When the Easter break comes later in the year, the return from the break means that the end of the school year is right on the horizon.  Before the end of the year gets here, I thought I would share with you some of my experiences from Rome and beyond that might give you some insight into the international Lasallian community of which Central Catholic is such an important part.

Central Catholic grads are everywhere and 4 of our graduates have recently been in Rome and I had the opportunity to meet up with them.  Recent grads include Abraham Kabezie and Guy Scalise, both from the class of 2015 are here with Duquesne University’s semester in Rome program and they had a visit to our house and to the shrine to St. John Baptist de La Salle.  Jonathan Mains, ’15, spent a week in our house with a group of students from La Salle University who were here for a special study program on immigration and refugees in Europe.

One of the good things about living in Rome is that there are opportunities to be present at various important events in the Catholic liturgical year.  This is especially true during the many Holy Week celebrations.  This year, I was able to go with some of the other Brothers to the Palm Sunday mass in Saint Peter’s Square.  It was a beautiful day with a very large crowd of the faithful from all over the world.  Fortunately, we arrived quite early for the 10 am mass and were able to get very good seats.  During the years when there is not an international World Youth Day, this celebration is celebrated throughout the church on Palm Sunday.  In Rome, the Pope had a great message to young people, which made me think of each of you, the students of Central Catholic.  In part he said:

“In October 2018, the Church will celebrate the Synod of Bishops on the theme: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment. We will talk about how you, as young people, are experiencing the life of faith amid the challenges of our time. We will also discuss the question of how you can develop a life project by discerning your personal vocation, whether it be to marriage in the secular and professional world, or to the consecrated life as a religious Brother or Sister and priesthood.   Our age does not need young people who are “couch-potatoes.”  These are challenging words for all of us, but especially for young people who are contemplating future careers and options.

That’s really the mission of Lasallian schools – to help young people realize they have a Mission to the world and to help them begin to discover that Mission – and I have had the opportunity to see how this Lasallian educational project is lived out in different sectors, mostly this year I have visited different countries in Europe.  Recently, I went to Vienna and visited two Lasallian schools there.  The custom in Europe is to have kindergarten through high school all on the same campus but with different “schools” on the campus.  It is an interesting concept and as a result, many of the students have grown up in De La Salle schools having spent more than 12 years in the schools.  While some of the customs are different, such as the lack of any dress code or uniform and the way the daily schedule words, the spirit and attachment that the students have for their school is something we would all recognize.  One of the highlights was being able to see one school’s musical production of “Grease”.  The dialogue was all in German but the songs were sung in English.  It was really funny to see Austrian teenagers portraying American teens from the early 1960’s!  The students did a great job with the production and similar to our Masque, they had a fun time doing the show.

I was also able to spend some time in Brussels, Belgium.  Brussels is very multi-cultural European city and the diversity of the people is everywhere.  You can hear many languages walking down the streets of the old city.  I spent the day at the Institute Jean-Baptist De La Salle – a school that is over 130 years old.  The student body is like a United Nations and there is a special program to help those newly arrived to the country to learn French and the customs of the country.  Despite their differences, it was clear that the students were friends and enjoyed each other’s company.  Perhaps it’s true that the friendship that can change the world can start in schools that value brotherhood and friendship…

In addition to the two cities of central Europe, I spent a week in Madrid where I stayed at the Brothers’ community known as the Novitiate.  The Novitiate is a community where young men go as part of their training to become Brothers of the Christian Schools.  We have Novitiates all over the world.  In the USA it is located in Chicago.  At the Novitiate in Madrid, I met 6 young men who are preparing to be Brothers.  3 of them were from Spain, 2 from Argentina and one from Belarus, who is preparing to be a Brother in Poland.  It was a very meaningful visit to meet with young men, especially those from Europe, who are in their first stages of Brotherhood.  In general, vocations in Europe are very low because of the strong secularization ideas.  In talking with the 3 young Spanish Brothers, there were echoes of the Pope’s challenge not to be “couch potatoes” in their own decision to pursue their vocation.  Each spoke about wanting to have a deep purpose to their lives and said that they had experienced a sense of joy and excitement when they were involved in Lasallian projects and this led them to make their decision to begin their journey as Brothers.  The young Brothers from Argentina were looking forward to returning home in a few short months to get to work in the various schools that serve very needy young people.

In the months ahead, I will get to visit the island of Malta as well as Poland.  These will be very eye-opening visits, I am sure.  My travels convince me more and more that one of the most important things students in the USA, especially at Central Catholic, is to commit to learning a second language!  Everywhere I have traveled I have been amazed at the number of young people who can master 2 or 3 languages in addition to their native tongue.  Make the commitment and you will be way ahead of other Americans in this regard.
Of course, my Easter celebration would have been incomplete if I didn’t visit the Steeler’s Bar to celebrate the joy of this Holy Season!

Best wishes for the remainder of the year and for a relaxing and peaceful summer.  Remember if your travels bring you to Rome, the Casa Generalizia is located at 476 Via Aurelia!