>> write // spiritual reflection on the charism of saint jean baptiste de la salle
T-minus Two Years to Buttimer I
The Prayer of the Teacher Before School
The Schedule
Special Presentations
The Classes
Hagiography versus History
Christina the Astonishing by Nick Cave
A Short Biography of John Baptist De La Salle
The Heroic Vow
The "Recall" Letter
The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle
To Brother X
Looking Back to Look Forward: Structure
Looking Back to Look Forward: The Etymology and an Ethic of Salvation
Looking Back to Look Forward: Words and Rules
The Stories
The Practicum and The Questions
The Creation of Community
To Be Teacher, To Be Lasallian
Something Greater Than Ourselves
Domine Opus Tuum
T-minus Two Years to Buttimer I
My initiation into the charism of Saint John Baptist de La Salle and the mission of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (the Institute) occured during my first two years at Saint Mary’s College High School, a Catholic school conducted by the Institute in the Lasallian tradition. It began in earnest when our president, Brother Edmond Larouche, FSC, invited me into his office for a conversation about my new role as campus minister about a month after I was hired.
The Lasallian Mission, as Brother Edmond shared with me, is “to provide a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor, according to the ministry which the Church has entrusted to it.” I thought to myself that these were pretty hefty and serious words, and that they would challenge me, and provide me with an opportunity to stretch and grow as I learned my role as campus minister.
Brother Edmond gave me a prayer card with De La Salle on the front and a prayer popularly attributed to him on the back. I later learned that the prayer was composed in the nineteenth century but that it still, nevertheless, reflected De La Salle’s spirituality.
The Prayer of the Teacher Before School
You, O Lord,
are my strength, my patience, my light, and my counsel.
It is you who touch the hearts of the children entrusted to my care.
Abandon me not to myself for one moment.
For my own guidance and that of my students,
grant me the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety,
the spirit of a holy fear of you and an ardent zeal to procure your glory.
I unite my efforts to those of Jesus Christ, and I beg the Most Blessed Virgin,
Saint Joseph, the Guardian Angels, and Saint John Baptist de La Salle to
protect me this day in the performance of my duties. Amen.
It was during this meeting that Brother Edmond handed me a copy of The Work is Yours, a biography of De La Salle by Brother Luke Salm, FSC.
“This is the best biography of the founder. And, when things have settled down for you, I’d like for you to attend Buttimer,” said Brother Edmond.
I found out that Buttimer was short for The Buttimer Institute of Lasallian Studies and was named after Brother Charles Henry Buttimer who served from 1966 to 1976 as the first American Superior General of the Institute. Buttimer is an intensive formation program that is held at Saint Mary’s College of California for two weeks at a time over the course of three summers. The De La Salle Christian Brothers and those associated with the Lasallian mission from all over the world gather to explore the story, the educational vision, and the spirituality of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the initial founding of the Institute, the Lasallian Educational Mission, and the current research explorations of Lasallian scholars.
I looked forward to the summer of 2011 when I would begin the Buttimer program alongside 99 other Lasallian educators from all 6 continents. In my particular first-year cohort, a total of 40 were starting the journey. Brother Jeffrey Calligan, FSC, and Gina Hall, AFSC, would guide our exploration of De La Salle’s life story over the next two weeks.
The Schedule
Having glimpsed the schedule beforehand, I knew that the program would be jam packed. I chatted with school colleagues who were past Buttimer graduates and they conveyed to me the positive impression that the experience had made on them. According to one, the whole endeavor was very well organized and well conceived. And, I also got the impression that the program was regularly evaluated for effectiveness in order to meet the needs of the individuals attending and the needs of the Lasallian institutions sending us. This was made most evident in the way the schedule was laid out and undoubtedly refined.
Community prayer bracketed the beginning and end of each day. On some days, we would celebrate a full Eucharistic liturgy together. The director of liturgy and music, Charlie Legendre, AFSC (an Affiliate of the Institute), had put a call out for musicians willing to to play for the various masses and prayer services. I was more than happy to oblige and to be of service. These prayer services, all of which were designed by Brother William Mann, FSC, the third year Buttimer teacher, served to remind us of the reasons for our Lasallian Mission.
On the days where we did not have a mass, we would gather in practicum groups. These groups allowed us to focus our on-going formation of the Buttimer experience toward some tangible applicability in our various ministries. The practicum I chose was Lasallian Research, knowing full well that I would later enrol in the Master of Arts in Lasallian Studies program. All Buttimer participants had access to the Library for Lasallian Studies, a special collection of works by and about De La Salle, and other titles and sources germane to the burgeoning field of Lasallian Studies.
