1) Deepening the Spirituality of Being Brother
What have we discovered?
To be a Christian Brother is to receive a precious gift which invites us daily to walk the Emmaus way into the unfolding mystery of our quest for God.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To facilitate gatherings of brothers to explore our lived spirituality, brotherhood, and Eucharist in the context of the Emmaus story.
- To continue our journey into the heart of Edmund’s charism with our Presentation Brothers.
- To continue to avail of and evaluate present structures, processes, and programs of Congregational and inter-Congregational renewal including Trasna and Passover.
- To provide training and support for leaders who aspire to lead others in their journey to the heart
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2) Healing and Reconciliation - A Need and a Call
What have we discovered?
As Brothers we are called to accept as gift the growth that comes through facing our pain and loss in a troubled world and suffering planet. As we learn to offer and receive healing and reconciliation, we find our wounded hearts bear within them the hope of new life and a renewed sense of joy.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To promote the highest of integrity and accountability in our lives and ministries.
- To apply the learning from failures in the proper care of the young and to continue to respond in justice to people who have been affected by our past failures.
- To formulate strategies for healing and reconciliation in community living and ministry.
- To give particular attention in initial and on-going formation to programs of healthy psycho-sexual development and ways to deal with trauma.
3) Seeking New Brothers
What have we discovered?
Rekindling our efforts to seek new members will in turn transform the heart of the Congregation and rediscover the precious gift of Brotherhood.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To appoint brothers to full-time vocation ministry for provinces and regions.
- To establish a Christian Brother vocation promotion network across provinces and regions.
- To establish trans-province formation centres world-wide in readiness to accept new members and to identify suitable personnel who will undergo professional training for formation.
- To recognize and respect the culture from which the candidates for formation are drawn and acknowledge the international aspect of the Congregation.
- To create communities of welcome where new members feel at home.
4) Educating the Minds and Hearts of the Young
What have we discovered?
We acknowledge the immense contribution over the past two hundred years that brothers and their colleagues have made to the liberating education of the young. There is joy and gratitude in the development of greater shared responsibility among partners in the school ministry.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To ensure that Christian Brother schools are communities of learning and of faith and justice, where students, parents, and staffs are educated to a practical awareness of social inequity.
- To continue the process of identifying the distinctive values of Edmund Rice education.
- To develop across the Congregation a network of those involved in the transmission and development of the Edmund Rice charism in the school network.
- To address the issue of future ownership and responsibility for Christian Brother schools.
5) The Edmund Rice Network
What we have discovered?
The development of the many expressions of the Edmund Rice charism fills us with joy and brings new life and energy to the Congregation.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To support and resource formation programs enabling all expressions of the Edmund Rice network to explore the heart of the charism.
- To develop more effective channels of communication among the various sectors of the Edmund Rice network.
- To encourage further expressions of and deeper commitment to the Edmund Rice charism.
6) A Prophetic Call to a Quest for Justice
What have we discovered?
Through the dislocation that comes from regular contact with poor and marginalized people, our hearts are transformed as we deepen our shared reflection of this experience in the light of the Gospel.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To engage with the poor and marginalized at our doorsteps and assist communities to develop a way of theological reflection and faith sharing.
- To encourage Brothers to engage in radical relationships of equality with all God’s creation and to support the Earth Charter.
- To promote networking across the Congregation on issues of justice and right relationships.
- To expand our educational outreach in areas of great poverty, responding with a heart like Edmund’s
7) New Wineskins for New Wine
What have we discovered?
Restructuring is an urgent call to transform minds and hearts. It facilitates new life in mission and ministry, promotes prophetic religious living, and ensures a redistribution of resources in a spirit of fraternity.
What are our Heart Decisions?
- To embrace with our hearts over the next six years a coordinating reshaping of our present Congregational structures.
- To conduct a professional analysis of our personnel and resources in order to assess adequacy for current and future mission.
- To ensure accountability in the process of the redistribution and stewardship of resources.