Pictured from left: Brother Michael Richards, FSC; Brother Richard Moratto, FSC, Novitiate Director; Brother Carl Clayton, FSC, Novitiate Sub-Director; Brother Edward Bonczak, FSC; Brother David Caretti, FSC; and Brother Joseph Kirk, FSC.

Sunday, September 3 began with a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that shook Mont La Salle and the entire Napa Valley, centered just two miles from Mont La Salle on Mount Veeder. The robing ceremony occurred as planned later that afternoon, as four men were welcomed into the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools: Brother Michael Richards, FSC and Brother Edward Bonczak, FSC, both from the District of New York, and Brother David Caretti, FSC and Brother Joseph Kirk, FSC of the San Francisco District. 

Brother Michael is a graduate of De La Salle Collegiate High School in Warren, Michigan, and Brother Edward hails from Saint John Neumann Parish in Canton, Michigan. Brother Joseph grew up in Saint Apollonaris Parish, Napa, California, and Brother David in Saint Basil the Great Parish in Vallejo, California. 

Brothers Michael Corry and David Brennan, Visitors of the New York and San Francisco Districts, respectively, presided over the robing ceremony, which officially began a year of study and reflection for the four new novices. This marks the first year that the national novitiate will be located at Mont La Salle.

Contacts and Aspirants Join Brothers in Summer Ministry

Nine Contacts and Aspirants participated this summer in the Lasallian Educational Apprenticeship Program (LEAP), serving in four District works. Integrating a reflective experience of community living and apostolic service with the Brothers, LEAP participants were able to touch the hearts of young people in their openness to the consideration of the Brothers' way of life.

The thirty students attending St. Joseph School in Sunnyside, Washington this summer were greeted by a staff that included LEAP participants, Brothers and students from La Salle High School in Yakima, St. Joseph staff members, and science teachers from nearby Heritage College. At Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco, a Christian Brothers Contact and Novice joined the veteran summer staff of Brothers and Partners teaching junior high students in the SHCP summer program. Contacts, Lasallian Volunteers, and Dominican novices joined the LEO Center staff in Oakland in its summer program for students finishing grades 5, 6, and 7. An Aspirant and Contact contributed to the Lasallian mission in San Jose this summer, working with Brothers and Lasallian Sisters at De La Salle Chapel and La Salle Viet Nam House. 

De La Salle House Opens in Berkeley and the District Welcomes 20 New Contacts

While four newly-robed novices began a year of studies at the Novitiate at Mont La Salle, the Brothers' Postulancy program opened its doors at De La Salle House, located at the north border of UC Berkeley, with two men in the program. New Contacts in the District of San Francisco's vocation ministry number twenty, young men who are pursuing college studies - one a current Saint Mary's College sophomore, and nineteen who are recent graduates of District schools - Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, San Francisco (5), De La Salle High School, Concord (4), Cathedral High School, Los Angeles (7), Christian Brothers, Sacramento (2), and La Salle High School, Pasadena (1). 


Related Links: 
Vocations: Journeys of the Heart (article)
District Schools & Educational Works
Lasallian Volunteers
De La Salle House
De La Salle Christian Brothers