The Spirit on the Move
Photography by Mark Johann

Lasallian Youth Explore Faith and Build Community in Serving Others

There has been “an explosion of Lasallian Youth activity during the past several years.” So Brother John Johnston, FSC, then Superior General of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, told a Lasallian Youth assembly in England in 1999. Brother John noted that he had recently participated in Lasallian Youth assemblies in the Philippines, Spain, France, and Tennessee, and he said, “I never expected the movement to blossom — or better, to explode — as it has....I am excited and energized by what I see happening.”

What accounts for this burst of activity? It could be what Brother Tom Clark, FSC, saw in 1990 when the movement first emerged in the Midwest District: “Lasallian Youth...belongs primarily to the young people in it...They are primarily responsible for shaping [it].” A decade later, Jon Foreman, a senior at Justin-Siena High School in Napa, is part of the Lasallian Youth community in the District of San Francisco, and his reflections confirm Brother Tom's insight: “Lasallian schools require some community service, and that's a good thing. But Lasallian Youth is different. It's not required. No one tells you to do it. It comes from within. And that makes it special.”

The impetus comes from within students, and the effects are also felt deep within them. Jeffrey Lum of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco takes part in a Lasallian Youth outreach delivering bag lunches to the homeless. “From this experience I've gained a clear and focused view on how I should act as a Catholic person. And I've changed how I look at the homeless. I've met some nice, considerate, talented people on the streets, who say 'God bless you and come again.'” Danielle Schutz, of the same school, says, “Lasallian Youth isn't all about service. It's also about faith. Lasallian Youth gives me the resources to be a part of the good in the world.” Jon Foreman agrees: “For me it has meant a real change within myself, a growth spiritually and emotionally. At my school I'm getting out the word about how good it is.”

My first van outreach experience was on a cold, rainy day. Several Lasallian schools got together to make sandwiches and to pack lunches to distribute to the homeless in San Francisco. I was gratified and enlightened to see these many new faces and to meet them, as they were on the same mission I was on. As I was carrying the loads of lunch bags in my hands, many homeless people came up to me and asked for one. And I was struck by the stories people told me about how they ended up in the streets. From that day I've looked at homeless people as regular human beings but not as any different. When I got back to school I talked about the experience I had. The experience was spectacular. It felt great and I wanted to do it again. Jeffrey Lum, Junior, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory

Faith, Service, and Community

Lasallian Youth gives young people an opportunity to experience the basic Lasallian triad of faith, service, and community in a way that responds to their own lived realities. Faith is explored through group prayer, faith sharing, and discussion, and by looking for the movement of the Spirit in the concrete experiences of life. Service is rendered through activities in which students can meet the needy — especially the young and the poor — face to face and be a helping personal presence rather than a distant donor. Community is discovered and developed, both among the students themselves and between the students and those they serve, as the challenges of faith and service are faced and met. So faith, service, and community reinforce one another. They can be thought of as three dimensions that combine to give a body solidity and depth, or as three lines that, when placed in the proper relation, make one whole figure with equal sides and angles. What all such images convey is that Lasallian Youth is more than a service program and is uniquely substantial, thanks to the interaction of all three elements.

With over two hundred passionate participants, Lasallian Youth coordinates five service projects per week. The Monday visit to the Tenderloin Childcare Center is a favorite. When the group of Lasallian Youth arrives, the little ones are just waking from naptime and they just want to be held or read to. After this “cozy time” their energy bursts out into little pranks, laughs, costume changes, tumbling, creating cookie-dough monsters, or just telling us what to do. The room fills with the high spirits of these innocents, which is all the more reason one needs to go back next week. Anu Varghese, Junior, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory

At the very heart of the movement is the charism of John Baptist de La Salle. Lasallian Youth seek a deeper acquaintance with De La Salle and an understanding of how he answered, in his time and place, the perennial question, “What does it mean to live out gospel values?” Young people in Lasallian Youth are experiencing a new connection with John Baptist de La Salle that they find both challenging and reassuring. Danielle Schutz of Sacred Heart Cathedral puts it well: “De La Salle was undeniably a great man. But being Lasallian isn't about perfection, nor is it about making history. It has to do with recognizing our talents and gifts, and using them to better others and ourselves. We are special in our own way, and putting our gifts to use we can change the lives of those around us.” Miranda Welsh of Justin-Siena High School says, “To me, Lasallian Youth is a way to live out the example of De La Salle while living a normal high school life. You don't have to be one hundred percent religious to live out Lasallian principles. And Lasallian Youth is not a club, not a members-only thing. Everybody is welcome.”

