SAMPLE LASALLIAN RESOURCES
Saint John Baptist de La Salle: His Life and Spirituality
Pamphlet introducing St. John Baptist de La Salle and his educational legacy.
MEL Publications
This collection of small format monographs published since 2001 by the MEL Secretariat in Rome addresses various topics connected with the Lasallian educational mission by a variety of authors. They are very much worth examining on an individual basis, especially those highlighted in the description below.
District Workshops and Retreats (SFNO)
Workshops, retreats, and meetings of common-interest groups within the San Francisco New Orleans (SFNO) District.
Touching the Hearts of Students: Characteristics of Lasallian Schools
A compact biography of John Baptist de La Salle is combined with an overview of the characteristics of his educational spirituality in modern contexts.
The History of the Institute
A five-volume, contemporary, well-written work that covers the history of the Institute from its foundations until the mid-20th century.
www.delasalle.org
The San Francisco New Orleans District website, of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (AKA De La Salle Christian Brothers), providing both information, resources, and an overview of its composition and activities.
La Salle University Magazine (Special Issue)
This special issue from La Salle University, provided via PDF, is a fine compilation of articles and perspectives on Lasallian education and spirituality.
The Pastoral Letters of Br. John Johnson, FSC
This is a collection of the annual Pastoral Letters from Br. John Johnston, FSC, during his years as Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (1986-2000).
The book may be purchased via the link below. The PDF of the book may be downloaded HERE. (12 MB)
AXIS Website
An online journal of Lasallian Higher Education sharing original scholarly and creative works about Lasallian Catholic Higher Education. AXIS is a free, open-access, electronic, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary periodical published twice per year. Lasallian bibliography links are in the description below.
The Work is Yours
An excellent biography of St. John Baptist de La Salle – his context, his life, and his enduring influence – by a major Lasallian scholar.
The Experience
A compact, 6-minute overview of Lasallian education from the perspective of those are actually involved in the daily realities of Lasallian schools.
(The “Show the VIDEO” tab below lets you run the video from here.)
Inspiration
A short, compact, and rich video that reflects the breadth and depth of the Lasallian mission, both in the United States and around the world.
(The “Show the VIDEO” tab below lets you run the video from here.)
Praying with John Baptist de La Salle
A Lasallian prayer resource with specifically themed meditations for use with groups or private prayer and reflection.
An Institute in Transition
This is the story of three General Chapters of the Brothers of the Christian Schools by someone who attended and participated in all of them (1966, 1976, 1986) and whose observations provide both the factual, contextual, and personal outlines of the experience.
Reflection on De La Salle
Excellent introduction to St. John Baptist de La Salle, his spiritual foundations, and his ongoing impact on the Institute he founded.
(The “Show the VIDEO” tab below lets you run the video from here.)
SFNO District Facts
Overview of the SFNO schools, personnel, demographics, religious backgrounds, etc. of the students and the administrative structure.
So Favored by Grace
A set of seven essays that provide a deeper historical, cultural, and educational context for understanding De La Salle’s story and the educational movement that he initiated.
I Am Lasallian
A short, inspirational 4.5 minute video about Lasallian education, backed by a powerful song, that may be used in a variety of settings, including prayer services.
(The “Show the VIDEO” tab below lets you run the video from here.)
Lasallian Reflection – October 2018
October 9, Saint Jaime Hilario, FSC, and the Martyrs of Turon
Lasallian Videos – by Ed Sirois
These videos were created by Mr. Ed Sirois, a religion teacher at La Salle Academy in Providence, RI. There were made for the morning prayer times for the school’s student-body, focusing attention on a specific person, event, or commemoration that was the subject of prayer that day.
Each video is short, poignant, and well-focused.
A full list of the videos, aligned with an academic-year calendar, is available HERE.
A YouTube channel with his videos is located HERE.
Lifting Students to God
This is a prayer resource for teachers that provides a format for personal prayer centered around specific students and their challenges, character, and/or specific concerns. Guiding questions, addressed in the presence of God, draw us into a deeper appreciation of their situation and focuses our prayer for that individual.
Author: Br. Michael Livaudais, FSC
Circulars – Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Here is a collection of the Circulars of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools that are available in English in PDF format. Some have come from other websites, and some have been scanned and turned into PDF format by the Lasallian Resource Center.
This collection will expand as more circulars become available in the PDF format. When possible, the PDF version is also an OCR version, so that you can search for key terms of phrases.