All days featured five meals: breakfast, morning coffee break (with snack), lunch, dinner, and evening social (with snack!). There were also ample opportunities to recover from this calorie coma during the assigned afternoon reading time which often doubled as a time for siesta: the very humane and European tradition of the post-lunch nap.
Following evening prayer, we would gather either as a large Buttimer community or in our smaller cohorts for snacking and socializing. It was here that we were able to engage in further conversation about class, or to talk about our respective ministries. It was also during this time that some of the Buttimer participants would engage in a game curiously scalled Cornhole, a kind of beanbag toss game that apparently originated on the farms of the Midwest.
What I appreciated most about this social time was that the ranks and positions of the participants did not matter. In fact, I did not even know that I was conversing with presidents, principals, district directors, coordinators, teachers, and Brothers all of whom held incredible portfolios of responsibility. It was a privilege to share ideas with and to learn from all Buttimer participants during these socials.
Special Presentations
On one evening, the entire community was treated to presentations by members of the international Lasallian community. In particular, we heard about the work of Lasallians in Australia and New Zealand. Their presentation began with dismissing some of the humorous preconceived ideas that some North Americans have about our friends from “down-under.”
We were also introduced to the work of Joseph Gilson and the Young Lasallian Movement. I had always understood the work of the Lasallian Educational Mission as belonging solely to the teachers working in various ministries. Joseph, coordinator of the Young Lasallian Movement from the Generalate (the headquarters of the Institute) in Rome, invited the Buttimer participants to consider that this mission also belongs to the many young people who have been called to or have been inspired by the Lasallian charism. While the Young Lasallian Movement includes younger people between the ages of 16 and 35, Joseph made it clear that this movement is also open to all those who work with and support young people in their desire to be associated with this movement.
Alisa Macksey, the new director of formation programs from the Christian Brothers Conference office in Washington, DC, shared the work of the Lasallian Volunteers. The Lasallian Volunteers, or LVs for short, include volunteers who are dedicated to the Lasallian Educational Mission in various ministries for a period of one or two years. Most of the LVs attended or graduated from Lasallian institutions. The latest LV project is a nationwide bike ride to raise funds to support their ministry.
Brother Jeffrey also shared an overview of the latest Circular Letter 461 from the General Council in Rome titled Association for the Lasallian Mission … an act of Hope. The term association in a Lasallian context refers to all those who work in Lasallian ministries and to those who are united to the mission including Brothers, lay-partners, consecrated religious, and clerics. This document seeks to articulate an answer to a lived and diverse reality: What do we make of the diminishing number of Brothers in the Institute and the increasing number of partners who are involved with, are interested in, or are seeking in some formal way a connection with the mission and the spirit of the Lasallian charism worldwide? The circular highlights the exciting possibilities that exist for the future of the mission while officially acknowledging that association for the mission is inclusive rather than exclusive. In an inviting way, Brother Jeffrey shared his hopefulness with those gathered in the room stating in no uncertain terms that he is not worried about the future of the Brothers or of the Institute, because it is in the hands of more than capable colleagues all around the world.
Through these presentations, I was invited into that wider reality. My local present ministry is but a sliver of the larger picture. It is a humble reminder that while the local work is indeed important, the international network is equally vital. The two must inform each other. My exposure to all things Lasallian was in bits and pieces of various conversations with Brothers in my current ministry and through district-organized events including retreats and meetings. The work of the international Young Lasallian Movement, the national Lasallian Volunteers program, and the ideas expressed in the circular letter concerning association all point to a diverse outgrowth of the original mission envisioned by De La Salle and the Institute. All of these movements are affirmations of the success of grassroots-level responses that address the needs of the last, the lost, and those with the least in society. And, there is language and there are official institutional structures that help to support all of these initiatives.
The Classes
Of course, the heart of the formation program were the thrice-daily classes where we learned from Brother Jeffrey, FSC and Gina Hall, AFSC, both of the state of Louisiana and members of the District of New Orleans-Santa Fe.
