Spirit
Pastoral Ministry
Pastoral Ministry in a Lasallian School: what we promise, we live!
We are missioned to change the lives of the students entrusted to our care. We do this through relationships centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Daily we encourage and support the human and spiritual development of the young. So, the Campus Ministry team strives to assure a welcoming presence and special support for all, we call this pastoral ministry. As pastoral ministers, we offer training and pastoral resources to our students, their parents, our staff and alumni and our friends and benefactors.
We learn early on in the Gospel of Mark of the reality of God’s presence in our world and the importance of transformation in the lives of the Christian community, as it states, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” The term repent, or metanoia, means a heartfelt transformation. It seems that Jesus the Christ wants us to understand early in his earthly ministry of God’s will for us to give witness to life-giving transformation.
In the spirit of St. John Baptist de La Salle, the patron saint of all educators, we continue to intentionally place students and their respective needs at the center of the educational environment at La Salle High School. As Lasallian educators we join together and by association, to continue to give witness to the daily transformation of the young men entrusted to our care. These young men learn and live the Lasallian values of being a brother to one another and to all of creation. At La Salle High School we continue to teach that a Lasallian brother is someone who places God at the center of his life, seeking God’s loving truth in his relationships, maximizing his God-given gifts and talents. The Campus Ministry office strives to partner with students, parents, alumni, pastors and youth ministers to create a ministry of presence where all can grow their full potential: mind, body and spirit. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we call this dimension of our school pastoral ministry.
The pastoral ministry dimension in our school takes on the following:
In every classroom: a place of growth, a Gospel space.
It is in daily activities (lessons, copybooks handed back, class councils….) that our attitudes and our works express the values which we hold. It is in this that children and young people discover, from our way of being, that the demands made upon them as well as kindness, trust and even forgiveness, help them to grow.
The school: a time for living what we proclaim
As young people and adults we receive different calls and challenges: meeting different religions and different trends of thought, developing a questioning mind and interiority, living human and Gospel values, getting to know Christ better and structuring our belonging to Christianity with the help of the Sacraments and catechesis.
Within the school, the daily relationships, pedagogical and educational activities and the organization of the establishment must show that we are marching together toward more consistency between what we say and what we do.
To call upon the young to take responsiblity.
When, as young people and adults, we cross the threshold of our school, we are welcomed such as we are, with our strengths and our weaknesses, our questions and our doubts.
This is why a fraternal climate allows us to call people to commitments which, step by step, build an existence that makes sense.
To allow everyone to advance along the path of fraternity, service and faith.
It is up to adults to help the young person to welcome these calls and thus to educate him toward liberty. Each responsibility, in fact, allows us to live educational values such as self-confidence and concern for others.
To open up the young to continue the life of the Church.
Our school belongs to the Lasallian network and is situated in a diocese. Each of these “places” can enrich the experience of the young person if we invite him/her to discover them and ‘live’ them.
To invite adults to live their profession as a vocation.
To promote meeting and sharing, creating more fraternal relations, risking a word….It’s up to each adult to take a (small) step, to give (a little) of his time and in this way to put the young person at the center of educational activity.
To create, sustain and grow relationships built on love and truth.
Lasallian communities are relational and transformative. We believe at the heart of our transformative mission one can find a healthy relationship between a student and teacher, a coach and student-athlete, a principal and teachers, trustees and alumni, all of which are based on God’s loving truth.
To transform our world through service, reflection and prayer.
All are empowered to live the Gospel and use words only when necessary. Prayer is a way of life for us. As a Catholic Christian community, we are invited to participate weekly in the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and invited daily to remember, through prayer, service and reflection that we are in the Holy presence of God.
