The Work of the Assembly Gets Underway

Tuesday morning, July 30, 2002, began with an address to the District assembly by Brother Claude Reinhardt, FSC, General Councilor at the Brothers' Generalate in Rome and assembly consultant. Brother Claude's address - What is the Institute Doing Today Worldwide in Education? - provided delegates with an international perspective on the mission of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. "I should like to say how happy Brother William Mann and I are to be here at this assembly," said Brother Claude. "When we received the invitation, we accepted it immediately and with great enthusiasm…. From faraway Rome, we follow with great satisfaction the measures taken by Districts to implement the propositions of the 43rd General Chapter regarding the joint participation of Brothers and lay persons in the new reflection and decision-making structures. The assembly we are attending is a good illustration of what can be done."

Excerpts from Brother Claude Reinhardt's address:

"What is the Institute Doing Today?

As you know, the Institute is represented in 83 countries and, faithful to its tradition, works with some 900,000 young people. In this work, it has the positive support of some 77,000 lay colleagues. By tradition, the Institute pursues its apostolate in the educational field by running establishments at all levels, and by evangelising both in and out of the academic context.

Although the above is a brief but fair description of the work of the Institute today, it does not say everything: it does not communicate the dynamic force which characterizes this educational institution today.

The Lasallian Institute is not an organization which excels at making declarations and projecting its future. Rather, its tradition is to be close to young people, and this makes it very sensitive to the imperceptible changes which affect their lives from day to day, and which reveal little by little new educational needs.

When we look at the transformation of Lasallian establishments, we see that, as a rule, this has come about, not as the result of sudden and clearly announced changes, but rather of adaptation in small things, and transformation undertaken step by step: in their daily contact with young people, teachers are sensitive to what young people say, and their ideas are brought to the attention of discussion groups and decision-making bodies.

The Service of Young Adults

What is very striking is how, more or less everywhere, centers are being set up in towns and in rural areas for young working adults: they come in the evening, after a day's work, to learn all kinds of skills and sometimes to follow courses leading to professional qualifications.

All the educational establishments in the Province of North Mexico, for example, are adopting a clear policy in this matter, and are making their facilities and teachers available for this purpose. All Lasallian establishments provide evening classes which go on till 11 o'clock at night. Similar schemes are run in many countries.

Look-Out

The role of look-out is the second present-day characteristic of the Institute. More or less everywhere, we can see the Institute's overall concern for communities at risk, for whom education is an opportunity and the first step towards construction or reconstruction. [Examples:]

[These schemes and more] reveal the constant desire of Brothers and Lasallians to remain faithful to those who have most need of their educational services - educational services which are directed to the person as a whole, which take the person as the starting point, and whose principal concern is his/her personal and social construction. It is an approach inspired by the Gospel and the heart of God. It is not the approach of a social worker, nor is its aim to make persons conform to a new model of citizenship.

The Proposition of FAITH in a New Inter-Cultural and Inter-Religious Context

The work of Brother Flavio Pajer in Italy, who has just completed writing religious knowledge textbooks for use in State schools in Italy. Between 300,000 and 500,000 copies are published of each textbook. In addition, he trains some 3,000 teachers of religion. In the Old Continent, the task facing us today is to make religion acceptable as a part of general knowledge, so as to make people understand that the religious dimension of the human person is a constitutive element of human nature.

As you have noticed so far, I have given examples of action taken in different countries. Indeed, tremendous efforts have been made all over the Lasallian world for the education of the young and the poor.

I could have selected additional examples in your own District, but you already know them well. I shall mention some of them only, which were mentioned yesterday [in the Leadership reports]:

•   the programs in direct service of the poor
•   the goal of tuition-free enrollment of 5 % of the student body
•   the increase of financial aid to students here at St Mary's College
•   the Benilde Trust contribution to remedial programs
•   the initiatives taken in favor of the Latino students and families
•   the partnerships between the works and schools of the District
•   the Service and Immersion Programs for students
•   the Lasallian Youth Programs and Lasallian Volunteers
•   the Twinning of Schools and exchange programs at an international level
•   the Formation programs for teachers, campus ministers and catechists, and board   members
•   this very Assembly that involves members of the broader Lasallian Family.

I was very much impressed when I read of the Vision Wall you created in 1999 and the document entitled A Response to the Context for Action /Action Plan.

In the two documents I discovered the profound consistency there is between what the Institute is trying to do worldwide and what you are actually doing here, with energy and with this ability of yours to bring together competent and talented people, men and women with educational and financial expertise, men and women of faith!

What you have achieved in the past four years is excellent! I am convinced that this Assembly can and actually will pave the way for what Brother Visitor called in one of his letters "new and greater miracles" in education.

Conclusion

[The Lasallian] capacity to give new educational responses are possible because the "agents" responsible have shared roots, a shared way of seeing things, the same view of the human person, and the conviction that each young person is a unique individual. If we wish to comment on these observations, we can turn to the thinking and writing of the Founder, the Conduct of Schools, and all our successive educational plans, beginning with 300 years ago and ending with the most recent plans of our Districts and establishments. This will show us how much we have inherited.