Brother Jeffrey and Gina Hall are both master teachers. They instilled a sense of regularity and rhythm to each class that I appreciated as a learner. Brother Jeffrey often began each class by sharing a humorous video to get us engaged. After we were tickled funny, Brother Jeffrey would invite us to bring our morning prayer into the classroom and to recall God’s presence. We were then invited to dialogue with one another by completing sentence stems that he had posted: “I learned … I was surprised … I wonder … I wish … I think …” Whenever we had an in-class reading assignment, we were asked to read in choirs, that is, in groups of two or three with each person taking a portion or a paragraph. This ensured that we would not wander far from the task at hand, and that we were all equally engaged with the reading. Any teacher can add these simple teaching techniques to their teaching toolbox.
Hagiography versus History
Our initial classes involved Brother Jeffrey equipping us with various analytical tools which we would then use and apply throughout the course. He started by problematizing our conceptual understandings of history, holiness, human, and saint. We needed to consider from whose point of view stories and history were being told. Holiness, Brother Jeffrey contended, is “a reflection of God’s awareness in the world.” To be human, is “to know that we are in made in the image and likeness of God” and “to live authentically within our limitations.” The word saint, from the Latin root sanctus, is to convey holiness. And with that, Brother Jeffrey asked us to read the story of Christina the Astonishing.
Though we read aloud from a different source, the following song by Nick Cave about Christian the Astonishing captured the sentiment:
Christina the Astonishing
Lived a long time ago
She was stricken with a seizure
At the age of twenty-two
They took her body in a coffin
To a tiny church in Liége
Where she sprang up from the coffin
Just after the Agnus Dei
She soared up to the rafters
Perched on a beam up there
Cried, "The stink of human sin
Is more than I can bear"
Christina the Astonishing
Was the most astonishing of all
She prayed balanced on a hurdle
Or curled up into a ball
She fled to remote places
Climbed towers and trees and walls
To escape the stench of human corruption
Into an oven she did crawl
Christina the Astonishing
Behaved in a terrifying manner
Died at the age of seventy-four
In the convent of Saint Anna
After some laughs at some of the astonishing claims of this story, Brother Jeffrey introduced us to the notion of hagiography. While it was once an early genre of serious Christian literature, today hagiography refers to the uncritical and ultra-reverential biographical treatment of a person who is widely considered by the Catholic Church as a saint.
The first biographies of Saint John Baptist De La Salle were written by men who wanted him to be canonized a saint. And, for the proper authorities, this required evidence of “saintly” action. (Of course, at present, it is much more complicated than that, beginning with the search for evidence of “holiness” in a person’s life through formal investigation. Then, large amounts of money to support the cause for canonization is often required to sustain the investigation which can sometimes last centuries. Finally, evidence of miraculous intercession is required.) The three early biographers of De La Salle were Canon Jean-Baptiste Blain, Brother Bernard, FSC, and Dom-Francois Elie Maillefer, OSB. They wrote the life of De La Salle from their point of view and informed by their own biases. Still, in addition to the actual writings of De La Salle, these biographies paint a portrait of a man who seemed to have been so saintly as to have lived without fault.
Our task as a class was to better understand the life of De La Salle as a historian might. That is to say, our stance was to be impartial, centered on historical evidence, and focused on the facts. We were also to examine the events of his times in order to gain greater insight into the circumstances of De La Salle’s life. The point was to see De La Salle’s humanity and to see that while he was made in the image and likeness of God, like all humans he was all bound by his limitations. Our two primary sources for the work ahead were The Work is Yours by Luke Salm, FSC, the book on De La Salle that Brother Edmond had given me when I began this adventure, and The Letters of John Baptist De La Salle, a collection of letters that he wrote to his brothers.
A Short Biography of John Baptist De La Salle
Jean-Baptiste De La Salle was born on 30 April 1651 in Reims, France to Louis de La Salle, a magistrate of the court of Reims, and Nicole Moët de Brouillet, a woman of noble lineage. As members of the upper middle class they enjoyed all of the privileges and activities that were connected to that particular caste. Salm’s biography (while referencing Blain) details De La Salle’s early fascination with all things religious which seems to have effected his eventual vocation.
De La Salle enjoyed the privilege of private tuition in his home until he was enrolled in 1660 at the College de Bons Enfants in Reims, where he studied Latin and Greek, specifically, and classical studies, more generally. On 11 March 1662 at ten years of age, De La Salle received the clerical tonsure signifying his formal candidacy into priesthood. After further study, De La Salle was invested on 7 January 1667 as Canon of the Cathedral of Reims. This position entailed receiving a house and a stipend for his duties which included chanting the liturgy of the hours in choir and advising the archbishop of Reims. Following additional studies and receiving his minor orders, De La Salle entered the Seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris in 1670 to continue his studies in theology.