Lasallian Educational Service of the Poor – Selections from Recent Institute Documents
These are selections from recent documents from the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools that are related to Lasallian educational service of the poor.
The original documents that are cited in this overview are listed below. Each listing below is also a direct link to a PDF version of the entire document.
Collected and compiled by Dr. Greg Kopra – Director, Formation for Mission (District of San Francisco New Orleans)
Memento – 2018
A directory of information about all of the Lasallian schools and communities around the world.
Teaching Units for Lasallian Schools
These are complete Lasallian teaching units for high school students. Each level has a one-week set of all the resources needed to teach the classes. Created in 1998, they can be easily adapted and supplemented with videos and other more contemporary material. It’s a good place to start!
See the longer description below for a breakdown of the units.
Project Coordinator: Br. George Van Grieken, FSC
Editor: Greg Kopra
One Year In Mission Together
Produced for the tricentenary celebrations in 2019, this booklet highlights 52 ministries from across our Lasallian community and provides a brief explanation of their services, geographically maps their location. It’s a great resource for teachers, administrators, and all Lasallians.
Source: De La Salle International Solidarity Foundation (Rome)
Saint Mary’s College of California – Sharing the Mission VIDEOS
These interviews with 15 “Professors of the Year” (1992 – 2005) at Saint Mary’s College of California center around the descriptors that came from the college’s “New Century Committee” document, in which the college was described as a “Premier, Catholic, Lasallian, Liberal Arts Learning Community.”
Along with the short films on each topic – Liberal Arts, Catholic, Lasallian, Students, The Professor, Sharing the Mission – there is the longer compilation of all the interviews in a single 55-minute video (the last in the series below).
Year of Creation: 2005
Lasallian Communications Plan – 2018 (RELAN)
This 2018 communication plan published by the Lasallian Region of North America (RELAN) provides an excellent overview of how, when, and where to tell the Lasallian story, along with guidelines and resources that enable others to do so.
Lasallian Glossary, Acronym, & Style Guide – 2018 (RELAN)
A guide published by the Lasallian Region of North America that provides the standards for the use of specific terms, phrases, and spellings within the Lasallian educational network.
Lasallian Videos – by Scott Gibbs
The videos on this page were created by Scott Gibbs in 1998 and 1999 for major gatherings of Lasallians of the District of San Francisco. Scott was hired by the District because of his professional expertise in putting together videos for large professional corporations. He was tasked with going to all the places where District of San Francisco had invested personnel and financial assistance and convey – through his eyes – what these involvements had led to. There was no advanced “message” that was prescribed beforehand. As a result, the first video, called “Inspiration,” was created, with the subsequent videos emerging afterwards.
Until the end of his life, Scott was highly appreciative of the opportunity to have been able to learn about, document, and be involved with the Brothers, the Lasallian community, and Lasallian education.
A Library Guide Celebrating De La Salle
Intended as a resource for an introductory set of lessons about St. John Baptist de La Salle, this library guide collects online resources from various parts of the internet.
It was put together as a commemoration of the life and legacy of De La Salle and the tricentenary of his death in 2019.
TIMELINES – St. John Baptist de La Salle
Below are three online timelines that highlight significant events in the life of St. John Baptist de La Salle.
Some are more detailed than others. They may be well used with students, teachers, and others who are interested in the linear events of De La Salle’s life.
The Story of De La Salle
This children’s book, created by the ARLEP District (Spain & Portugal), tells the story of St. John Baptist de La Salle, using his own voice. The artwork and the text are designed for use with young children. It was produced for the 300th anniversary of De La Salle’s passing into eternal life and has been translated into English in order to reach a larger audience.
Brother Scubilion: Apostle of Freedom and Reconciliation
This book is about the Brother Scubilion (Jean-Bernard) Rousseau, FSC, who dedicated 34 years of his life to the native enslaved people on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. After the emancipation of the slaves in 1848, he continued to care for them and to help them adapt to their new life of freedom and responsibility.
The book is available on www.lulu.com, and it may be downloaded as a PDF.
Let Us Remember: Stories of the Holy Presence of God
This publication by the Lasallian Publications Committee of the Region of North America provides 52 stories from Lasallian school ministries, child and family youth service ministries, and retreat ministries. Each story focuses on how the “holy presence of God” has been experienced or seen through the eyes of personal witnesses.
An introduction gives an overview of how the holy presence of God has permeated the spirituality of St. John Baptist de La Salle.