Thousands of members of the Catholic educational community from throughout the United States heard the message of Lasallian education recently at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

The occasion was the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, an annual gathering that is the largest of its kind in the world. The four-day-long event brought together some 15,000 students for its “Youth Day” kick-off and more than 25,000 religious educators for 72 hours of workshops, lectures, liturgies, and networking. 

The District of San Francisco, the western province of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, was one of only 225 invited exhibitors at the Congress.

Brother George Van Grieken, FSC, the District’s Director of Vocation Ministry, who organized the exhibit and spent four days at the Congress -- mostly on his feet, shaking thousands of hands and making numerous new acquaintances – offers this report:

“This conference was a ‘place of high potential’ in terms of reaching the larger Catholic population in the United States, to begin communicating the wide, comprehensive, and well-established tradition of Catholic education that makes up the Lasallian educational network in the United States. We are well known to our own clientele, but we are little known beyond them. And almost all have little idea of the extent of our educational apostolate.

"The Congress seemed an ideal place to offer materials that would be visually appealing, and spark an interest in our ministry. With the help of a graphic artist I designed a booth that would highlight our network. I also prepared a set of information sheets to give away. Each of the six sheets was on a different topic  -- John Baptist de La Salle, Lasallian Education in the U.S., Lasallian Education in the World,  the Lasallian Volunteers, the Vocation of the Christian Brother, and Lasallian Spirituality. 

"We also prepared a larger take-away item, an 18- by-24-inch poster that features a photomosaic of John Baptist de La Salle on one side (with his dates and the title "Patron of Teachers") and a 2008-2009 calendar on the other side. The text gives facts about Catholic education in the U.S. and about Lasallian education in particular, with a list of appropriate websites.

"Four thousand of these handouts were printed, and we gave away about 3,500. The goal was to get them into classrooms and faculty rooms around the country. The more of them get into schools, the more exposure we will be getting as an educational network. The hope is that this interest will begin to influence likely candidates to the Brother’s vocation who are either currently teaching in non-Lasallian Catholic schools or who are known by those who teach there. Also, of course, Catholic teachers should know about our schools as potential places in which to live out their teaching vocation.

"I arrived at the Congress a day early and participated in Youth Day with the group from Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento. There was lots of energy, singing, dancing, and enjoyment of life.  When Youth Day was over I set up our Lasallian Educational Network booth, and spent most of the next three days, meeting a wide array of people.

“Brother Roch Dufresne joined me from Cathedral High School, and he showed a wonderful talent for making an instant impression on the strolling educators. "Are you a teacher?" he would say to the passers-by. "Do you know who your patron saint is?" I soon followed his example, and we found that people seemed to enjoy encountering us and learning about De La Salle. And once they saw the poster, they were impressed and wanted one or more. The quality of the poster makes a difference, along with its content. The photomosaic of the Founder’s portrait composed of hundreds of color photos of Lasallian educators in action, was intriguing to them, and having the calendar was a practical thing.

"Other Lasallians who helped out at the booth were Brother William Carriere, who is director of Western Catholic Education Association, and John Gray from the Office of Communication at De La Salle Institute in Napa.

"The Congress was a great opportunity not only to make new acquaintances in the educational community but also to speak with other teaching congregations who were there to communicate their mission and their vocation. I spoke with Marianists, Jesuits, Dominicans, and others, and I learned some things by seeing what they did. 

"Clearly, it was important and advantageous to have a high-quality and informative item to give out. That makes a big difference in being able to encounter people. This conference is a good way to get our Lasallian identity better known on a larger scale, and it's also a good way to encounter those who have an interest in thinking about a religious vocation."