Following the death of his mother and father, De La Salle returned to Reims to assume guardianship of his siblings. With his studied interrupted, a fellow Canon of the Cathedral of Reims, Father Nicolas Roland offered spiritual and practical guidance to De La Salle and recommended that he continue his studies locally. On Holy Saturday, 9 April 1678, De La Salle was ordained to the priesthood. The priesthood and the canonry were both prestigious positions, and De La Salle was well positioned to continue to rise through the ranks of the church hierarchy. With degrees in Master of Arts, Bachelor of Theology, and Licentiate in Theology, a position as a university professor was also possible.
Only weeks after De La Salle’s ordination, Nicolas Roland died. De La Salle was named as executor of his will, and amongst Roland’s requests was for De La Salle to guide a group of nuns who were charged with the education of poor girls in Reims. In April 1679, while on the footsteps of the convent of the Sisters of the Child Jesus, De La Salle met Adrian Nyel, an enthusiastic layman from the city of Rouen who was establishing charity schools for the education of the poor. De La Salle was quite interested in Nyel’s proposals and the two men worked on strategies to begin the endeavor.
A school was established but he found that the teachers he recruited for the endeavor were lacking in training and manners, were struggling with pedagogy, and were generally unfit for the tasks at hand. Recognizing the need to ameliorate the situation, in 1680, De La Salle invited his teachers to his home for meals in order to instruct them for the work of teaching. Surely and gradually, De La Salle had come to the realization that his work as a canon and priest was becoming secondary to the immediate needs of the teachers before him and the schools that had been established. In 1681, De La Salle asked his teachers to live with him in the family home. De La Salle incurred the wrath and scandal of his own family and the local community as it was uncommon for the upper class to mix with the lower class. The following year, on 24 June 1682, De La Salle and his teachers moved to a humble house in the poorest part of Reims. This house is termed today to be the “cradle of the Institute” and it was here where De La Salle, for the first time, called his new family his “Brothers.”
De La Salle regularized the life of his Brothers by teaching them through example, by introducing them to prayer, and by guiding them toward a spiritual life. However, De La Salle’s brothers were concerned that at any point he could return to his life of privilege and permanent income. The brothers were unsure whether the Providence of God would actually take care of their needs should De La Salle decide to abandon the whole endeavor. So, on 16 August 1683, De La Salle resigned his canonry, his guaranteed income and pension, and along with that his social status. De La Salle who was now committed to his community of brothers would also fully commit to trusting in divine providence to take care of his material needs and the needs of his brothers.
As his community began to grow in number, De La Salle was tested with various growing pains. The morale of his fledgling community would ebb and flow. De La Salle’s health was also precarious at this time. Unsure of the future of his endeavor, De La Salle chose two of his most trusted and zealous brothers. Together, on 21 November 1691, the feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, De La Salle and Brothers Nicolas Vuyart and Gabriel Drolin made their “heroic vow.”
The Heroic Vow
Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
prostrate with the most profound respect before your
infinite and adorable majesty, we consecrate ourselves
entirely to you to procure with all our ability and efforts
the establishment of the Society of the Christian Schools,
in the manner which will seem most agreeable to you and
most advantageous to the said Society.
And, for this purpose, I, John Baptist de La Salle, priest,
I, Nicolas Vuyart, and I, Gabriel Drolin,
from now on and forever until the last surviving one of us,
or until the complete establishment of said Society,
make the vow of association and union to bring about
and maintain the said establishment,
without being able to withdraw from
this obligation, even if only we three remained in the said Society,
and if we were obliged to beg for alms and to live on bread alone.
In view of which we promise to do,
all together, and by common accord,
everything we shall think in conscience,
and regardless of any human consideration,
to be for the greater good of said Society.
Done on this 21st of November, feast of the Presentation of Our Lady, 1691.
The first assembly of the brothers took place in 1694 when De La Salle and twelve Brothers adopted a common rule and took perpetual vows of obedience, association, and stability. The following day, De La Salle proposed to the Brothers that they elect one of their own as superior. To De La Salle’s surprise, the results of their ballot declared that he would be their superior and the brothers pointed out to De La Salle that any resistance to the results would be a contradiction of the will of God. He assented to their wishes. De La Salle and the Brothers also declared that De La Salle would be the only priest to be chosen as superior and that only brothers could be accepted or associated as superior in the future. This was done in order to counter any clerical interference into the affairs of the Institute.
