Lasallian Association
Mr. Francis P. Coughlin
Lasallian Characteristics Workshop VI
April 10-12, 1989 - Riverdale, New York
Edited and published by
Note: Lasalliana 18-16-D-44.
Further minor editing by Gery Short
Introduction
I need to begin, although is not a good way to do so, by stating two qualifiers.
My first qualifier is that my remarks are addressed almost exclusively to the lay people
present. I hope the Brothers and others will not be offended. There is much to say on the
topic and I have limited time and have to develop a focus for myself. My remarks do have
implications for the Brothers, but I think they would best be stated by others.
My second qualifier is: I am not a theologian, nor am I an expert in Lasallian matters. I
do have long familiarity and great love and respect for things Lasallian, but even all of
these things together do not make mean expert. I am, therefore, open to and would welcome
corrections in either my facts or my interpretations.
The Lay State
Let's start by putting a couple of things in context and perspective. The first context
and perspective we must establish is one which concerns us, the laity. Up to Vatican II
and to a large extent since Vatican II and to a large extent in opposition to Vatican II,
there was a theology of laity which emphasized our instrumental value to the hierarchy of
the Church. Such a theology stresses our role as helpers to the hierarchy, to the clergy,
even to the Brothers in accomplishing their mission, the Church's mission to the world.
Since Vatican II there have been a number of other theologies of the laity put forth, all
of which are only more or less satisfactory, because, I think, they continue to be
theologies of laity and not theologies for laity. The real need is for a new integrated
theology of Church. You and I, however, cannot do much about that. Both the Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church and the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity in the documents
of Vatican II make it clear: We (lay people) do not belong to the Church, nor do we have a
role in the Church. Through baptism and confirmation we are called and gifted. Through
baptism and confirmation, in union with Jesus Christ, our mission is the mission of the
Church itself. The dignity of who and what we are, the dignity of what we do is rooted in
and rises out of our baptism and confirmation. We are an ecclesial people and we are
sacrament to the world. The awareness of that reality must be for us an ever growing
awareness. I make a strong point of this fact now because it must be a basic assumption in
our discussion and understanding of the idea of association. If the concept of association
is translated into actual practice in our schools, it will be of the utmost, even
critical, importance that we be aware of the reality of who and what we are.
Association
The second context and perspective we must establish is that of association itself. For us
the term association does not have very strong denotations, nor very inspiring
connotations. It is a rather weak neutral word. We will, hopefully, in the coming years
change that. It will come to have a weight, a significance, an import similar to that
which it has always had for the Brothers. You may be aware that Association is one of the
vows each Brother professes and renews throughout his life. This vow of Association the
Brothers profess traces its origin back to the very foundation of their Institute. In
1694, John Baptist de La Salle with twelve laymen (the first Brothers) pronounced three
vows: Obedience, Association and Stability. You will note that there are no vows of
poverty or chastity. They came later. The first three vows were practical and highly
functional in their purpose. These twelve men were laymen. De La Salle alone was a priest,
the only priest-brother in the 300 year history of the Brothers. The three vows had as
their very practical purpose the provision of manpower for the maintenance of free
schools. These men were associated together to keep free schools for the poor.
Men who were not Brothers i.e., not bound by the vows of obedience, association and
stability, have always, from the very beginning, been associated with the Brothers in
their work. We know this from De La Salle himself in the Memoir on the Habit written in
1690. But, it is evident that the association was limited, and, it seems, somewhat
distant.
The term association for the purposes of maintaining schools, has for the most part over
the past three hundred years been applied specifically and exclusively to the Brothers.
Association truly has been and is a characteristic of the Lasallian School, but until now
it has not technically applied to us, except in a general vague way. I believe that we and
the Brothers are at a turning point in our and their understanding and implementation of
association.
Let's define association. It is a bonding together for the common purpose of conducting
Christian Schools. I think we can all more or less identify with that. We are doing that.
Now this bonding together, this association allows for a great many degrees, a large
spectrum. At one end we have the Brothers who are associated by vow. At the other end we
have people who work in the same building and are relating to the same students, and
that's about it. That is an extreme, but possible and real. Between these two extremes
there is room for a great many degrees of association. My point is not to try to identify
where we are on this spectrum. That is not yet possible. My point is to suggest that we
are being called to move on the spectrum to greater association for the common purpose.
