Support Senior Brothers

The Significance of Senior Brothers

In 1715, St. John Baptist de La Salle retired to Saint Yon. However, this was not a “retirement” as we think of it today. De La Salle continued his mission, as Saint Yon became the heart and center of the Institute. He continued to manage schools there, and it was where he wrote his Meditations.

Many of our senior Brothers are no longer actively engaged in a school or corporate ministry, but their lives are full of meaning and consequence. They carry on with their life’s work sustaining the mission of St. John Baptist de La Salle. In considering lighthouses, Anne Lamott offered this: “Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save, they just stand there shining.” The Gospel, Matthew 5:15, tells us not to put our lamp under a bushel but on a lampstand so the light helps us see. We all know seniors whose light still shines. As with them, our aged Brothers have not extinguished their light; they let their wisdom shine as a beacon for all.

Challenges and Future Care for Senior Brothers

Of the 92 Christian Brothers living in the District, 80 are retired while the remaining 12 are actively serving in the District’s PK-12 schools and universities, or are serving their apostolate overseas. With an average age of 74, the number of retired and elderly Brothers is only growing, while the number of members able to provide care for older colleagues is dwindling. In some instances, the caregivers themselves are elderly. 

Not even mention the great loss in intelligence, experience, kindness, empathy, and dedication that these Brothers represent, in terms of the numbers needed to carry out our programs, losses of this nature cannot be sustained. At some point, members of most, if not all, of our religious communities will need to receive care from lay staff, outside agencies, or facilities operated or sponsored by other groups, reducing the Brothers’ capacity to serve existing or any new ministries. As will happen when we retire, their care will be entrusted to others.

Funds supporting our senior Brothers help assure that those Christian Brothers who have given their entire lives to the service of others are able to retire in safety, peace, and dignity.