Board Formation

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Board Formation

• The Three Constitutive Elements of theDe La
  Salle Christian Brothers

2
The Sources

• The Brothers of the Christian Schools,
  Declaration on the The Brother of the Christian
  Schools in the World Today. Lincroft, NY LaSalle
  Provincialate, 1997
• The Brothers of the Christian Schools, The
  Documents of the 44th General Chapter. Rome The
  Generalate, 2007
• The Brothers of the Christian Schools, The Rule.
  Rome S.G.S-Instituto Pio XI, 1987
• Salm, Brother Luke, A Religious Institute in
  Transition The Story of Three General Chapters.
  Romeoville, IL Christian Brothers Publications,
  1992

3

• The vocation of the Brother is a complex
  integration of an apostolic mission that stems
  from a religious consecration and includes
  community, lay status, educational work with the
  preference for the poor, carried on in schools
  for the most part but also in other suitable
  educational situations.
• (From A Religious Institute in Transition, p. 127)

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The Three Constitutive Elements

• Consecration
• Apostolic Ministry
• Community Life

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Consecration

• Wherefore, I promise and vow association for
  the service of the poor through education,
  chastity, poverty, obedience, and stability in
  the Institute. (Updated Vow Formula, 2007)

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Association for the Service of the Poor Through
Education

• We (the Brothers) have rediscovered our
  consecrated identity in light of our vow of
  association for the educational service of the
  poor and it is through it that we attempt to
  clarify the other vows.
• (Documents of the 44th General Chapter,
  Introduction)
• 2. We are challenged to live our association
  todayin a way that is open and integrated with
  our Lasallian partners, who participate with us
  in the Lasallian charism, spirituality, and
  mission.
• (Documents of the 44th General Chapter, 2.1)

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Poverty

• By their poverty lived according to the Gospel,
  the Brothers become poor in order to follow
  Christ who was poor and in order to serve better
  all persons as their brothers and sisters,
  especially those most in need.
• (The Rule, 32)
• 2. The Brothers live simply as persons of
  ordinary means, having everything in common.
• (The Rule, 32)

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Poverty

• 3. In their use of money and material goods put
  at their disposal the Brothers are careful to act
  as faithful steward.
• (The Rule, 32 a)
• 4. In every situation the Brothers will avoid
  any external show that would be offensive to the
  poor. They furnish their establishments to
  reflect a simple lifestyle and shared poverty and
  so allow the most disadvantaged to feel at ease
  there.
• (The Declaration, 31.5)

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Chastity

• Chastity, rooted in the Gospel and lived in
  celibacy, is an expression of love totally vowed
  to God. It is a gift of the Spirit. It frees the
  Brothers for the service of others and for the
  kingdom of God.
• (The Rule, 27)
• 2. Chastity disposes the Brothers to live united
  together in community. It sustains them in their
  educational work and teaches them how to leave
  each and every person with an unselfish and
  respectful love.
• (The Rule, 27)

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Chastity

• 3. Chastity frees the Brother to be more totally
  available for his work it makes his work more
  effective, even as it makes greater demands on
  him in the area of the apostolate.
• (The Declaration, 18.6)

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Obedience

• The Brothers live out their vow of obedience by
  their availability within a community committed
  to accomplishing the mission of the Institute.
• (The Rule, 36)
• 2. Obedience is a communion with the Holy
  SpiritIt is through world events, through young
  people, the community of the Brothers and the
  Superiors, through the body of the Institute and
  the Church, that the Spirit manifests His
  purposes.
• (The Rule, 36)

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Stability in the Institute

• By this vow the Brothers commit themselves to
  remain in the Institute in order to accomplish
  its specific mission and to live in fraternal and
  apostolic communion with the Brothers. They
  remain faith to the Institute and to its spirit,
  to their Brothers, and to those they serve in
  their ministry.
• (The Rule, 42b)

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Questions or Comments
14
Ministry

• The purpose of the Institute is apostolic.
• (The Declaration, 22.2)