Association for Lasallian Schools
We are being called to greater association in a Lasallian School. What is a Lasallian
School? Or what makes a school Lasallian? From the very beginning, right to the present
time a Lasallian School was recognized as different. What made it different was the
presence of the Brothers. The terms Lasallian and Brothers were interchangeable. We spoke
ordinarily of a Brothers' school. Graduates identified themselves as Brothers' boys, and
now we can speak of Brothers' girls. These schools had profound influence on their
students, and on other staff members. Whether there were many Brothers or only a few, the
school was distinctive. What made these men Lasallian? It is very important for us to be
clear on this, if we are ourselves to be identified as Lasallian by associating ourselves
with the Brothers. It will be a superficial, unconscious association at best if we become
Lasallian by some process of osmosis, or if we are Lasallian because we fall within the
aura of the Brothers.
The Brothers and Spirituality
The Brothers themselves are not Lasallian simply by virtue of membership in the Institute
of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Being Lasallian, it seems to me is both a
personal and communal enterprise, and it is available to us through the Brothers. De La
Salle is their founder and father. They are his sons and heirs. De La Salle's legacy is
primarily theirs, and can be ours through association and by their willingness to share it
with us. De La Salle's legacy is essentially a spiritual one. It is discovered in his own
life story, in his writings, in the 300 year old story of his Institute and in the lives
of his Brothers' present with us today.
It is the spirituality of De La Salle which makes the Brothers Lasallian, and their
schools Lasallian, and it will only be by sharing that spirituality with us that the
Brothers can hope to become Lasallian. Please be aware that these are my view. I try to
indicate that by repeatedly saying "it seems to me" or "I think". For
some, and even for some Brothers, my emphasis on buying into the spirituality as a
requirement for being Lasallian, may be a bit strong. I should make it very clear that I
am not talking about, I don't think it is intended, nor do I think it is desirable that we
all become "mini-brothers", or that we create a third order. I am talking about
buying into a spirituality which is particularly suited to us as educators, and it is only
available to us through the Brothers. With those cautions, let me proceed.
De La Salle, like all of us, did not sit down and write his life story or the life story
of the Brothers, and then set about living it. His story, like ours, is written in the
living of it. The story unfolds as we go along, not always as we or he would have it. It
is important for us to know his story and how he got into the work of the Christian
Schools, but I cannot trace that here. He did in fact get into the work of establishing
the Christian Schools. He quickly realized that they could not be maintained, could not
prosper, unless they were staffed by trained and dedicated men who would give their entire
lives to the schools. He also quickly realized that he himself had to train these men and
that their dedication could not be sustained unless it were provided with interior and
exterior supports and that the dedication must be based upon religious principles. He
eventually, very gradually, painstakingly, brilliantly developed a spirituality for laymen
who were exclusively, specifically committed to the ministry of education.
The Spirituality of the Educator
This is the great good news for us, you and me, lay people committed to education: the
spirituality we need to sustain us in our ministry already exists. It is a living, vibrant
spirituality which has evolved from De La Salle's original teaching through 300 years of
history. It is this spirituality, I think, which makes the Brothers unique. You and I, and
the Brothers' students would, in general, be at a loss for words to explain why it is we
are drawn to and devoted to the Brothers as we are. It is this spirituality of De La
Salle, I think, which they are trained to early in their lives and which they live out
daily that draws us. It is this spirituality which, when all the external and superficial
distinctions are removed that makes them Lasallian. It is not so esoteric, so
other-worldly as to be beyond our reach. This spirituality is, as La Salle intended it,
very practical, very functional, suited primarily to the Brothers, but able to be adopted
and adapted by us. The sticking point is that we need to be educated and trained in this
spirituality, and only the Brothers can do it. It is my own conviction that it is this
spirituality which is the most characteristic element of anything Lasallian ‹ whether
it be Brothers, schools, students, teachers, people.
I know things are not this simple, and I know I am not sufficiently learned in these
matters, and I have not done the research necessary to validate this statement, but, if I
were to identify the linchpin which holds de La Salle's spirituality together, it would be
what I consider his most brilliant insight, fully realized only late in his life, namely,
that the Institute, the Christian Schools, were of divine origin. They were not the work
of De La Salle, nor of the Brothers, nor of the Church, nor of us. They are God's work.
And his work like his will will be done, regardless. We are but his ministers, the
administrators of his mercies. This rather awesome insight holds the spirituality together
and informs each of the elements.
