation to the Indivisa Manent Lasallian Youth Movement.

Earlier, Br.Oscar Elizalde, Assistant-Secretary of CLAR, worked with the animators on the theological aspects of animation as a ministry of the Church, based on the premises of “Civilización del Amor: tarea y esperanza” (The Civilization of Love: the task and the hope) and on Lasallian spirituality and mysticism.

Br.Carlos Forero, Secretary for Pastoral Ministry, developed the theme of the foundations, mysticism, spirituality and structure of the Indivisa Manent Lasallian Youth Movement, while Br.Andrés Riveros, of the Pastoral Ministry Community, explained everything related to the dynamic of a Christian youth group to the animators.

The main work was the pedagogical block, carried out by Br.Camilo Enrique Rodríguez of La Salle College Bucaramanga, who worked on the pedagogical and methodological foundations of animation and drew up an instrument for the development of the meetings of the groups of the Indivisa Manent Youth Movement based on experiential methodology.

On the last day of work, the coordinators and delegates of pastoral ministry from all the works in the District, came together to work on the Annual Youth Animation Project, using an instrument thought out and developed by Br.Frank Leonardo Ramos of La Salle College Bogotá.

Apart from the Brothers already mentioned, some young people from the ‘Nivel Lazos’ (Links Level) of diverse District works, joined in temporarily as members of the organizing team, animating the “Kairos” which is that moment at the end of the day in which we celebrate the faith in the manner of youth, around the word of God, the experience of life and the symbols of the Indivisa Manent Lasallian Youth Movement.

Details: www.lasalle.org.co
^{(Brother Carlos Forero, Secretary for Youth Pastoral Ministry)}

If you have news notes that you would like us to consider publishing, please email us:
lasallew@lasalle.org