Concordia Vol. 16 No. 2 | Winter 2015 by Xaverian Brothers

VOL. 16 NO. 2 | WINTER 2015 WWW.XAVERIANBROTHERS.ORG | FACEBOOK.COM/XAVERIANBROTHERS | TWITTER: @XAVERIANBROS

Following the Xaverian Way

Bolivia: Despedida for Brother Martin Boone by Brother Edward Driscoll, General Superior

In this issue

Brother Martin Boone with some of his former students from Carmen Pampa Bolivia. Left to Right: Edgar Bonilla, Nogardo Morales, Andrés Pardo, Hermano Martin, Gavino Lopez, Max Condo and Rene Plata. These men all went on to become teachers and continue the Xaverian tradition of education through their work of education on the secondary and university levels, as well as officials of the Ministry of Education.

Remembering the past with gratitude We treasure photos. A photo says a lot. It captures the meaning of the moment. A thousand words inadequately describe the emotions that a single picture conveys. A picture, like the one above, tells a story. We start this story with the last chapter.

n early December 2014, graduates from our former Escuela Normal in Carmen Pampa, Bolivia, travelled from all over Bolivia to bid farewell (despedida)

to a man who had a significant impact on their lives. Bolivians love to celebrate. This despedida would be no exception— celebratory meals and sharing reminiscences of Carmen Pampa and, most importantly, sharing fraternity that started over forty years ago. All remembered the past with gratitude. Let us step back in time to the first chapters of this story. In the early days of our mission to Bolivia, the primitive conditions of Carmen Pampa were challenging. We remember with gratitude the generosity and faith especially of Brothers Julian and Nilus, who established our mission in Bolivia. In all, twenty-two

In this issue during this Year of Consecrated Life, we highlight some of the ways in which the Xaverian Brothers and their collaborators and Associates continue the mission of the Brothers. Brother Edward Driscoll writes about long-time Bolivian missionary Brother Martin Boone; Communication Director Chris Irr writes about A Community in ‘Retweet’ – how Xaverian schools and the Brothers use Twitter to underscore our mission; we read about the XBSS Governance Forum held recently in Louisville. In “A Call Fulfilled” we say farewell to Brother John Olsen (Brother Thaddeus) who passed away in October and read about the ways he lived his vocation as a Xaverian Brother.

Xaverians responded to Pope John XXIII's original call and served as missionaries in Bolivia. Gratefully we remember them. 1967 marked a new chapter in Brother Martin's life. God's call is indeed Continued on page 2

Continued from page 1

mysterious. The missionary Spirit stirred in Brother Martin. He would join the "band of brothers” who had already been sent as missionaries to Bolivia. For the next ten years, Martin (then known as Brother Loyola), was in Carmen Pampa. Martin's education and training were in engineering, having received his undergraduate degree from the University of Louisville's Speed School and his MS from Catholic University. He would use these gifts, too, in his ministry in Bolivia. During my years as a missionary in Bolivia, I heard from Brother Martin's former students how they had learned how to think in Hermano Loyola's classes. He taught them well! They also acknowledged that Hermano was very strict, but always fair. In their words, “the most important lessons learned from him were those of responsibility, discipline, and respect for self and others.” They continue to speak of Martin with great affection. Brother Martin, like many Brothers, served as a father figure for the students who, in nearly all cases, were many miles away from home. Some were even orphans. When the political situation forced Religious Orders to close their teacher training schools, Brother Martin returned to the USA. His missionary zeal, however, would again lead him to the margins of society. He was Director of Migrant Workers in North Carolina. He spent a year on the Lakota reservation at Saint Francis Mission, South Dakota, and a number of years in Seattle, Washington working in Hispanic ministries. But, Bolivia would call him once more. The year 1991 began the final chapter of Martin's time in Bolivia – a chapter that

would last twenty-three years. He was invited by Bishop Rosat, OFM to assess what could be done educationally for the extremely poor campesino children in the prelacy of Aiquile. At that time, there were no schools available in the remote mountain villages of Aiquile. Brother's engineering background was put to good use for the benefit of these children. With the support of Bishop Rosat, Martin literally built the dormitories, dining room, library, chapel and classroom buildings of Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary) in Chinguri. Martin would spend from 1991 to 2014 in Chinguri.

