Lasallian Educational Mission Today

Lasallians accept the past with gratitude, embrace the present with joy and look at the future full of hope, animated by a deep faith that the Lasallian Educational Mission is God’s work.

Mission

The Lasallian Educational Mission that began in the streets of Reims in 1680 continues to amaze us today.  The adventure that began with a small group of teachers became, first, a community of Brothers and, over the years, an enormous group of dedicated Lasallian educators. The women and men of the District of Ireland, Great Britain and Malta commit to advance horizons, touch hearts and inspire minds through an education that enables them to generate opportunities that promote the transformation of lives, persons and societies.

The Lasallian Educational Mission today, at both the national and international level, is expanding in secularised, pluri-religious, and multi-cultural contexts. In these contexts, the Lasallian educators strive to enter into respectful dialogue with the persons they are called to serve. This attitude presupposes openness and a willingness to listen, to learn, to witness to Gospel values and, as far as possible, to announce the Word of God.

Lasallians accept the past with gratitude, embrace the present with joy and look at the future full of hope, animated by a deep faith that the Lasallian Educational Mission is God’s work.  


Lasallians therefore declare that:

  1. We firmly believe that children and young people are a call to hope and commitment.

  2. We believe that in the faces of the impoverished and vulnerable we find God’s saving power.

  3. We believe in the inspiring and mediating power of the educator.

  4. We believe that the educational community is a core component in the building up of the person and the transmission of values.

  5. We believe that our Lasallian association is a gift from God to the world and an extraordinary means to continue the legacy received from our living 300-year heritage.

  6. We believe that education makes possible the search for and transmission of the truth.

  7. We believe that education is a fundamental, powerful and productive resource for the care of the Earth and the defence of the habitat where life can flourish and sustain itself.

  8. We believe in the transforming capacity of education.

  9. We believe that Lasallian education is an expression of Christian humanism.

  10. We believe in the evangelising power of the school.

  11. We believe that today’s realities demand taking risks and being creative.

  12. We believe that another world is possible, and that education is a fundamental force for building it.

 

Read the Declaration on the Lasallian Educational Mission (Rome, 2020), to learn more about Challenges, Convictions and Hopes of Lasallian Educational Mission in the 21st Century.

 

Participants involved in the Lasallian Educational Mission

Brothers of the Christian Schools

Inspired and attracted by the initial charism of the first Brothers, thousands of young people and adults throughout history, in many countries and cultures, have continued the mission of a human and Christian education.

Lasallian Partners: New Agents in the Mission

The presence of the Lasallian Partner (male and female) has been on the increase since the second half of the last century and it currently represents more than 95% of those engaged as agents in mission.

Women in the Lasallian Educational Mission

The women of the Lasallian Family have become a fundamental part of the mission throughout the world. Today, their function is essential in all areas: teaching, administration and research. In addition, they constitute more than half of Lasallian partners worldwide.

Other faith backgrounds

Being Lasallian is, above all, a way of living, of being the bearer of values of one’s religion, which are enriched when they are shared. Therefore, being Lasallian does depend on belonging to a particular culture or a religious creed. This conviction has made possible the existence and relevance of Lasallians who profess religions other than Catholicism or even those partners who do not subscribe to any religious faith or define themselves as indifferent.

Benefactors 

Since the start of the 18th Century and up until today, the story of every region of the Institute has been marked by the support of countless benefactors, who have made it possible to establish and develop Lasallian works.

Young people and Lasallian Volunteers

It is well known that young people have a great capacity for making contact with those people in our society who are the most vulnerable, while every year youth and adult volunteers carry out service projects on the five continents.

Lasallian former students

At the end of their schooling, many young people show their interest in belonging to a network that continues to accompany them for the remainder of their lives.

Lasallian ecclesial groups

Throughout the 20th Century, the Lasallian charism has attracted groups of followers who wanted to created educational institutions with their own legal personality, to respond to local and/or national needs.


For a more detailed explanation see The Declaration on the Lasallian Educational Mission