A Conversation With... Brother Dennis Malloy is the “Brother Visitor” or Provincial of DENA, the District of Eastern North America.
Lasallian identity do not depend upon Brothers being present in the schools. The Board of Trustees holds your Catholic nature and Lasallian spirit in trust for the Christian Brothers and for De La Salle. The President, who the Board hires and the Brothers approves, is hired to be the Mission or Apostolic leader of the school and to actively engage others in our Lasallian Catholic mission.
Earlier this year, you visited De La Salle Collegiate. What are your impressions of De La Salle? This was my second or third official visit. I visit each ministry at least once every three years and our Auxiliary Visitor Brother Charles Kitson visits in the interim years. De La Salle is a wonderful school, with a very diverse student population.
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I first visited three years ago, just before Christmas, and saw a variety of activities taking place. There was an evening music program, a rich offering of athletics, art programs, worship. DLS is a very vibrant, very balanced school. DLS has made something for all young people to discover their gifts whatever they are. What does it mean to be a Lasallian Catholic school? A school can only be Catholic through the local bishop or religious institute. De La Salle is Catholic and Lasallian because it is part of the worldwide Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Your Catholic nature and
Responsibilities of the Brother Visitor According to The Rule of The Brothers of the Christian Schools, “the Brother Visitor is the guarantor of the unity and vitality of the District. He is the one primarily responsible for the District and for its leadership. He exercises his authority as a major superior in accordance
In our schools, the poor and the working class are at the heart of our mission. In the last 25 years, we have had a tremendous change in the socio-economic diversity of our schools, and now have students from different backgrounds. They get to know one another as brothers. Our mission is to give our students an excellent education and to develop in our students a heart for justice and a very personal relationship with God. Not unlike other schools, all Catholic education costs money. Recently, our Mission Assembly, which meets every three to four years, looked at how we keep our Lasallian schools strong, with a human and Christian education, starting with the poor and working class. An authentic Lasallian Catholic education is affordable to families. There’s definitely a struggle all the time to do this.
with the norms of Canon Law, Institute legislation and the directives of the District Chapter.” (The Rule, article 142) In these roles he is responsible for the animation and guidance of both the Brothers and their Partners-inMission in the life of the District and its ministries, particularly those which are canonically a part of the Institute of the Brothers of the
Christian Schools and through the Institute their Catholic nature and Lasallian identity are derived. It is particularly his role to see that ministries are authentic to the Lasallian charism and mission “to give a human and Christian Education to the young, especially the poor, according to the ministry which the Church has entrusted to it.” (The Rule, article 3)