Living the Present with Passion

ope Francis' exhortation “live the present with passion,” truly characterizes Brother Martin's ministry. In all he did, be it establishing alternative education programs for adults, alternative technical education, teacher formation for the prelacy of Aiquile, or advocating for equal opportunities and rights for campesina women, Martin's zeal was always evident. Our Founder must have frequently whispered his often cited words into Martin's ears, "Nothing special is achieved without much labor, effort and zeal." Brother Martin always showed great determination in advocating for

and defending the people he has been called to serve. He was not afraid to challenge community leaders, even Bishops, if he felt they were not acting in the best interest of students. I was privileged to benefit from Brother Martin's experience and wisdom when I first went to Bolivia. His advice, as well as his challenges, were always clear and to the point. His support, always fraternal. Brother Martin epitomizes a very clear notion of what a missionary is sent to do. What I learned from him was repeated to me in a letter I received from Bishop Jorge Herbas expressing gratitude for what Martin had done for the people

Some of Brother Martin’s former students traveled from Carmen Pampa and other places in Bolivia to visit with him in at Chinguri in 2013.

of Aiquile and echoes our Fundamental Principles: "Remember why you are a missionary, to develop the gifts of others - 'the poor, the weak, the oppressed of this world, they, too, are called to experience, express and share the love of God with the world through their own giftedness." The attached pictures tells me this lesson has been learned and gives all of us the inspiration, no matter our present circumstances, ...

to embrace the future with hope. As Brother Martin joins our community of Brothers at Ryken House in his native Louisville, Kentucky, we pray that he may embrace the future with the same zeal and hope that his life always exemplifies.

The “Camino de la Muerte” - the “road of death” considered to be the world’s most dangerous road leads over the Andes from La Paz to Coroico, Bolivia on the way to Carmen Pampa. This photo was taken by the Brothers in 1966. Brother Martin would know the road well during his years in Bolivia.

Bishop Jorge Herbas, of the Prelacy of Aquile, with whom Brother Martin collaborated the past few years came to Chinguri to offer his thanks to Brother Martin for his years, of missionary service in Bolivia.

Celebrating the Year of Consecrated Life T

he Year of Consecrated Life is upon us! Pope Francis, in an Apostolic Letter addressed "to all consecrated people," explained the year's focus:

In response to requests from many of you and from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, I decided to proclaim a Year of Consecrated Life on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, which speaks of religious in its sixth chapter, and of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis on the renewal of religious life. The Year will begin on 30 November 2014, the First Sunday of Advent, and conclude with the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple on 2 February 2016. After consultation with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, I have chosen as the aims of this Year the same ones which Saint John Paul II proposed to the whole Church at the beginning of the third millennium, reiterating, in a certain sense, what he had earlier written in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata: “You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things” (No. 110).

The letter continues and expands on the aims of the Year of Consecrated Life: to look to the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion, and to embrace the future with hope. A copy of the Holy Father’s letter can be found on our website at xaverianbrothers.org/sites/default/files/APOSTOLIC LETTER.pdf On our website, Living the Charism (livingthecharism.com) we are publishing a short reflection each week that encounters these aims in three-week cycles. We'll first look gratefully at a significant event in the Congregation's past. The following week we'll see how the memory of that historical event is helping us live passionately in the present. And on the third week we'll ask how the event might shape our hopeful embrace of the future. Please join in reading these reflections online! And we invite you to share with us along the way how women and men Religious, particularly Xaverian Brothers, have influenced your life.