The Elements of Lasallian Spirituality
I can only list and briefly comment on what I consider the salient elements of Lasallian
spirituality. Hopefully, they could form future agenda for us. The first element is a
Spirit of Faith. We are not talking about faith whereby we believe in God or the dogmas of
the Church. Having the Spirit of Faith is having a way of seeing the world. It is a world
view, a way of looking at ourselves and others, especially our schools and our students.
It is a way of knowing that the world has meaning, that appearances both conceal and
reveal the realities behind them. If we see and comprehend the world, ourselves and our
work in a Spirit of Faith, we will go beyond seeing and comprehending and we will begin
responding in a Spirit of Faith. The next four pieces flow from the Spirit of Faith, but
they are also the means by which we acquire it.
First ‹ a profound respect and reverence for Holy Scripture, especially the New
Testament. Without it there is no Christian spirituality of any kind. We must read and
assimilate it not just as human beings and Christians, but as teachers. If read in this
way it has new meanings for us.
Second ‹ a great trust in the providence of God. This is related to the unifying
element of Lasallian spirituality. What we do, our work is God's work. He will provide for
it. We trust that our best efforts will advance the work, and our worst failures cannot
destroy it. If God should decide the work is finished, it's over, regardless of what we
do. If it is to continue, it will continue, regardless. It is a wonderfully freeing
sentiment. We do as much as we can as well as we can, and then it's on God.
Third ‹ a great attentiveness to the presence of God. The practice of the presence of
God is as old as Judaism and perhaps as old as humanity. Much has been written on it over
thousands of years. Again, as with all the things we are speaking about, De La Salle took
this age old practice and fitted it to the teacher and the classroom, and so made it
distinctively Lasallian.
Fourth ‹ a devotion to prayer, especially to meditation, or as the Brothers have
traditionally called it, Mental Prayer. Again this is nothing new in the Christian or any
other tradition of spirituality, but De La Salle again brings it into focus on the
teacher.
Zeal
The next element is a Spirit of Zeal. Zeal may be an old fashioned word and perhaps an old
fashioned virtue. A good synonym maybe love. Interestingly, I think, (again, I have not
done my research) the word rarely occurs in De La Salle without the adjective ardent. A
burning, vigorous, strenuous, (passionate?) zeal or love is what is called for. As the
Spirit of Faith is a way of seeing, the Spirit of Zeal is a way of doing. Can you imagine
grading your papers, preparing your lessons, attending faculty meetings with a passionate
love? That's what is called for. Remember that De La Salle was not just a theoretician, he
was a practitioner in the classroom. He knew he was asking his Brothers to devote their
whole lives to the schools. He realized they could not perform their work unless they saw
it in the light of faith and did it with passionate love, nor can we. Much of what we all
do is routine, rote, attention to details, bookkeeping. It could and does easily become
drudgery, and we can and do easily become drudges. Over the long haul we can become bored
and, worse still, boring. De La Salle's solution: passionate love. At other times and
other places it would be called elan, panache. The renaissance man was characterized by
sprezzatura, an apparent effortless grace. De La Salle would not have found those words
appropriate in his context. They would not have carried for De La Salle the weighty
significance he wished to convey. And yet, they are words which very much characterize him
and his way of getting things done.
The Spirit of Zeal is that element which infuses the spirit of joy into that we are about.
It saves us from the gloomy religiosity which characterizes drudges and bores. It is a
simple, clearheaded devotion to duty, it always takes us that extra mile, it gets the job
done neatly, efficiently, completely. It is a characteristic of the Lasallian school.
The Poor
The next element is a predilection, a preference, for the poor. It was for the children of
the poor and the working classes that De La Salle established the Christian Schools. It is
a characteristic of the Lasallian school to show that preference for the poor. It is easy
to enter into a lengthy and heated discussion of "who are the poor?" I would
urge all of you to avoid that discussion. For our purposes it is useless. Place yourself
squarely in your school or your classroom. Then ask yourself, "Who is poor?" If
they are all poor, ask yourself who is the poorest? You do not need an advanced degree in
anything to answer the question. It is probably the ugliest, dumbest kid. Maybe the
quietest or noisiest, maybe the biggest thug. Probably the most disadvantaged emotionally,
socially, educationally. The preference for these kids is based not on feeling sorry or
wanting to help. It is based on a spirituality which calls on us to see beyond the
appearance and minister to the reality. Identify your own poor kids, zero in on them and
then give them the most and best you have to give. That always has been and is the
Lasallian way, pure and simple. The spirituality consists in being tuned and disposed to
doing that.
