An expanding Lasallian family

AT the beginning of Holy Week this year, the Brothers of the Christian Schools and over 100 De La Salle Brothers met for their week-long provincial chapter at De La Salle College, Hopwood Hall, Middleton.
For all the Brothers, the date will remain memorable, for it marked the union of the two provinces in Britain into a single province of the Institute one of some 70 provinces (containing over 9000 Brothers) in every continent. Chosen to lead the new province was Brother Thomas Campbell, from Co Down, Northern Ireland, who will be based in Oxford.
The Brothers of the Christian Schools are an Institute of lay religious men founded by St John Baptist de La Salle (16511715). De La Salle was a priest, a canon of Reims Cathedral, who was led by Providence to renounce both his family status and his ecclesiastical privileges, and to give his wealth to the poor, as he became involved in founding schools to provide poor children with a free Christian education. De La Salle was a gifted educational pioneer. By the time he died, aged 63, he had gathered 100 Brothers in 26 communities in France. He also left behind a remarkable series of spiritual and educational writings. Papal approval for the new Institute was granted in1725. The apostolic work of the Brothers expanded and developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1900, John Baptist de La Salle was canonised by Pope Leo XIII. In 1951, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the saint's birth, Pope Pius XII declared him to be patron saint of teachers.
The first community of De La Salle Brothers in England was established from France in London in 1855. The community was administered from France until 1945, when Brothers based in the south of England and in Scotland, had been part of the Irish province: they became an independent English province in 1947.
Since their foundation, the two provinces collaborated in various ways, while developing along independent lines. The Brothers' decision to unite them into a single province that of Great Britain is the result of growing collaboration to face present needs and to refound the Institute in Britain. The united province contains some 200 Brothers.
In Britain, Brothers are working in 19 establishments, mainly secondary schools, though they run two community homes (in Market Weighton and Tranent, Scotland) and the well-known St Cassian's Retreat and Pastoral Centre for young people in Kintbury, Berkshire. De La Salle College of Higher Education, Hopwood Hall, Middleton (founded in 1947 to train Catholic teachers) has lost its appeal against closure, and will cease to exist in 1989.
There are several short-term missionary projects, which have attracted Brothers, lay collaborators and senior students to work in Togo during the summer months. In Oxford, Brothers have collaborated with lay people to set up a residential home for Vietnamese refugees. Brothers in Britain are also working as members of teams directing religious education programmes in three dioceses. Since 1978, publications in spirituality and church music have been widely appreciated. A number of older Brothers have discovered how, one they retire from the classroom, they can make a vigorous and practical contribution to parish life.
The Brothers of Britain have sought to evaluate their present commitments and to launch their new province. They set out to do this by considering the conclusions of their 1986 General Chapter and by studying their newly revised Rule, approved by the Vatican in 1987. It is a continuing and demanding task, which will mean decisions to concentrate their resources and efforts in a select number of existing projects. It will also involve exploring new ways in which the Brothers can develop their collaboration with their many lay colleagues, invited to see themselves as part of a broad "Lasallian family."