A Community in ‘Retweet’ by Chris Irr, Director of Communications

The Xaverian Brothers are just one member of an active and growing Xaverian community on Twitter. Any social network is only as strong as its members’ willingness to share, and so here we’ll highlight some of those folks whom we like to Retweet (RT) when they share their local goings-on.

(Dr. Ed Hardiman, Headmaster, St. John’s Prep, Danvers, MA) We are always looking for different ways to share what is going on at SJP. Twitter is growing in popularity amongst high school students and parents. It is a great and concise way to share information and promote events. It is also a great way to share faith. I like that it forces me to be concise and that it can be accessed and sent from my phone on a whim!! I tweet about different SJP events, accomplishments. I also share insights on Catholic spirituality, various celebrations and the benefits of all boys schools. I retweet insights that I come across on faith, academics and character formation. Recommends following: @JamesMartinSJ, @stjohnsprep, @thenestSJP

(Stephanie Lorenzo, IT Faculty Advisor at Xaverian High School) I find twitter to be an excellent exercise in the craft of writing. As I tell my students - you only have 140 characters, so you have to make 'em count! I focus my tweeting around the motto: "Make a statement, not a sentence." I try to teach the kids to be clever, thought-provoking, and even witty about the things that they chose to write about. Recommends following: @sjunkins

(Kevin McCormack, Principal of Xaverian High School, Brooklyn, NY) Twitter allows a pithy and unobtrusive way to offer perspective and/or resources to a large community. And frankly it is fun! I basically tweet about 5 things: 1) Xaverian HS, 2) educational issues (heavy emphasis on tech), 3) the Church, 4) My radio show: "Religion on the Line," and every so often 5) personal stuff (e.g., I posted a pic that I was at the football game with my kids yesterday). Recommends following: @edtech @historyinPics

(Operated by the Saint X Campus Ministers, St. Xavier HS, Louisville, KY) The account was created in August 2013, as a way to engage our current students. It was our hope that we would be able to connect with our students and promote not only Campus Ministry and St. X events, but also promote happenings of the "Catholic" twitterverse as well. While students are our first audience, we also receive favorites and RTs from alumni and friends from the St. X community. The response has been great; while we only have 200 followers, we regularly receive favorites and RTs from students--especially if there is a picture of them attached to the tweet! Recommends following: @JamesMartinSJ, @ArchbishopKurtz, @MillennialJourn

(Thomas Doherty, Headmaster, Malden Catholic High School, Malden, MA) I’ve been a part of Twitter for a number of years, but when I started at MC I created an account to make sure that I could reach students, share the story of MC with a different audience, and interact with members of our community I might not normally come in contact with in a given day. As a headmaster you spend a lot of time with people who aren’t likely to be on Twitter, so it is important that you share your message with the rest of the community. Twitter is a good way to do this. It takes much less effort and time than many other social media sites, which is good for me because I am very busy.

(Vijay Dacosta, Campus Minister & Religious Studies Teacher at St. John’s Prep) Strangely enough, I came up with my Twitter handle after hearing the pronunciation of my last name from various people in the Boston metro-area. The Boston accent is pretty terrific! I started my SJP Twitter account as a way of engaging with students and the greater school community in a new way that would allow me to bring Campus Ministry to everyone, no matter where they are. I've been able to advertise about our liturgical, retreat, and service programs, as well share interesting articles and congratulate students on their accomplishments. Recommends following: @ehardiman

Recommends following: @Malden_Catholic, @MCathletics1, @LowellCatholic, @BostonCollege, @LHarveyCFX

XBSS Governance Forum Continues the Brothers’ Ministry of Catholic Education

oard Members, Chief Administrators and Xaverian Brothers gathered in Louisville, Kentucky in November for the bi-annual XBSS Governance Forum. Louisville was an appropriate venue for this gathering, as it also gave the participants the opportunity to join the members of the St. Xavier High School Community at the inaugural Grisanti Lecture which was one of the events held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Xavier High School. Director of Sponsorship Alice Hession welcomed the participants to this important event, noting that this is one way in which the Brothers and the Sponsorship Office help board members to reflect on the Brothers’ mission of education and to see the ways in which the Xaverian schools can continue to be effective in continuing the Congregation’s mission of evangelization. Students from St. Xavier High School planned and led the opening prayer for the gathering. The keynote speaker on day one of the Forum was Dr. Hosffman Ospino, an Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Education at Boston College's School of Theology and Ministry. One of Dr. Ospino’s particular areas of research

