In closing the sessions of the Plenary Assembly 2024, the Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Br Armin Luistro, acknowledged that this experience “was our first attempt to widen the tent of the executive team of the central government of the Institute so we could engage all of you more fully and in an even more collaborative way”.
This is what he expressed in his closing remarks at the end of the five-day meeting (8 to 12 July) which took place at the Generalate, with the participation of 64 Brothers and lay Lasallians.
“My personal hope is that this Plenary Assembly 2024 could be another pathbreaking initiative of the Lasallian Family building on our excellent experience of Shared Mission over the last decades”, continued Br Armin, who also underlined the necessary co-responsibility to move towards a synodal and sustainable model of governance, since “each one of us must be fully convinced that the future of this Institute is in your hands (…). You are not just the Brother Visitor of a geographical area; you are not just the Director of an Office or the Chair of a Commission; you need to be convinced that the future of this Institute is in your hands, not just symbolically, but in spirit and in truth”.
On balance, Coreen Paul, President of CIAMEL, considers that “the Plenary Assembly was an opportunity for all of us to come together and find out where we are in the new structure of governance”. So the journey has been an expression of the synodality of the Lasallian Family. “The call today is to be partners with one another, to be leaven, agents of change wherever we are,” Coreen added.
A time of grace
In the words of Brother Sergio Leal, who acted as one of the general facilitators of the Plenary Assembly, “in these five days we have experienced a time of grace (…) in which it has been possible to build fraternity, synodality and reach consensus after a process of discernment, of listening to the Word of God, of listening to others, of concerns; and also, to arrive at concrete aspects on which the whole Lasallian Family needs to work”.
“We all take with us a bag loaded with many things to do, but also with the hope that the Lord accompanies us and that the Leavening Movement is having its effect (…) in search of being ‘One La Salle’,” said Brother Sergio.
