Brother Visitor's Letter
By Brother David Brennan, FSC

"The Brother Visitor organizes gatherings to deal with matters that concern religious life, the apostolate, and professional activities. These assemblies provide the opportunity for an exchange of ideas and experiences as well as for concrete plans of action."
Brothers of the Christian Schools:
The Rule, Article 132c

The magazine that you are holding represents a commitment to the future. It is a commitment that is based on our rich Lasallian heritage and on the tremendous people that make up the San Francisco District. This fact was brought home to all of us in a special way at October's District Convocation.

I called for this District Convocation because I am convinced that religious orders today have to develop long-range strategic plans that emphasize their original gifts to the Church, their original charisms. The major study of American religious orders in the Catholic Church by Father David Nygren and Sister Miriam Ukeritis strongly concludes that without significant change, religious life will continue to decline and, sadly, those most in need of help will not get it. They urged the leadership and members of every religious order to focus on strategies that emphasize the mission and purpose for which the order was founded, responding to critical and unmet human needs instead of concentrating on a more passive strategy of attending to or maintaining our present needs.

This Convocation was an opportunity for bringing everyone in the District together to collaborate on the Context for Action and Action Plan, and, at the same time, give everyone a sense of what we as a District do, both here on the West Coast and around the world. This collaboration will continue with the Delegates and Lasallian Participants of the Tenth District Chapter who have received the Convocation's written responses and shall be providing further input and discussion in finalizing the Context for Action and Action Plan.

We take great pride in having responded to the needs of our Brothers in the International Institute, including the Pacific Asia Regional Conference (PARC) and the District of Lwanga in Africa. We look forward to collaborating with the District of Canada Francophone and the Region of Latin America (RELAL) on how we might be helpful to each other. These international activities are a testimony to the scope of our common Lasallian mission and to our strong commitment to see that the mission succeeds both within the District of San Francisco and around the globe.

This is a time of learning and challenge for us. We need to have the same courage and boldness that John Baptist de La Salle had when he said YES to that insistent voice of the spirit within him to do something radically different about the way poor young people were educated or, even worse, were abandoned without any formal education at all. He had the wisdom, the vision, and the courage to 'save' the young people of his day through the instrument of the school and the educational methods he and the Brothers used so well. In our day, we, too, must be bold and reach deeply within ourselves for these same qualities so that we can deal with the issues that confront us and the young people who cry out to us to save them. We must believe that God will speak to us and tell us what needs to be done. Our District Convocation and the development of the Context for Action and Action Plan make that commitment a reality.

As you read this magazine, I invite you to take advantage of opportunities that God places before you to deepen your own commitment to the Lasallian mission. By reflection, prayer, discussion, and action, each of us will find ourselves being led by the Spirit as de La Salle was. And it is that kind of commitment that brings our common mission to reality, to give a human and Christian education the young, especially the poor.