“Lasallian Youth is different. It's not required. No one tells you to do it. It comes from within. And that makes it special.” The movement gives young people an opportunity to experience the basic Lasallian triad of faith, service, and community in a way that responds to their lived realities.

The Keynote Is Inclusivity

The keynote is inclusivity, and Lasallian Youth has room for people of many faiths and people at different stages of their own faith journeys. As Brother John Johnston told the 1999 assembly in England, “Lasallian youth... includes young people who are wrestling with fundamental questions concerning the meaning of life and the place of religion... I have heard Lasallians say that in serving others they have discovered or rediscovered religious faith.”

Thus Lasallian Youth is able to affirm young people in their search for truth in their own life, while challenging them to stretch beyond themselves to participate in the life experience of others. Brianna Hennessey of La Salle High School in Milwaukie, Oregon, says, “Working with Lasallian Youth is inspiring, because you really learn that you're part of something bigger. My favorite thing has been the interaction with other schools and becoming aware of the community we share that goes beyond our own campus.”

Throughout the world, Lasallian Youth are creating their own variations on the traditional Lasallian themes in response to local needs and opportunities. The range of ages of participants is from grade school through college, the local variations are numerous, and thanks to our “wired world” of Websites, e-mail, and chatrooms, Lasallian Youth can share insights and experiences and plans with others around the globe.

Lasallian Youth Comes to the West Coast

Lasallian Youth began in France in the 1920s and spread through Europe and then to Latin America, where it became quite active by the 1970s. In the 1980s a few Brothers, lay teachers, and students from the United States went to some international assemblies, and in 1988 Brother Tom Clark and students from the Midwest District arranged the first Lasallian Youth Assembly in the United States, in Chicago. From there the movement expanded toward both coasts. In 1996 the Office of Education of the District of San Francisco asked Brother Richard Herlihy of De La Salle High School in Concord and Christian Sullivan of Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco to participate in the summer assembly in St. Louis, Missouri. They and other staff and students from three West Coast high schools came back full of enthusiasm, and the program began growing here. The District's first summer assembly was at Saint Mary's College in Moraga in 1999, the second was in Los Angeles in 2000. The 2001 Summer Assembly for West Coast Lasallian Youth will be at the University of Portland, Oregon, from July 29 to August 3.

So in this new millennium, on any given day, Lasallian Youth are on the move in the District of San Francisco, exploring faith, rendering service, and creating community. At La Salle Pasadena, they're cooking dinner for the homeless. At Justin-Siena, they are beginning their meeting with “Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God,” and proceeding to plan a Christmas toy give-away. At La Salle High School in Milwaukie, Oregon, they're setting up a tutoring program at a local middle school. At Christian Brothers High in Sacramento, they're working with neighborhood associations to clean up trash, paint homes, and build parks. At Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco, they are visiting senior citizens and helping with childcare for low-income mothers. At De La Salle High in Concord, they are bringing in a nationally known activist, Sister Helen Prejean, to speak to them on social justice [see following story]. Like Saint John Baptist de La Salle, Lasallian Youth throughout the District are responding to concrete, urgent needs. Like him, they leave their familiar and comfortable surroundings and minister to the marginalized and the poor. In their schools and in their neighborhoods, Lasallian Youth are helping one another to stay open to the movement of the Spirit.

For more information on the Summer 2001 Assembly in Portland or Lasallian Youth contact Jackie Berlogar at (707) 252-3721. Visit the Website at www.delasalle.org.

Question:

As you read this article, what other thoughts, people or stories came to mind? Please share your ideas with us (email signs@dlsi.org); we will publish responses in future issues of Signs of Faith.