Openness to the Signs of the Times
The next element is not clearly stated anywhere by De La Salle, but is emerges from his
own life story and the 300 year old life story of the Brothers. It is an openness to the
signs of the times. It is disposition of attentiveness and watchfulness to what is being
asked of us. It is an abiding recognition and acceptance that all things change and that
there is a season for the change. It is sensitivity to the fact that we change. It is
acknowledgment that a 12 year old is different from a 17 year old, that each child is
different from every other child, that we ourselves are different at different times and
in different ways. It is insight into the distinction between the letter and the spirit of
the law, but also the insight that because we are frail humans the letter is the
embodiment of the spirit and safeguards it. The spirit must be supreme always, but if the
letter must be put aside it is done carefully, not through faddishness, but through
discernment. It is the patience to accept that the mythologies we live by today must give
way. It is the wisdom to create new mythologies to live by tomorrow.
This is a difficult element of Lasallian spirituality to articulate. Openness is a pretty
neutral word, but the implications are by no means neutral. The implications of openness
are clearly related to the unknown and to vulnerability. Not an easy element to embrace,
but nonetheless very Lasallian.
We Are What We Do
The last element I wish to list is again one which is not clearly stated anywhere by De La
Salle, but it clearly emerges from his life story and his writings and the history of the
Brothers. For lack of a better term it has to do with the practice of a holistic view of
all we are and do. It is the development of an integrating force within ourselves. It has
to do with all the other elements I have spoken of. You may have noted that they are all
related. One flows from the other, informs the other, complements the other, then turns
back and defines the others. They are distinct for the purpose of conceptualizing,
analyzing and articulating, but individually they make little sense. It is only when
integrated and embodied as a whole in a human being do they become Lasallian. This element
was under scored by De La Salle when he insisted that a Brother was not a teacher when he
was in school and a religious when he was in the community house. He insisted that a
Brother was not a religious who happened to be a teacher. His Brothers were teaching
religious and religious teachers. They did not live their lives in community and earn
their living in school. For him and for the Brothers the two were distinguishable, but
inseparable. The same is true for us. We are not Christian for an hour on Sundays,
teachers from 8 to 4 on weekdays, and husbands, wives, parents, or whatever for the rest
of the time. These distinguishable parts of ourselves are to be inseparable. Each must
flow from, inform and define the other. By insisting that his Brothers' holiness,
wholeness, perfection and even salvation depended on how well they prayed. De La Salle
made this integrating force a key element in his spirituality. Dichotomizing diminished
the significance of both life and work. Integrating enhanced the significance of both. He
addressed directly the schizophrenia to which we are all drawn as well as the false
dualism which divides and destroys all of us.
The research has yet to be done, but I am sure it will prove that De La Salle's
spirituality is a whole, a structured coherent teaching. It's effectiveness and vitality
have been proven over 300 years in the history of the Brothers. I am certain it is
applicable to us. Large parts of it can be adopted wholesale, other parts will require
adaptation.
I really wish I could expand on all of these elements, which to me are of the utmost
importance. I am sure, however, that there are people much better qualified to do it.
These things should be part of a future agenda. Unless we are educated and trained in
these things, our association with the Brothers will be of a very superficial nature. The
extent to which we accept and practice Lasallian spirituality will determine the degree of
our association.
The Genius of De La Salle
Lasallian spirituality is what makes De La Salle an educational genius. His genius has
relatively little to do with the fact he introduced the simultaneous method or the use of
the vernacular for instruction. His genius lay in his transformation of the entire concept
of the education of the masses by laymen. We have been entrusted with the sublime task of
caring for and saving our students, who are sacred immortal souls. De La Salle elevated us
and our profession to extraordinary, sublime heights. De La Salle made teaching the finest
of the useful arts. Teaching is a manifestation and exercise of divine goodness. De La
Salle had a great deal to do with making it so.
There was a little digression on De La Salle. It will be hard for us to be Lasallian
without developing an appreciation for him. He is not easy to get to know, but worth it.
Initially, he will strike you as austere, even severe. Be patient and get beyond the
appearances. We would have reason enough to love him, if only for his Brothers, but, I
think, if we learn his ways and practice his teaching we can love him for himself. He is
our patron. |