Through time, De La Salle would establish additional schools and teacher training centers, but he also faced resistance and resentment from clergy and from the “writing masters” of the established pay schools. At one point, the communities surrounding those schools had come to recognize that De La Salle’s schools were offering a superior education and that they were free of charge. The result was that students who were of privilege and means left the pay schools for the free schools. Those writing masters brought forth lawsuits against De La Salle and the Institute. Many of those lawsuits were decided against him and on 5 February 1706, the court of the parliament forbade De La Salle to establish teacher training centers. In spite of this, the reputation of De La Salle and the Institute began to spread and soon more schools and centers would be established.
Nevertheless, De La Salle felt that his presence became a distraction to his Brothers and the Institute. To remedy this, he sought to recluse himself. In 1712, De La Salle left for the south of France to discern his next steps. His health had continued to bother him and the struggles of the lawsuits, the establishment of schools, and the closing of others had worn him down. The Institute had elected a new superior (Brother Barthelemy) but the affairs of the Institute soon fell into disarray as ecclesiastical authorities sought to begin control of the Institute. The principal brothers of the Institute then drafted a letter addressed to De La Salle.
The "Recall" Letter
Our very dear Father,
We, the principal Brothers of the Christian Schools,
having in view the greater glory of God, the greater
good of the Church and our Society, recognize that it
is of the utmost importance that you should again take
up the care and general management of the holy work of God,
which is also yours, since it has pleased the Lord to
make use of you to establish it and to direct it for such a long time.
Everyone is convinced that God gave you and still gives you
the graces and talents needed to govern properly this new Society
which is so useful to the Church; and it is only proper for us
to acknowledge that you have always governed it with much success and edification.
This is why we very humbly beseech you and command you in the name
and on behalf of the Body of this Society to which you have promised obedience,
to resume without delay the general management of our Society.
In testimony of which we have signed.
Done at Paris this first day of April 1714.
We are with most profound respect,
our dear Father, your humble and obedient inferiors.
On 10 August 1714, De La Salle arrived at the door of the community in Paris saying: “Here I am; what do you want me to do?”
Brother Barthelemy continued as superior of the Institute, but this time with De La Salle’s insight and guidance. De La Salle did not take up the daily affairs of the Brothers, but his presence did much to quell much of the disarray. De La Salle completed a revision of the Rule of the Brothers of the Christian School in 1718, and with only minor adaptations, this Rule would remain in force until the next major revision in 1967 almost 250 years later. (A Rule is an order and governing document for living in community with other consecrated religious.) During this time, De La Salle also performed sacramental ministry for the brothers and took to training the novices in formation in the practice of interior prayer.
Having never fully recovered from his rheumatism, De La Salle’s eventually succumbed to his illness. At four o’clock in the morning on Good Friday, 9 April 1719, De La Salle made an attempt to rise from his bed as if to greet someone. He joined his hands together, lifted his eyes toward heaven, and took his last breath.
De La Salle was canonized as a saint on 24 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII. On 15 May 1950, De La Salle was declared Patron Saint of All Teachers by Pope Pius XII.
The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle
Our evening sessions with Gina Hall were dedicated to exploring the Letters of John Baptist De La Salle. As we read through them, we were invited to consider what those letters said about De La Salle and the recipient. The collection of Letters included some of the monthly correspondence that De La Salle required of his brothers. The brothers were to share with De La Salle their practices in prayer, in community living, and the trials of their community relationships as a way of reflecting upon their duties and to determine if they were being faithful to them. Most of De La Salle’s reply letters were very direct, dry, matter-of-factly, and featured a kind of surgical precision. De La Salle dispensed advice, admonition, and encouragement, all in equal proportion. Read with modern eyes, most of the class found the letters to be rather humorous. Gina invited us to write a letter in the style of De La Salle to a fictional Brother X who was entrusted to us as an advisee. This was a fun exercise, and one that elicited much laughter and elation when we shared our letters in class.
To Brother X
It seems to me, my very dear Brother, that you are troubled by the recent invitation
for our Brother colleague to join our movement. Please, take care to release your jealousy
and invite our Brother to our movement by engaging in conversation with him and by making
him feel welcome in all matters.
Since your last letter to me, you had indicated that your belongings were strewn about when
our Brother colleague joined our movement. As you yourself had indicated, all our possessions
do not belong to us, but rather to the School. Take care not to horde worldly possessions for
God does not look favorably upon that.