Jim Donovan, chair of the board of Malden Catholic, and Dr. Ospino from Boston College in a conversation after the keynote address.

and writing is the current situation of Catholic Hispanic Ministry in the United States and proposing directions for the immediate future. In his address, he provided an historical analysis of the role of Catholic education in educating immigrants in the US Catholic experience and the particular challenges Catholic schools face today in educating Hispanics. Following the presentation, a panel of Xaverian educators responded to his challenge. The panel included General Superior Brother Edward Driscoll, Dr. Paul Barker, President of Our Lady of Good Counsel HS, Mrs. Maryellen DeMarco, principal at Lowell Catholic High School and Mr. Richard Lechleiter, a board member at St. Xavier and the President of the Catholic Education Foundation for the Archdiocese of Louisville. Another important facet of the Governance Forum is a series of workshops on topics of interest to board members. The topics covered at this year’s Forum were: The Xaverian Heritage in Louisville, given by Brother Brian Davis, Headmaster at Xavier High School; A Look at Factors Shaping Catholic High Schools Today by Dr. Brian Reynolds, the Chancellor and Chief Administrative Officer of the Archdiocese of Louisville; College Admissions Today: What Board

Richard Lechleiter and Brother Edward continue their discussion on the challenges Catholic schools face in educating under-served populations.

Members need to Know, led by Sean Kaylor the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and a board member at St. Bernard School in Uncasville, CT; and Leveraging Connectivity: The Best Uses of Social Media for Schools given my Dr. Jason McNeal of Gonser Gerber LLP, Advancement Consultants. Participants at the Governance Forum also had the opportunity to visit St. Xavier High School and to be given a tour of the school by St. X students. Following a reception hosted by Dr. Perry Sangalli, President at St. X, and the Board of Directors at the school, the Forum participants joined the members of the St. Xavier community for the inaugural lecture of the Grisanti Lecture Series delivered by Fr. Clyde Crews, a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisivlle and Historian and Archival Director at Bellarmine University, Louisville. Fr. Clyde’s topic for the evening was “The Impact of St. Xavier’s 150 years on the Local Community and Church.” Fr. Clyde, himself an alumnus of St. X, put the arrival of the Xaverian Brothers to Louisivlle and the foundation of St. Xavier’s into some historical context and then spoke about the influence of the Brothers on Brother Edward with Mr. Frank Demuynck, a member of Catholic education in Louisivlle the board of St. Francis Xavier Institute in Bruges, Belgium, who was able to travel to the US for the Forum. (photo courtesy of St. Xavier HS)

as well as the influence of St. Xavier students on Louisvile and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A most interesting follow-up to his lecture were questions by a group of seniors from St. X whose thoughtful and insightful questions invited Fr. Clyde to reflect on his own vocation as a priest, his career as a professor at Bellarmine, and the challenges and opportunities for students at St. Xavier today. The final day of the two-day Forum included an address by Brother Edward Driscoll, on “Future Faithfulness to the Xaverian Charism and the Mission of the Church.” Using the Year of Consecrated

Life and the themes of grateful remembrance for the past, hope for the future and living the present with passion, Brother Edward reminded the Board Members and administrators of their sacred task and challenged everyone to examine how each school continues to advance the Brothers apostolate of Catholic education. Before Alice Hession offered some concluding remarks, Board Members had the opportunity to meet by the standing committees that make up their boards – audit/finance, educational programs, advancement, and facilities. The board chairs who were also present had the

A Call Fulfilled:

opportunity to meet with Brother Edward and to talk about best practices and their particular role of leadership. This bi-annual Governance Forum is an essential way that the Brothers and Sponsorship Office form Board Members for their role of service. It is also an effective way of networking among the various boards and of strengthening the XBSS network. This year, we were particularly happy that Mr. Frank Demuynck, a board member from St. Xavier Institute in Bruges, Belgium was able to join us for the Forum and then to visit St. Xavier, Mount St. Joseph and Our Lady of Good Counsel high schools.

