This is the third in a series of profiles of researchers who were awarded a 2025 Lasallian Research Grant by the Lasallian Region of North America (RELAN).
Brother Vincent Pelletier, FSC, is an adjunct lecturer and vocation coordinator in the Lwanga District. He resides in the Brothers Community in Narragansett, Rhode Island. With his Lasallian research grant, Brother Vincent will write a history of the Christian Brothers in Ethiopia. He is the one of the longest serving missionaries to Ethiopia, having served from 1968 to 2007.
“The Christian Brothers began the mission in Ethiopia in the early 1950s; first with the French Brothers and then Brothers from the then-New York and LI-NE (Long Island-New England) Districts. At the present time, all of the schools in Ethiopia are in the hands of Ethiopian Brothers. Often, on my annual visits to Ethiopia, Brothers ask me for the history of the difference schools and communities,” Brother Vincent said.
In the following Q&A, Brother Vincent responded to a few questions from Christian Brothers Conference.
What inspired you to take on this project?
I lived in Ethiopia for 39 years and left in 2007. I have returned to continue to work in the formation of the Ethiopian Brothers. In the last few years when I was there, different Ethiopian Brothers asked me questions about the origins of the Brothers in Ethiopia. For example, “How did we come to be in this school? When did we come to this school?” etc. I would tell the story as I knew it and the Brothers encouraged me to write about the origins of the Brothers in Ethiopia.
How do you see your research benefiting the wider Lasallian community?
Ethiopia is a sector in the Lwanga District of Africa. The Brothers in Ethiopia and in the other Sectors of the District would profit from knowing their origins, their roots. This information would also be of value to Brothers in other parts of the world.
How will your research enhance or connect to the Lasallian mission?
Hopefully my research will produce a substantial book that will be a resource for the Brothers in Ethiopia, the Lwanga District and the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools as a whole.