Is it true that you engage in gossip with other Brothers? This is inappropriate.
See to it that you cease from doing this for gossip is destructive to the well-being
of the community and fosters distrust of you.
I am happy to hear of your new ministry as a retreat master. See to it that the children
receive the very best experience possible. Be sure to train a successor since it is likely
that you will be moved very soon. Also, be sure to collaborate with your colleagues,
lest you are branded an outsider. This is not good.
I am delighted of your progress in your scholarly work. Ensure that this does not conflict
with your duties in your primary ministry, and that is the teaching of catechism to the children.
Be sure that you do not get easily frustrated with your colleagues for it is fairly certain that
they are equally frustrated with you. Release your frustration in prayer.
Please, be sure to sleep on time, to get your exercise, and to eat at regular intervals.
Not doing so will ensure that you will get sick, and that you may pour out your
frustration to your fellow Brothers. This is not good.
Feel free to write to me whenever you have need to.
Continue to pray to God so that in all things, God’s will, and not yours, be done.
I am, in our Lord, my very dear Brother,
Totally yours,
De La Trinidad
I did, however, have a semi-serious and somewhat scholarly question: What ever happened to the letters that the Brothers wrote to De La Salle and why were these not collected? The impression that I had about the Brother being written to was perhaps unfairly tainted by De La Salle’s writing manner. In some instances, the Brother seemed totally inept and unable to deal with the rigors and realities of community living much less the task of classroom teaching. If we had a glimpse of what that Brother confessed to De La Salle, perhaps we would have a more even rendering of the story.
Looking Back to Look Forward: Structure
As we made our way through each class, I felt that we were assembling a patchwork quilt of De La Salle’s life rather than painting a linear picture of him. My own brain prefers the linearity, but I also understood that history is rarely neat and that our brains require certain categorical structures to make sense of human events. I was finding it hard to keep track of all of the dates and names, and I strove to find overarching themes that I could grab hold of. At all times, I operated with the idea that by looking to the past we may discover some potential solutions for present-day problems.
Looking Back to Look Forward: The Etymology and an Ethic of Salvation
As a language major, Brother Jeffrey had a command of language and a love for the etymology of words that we easily detected. The importance of etymology was clear: by looking into the history of words, we can determine if the words stayed faithful to their original meaning or whether the meaning of those words had changed, and if so, to what extent. Indeed, recapturing the essence of the word would allow us to regain some insights that we might have lost.
We explored the history of many words. One such word that had particular salience for me was the word salvation. Brother Jeffrey traced its origins back to Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health, and whose name gave meaning to the term hygiene. The Romans then appropriated her as the goddess of good health and called her Salus. According to Brother Jeffrey, a common greeting of good health at the time was to invoke Salus’s blessing upon a person. Eventually, the Latin term salve came to be, which we today associate with the English terms saving and salvation. So, when we consider “saving” someone in danger, in the name of religion, or within an educational context, perhaps we ought to consider that this action means restoring or revealing to her or him the means toward “good health.” Within a current Western medical context, the meaning of good health has shifted from curative medicine (healing) to preventative (holistic) medicine. Good health, or salvation, within an educational context, then, means equipping that young person with the skills, the knowledge, and the experiences necessary to prevent her or him from falling ill. Of course, these actions presume an ethic of care and responsibility on the part of the teacher similar in content to the Hippocratic oath that physicians take in order to practice medicine.
Furthermore, to be a Lasallian teacher means to see that our own salvation lies in the salvation of the young people entrusted to our care. Taking our exploration of the link between good health and salvation, our role is to restore or to reveal the inherent goodness and wholeness found within each and every student to herself or himself. Through the act of ethical teaching, and by adopting a stance of humility, we can glimpse our own inherent human goodness and wholeness.
Looking Back to Look Forward: Words and Rules
To Brother Jeffrey, there are no “natural words.” By this he means that humans created sounds to approximate experiences and ideas, but that these words share the limitations of their creators. Any word is, at best, an approximation, and it can never fully reveal the totality of any experience or idea. Words are merely snapshots, but they are useful tools nevertheless. We use words to organize our experiences or to categorize ideas, because we have this insatiable human need to make meaning and to structure that meaning into intelligible bite size units of understanding.
