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San
Francisco District Lasallian Educators
of the Year, 2004-2005
(Posted
November 6, 2004)
Every
morning around the simple wooden
cross in the courtyard of De La
Salle High School in Concord, CA,
Mary and Roger Hassett can be found
leading prayer before school. This
daily commitment to enhance the
spiritual life of the school is
but one reason why Roger and Mary
stand out as the 2004-2005 District
Educator of the Year. Separately,
they make myriad contributions to
the school, but together in their
commitment to each other in the
vocation of marriage, Roger and
Mary's service distinguishes them
as somewhat of a dynamic duo of
Catholic faith on the campus of
over 1000 students.
Roger
and Mary Hassett arrived at De La
Salle High School in the fall of
1996. Mary was hired to assist the
campus minister in retreat planning
and implementation, and Roger was
a full-time religion teacher. Both
of these individuals had come from
backgrounds with experience with
the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
They brought "different gifts, but
one common spirit" in their zeal
for quality Catholic education in
the Lasallian tradition. Mary developed
the retreat program with Robert
Jordan as campus minister, and the
two of them began the first of the
SIP programs (Sophomore Immersion
Programs) where students spent a
day of service in the Tenderloin
neighborhood of San Francisco, working
in a soup kitchen, doing outreach
to local AIDS patients, ministering
to children and street people. Roger
worked full time in those first
three years as a religious studies
teacher, and became very involved
in the life and spirit of Lasallian
ministry, including participating
in the first three year Lasallian
Leadership Institute cohort of the
District.
In
the fall of 1999, Roger and Mary
were invited to take the leadership
role in the campus ministry program.
Mary initiated the first two "Kairos"
retreats in the 1999-2000 school
year, and that program has grown
to six Kairos retreats a year. The
SIP program has continued to flourish,
as has the entire retreat program.
Roger developed and refined the
Venaver immersion experiences, and
added the parent-son retreat program.
In addition, Lasallian Youth has
developed and thrived under Roger's
care. The overwhelming success of
all campus ministry programs is
a testament to their tenure at De
La Salle. Both Mary and Roger continue
to contribute to the larger District
community by participating in the
annual meetings of the Secondary
School Directors of Campus Ministry.
Even with raising three children,
Roger was able to join eleven other
District educators in serving three
weeks of the summer of 2001 in India.
Students,
faculty and staff alike look to
the Hassetts as models of service
in the Lasallian tradition. They
truly serve from "morning 'til night,"
by their example and love for the
school and larger Lasallian community;
they empower all areas of the community
to faith-filled service. Roger and
Mary will be honored along with
other Distinguished Lasallian Educators
of the USA/Toronto Region at the
Huether Lasallian Workshop on November
20 in San Francisco.
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