Lasallian Associations

In recent years, the concept of association has drawn much attention in the Lasallian world.

From a historical perspective, the Brothers have come to realize the centrality of association to their origins and self-understanding: the primordial community that grew to become the Brothers of the Christian schools was born through an act of association—a commitment to God mediated through active solidarity with one another for the purpose of insuring the accomplishment of God’s work: the salvation and liberation of poor and abandoned youth.

Theologically, we are beginning to understand association in terms of a theology and ecclesiology of communion. Association as it has been lived out in Lasallian communities and schools is a “communion in mission” which finds its origins in the loving outreach of the Son and Spirit who are at work in the world to reconcile all people to one another and to the Father. This understanding is felicitously captured in the Brothers’ formula of vows and the Founder’s retreat meditations. Brotherhood, the charism of fraternity, consists in living out the communion of love rooted in the Blessed Trinity

The phenomenal growth and development of the Lasallian Family in the past 20 years also points to the fruitfulness of the dynamism of association. The evolution of “shared mission” from the idea of laypersons sharing in the Brothers’ mission to Brothers and partners sharing in one Lasallian mission has been one of the major paradigm shifts that has changed the landscape of the Lasallian presence and apostolate in the country.

The reality of Lasallian association as we experience it today admits to different levels and degrees of ownership and involvement. While the Brothers by their religious consecration symbolize the totality of self-gift to God in the educational mission, there is a growing recognition that there are many other complementary ways of living out the Lasallian charism that are as significant today—the fruits of a charism that is given by God not just to the Brothers but to the entire Church. The present document is an attempt to describe these modes and relationships.

Lasallian Associations, Associates & Other Relationships

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