Several months ago, Secretary of Education Brother Nicolas Capelle made an astonishing observation: visiting the LEO Center at Oakland, he was struck by the very close resemblance between what he saw and the centre he himself had run in Lyons, France. And yet, we are not in an age in which a single and unvarying model of classroom procedure, learnt in the same pedagogy class, is repeated over and over again. In these two educational establishments, in the year 2000, in two countries separated by language, certain cultural characteristics, educational laws, and the Atlantic Ocean, the methods used, the type of relationship with young people and families, even the way the rooms were set out, were all identical.

In our most adventurous undertakings, as in our more "classical" establishments, we are the heirs of a rich educational history. Before we actually knew the texts and the theory, our predecessors , our elders and our professional mentors communicated to us, almost without our being aware of it, practices, educational attitudes, a way of considering young people and, I hope, a boundless enthusiasm for our profession."

Questions, Answers, Encouragement, and Inspiration

An interaction between Brother Claude, assembly consultant Brother William Mann, Vicar General, Rome, and the assembly delegates followed. One question of note came from Saint Mary's College President Brother Craig Franz, FSC, who asked the Brothers what they, from the Institute perspective, hoped or expected the San Francisco District will have accomplished four years from now, based on the work and purpose of the assembly. Brother William responded thoughtfully with a challenge, "We heard the District Leadership Team articulate a particular vision in their presentations on Monday. We haven't yet heard the echo in here about who owns which part of that vision. By Friday, I'll have a better sense of how to respond to your question." He reminded the gathering, "[Your] leaders aren't going anywhere if you're not going with them."

In comparing the Institute's work with the poor in prior years to its work today, specifically in the San Francisco District, Brother William noted that service of the poor is not "at the margins anymore." As an example, he commended the District for establishing De Marillac Middle School, saying, "This little school in San Francisco is being born out of the heart of this District, out of the heart of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, out of the hearts of two religious orders [the Brothers and the Daughters]; it is not at the margins." He encouraged all the District's schools to "own" De Marillac in the same way, not to stand back from it.

Committees and General Assembly Sessions

The remainder of the Tuesday session involved the more formal work of the assembly, as its ten committees began the first of many individual sessions that would be held during the week. Committee work would result in reports to the assembly and propositions to be presented to the body, debated, and hopefully approved. Adopted resolutions will be forwarded to the Brothers' Eleventh District Chapter that begins in October 2002.

The Wednesday and Thursday, July 31st and August 1st schedules mixed committee meetings and general assembly sessions, at which propositions began to be processed within a structure based upon the rules used at the Brothers' District Chapters, with a rotating panel of moderators, a General Secretary, and tellers counting the votes taken either by voice or by raising a placard. Assembly delegates not familiar with the procedures had adapted pretty well by the time the Thursday sessions got underway, but the Brothers' experience and mastery of the rules were evident and helpful. Terms such as "call the question," "I yield my time," "reports for endorsement," "limited debate time," and "question of clarification" were heard frequently as the general sessions moved along. A favorite term of delegates was "I call for the orders of the day," which meant that the session, which had gone over the prescribed time, had to end.

Behind the scenes, every bit as much activity was going on to make the assembly week move forward smoothly. Day and night, the tireless Central Committee reviewed the numerous documents that continued to be published by the equally-tireless Secretariat staff. The College staff and catering service kept assembly participants well-fed throughout the day. Participants resided in campus dormitories and ate meals in the campus cafeteria. Breakfast began at 7 each morning and was followed by prayer in the chapel. Committee and assembly meetings took place from 9am to 4 or 5pm, with optional committee meetings after dinner in the earlier part of the week and several evening assembly sessions during the latter part of the week, lasting until 8:30pm. Each evening ended with a social hour to relax, unwind, and spend time with fellow participants in an informal setting. On Thursday evening, August 1, the social included the 37 young men and women on campus this week for orientation as Lasallian Volunteers. They are from cities throughout the United States, and will begin their one-year commitments later in August.

The intensive work of the assembly, frequently sprinkled with refreshing humor, continues on Friday, August 2, with committee work and general assembly sessions, expected to result in a final set of reports and propositions from the historic assembly to be sent on to the Brother Delegates for the Eleventh District Chapter this fall, covering topics of various natures: academic, curricular, service of the poor, religious studies, campus ministry, governance structures, and outreach.

This first-ever District Assembly will conclude Friday evening with a closing liturgy, dinner, and address by Visitor Brother David Brennan. As stated in its purpose, the Assembly will have served as the important vehicle through which, for the first time, Brothers and Partners will have together fully participated in deliberations and decisions on the direction for the Lasallian educational mission and the means for implementing it in the District of San Francisco, specifically for the next four years.

Next update - "The Assembly Concludes" - Tuesday, August 6, 2002

Jeanne Gray Loughman
Moraga, California
August 1, 2002
Photos by Brother James Joost, FSC, Jackie Berlogar, and Jeanne Loughman