LASALLIAN STUDIES Nº 17 Pedro Ma Gil and Diego Muñoz Editors That your school runs well Approach to Lasallian educational model Bruno Alpago - Robert Berger - Patricio Bolton Cledes Casagrande - Fabio Coronado - Pedro Ma Gil Edgard Hengemüle - Alain Houry - Peter Killeen Léon Lauraire - Diego Muñoz - Pierre Ouattara Francis Ricousse - Gerard Rummery Authors BROTHERS OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS May 2013 © Brothers of Christian Schools International Council of Lasallian Research and Resources Lasallian Studies Nº 17 Via Aurelia, 476 00165 Rome, Italy Translation: José Martínez, fsc (coord.) Translators: Aidan Marron fsc José María Pérez fsc Antoine Salinas fsc Léon Lauraire fsc Blásio Donato Hillebrand fsc Marilú Balbis Claudia Pettinau Mawel Pajarillo fsc Diego Muñoz fsc Michael French fsc Gerard Rummery fsc Peter Gilfedder fsc John Blease fsc Terry Collins fsc Cover and designs: José David Berbesí Botero fsc Layout: Luigi Cerchi ISBN: 978-99920-70-02-4 DL: AND.633-2013 Published by: Publicacions La Salle Open University Av. del Través 31, L A-2 AD400 La Massana, Andorra The editor and publisher are not liable or responsible for the accuracy or completeness of any information provid- ed in this book and we assume no liability or responsibility for any damages arising from the use of this book. By accessing the information in this book, you agree that the editor and publisher shall not be liable to you for any loss or injury caused in procuring, compiling, or delivering the information. The editor and publisher are not responsi- ble for anything whatsoever on internet sites that the book links to or provides links to and its use is entirely respon- sibility of the user. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. In today’s Gospel Jesus Christ compares those who have charge of souls to a good shepherd who has great care for the sheep. One quality he must possess, according to our Savior, is to know each one of them individually. This should also be one of main concerns of those who instruct others: to be able to understand their pupils and to discern the right way to guide them. Saint John Baptist de La Salle Meditation 33, point I 5 PROLOGUE The book that you have in your hands was written by fourteen teachers from five different continents all with diverse cultures, different forma- tion journeys but with one thing in common – we are all Brothers of the Christian Schools. We are teachers not only by profession but also by vocation. From this perspective which has been a defining one for us, we offer you a reflection on something that we consider essential in our lives: Christian education. At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, fifty years since Vatican II, we continue to wonder about what John Baptist de La Salle and the first Brothers of the Christian Schools understood about educa- tion in 17th century France. And we see with gratitude, and with respon- sibility, the course of the Institute created by them over the course of three-hundred years. We wonder especially about the future of this edu- cational program in which teachers from all regions of the world partici- pate, in an associative and multi-cultural experience that our founders never even dreamed about. This three-century perspective has helped us to fix the reach of the term we are studying: “Lasallian pedagogy”. We know that the understanding of this term is not the same in one lan- guage as in another, nor in one cultural milieu than in another. For some it is sometimes limited to the scope of the procedures, while for others it includes the totality of education. That is why in our thinking we want- ed to use a more general approach (“education,” in the English-speaking world), without looking down at concrete operations (more often used in other areas). We are therefore taking both a global and a detailed approach as we deal with both the guiding purposes and the profound spirit of education, as well as with both the specific style and character of procedures. We hope that we have taken into account the nuances that we will be presenting in the different versions of this study. 