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Brothers
and Lasallian Partners today are blessed with a wealth of opportunities
to immerse themselves in the writings of the Founder about the purpose
and practice of the educational mission he established over three centuries
ago.
We
are blessed, as well, with writings that have arisen out of the life of
the Institute since its founding, writings that affirm and give meaning
to our work in the Church and the world today. On December 6, 1967, the
39th General Chapter voted at near unanimity to approve and make its own
A Declaration on the Brother of the Christian Schools in the World
Today. The Declaration describes well that which we are called
to do for young people, and why young people need what Lasallian education
has to offer, intellectually, morally, and spiritually. It is, then, with
great faith in the work we do, that I share these excerpts from the Declaration,
to serve as reminders during the coming school year of God's call to Brothers
and Partners, and God's love for the young people entrusted to our care:
"The school is a privileged instrument of education, and is one of
the principal contexts for children and adolescents to learn how to live
in human society. Teachers help students to discern within themselves
the call of the Spirit, to come to a better understanding of what is real,
to recognize their own abilities, and thereby to discover progressively
their place in the world."
The
teacher "exercises an apostolic ministry by striving to awaken the
young to an awareness that life is to be taken seriously, to a conviction
of the greatness of human destiny; by helping them to be able to experience,
with intellectual rigor and a desire to seek the truth, the autonomy of
personal thought; by helping them to use their liberty to overcome their
ready-made prejudices and ideas, as well as to overcome social pressures
and those that derive from the forces of disintegration within the human
person; by disposing them to use their freedom, their intelligence, and
their training in the service of their fellow human beings, to open them
to others, to teach them how to listen and try to understand other people,
to trust and to love them; by instilling in the young a sense of justice,
brotherhood, and fidelity."
As
we begin the new school year, the Lasallian family in the District of
San Francisco extends a special welcome to the students, administrators,
teachers, staff, and parents at our two new schools in Portland and San
Francisco – De La Salle North Catholic High School and De Marillac
Middle School. Our prayers are with you as you join us on this important
journey that is Catholic, Lasallian education.
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