Summer is over and it’s BACK TO SCHOOL in the District of San Francisco.
How do we greet the opening of the year? Here are some back-to-schoolish thoughts:

WELCOME IN

A new school year stands on my doorstep ready to enter life’s journey.

Something in me welcomes this visitor: the hope of bountiful blessings,
the joy of a new beginning, the freshness of unclaimed surprises.

Something in me rebuffs this visitor: the swiftness of the coming,
the boldness of the entrance, the challenge of the year’s good-bye.

Something in me fears this visitor: the unnamed events of future days,
the wisdom needed to walk love well, the demands of giving away and growing.

A new year stands at my doorstep,
with fragile caution I move to open the door for its entrance.

My heart leaps with surprise, joy jumps in my eyes,
for there beside this brand new year stands God with outstretched hand.

God smiles and gently asks me: Can we walk this year together?
Overwhelmed with goodness I can barely whisper in reply: Welcome in.

- Sister Joyce Rupp, SM

“SEEING THEM AS GOD SEES THEM”

“One of the principal ways for a teacher to act justly and love tenderly is to make an intentional effort to see individual students as God sees them…. Seeing students as real and potential gifts to the world, and not as problems to be solved or tolerated, can be the beginning of real growth for student and teacher. Students may not see their own strengths until good teachers help them discover that potential…. Think about your students and single out one now whom you consider to be a problem or one whose behavior puts people off. Ask God for the grace to ‘see’ beyond behavior and appearances and to give you a hint about what that student needs most from you.
What does God love in him or her?”

This is an excerpt from “Lasallian Reflections No. 15”. For the full text, and for many other reflections,
visit the web site of the international Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
at www.lasalle.org. Under “Publications” there is a complete archive of
downloadable and printable Lasallian Reflections.

▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪

EVENTS in THE District of San Francisco

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY ON MISSION:

The District’s Assembly on Mission took place July 30 to August 4 at Saint Mary’s College of California. Some 140 delegates from throughout the District came together to discern and approve priorities for the guidance of our educational mission in the coming four years. Already available on the web site are an overview of the Assembly’s genesis and purpose, a list of delegates, and a set of preparatory readings. Also posted on the news page at www.delasalle.org is a brief report. Coming soon to the web site are these items that should be of interest to all in the District of San Francisco: keynote addresses and small-group presentations; priority statements approved by the Delegates; and a gallery of photos.

LASALLIAN STUDENT LEADERS: In its third consecutive year, the summer gathering of Lasallian Student Leaders was the largest ever – some 180 students from fifteen secondary schools. The gathering took place July 16 to 21 at Saint Mary’s College of California. A report by a Lasallian Collegian participant in LSL is at www.delasalle.org.

HONORED LASALLIAN PARTNERS: Patrick Bonacci, longtime principal of La Salle High School in Pasadena, and Robert Gardner, veteran instructor at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, have been named Affiliated Members of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

BROTHER CHRISTOPHER BASSEN, FSC: One of the founders and long-time director of the Lasallian Educational Opportunities Center in Oakland, Brother Chris Bassen died on July 3 after a long battle with cancer. A memorial article is on the District web site at www.delasalle.org. A scholarship fund has been established in Brother Chris’s memory that will help LEO Center students to pay for high school tuition. The fund has been established by Les Amis des Fr è res (“Friends of the Brothers”), a group of former Christian Brothers and related persons that has been an important supporter of the LEO Center and other parts of the Lasallian educational mission. For complete information on the scholarship fund in memory of Brother Chris Bassen, and for information on the varied activities of Les Amis des Fr è res, contact Pat O’Brien at pobrien_mu@earthlink.net.

JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE ON STAGE: Michael Cook of the Saint Mary’s College of California School of Performing Arts has created a one-man show on the life of the Christian Brothers’ founder titled JOURNEY OF A MAN. The show has been seen and applauded in our District and elsewhere. Now Michael has brought the show to video, with a performance filmed and edited by noted videographer Scott Gibbs, a longtime associate of the District of San Francisco. For information about the new DVD and about booking the live show, contact Michael Cook at mrcook@stmarys-ca.edu.

Views of our past, visions of our future . A new issue of E-HORIZONS is on the web site at www.delasalle.org on the Resources & Links page. Featured in this E-HORIZONS are :

Seamless K-16 Lasallian Education - Brother Ed Siderewicz, FSC, of San Miguel School Chicago expounds his vision of a system of “seamless Lasallian education from kindergarten through university”. Brother Ed introduced this concept upon receiving his honorary doctorate in educational leadership from Saint Mary’s College of California in April, and expanded upon it at the District of San Francisco’s Assembly on Mission in August.

“Guilt, loneliness, mortality, longing – and hope” - Brother Brendan Kneale, FSC, reflects upon the very last words of the Apostles’ Creed, in which we declare our belief in “the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” These great doctrines, he says, “address our deepest human concerns” and “lift our spirits by offering hope in the face of the most oppressive psychological burdens weighing down mankind’s spirit, namely guilt, loneliness, mortality, and longing.”