6 PROLOGUE What you will find in these pages is the result of shared work which had its special moment during a Seminar on Lasallian Education that was held at the FSC Generalate in Rome in May 2012. Beginning with that event, fourteen Brothers, invited by the Service of Lasallian Research and Resources, decided to journey together to discuss ideas and perspectives which they considered essential in terms of Lasallian education from its beginnings, throughout its history, and on into the future. We invite you to read this book from beginning to end. It is written in three parts, each with its own logic. It is important for you to discover the key lines that have supported this reflective effort. In the first part we looked at the origins: how education was understood in the first Lasallian community. Recalling its journey, we propose a definition that seems to us to be faithful. Then, in the second part, we recalled a handful of sig- nificant events over the course of the next two centuries: we wanted to see where education was at the time and how it lived out that first definition. Finally, in the third part, we have focused on the present in order to ask ourselves how to live out Lasallian education in an entirely new world. This is not a finished book, with completed concepts, but an education- al, shared reflection, of a group of teachers who continue wondering about the convictions that have supported Lasallian educational effort for more than three-hundred years. It is, therefore, a book that should gener- ate discussion, bring ideas together, open perspectives. It is in no way closed in any of its aspects: it was deliberately conceived of as an example of a work that could be used anywhere in the Lasallian or non-Lasallian world. A hypothesis is proposed on principles and an outline about his- tory is sketched. This book delves into the two of them and draws its own conclusions. As in Lasallian education, the value and usefulness of this book are not in its conclusions but in its own journey. Special thanks go to Brother Pedro María Gil for being the project coor- dinator of this book and for having helped us to generate ideas and to envisage future horizons. Thanks also to the experience and fraternal exi- gency of our Brothers Bruno Alpago, Gerard Rummery, Alain Houry, León Lauraire, Edgard Hengemüle and Robert Berger, who have gone the PROLOGUE 7 distance in Lasallian research. We are grateful also for the presence of Brothers Francis Ricousse, Pierre Ouattara, Fabio Coronado, Patricio Bolton, Peter Killeen and Cledes Casagrande for having accepted the challenge of reflecting together. Of course we are also grateful for the sup- port from the Superior General and his Council and from the Brothers in the Generalate. We will be satisfied with our work if this book opens the door to discus- sion. Brother Diego Muñoz Service of Lasallian Research and Resources Generalate, Rome 8 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS WORK Works of Saint John Baptist de La Salle in Spanish C Cartas EMO Explicación del Método de Oración GE Guía de las Escuelas Cristianas MA Meditaciones para algunas fiestas especiales que hay durante el año MD Meditaciones para todos los domingos del año MF Meditaciones para las fiestas principales del año MLF Memorial de la lectura en francés MSO Memorial sobre los orígenes MR Meditaciones para el Tiempo de Retiro RP Reglas personales RU Reglas de cortesía y urbanidad cristianas Works of Saint John Baptist de La Salle in French CE Conduite des Écoles DA Devoirs d’un chrétien I DB Devoirs d’un chrétien II DC Devoirs d’un chrétien III EM Explication de la méthode d’oraison I Instructions et prières LA Lettres autographes LI Lettres imprimées MD Méditations pour les dimanches MF Méditations pour les fêtes MH Mémoire sur l’habit RB Règles de la bienséance RC Règles communes ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS WORK 9 Works of Saint John Baptist de La Salle in English CCS The Conduct of the Christian Schools MTR Meditations for the Time of Retreat RFD Rule and Foundational Documents Documents of the Institute of Brothers of the Christian Schools Circ Circulars of the Institute CL Cahiers lasalliens Decl Declaration: Brother of the Christian Schools in the world today PERLA Proyecto Educativo Regional Latinoamericano Lasallista Documental sources AMG Archives Maison Généralice. Rome BM Sous-Séries S. J.B. de La Salle : Écrits : Conduite des Écoles. AMG CD Sous-Séries Supérieurs généraux, Série C de l’Institut. AMG 12 Our first step is to express what “Lasallian education” was in the very first days of the institution. To respond to this issue, we have two direct fundamental sources: The Conduct of Schools and the Meditations for the Time of Retreat. The first speaks primarily about procedures; the second about the person of the teacher. If we show a summary of the history of those first forty or fifty years and we properly contextualize that history with references to the environment of the time, we can then configure Lasallian education around five axes. We will consider them one by one, as they have come down to us from our foundational journey. Then we will see if they provide a definition or even a system for us. 1. The first definition Pedro María Gil fsc Given the fact that the first members of the community of the Christian schools did not write it down for us, it is not so easy to specify what Lasallian education meant for them.