For the past year, the Region has been operating under a new and innovative structure to advance the Lasallian Mission in the Region. More than a year ago, the Brother Visitors announced the creation of the Regional Council of Lasallian Association for Mission (RCLAM), and tasked them to develop their operating procedures and to hire an Executive Director. The Council and Executive Director have operated for more than a year, and in that time realized that the name was cumbersome, especially to those outside the Lasallian Network. At the most recent meeting of the Visitors, they accepted the Regional Council’s request for a new name, and the Regional Council will now be called the Lasallian Education Council for the Lasallian Region of North America.
The Council will continue to serve as a platform for regional, mission-related collaboration across Districts. The Council develops policies and programs focused on formation for mission, supporting and expanding the mission activities of ministries found throughout the Districts of the Region, and creating greater partnerships within and outside the Lasallian world. The name change also links the work with the Lasallian Education brand which is being implemented in the Region’s more than 100 schools and ministries.
The Regional office and its staff will now be known as the Office of Lasallian Education (OLE) with Dr. Maggie McCarty as Executive Director. The OLE plans and executes the mission-related regional programs, including the Huether Lasallian Conference, the Buttimer Institute of Lasallian Studies, the Lasallian Leadership Institute, and the Lasallian Social Justice Institute, along with De La Salle Today, other publications, and an online presence. The OLE staff also provides support for special projects of the RCCB such as Called To Be Brothers Assembly, print production, and meetings.
The 44th General Chapter directed “that the Regions create an intermediate structure/council (regional level) of voice and vote between local and international levels.” Last year, when the USA-Toronto Region created the structure, they were the first Region in the Institute to respond to this directive. The Lasallian Education Council is moving the Lasallian Educational Mission forward in the spirit of “Together and By Association.”
Br. Robert Wickman, Principal of De La Salle High School in Concord, CA, was the founding Chair of the Lasallian Education Council. Effective July 1, Gery Short, the San Francisco District Office of Education Director, is the new LEC chair.
The Office of Lasallian Education resides within the structure of the Christian Brothers Conference which also includes the following service divisions and subsidiaries: Sangre de Cristo Center, Lasallian Volunteers, RCCB, and Christian Brothers Services.