From The President

Dear De La Salle Family,

In the Brothers’ geographical world, De La Salle Collegiate belongs to the District of Eastern North America (DENA). Our Lasallian ministries and schools extend from Providence RI down to Washington DC and everywhere on the East Coast in between. The western edge of DENA includes Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Warren.

Why I am writing about geography? One word: Sandy. As reports filtered in, we learned of the devastation to Lasallians and to our ministries. At St. Peter’s on Staten Island, twelve families lost everything and one alumnus drowned. At Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, twelve families lost everything. Classes were cancelled for two weeks at Christian Brothers Academy on the Jersey Shore. The Brothers at La Salle Academy in lower Manhattan moved to the Bronx because they were in the no power zone. I think you understand the enormity of Sandy’s impact on Lasallians and their families.

To bring it closer to home, De La Salle has hundreds of alumni out East, many of whom I met at a September reception in NYC. I remember the new retiree who lives on Long Island and hope he and his wife weathered the storm. I think of the young alumnus in Hoboken NJ, the city underwater and without power. And I think of a man I taught who lives in the no power zone. I can’t imagine what these men and thousands of Lasallians, teachers, parents, students and Brothers, endured.

I don’t want to end on this note and would like to mention an experience I had with a senior a few weeks ago. He is a Kairos Retreat leader and asked me to read the speech he would give to the forty students on the retreat. I was overwhelmed by what he wrote about the ups and downs of his life and some of the anguish he has experienced. But it was his conclusion which was so profound. God has a plan for all of us. We might not understand the plan and there may be pain along the way, but God is always with us and we can always rely on God.

At De La Salle, we teach our students faith in God. This is just one example of how that faith manifests itself.

Please remember and pray for the members of our Lasallian family who were impacted by Sandy, and for our De La Salle students who experience their own challenges.

Have a very blessed Christmas and New Year! Sincerely,

Brother Thomas Lackey FSC President