In late June, a select group of Lasallians gathered at Christian Brothers Center in Narragansett, Rhode Island, for a Prayer Writing Workshop to create prayers for the larger Lasallian educational family. Through prayer, networking and time for community, the workshop fostered professional and spiritual growth for participants.
The workshop was led by Christian Brothers Conference spirituality project manager Brother Michael Phipps, FSC, and Brother Lawrence Goyette, FSC, in continued efforts for the 2025 Year of Lasallian Spirituality and to expand spirituality resources in the Lasallian Region of North America.
The attendees represented each District and a range of ages, ministry types and teaching experiences.
“We’re not just educators in English, art or science, we’re also educators in religion and theology. A part of that education is prayer,” Brother Michael said. “As much as we’re learning to pray, we can teach our students, our clients, the young people entrusted to our care to pray.”
Michael Pare from La Salle Academy in Providence, Rhode Island, said, “As an English teacher, the very idea of presenting prayer as storytelling presents endless opportunities for writing assignments, as well as avenues into analysis and research.”
Erika Whitehead, assistant principal of the Catalyst Schools in Chicago, Illinois, commented on her takeaways from the workshop and said, “To be a Lasallian educator in a public school is to hold the tension and beauty of this work with reverence. It is to model gravity, build inclusive community, and to believe against all odds in the transformative power of education. Living out the Lasallian mission means that my work is about more than test scores, professional development, and curricula – it is about purpose and responsibility. It is about teaching minds while also touching hearts.”
The gathering prioritized interiority and intentional collaboration through different components of prayer, writing sessions, working groups and resource sharing.
Brothers Lawrence and Michael began each writing session with short reflections on times when prayer was instrumental in their lives to help ground participants. One day, Brother Lawrence spoke about the importance of prayer throughout the process of founding and creating the first San Miguel school.
After the reflections, the participants wrote prayers on a given theme like the beginning of the school year or times of frustration, etc.
Brother Michael emphasized the importance of authentic humanity in the praying writing process. “We were created to create, so let’s do that. Let’s be inspired by the Spirit, by our experiences, and create.”
“How often have we (as educators) been asked, ‘Can you offer a prayer for something?’ and we come up with a spontaneous prayer?” Brother Michael said. If prayer is a conversation, then we should be comfortable talking with God, he explained, and learning how to do that is a skill of spirituality. With Scripture and the Founder as our inspiration, he said, we can simply start by asking, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Midwest participant Traci Bennington remarked, “Even though I’m not currently in a formal (Lasallian) ministry or classroom, I still feel deeply rooted in the Lasallian mission.” Her ties to the mission remain through her continued work with the student athletes at Totino-Grace High School in Fridley, Minnesota.
“I can be intentional about how I create space for reflection, encouragement and hope. That, in itself, is ministry. And it reaffirmed for me that being Lasallian doesn’t require a title or a job description — it’s a lifelong calling,” Bennington added.
This fall, the work will culminate in a book of Lasallian prayers meant to inspire others to pray and feel more comfortable creating their own prayers.