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Ministry

• Lasallian institutions make the means of
  salvation available to young people through a
  quality education and by an explicit proclamation
  of Jesus Christ.
• (The Rule, 130
• 2. The Brothers principal function consists of
  the work of evangelization and catechesis.
• (The Rule, 15)
• 3. Lasallian institutions are centered on the
  young, adapted to the time in which they live,
  and designed to prepare students to take their
  place in society.
• (The Rule, 13)

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Ministry

• The Brothers tie together the work of
  evangelization with the effort to develop a good
  citizen and to give them access to a good human
  education.
• (The Declaration,40.2)
• 5. Brothers are attentive to each of their
  students, especially those most in need. Brothers
  are available to all in an attitude of brotherly
  companionship.
• (The Rule, 13)

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Ministry

• 6. The Brother is immersed in the lives of his
  students he knows their interests, their
  worries, their hopes.
• (The Declaration, 40.4)
• 7. Our orientation to the poor comprises an
  integral part of our Institute.
• (The Declaration, 28.7)
• 8. The Brother works in service to those whose
  poverty in an obstacle to their development as
  human persons or to their ability to receive the
  message of salvation revealed in Jesus Christ.
• (The Declaration, 13.4)

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Ministry

• 9. Place the poor, especially those who are
  young, at the center of our community and
  educational projects in order to better know the
  reality in which they live and in order to
  respond to the different local needs. For
  example, students who have difficulties with
  their studies, children of dysfunctional
  families, migrants, those on drugs, orphans, and
  other new forms of poverty.
• (Documents of the 44th General Chapter, 1.3.1)

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Ministry

• 10. In their educational activity the Brothers
  will (1) help their students become more aware of
  human suffering in its concrete form (2) waken
  in them a universal sense of brotherhood and (3)
  invite them to share their goods and to serve
  those who are in need.
• (The Declaration, 32.2)
• 11. Our education works should be
• Instruments of the education of the poor, the
  rights of the child, education for social
  justice. and
• Islands of creativity and agents of social
  transformation.
• (Documents of the 44th General Chapter, 2.1)

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Ministry

• 12. The Brothers gladly associate lay persons
  with them in their educational mission. They
  provide for them the means to learn about the
  Founder and to live according to his spirit.
• (The Rule, 17)

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Community

• From the very beginning the Brother has
  fulfilled his mission together and by
  association as a member of a community by whom
  he knows he is accepted, supported, and entrusted
  with his mission.
• (The Rule, 16)
• The Brothers community should be simple and
  planned in a way that fosters family spirit,
  work, and prayer.
• (The Rule, 55)

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Community and Mission

• The Brothers community shares in the animation
  of the institutions of which it is involvedIts
  action to promote the Gospel aims to bring into
  being a community of faith in the educational
  community.
• (The Rule, 51a)
• 2. The reason Brothers live together and
  associate in community is that they stimulate and
  help one another to procure the glory of God
  through the salvation of young people.
• (The Declaration, 22.4)

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Community and Home

• The community is for the Brothers their home.
  They live together. They experience the
  friendship, the esteem, the trust and the respect
  they have for one another. They share meals. They
  share recreation.
• (The Rule, 54)
• 2. The Brothers accept and love one another in
  their differences and in their similarities.
• (The Rule, 54a)

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Community and Faith

• The Brothers community is where the spirit of
  God is shared.
• (The Rule, 48)
• 2. In community the Brothers gather to listen to
  God.
• (The Declaration, 26.5)
• 3. The Brothers find the principal sources for
  their prayer in holy scripture, in liturgy, and
  in the challenges that come to them in their
  ministry.
• (The Rule, 67)

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Community and Faith

• 4. We are called to create
• Communities of faith
• Island of hope and creativity
• Which serve as a reference for adults, for youth,
  and for children
• Because of the witness of the Brothers interior
  life
• Where Brothers look forward to coming to prayer
• We are called to be
• The human face of God
• Companions for others along the pathway of their
  own spirituality.
• (Documents of the 44th General Chapter, 2.9)

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Conclusion

• We dream of Brothers and communities
• -that open their doors to welcome those who
  hunger for bread, friendship, spirituality,
  culture, consolation, and the experience of God
• -that are inserted in their environments, who
  live simply, and are committed to combat human
  suffering.
• (Documents of the 44th General Chapter, 1.2)

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Questions or Comments