Brother John Olsen, CFX (Brother Thaddeus) Brother John Olsen (Thaddeus) passed to eternal life on Wednesday, October 8th at Nazareth Home, Louisville, KY. Brother John lived a full life as a Xaverian Brother. He entered the Congregation from Resurrection Parish, Brooklyn NY in 1947. Earning his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Catholic University Brother Thaddeus, as he was known then, taught for six years at Saint John’s Prep in Danvers from 1952-1958. His talent and love of Catholic education were recognized early and he was made Assistant Principal at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, where he served from 1958- 1962. During this time he earned his MS in Education at Saint John’s University, where he would also earn his doctorate in 1971. Brother John served as the first Principal at Nazareth High School, also in Brooklyn, from 1962-1965. Brother John was an innovator, instinctively interested in technology. He helped the grade schools in Brooklyn integrate the use of technology in their instruction. Brother John also served the Congregation in various leadership roles: superior and president of Xaverian College, provincial counselor and Director of Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools (XBSS). He also served as Executive

Director of NCEA for Secondary Schools from 1974-1980. A number of lines from our Fundamental Principles are fitting to remember Brother John, but one in particular, “Stand ready to answer God when He asks you if you are available for Him.” Brother John did exactly that. After a period of personal renewal at Regis College in Toronto, Canada, he responded to God’s call to the margins of society. He served as Director of Research for the Southeast Ministry Resource Center in Birmingham, Alabama, where he helped Religious move into ministries serving the poorest of the poor. A number of Xaverian Brothers served for a time in Eastern Kentucky as a result of Brother John’s work. Giving of himself reflected his relationship with God. He served at Assisi Bridge House in Houma, Louisiana; he volunteered for Kenya where he spent ten years on the Formation Team and was Director of Projects at Saint Joseph the Worker Parish in Kangemi, Kenya. The second half of the quote from the

Fundamental Principles reads, “…if you are available for Him to be more present in your life and through you to the world.” Brother Edward Driscoll, General Superior, wrote in announcing Brother John’s death, “As a former student of John, I can attest that I met God in John’s quiet, accepting, caring and ever positive manner.” Let’s give thanks for a life well lived for God and others. May Brother John enjoy eternal peace and life with the God he so loved.

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ach year, the cycle of high school reunions begins. Reunion plans are made months, even years in advance to make these celebrations with classmates, teachers, and Xaverian Brothers who taught, coached, or inspired you memorable. nevitably, questions arise such as “Whatever happened to…?” or “Do you think we can get so and so to our reunion?” At the Xaverian Generalate requests are made asking about particular Brothers and their availability to attend a reunion. Brothers enjoy being remembered in this way. Oftentimes they have vivid memories of former students and even their families. When possible, they do their best to attend reunions and enjoy seeing the men the boys have become – not to exclude those co-ed schools now!

hen reminiscing about those Brothers who were influential in the person you have become, consider remembering them in your estate plans by joining the Xaverian Brothers Concordia Society. The Society and its benefits acknowledge those who have remembered the Brothers in their estate plans. Your generous bequest will help us defray some of these escalating costs: • Care and support for our growing number of aged and infirm Brothers • Our educational efforts through our Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School program • Our missionary activities and the growth of the Congregation in some of the • poorest areas of our world.

For a list of benefits and other information, contact Ray Alcaraz at the Xaverian Brothers Development Office: ralcaraz@xaverianbrothers.org