Vocation Vignettes – from oral histories preserved in the District archives, here are excerpts from accounts by Brothers past and present of how they heard the call to their Lasallian vocation.

For more on the Lasallian vocation, visit www.brothersvocation.org, a web site for the U.S/Toronto Region. For complete information on vocation-related activities in our District, contact Marilyn Paquette at mpaquette@dlsi.org or Brother George Van Grieken, FSC, at brothergeorge@cbhs-sacramento.org.

▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪

NEWS BRIEFS from schools and works of the DISTRICT OF SAN FRANCISCO

MORAGA - On September 6, Saint Mary’s College of California welcomed Deena Burnett, widow of Tom Burnett, one of the heroic passengers who died on Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. She spoke about her experiences and her developed vision of how to live (her new book is Fighting Back: Living Life Beyond Ourselves). The College’s web site at www.stmarys-ca.edu gives links to news coverage of her talk. (The Burnetts were a Catholic family living in the Oakland Diocese; an interview with Deena Burnett is on the Catholic web site www.ignatiusinsight.com). • For fifty years, Saint Mary’s has been home to the Integral Program, a four-year great-books course modeled on the classic liberal arts curriculum created at St. John’s College in Annapolis. The Integral Program is featured in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sunday magazine of August 20, 2006. Go to www.stmarys-ca.edu and in the news column click on “Refreshing Tradition at Saint Mary’s Great Books Program” Also on the College’s web site is the new issue of the school’s superb quarterly magazine, SAINT MARY’S.

PORTLAND - De La Salle North Catholic High School has attracted a good deal of attention from the press for its innovative approach, and an archive of articles about the school is on the web site at www.delasallenorth.org. Also there is a link to the Cristo Rey Network web site. When De La Salle North Catholic opened its doors in 2001, it was the first school in the nation to replicate the Cristo Rey model developed in Chicago. Today, there are 12 Cristo Rey model schools in operation, six more set to open in 2007, and five more in the ‘feasibility study” stage. The District of San Francisco sponsors two of those schools and has aided in feasibility studies for others.

LOS ANGELES - Cathedral High School’s new building, combining athletic and science facilities, is under construction. A photo gallery of construction progress, along with architectural drawings and plans, is on the school web site at www.cathedralhighschool.org.

SAN FRANCISCO - Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory announces its new ‘Excel’ campaign to communicate the school’s message and mission. “We want families in the community to know who we are and what we stand for,” says president John Scudder. Also new is a video available on disc. For full details, visit the Press Room at www.shcp.edu.

SAN FRANCISCO - De Marillac Middle School is now De Marillac Academy, having added a fourth grade class this year. Complete details are on the school’s web site at www.demarillac.org. Also on the web site are photos from the commencement exercises for the class of 2006, and video of a television segment on De Marillac Academy done by NBC News earlier this year.

YAKIMA - At La Salle High School, September 7 was Lasallian Values Day, combining a number of activities expressing and exploring the five core values that are characteristic of Lasallian schools; it was followed in the evening by Back to School Night for parents. The new principal at La Salle is Brother James Joost, FSC. See the web site at www.lasalleyakima.com for more.

OAKLAND – The LEO Center lost its founding director, Brother Chris Bassen, FSC (see above). But its work continues under the co-direction of Noe Gonzalez and Brother Robb Wallace, FSC. The latest issue of the LEO newsletter “Bookshelf” features students telling their stories in their own voices. For a copy, contact LEO Center, PO Box 3238, Oakland CA 94609. For complete information on LEO Center visit the web site at http://home.pacbell.net/leocentr/lyhomepage.html

BERKELEY - New and improved communications are on tap at Saint Mary’s College High School. Volume 1, Issue 1 of the new Parent Newsletter has just gone out by e-mail and is also posted on the school’s web site at www.saintmaryschs.org. The school’s web site is undergoing a major upgrade, with the new web site is due to be rolled out later this month.

MILWAUKIE - At La Salle High School there is a new principal, Tom Dudley. Former principal Bill George (in his 31 st year at the school) has moved to the post of Admissions Director, and former president Greg VanderZanden has returned from three years as founding president of San Miguel High School (Tucson) to work in La Salle High’s Advancement office. Read all the details, and more news, at www.lshigh.org.

CONCORD - De La Salle High School has launched a new and improved web site. Visit it for the latest news, including the progress of the schools’ 40 th anniversary capital campaign now entering its final months. Go to www.dlshs.org.