We then create rules in order to nail things down and to make those experiences and ideas tangible and predictable. Rules, as Brother Jeffrey shared with us, are merely guides that allow us to get from one point to another. When we make gods out of rules and structures, we put the cart before the horse. When we apply this within an educational context, and in particular with student discipline, do we ask ourselves: is it about the rules, or is it about the student?
Even as we were studying the life story of De La Salle, and in successive years as we study his pedadgogy and his spirituality, Brother Jeffrey made clear that the point of this studying was not to apply everything wholesale that we had learned to our present context. I believe that the point is to ask the question: What can we learn from the approach, the attitude, and the spirit of De La Salle that may be fruitful, inspirational, or practical for our particular ministry?
The Stories
Perhaps the greatest gifts that Brother Jeffrey shared with us were his stories. He shared with us childhood stories, stories of his formation as a Brother, teacher stories, stories of his time as an administrator, many of which were quite humorous, and all of which revealed Brother Jeffrey to be an enlightened and heartful human being.
The sharing of stories is also a pedagogical tool that I feel I need to pay more attention to. While it may seem rather narcissistic to assume that my students may want to hear about aspects of my life, story sharing, to me, is an important part of relationship building. By sharing stories, students come to see their teachers as human beings living very human lives fraught with joy and jubilation, trials and tribulations. While sharing stories can often make more lively or salient some aspect of curriculum, it is its relational power which is more important. Furthermore, for the brief instant that the story is shared and perhaps during the pause or laughter immediately thereafter, students may come to see that we too are on a similar human journey just trying to figure out answers to all of those existential questions: Who am I? Who am I meant to be? Where did I come from? What is my purpose in this life? To quote Brother Jeffrey, “We’re a lump of clay with many fingerprints - malleable and never finished.”
At the start of the course, Gina Hall gave us each a table top name tag. She also invited us to decorate that name tag at will, but to also leave room on the reverse side to write the names of teachers who were inspirational to us, or who had a hand in forming us into the people we are today. I thought of the other great story tellers who shared their stories with me and I wrote their names down: my ninth grade social studies teacher Mark Smigel and a grad school professor of poetry and creative writing Carl Leggo.
The Practicum and The Questions
Being a campus minister at Saint Mary’s College High School has many rewards and also many challenges. Being with the students each and every day, helping to shape and to guide them, and watching them grow are blessings unto themselves. I believe that my greatest challenge is to confront and to stave off creeping student spiritual apathy especially as it comes into contact with a very nascent adolescent spirituality. As young people learn about themselves, and as they learn to navigate the world (never mind learn to navigate dealing with multiple teachers with multiple expectations), it seems like there is rarely sufficient time to attend to developing a spiritual practice that would sustain them through the joy and jubilation, and the trials and tribulations of modern life.
As a Lasallian Catholic school, approximately half of our student population every year indicate on our application forms that they are Catholic. It is probable that perhaps half of them are active in parish and sacramental life. It also means that some of our students belong to other Christian denominations or faith traditions. Some are fervent atheists, and others are seeking and questioning. In short, our school is a microcosm of the multi-religious and multi-cultural reality present in the United States.
If we are truly to meet the students where they are and if part of a campus minister’s task is to help guide students to the fruits of a spiritual life, then perhaps we need to attend to this multi-religious and multi-cultural reality in a meaningful way. I have many questions attached to this:
What is the function of a Catholic school in a pluralistic society?
How do we attend to a multi-religious and multi-cultural reality while continuing to maintain a Catholic identity?
What is the purpose of maintaining an institutional Catholic identity?
In this age of so-called postmodern relativism, does being “more Catholic” engender a sense of stability for the institution?
What if we believe in the notion of ecclesia semper reformanda, or, “the Church always reforming”? Does that sense of stability then become moot?
If we believe that an institutional Catholic identity is important, and we wish to maintain an inclusive community, how do we evangelize and not proselytize?
In other words, how do we convey and present the Gospel message without the aim of intentionally converting others?
How do we invite those students who are not Catholic to feel that they are being included?
If we insist on the imposition of a Catholic identity upon young people, are we inadvertently coercing and indoctrinating them?
How does the notion of free will, conscience, and human dignity play out with regard to the expression of an institutional Catholic identity and the developing spiritual identities of young people?
What does the Vatican II document on the Declaration of Religious Freedom have to say about the freedom of religious expression? How does this apply in a Catholic school setting?
Are the notions of free will, free expression, and conscience simply abstract concepts that apply to people who are of the age of majority?
Why is inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue important in a Lasallian Catholic school? How is this dialogue practically implemented in various school programs?
