Le Frère Aidan KILTY, Conseiller général pour la RELEM a adressé cette lettre à tous les Frères et Lasalliens de la Région Europe-Méditerranée.


Dear Lasallians,:

Greetings and best wishes to all of you from Rome. I hope that this finds you well and that all of you managed to have a relaxing and re-invigorating vacation over the summer without too many preoccupations.

As the new academic year gets under way, I write to you, on my own behalf and that of my colleagues in the RELEM team, to wish you, and all involved with you in the Lasallian ministry, every blessing and success in the coming academic year. As I write this, I have the memory and experience of our recent General Chapter very much in mind, particularly with regard to its theme which challenged all Lasallians to recall, with St La Salle, that “this work of God is also yours.”

As we embark on a new academic year, what we are about as Lasallians is facilitating the on-going work of salvation of those entrusted to our care, particularly those youngsters who are poor and most vulnerable. Clearly, unravelling the meaning of youngsters “far from salvation” is a challenge for all of us in our local realities but what is without question is that, wherever we minister, there are so many youngsters today in need of committed teachers and mentors, lay partners and Brothers, dedicated to enabling them to release and fulfil their God-given potential.

It is a wonderful vocation to which we have been called by our faithful God and a privilege to minister to those He has confided to our care. We begin the new academic year with the renewed conviction that our God, who has willed the “salvation” of all, will continue to be faithful in our time and provide us with the graces and resources necessary for His work with these youngsters to be brought to fruition. In that process, I pray that each of us may become more “conformed” to the person of Jesus with whom we offer our lives joyfully in thanksgiving to our faithful and loving Father.

Here, in Rome, our first plenary session of the General Council with Br Superior began last Tuesday and will continue until October 10th. It has been an intense time of meetings and reflection as we endeavour to get to know each other better and become better aware of the Institute reality. This has included presentations from the various Institute Secretariats who have been invited to engage in a similar visioning process, from their particular perspective, that has been devised for the General Council. Br Jorge, our Vicar General, in collaboration with Br Superior, has devised a very stimulating process for these weeks. The hope is that, by the time our first plenary session is over, there will be basic agreement on a common vision and an action plan to respond to the decisions of the 45th General Chapter to promote the Lasallian mission to which you are all committed.

As I say, it has been an intense beginning but it has also been marked by great fraternal dialogue, openness, and good humour and by the desire to be as collaborative and inclusive of all directly engaged in the animation of the Lasallian mission at the Centre of the Institute. Our reflection and prayer continues with a five day retreat at Torricella in Sabina, outside Rome. Please keep us in your prayers during these days as we seek the guidance of the Spirit on the direction of the Institute over the coming seven years.

With gratitude for your commitment to the Lasallian mission and wishing you and your families every blessing during the coming academic year,

Fraternally,

Brother Aidan Kilty,