LA SALLE BROTHERS: ENTHUSIASM IN EDUCATING AND EVANGELIZING

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2001 (VIS) - John Paul II sent a Message to Brother Alvaro Rodriguez Echeverria, superior general of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the birth of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, "special patron of educators of children and youth."

The Pope expressed his hope that "faith in Christ and the Gospel" would be renewed on the occasion of this anniversary. He further recalled that the "ever present" ideal of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, "requires disciples who allow themselves to be formed by Christ and who, full of enthusiasm for education and evangelization, will know how to propose to youth Christian hope and reasons for life."

Reminding the Institute's members of the importance of the witness of fraternal life which the Brothers of the Christian Schools must give, the Holy Father exhorted them "to make of their homes schools of fraternal life, 'to develop and spread an authentic spirituality of communion', involving in this the youth entrusted to them and the laity who collaborate in their mission, helping them to rediscover and to share the charism of the Institute."

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