I elected the Lasallian research practicum because I wanted to better understand what Lasallian philosophies, pedagogy, and spirituality can bring to bear on these questions. My hope is that the next two years of Buttimer, and the subsequent time spent in research in pursuit of a Master of Arts degree in Lasallian Studies will shed some light and provide some answers to some of these questions. While each of these questions can constitute individual theses unto themselves, my hope is that with further experience as a lay ecclesial minister in a high school setting, with further conversations with colleagues, and with additional reading and research, I can come to a greater understanding of how to effectively minister to young people who are searching for, among many other things, their spiritual and religious identities.
Brother Jeffrey gave me a hint of how to potentially begin to answer these questions: "Before you were Christians, before you were Buddhists, before you were anything else, you were human."
The Creation of Community
Brother Jeffrey also believes that we are Lasallian to the degree that teachers are genuine brothers and sisters to one another. This Buttimer experience reminded me of the need to be able to rely on one another within our teaching communities for mutual support. The creation of community begins with the one-on-one relationships that faculty and staff have with one another, in the way that teachers treat each other daily, and in the way the teachers have each other’s “backs.”
De La Salle recognized the power of community when he united himself with Brothers Nicolas Vuyart and Gabriel Drolin in a “heroic vow” of association and union to commit to the creation and the cause of the Institute. At a time when there was opposition to and negativity regarding De La Salle’s work, these Brothers stuck together and realized the inherent strength that was to be found in community.
At the school level, teachers must also come to recognize the power of a healthy community, one that becomes a source of mutual support in times of trouble and hardship. The creation and maintenance of community requires effort, patience, and understanding on all who work for young people and the sake of the mission. While it is sometimes not easy to work in community, let alone to live in community as the early Brothers did and as they continue to do today, it is essential if we are to have any hope of realizing a sliver of the mission which has been entrusted to each Lasallian teacher.
To Be Teacher, To Be Lasallian
To be a Lasallian teacher whose mission involves the human and Christian education of the young, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, according to the ministry which the Catholic Church has entrusted to him or her, is certainly a difficult proposition in these times. This mission is further complicated by the many negative and life-purging trends and tendencies present in North American culture. However, there are also great opportunities to effect change for the present and for the future. Teachers are gifted these opportunities through the students they are privileged to teach.
Brother Jeffrey invited us to consider De La Salle’s memoir on the beginnings of the Institute: “... it was a wise and gentle God who led him (De La Salle) and the founding community step by step, never with force but always with compelling invitation, to create this society of the Christian schools.” To be a Lasallian teacher, according to Brother Jeffrey, is to be wise and gentle with students in the way that God was wise and gentle with De La Salle.
Something Greater Than Ourselves
De La Salle was moved to address the needs set before him. God called, and he answered. If he had known the path that God would eventually lead him toward, he probably would not have answered that call and in all likelihood would have dropped the whole endeavor. Though obedient to the will of God and relying upon God’s providence in all things, De La Salle soldiered on in faith trusting that he was doing the right thing.
Teachers in the schools of the Lasallian family are invited to something greater than themselves. It is humbling to think of the magnitude of the responsibility of effecting change and transformation in the lives of young people entrusted to our care. And, to be able to take part in this experience is indeed a grace.
This first Buttimer session taught me that the Lasallian charism is present no matter where we are at work within the Lasallian family. The Lasallian familiy is present in 82 countries, with more than 1,000 educational institutions, and where more than 1,000,000 students are learning. Included in this family are approximately 6,000 Brothers and more than 100,000 lay women and men working together and by association to change the lives of young people. It is humbling to think of the enormity of this family all working worldwide to make this world a better place through the gift of education.
The Lasallian mission has been in play for more than 300 years. It is humbling to think that as a teacher we are invited to be a part of this mission, in effect, to be connected to the Communion of Lasallian Saints, both official and unofficial, and with those who have lived and with those who are living. With that kind of support, it is possible to achieve great things.
Domine Opus Tuum
The book that Brother Edmond gave me, The Work is Yours, refers not to our work alone, but to God’s work living within us. We are mere instruments to animate that work. A conversation that began two years ago in the office of the president of Saint Mary’s College High School, has allowed me to see that I am a part of something greater than myself. Indeed, I go forward humbled by the great achievements of De La Salle and the Institute of the Brother of the Christian Schools and only hope that I am worthy of association with this charism and this mission.
The work continues ...