TUCSON - New president Elizabeth Goettl has taken the reins of this dynamic school as of July. Of interest to watchers of new models of school finance should be the area of the school’s web site devoted to the Catholic Tuition Support Organization (CTSO) created under Arizona’s Private School Tuition Tax Credit Law. Funds from the CTSO provide important support to San Miguel students. Learn more at the school’s web site at www.sanmiguelhigh.com

SACRAMENTO - Christian Brothers High School was featured in the Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Sacramento, with a story titled “Students Will See New Facilities at Christian Brothers” in the August 5, 2006, issue. Read the Catholic Herald article at http://diocese-sacramento.org/herald/index.htm. Meanwhile, on the school’s own web site, the September edition of the Falcon Family News is posted. And for those who have wondered: Could Saint John Baptist de La Salle be a comic book hero?, the answer is at the CBHS web site, where you can read or download a full-color pdf file of a classic ‘comic strip’ account of the life and vocation of the founder of the Christian Brothers. On www.cbhs-sacramento.org, go to “Press Releases” and click on “The Brothers” for a link to this entertaining and informative booklet.

NAPA - Justin-Siena High School marks its 40 th anniversary this year, beginning with a grand Mass and Celebration on October 15. The school’s new and improved web site now under construction is due to be rolled out in the next few weeks. For more, go to www.justin-siena.com.

PASADENA - For its 50 th anniversary, La Salle High School has planned a full calendar of events stretching through the academic year. The calendar is on the school’s web site, www.lasallehs.org. The November 18 event will also honor principal Pat Bonacci for his twenty years of service and will celebrate his being named by the Christian Brothers as an affiliated member.

▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪

NEWS BRIEFS from the U.S./TORONTO REGION

• The Lasallian Social Justice Institute (LSJI) had two summer institutes this year, one in Chicago (“Violence and Social Peacemaking”) and one in El Paso/Juarez (“Global Economic Justice”). LSJI members also held a planning session for another possible summer institute in San Francisco. Scott Drain from De La Salle High School, Concord, was one of the participants who spent a week in July in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago, where San Miguel School has been serving local families since 1995. Scott writes, “Never have I been more convinced that the Lasallian vision and vocation for me is one which is good and right and true. I know that my role with my students is one of bringing them to the poor, allowing them to find Christ in all his distressing disguises.” His full essay will be in the Fall issue of the Regional quarterly DE LA SALLE TODAY, due out soon from the Christian Brothers Conference at www.cbconf.org. San Miguel Schools in Chicago offers a newsletter, news stories, video, and a new book at http://www.sanmiguelchicago.org. The Lasallian Social Justice Institute can be found at www.cbconf.org.

• NEW ORLEANS - ONE YEAR LATER: To read a report from Ken Tedesco, president of De La Salle High School in New Orleans on how the school is doing one year after Hurricane Katrina, go to www.cbconf.org.

□ For more news of the U.S./Toronto Region, go to the Web site of the Christian Brothers Conference at www.cbconf.org □

▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪ ▪ □ ▪

NEWS BRIEFS from the INTERNATIONAL LASALLIAN MISSION

LASALLIAN IDENTITY: NEW DEVELOPMENTS, NEW UNDERSTANDINGS: Available on the international Institute’s web site is MEL Bulletin #27, which contains challenging and insightful articles from an international perspective by five Lasallian experts charged with exploring the new and complex reality of Lasallian Association and with making clearer the specific identify of the Brother. Among the five authors is Brother Michael Meister, FSC, of Saint Mary’s College of California. This MEL Bulletin, titled “Lasallian Identity: Working Documents for a Workshop,” will be stimulating for anyone interested in exploring the issues of Association, Identity, and Community in the modern context. The international Institute web site is www.lasalle.org.

International Symposium of Young Lasallians : The gathering this summer in Rome brought together young people from all over the world (including Tina Bonacci and Brother Michael Sanderl, FSC, of the District of San Francisco). The symposium, with the theme of “ Mission: Possible! A Shared Dream,” is part of the process of developing ways for the young Lasallians of the world “to have significant say in the future of the mission.” Photos, video, and reports are on the web site at www.lasalle.org. • Planning continues for two important upcoming events in Rome: The International Assembly on Association for the Educational Mission (October 2006) and the 44 th General Chapter (April 2007). Copious information about these gatherings is on the web site at www.lasalle.org, including purpose, descriptions, and preparatory documents.

REMEMBERING “THE CATECHIST OF THE SLAVES” - On September 27 we commemorate Blessed Brother Scubilion Rousseau, FSC. Born Jean Bernard Rousseau in Burgundy in 1797, he entered the Christian Brothers in 1822. Brother Scubilion taught school for ten years, then in 1833 he left France for the Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, where he would spend the rest of his life in ministry to the enslaved natives there, teaching, catechizing, and tending the sick. His kindness to and respect for the slaves were remarkable, and after the emancipation of 1848 he continued his ministry to the newly freed people. He died on Reunion in 1867. Brother Scubilion’s story -- and the stories of many other venerable and canonized Brothers, including martyrs – can be found at www.lasalle.org on the History page.

LASALLIANS WEST - SEPTEMBER 2006

A monthly newsletter
De La Salle Christian Brothers ● District of San Francisco

For information, contact
J. A. Gray
Director of Public Relations and Information Services
De La Salle Institute, Napa, California
707-252-3739