From its origins, the Brothers saw it as their role to assist parents in forming and educating children.

De La Salle wrote that educating children in faith was the primary responsibility of parents. But the poor were unable to fulfill this responsibility either because they were too busy struggling to keep their families alive or because they were ignorant of their faith. For this reason, the Brothers banded together to make the means of salvation accessible to the children of the working class and the poor.

Thus, the Brothers of the Christian Schools made a vow of association to keep together and by association schools for the educational service of poor children. Over the years, the responsibility for forming and educating children was often passed on to the Brothers.

What has changed today is the everincreasing role played by non-Brothers in the shared mission of the Institute. In the face of the many challenges in todays world, it is no longer conceivable that the Brothers can guarantee by themselves the continuation and vitality of the Lasallian mission.

From the late 70s to the late 80s, there arose groups and individuals hungry for a deeper sharing in the spirituality and mission of De La Salle.
Developments Signum Fidei and SHARE (1981). The new emphasis on the Lasallian and Lasallian family and the Letter to the Lasallian Family in 1989. Emphasis on Lasallian formation to help lay educators make of their work a gospel ministry. Initiatives like LASSA, youth & educators congresses, etc.

The Brothers, original owners of the mission . . .

This is a paternalistic understanding of shared mission.

HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND SHARED MISSION TODAY ?

. . . share their mission with their lay colleagues.

The first Lasallian District Synod in 1999 effectively marked a paradigm shift in the way of thinking about shared mission in the Philippines. . .
. . . from sharing in the Brothers mission to the one mission in which faculty, staff, alumni, parents and young people and Brothers all share.

Lay people take their place as full partners and we Brothers gladly associate with them in our mission. We accept that from now on our schools will not be Brothers schools, animated by the Brothers community with the secondary collaboration of lay teachers, parents, students. They will be instead, Lasallian schools , animated by Lasallian educative communities of faith, within which the apostolic activity of the Brothers community takes place. - The Lasallian Mission of Human and
Christian Education: A Shared Mission 3.1.1

 For the Brothers: this change in mentality implies that they will no longer consider themselves the only trustees or proprietors of the Lasallian charism in education. It is their duty to believe in the vocation of lay people, to support it and encourage it . . .

For lay people: the change in mentality allows them to consider the Lasallian task . . . as something which is proper to them and not something for which the Brothers alone are responsible. It means they should accept their place and responsibilities in the Lasallian educational plan and feel that they are co-responsible in the common mission. - The Lasallian Mission of Human and
Christian Education: A Shared Mission 3.1.2

To give a human and Christian education

especially, but not exclusively, in schools;

with the service of the poor as a priority;

in order to evangelize and catechize to promote peace and justice;

accomplished together as a shared mission.

CO - RESPONSIBLE

Shared mission. . . demands a process of growth in unity, in communion between persons who share the same mission. This process of communion requires the development of links of unity, of communication, unified objectives, common actions, and good personal relationships in the same Lasallian tradition which brought the Brothers to make a vow of association among themselves. . .
- The Lasallian Mission of Human and Christian Education: A Shared Mission 3.3.1

* MISSION
* LASALLIAN SPIRITUALITY
Different degrees and levels of commitment and sharing.
RELATIONSHIP OF COLLEAGUES AND BROTHERS IN THE SHARED MISSION

Everyone actively committed to the Lasallian vision and mission.

The ideal of shared mission would be. . . the formation of a ministerial community among those who share the Lasallian mission. This new ministerial community has to be for the Lasallian school the sign that the Kingdom of God is present and grows in this place.
- The Lasallian Mission of Human and
Christian Education: A Shared Mission 3.3.3
Aladdin Antiqueo

Partnership in shared mission involves not just a consultative role for the laity in determining apostolic directions but a deliberative one. The Holy Spirit is alive, works and speaks through men and women of faith who gather to discern Gods will for the shared mission. This holds true for the laity as much as the religious. The mission is in our hands.

STRUCTURES

OF GOVERNANCE

 Becoming communities of life and love. Building up the family as a community of faith the Church in the home. Serving the Church and participating in the mission of evangelization. Serving the needs of the wider society.

1. Take seriously the vocation of families to be communities of life and love in a world of violence and broken relationships. 2. Take responsibility for the moral and religious formation of children. Build the Church in the home.

3. Support and collaborate in the educational and pastoral efforts of the Lasallian school.
4. 5. Collaborate in Lasallian initiatives to address the needs of poor & at-risk youth in society. Internalize the Lasallian spirit of faith and zeal for the salvation of youth and the the poor.
Aladdin Antiqueo

Aladdin Antiqueo

Special thanks to Mr. Aladdin Antiqueo for the use of his paintings.