Brother Armin Luistro, Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, has appointed Brother Robert Schaefer to a second term as Visitor of the District of Eastern North America (DENA), beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2029.
Brother Robert was born in Philadelphia on December 10, 1966, into a family steeped in Lasallian values. His father, Robert, was a 1954 Lasallian graduate, and his mother, Celeste, served for many years as secretary to the Principal of La Salle College High School, where he also studied for four years. Likewise, his siblings Paul, John, Elizabeth, and Mary Frances studied in the Brothers’ schools.
Brother Robert continued his education at La Salle University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication in 1989. He then entered the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, joined the Novitiate in Skaneateles, New York, and made his final profession in Washington, DC, in 1999.
Throughout his formative journey, Brother Robert also completed a Master’s Degree in Theology at La Salle University and then a Master’s Degree in school Administration at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
His commitment to the Lasallian Educational Mission has led him to serve as a teacher, pastoral leader, assistant principal and principal in various secondary schools in his District, such as Central Catholic High School (2009 – 2016) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his human qualities and his educational leadership earned him the respect and appreciation of his students and the educational community in general.
Likewise, his services to the Institute have extended beyond the borders. For a long time, his knowledge of the Spanish language enabled him to support the Lasallian mission in various Latin American countries, such as Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua, at certain times of the year, accompanying students and communities in need.
In 2016 he was appointed Secretary for Formation of the Institute, moving to Rome, to the Generalate, where he contributed significantly until 2021, when he was appointed the Brother Visitor of DENA, for the first time, for a period of four years.
According to the Institute’s Statistics latest report, DENA is made up of 195 Brothers and 21 communities which animate more than 30 Lasallian ministries.
We express our closeness and communion with Brother Robert Schaefer and the Brothers of DENA, along with our best wishes for the mission that Divine Providence entrusts to him in this new period of service to the District. May our Founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle, continue to intercede for the Brothers and for their ministry.
