Listening Attentively to the Movement of the Holy

Listening Attentively to the Movement of the Holy Spirit The Christian and Gratuitous School as a Sign of the Reign of God

Objectives Teaching as vocation; founding a community of religious Brothers as apostles and ambassadors The Christian school as creative response to evangelize and catechize the young, especially those who are poor

Two Principal Organizing Concepts in De La Salle’s Theological Pedagogy Teaching as Ministry Salvation

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ” Christian spirituality is the power to discover and to relate to God present in our lives, resulting in a quality of affective presence that is decisive for the Reign of God.

The 17 th century was a time of crisis for traditional primary education in France Primary school teachers were under diocesan authority Claude Joly, Paris’ superintendent of schools resisted the Council of Trent’s reform decrees Ill-Preparation of male teachers Le grand chantre lampooned Joly for employing a motley collection of “low pot-house keepers, secondhand shop proprietors, silk-weaver flunkies, wig makers, and marionette string pullers. ”

Creating a distinct identity as Brothers of the Christian Schools Community…Brothers It was at the end of the first six months and at the beginning of the year 1682 that new candidates appeared… And it was then that a true form of community began to appear in the house. It was also at the beginning of that same year that were known as exercises began to be practiced, and the teachers were called Brothers. Canon Blain, CL 4, 47

Creating a distinct identity as Brothers of the Christian Schools This name seemed to them more unassuming and more appropriate to the common life they had adopted, and more capable of maintaining the union that reigned among them. All they had became common property, no private interests distracted their minds, and in this way the regularity of their conduct was a vivid image of their life of the first Christians. Maillfer, CL 6, 54

Creating a Distinct Identity as Brothers of the Christian Schools Christian instruction and a holy education Schools should be understood places where young people go to learn how to read, write, and count for a fee. By Christian and Gratuitous Schools should be understood places where they go to acquire Christian instruction and a holy education for no payment. Canon Blain CL 7, 34

The creative response: the role of the Brothers within the Church Workers with God Ministers of Jesus Christ Builders of the Church

The creative response: the role of the Brothers within the Church Ministers of Jesus Christ Since you are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ himself. He wants your disciples to see him in you and receive your instructions as if he were instructing them. MTR 195. 2

The creative response: the role of the Brothers within the Church Workers with God is so good that…he wills that all people come to the knowledge of the truth. This truth is God himself… This is why God wills all people to be instructed, so that their minds may be enlightened by the light of faith. MTR 193. 1

The creative response: the role of the Brothers within the Church Builders of the Church You must show the Church what love you have for her and give proof of your zeal, since it is for the Church… that you work. You have become her ministers according to the order God has given you to dispense his word. MTR 201. 2

Who were these children in the first Christian Schools? the (almost) always poor & the (new) occasionally poor non-attendance absence and truancy drop outs “parents preoccupied… children often left on their own… being formed by bad companions in the streets” in need of salvation… salvation from… salvation for… the reign of god… brothers and sisters of one human family

What made the Christian Schools so unusual and desirable? Appropriate Order and focus curriculum Gospel values Pedagogy a Community of stable and competent teachers Love for students

A particular kind of school: a response beginning in 1680 teaching well prepared & adapted to pupil’s level…in their own language…in useful skills and knowledge good order & social formation student involvement and responsibility is fostered religious/spiritual formation correction (re-turning) from the values of the street to the values of the reign of god relationships are paramount teachers-students-students teachers-teachers

The Reign of God is here but not yet God acting here and now I came…that they might have life and have it to full. for this had to be the kind of ardent zeal you had for the salvation of those you instruct, when you were led to sacrifice yourself and to spend your whole life to give these children a Christian education and to procure for them the life of grace in this world and eternal life in the next. MTR 201. 3

De La Salle’s thought on role of Lasallian schools Ignorance Unfavorable Economic Conditions of Working People and the Poor The Christian School Lawlessness

De La Salle’s Thought continued… Financial Support Secular Instruction Vocational Incompetence The Christian School Social Formation Civic Responsibility At the Service of the Church and the State Competent Christian Educators Religious Instruction Christian Spirit

The Double Contemplation John Baptist de La Salle Children of artisans God Who wants ALL saved A Double Contemplation Who are far from salvation Is led from one commitment to another To Make Salvation Accessible To ALL

Making Salvation Accessible to ALL God has had the goodness to remedy such an obstacle by the setting up of the Christian Schools MTR 2. 1 Christian Schools Teachers Maintaining schools together and by association