Message of the PARC Young Brothers to the Institute

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Preamble 1.1



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We are the Young Brothers of the Pacic Asia Regional Conference. We gather as Brothers who carry with joy our diverse backgrounds of being Lasallian witnesses and Christian catalysts in the Church of Asia and the Pacic. We recognize the crucial role of creating the future we desire for the young people in our countries, the Institute and the Church. We afrm that the total consecration we made to the Holy Trinity is in the context of Communion with our Brothers whom we live with, partners whom we work with, and the poor whom we serve. By our Vow of Association we commit to respond to Gods call to serve Him in the young, transcending the borders of age and culture.

Educational Service for the Poor 2.1

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Our discussions on the different forms of ministry across Asia and the Pacic afrmed that we are still called, more than ever, to address poverty in all its forms. We recognize the need to be efcient and creative in responding to this call, knowing that there is a spectrum of challenges in the ministry we do ranging from old educational institutions to non-traditional apostolates such as orphanages, learning centers for the displaced and community development programs. We afrm the great need in the region and the body of the Institute to create more programs to experience how other sectors creatively and effectively carry out their mission of serving the poor.
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The young Brothers commit to be at the forefront of seeking ways to innovate and diversify responses in serving the poor in all its forms (economic, psychological, spiritual, etc.). Opportunities for capacity-building and skills training in making these responses viable are greatly needed.

Shared Mission 3.1

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It was striking how each District / Delegation / Sector would have their own unique experience of working and sharing the mission with partners. There are some Districts / Delegation / Sectors that have had rich and fullling experience with their partners. On the other hand, there are some Districts / Delegation / Sectors who still grapple with the idea of sharing tasks in their respective ministries, highlighting differences in culture and generational intricacies both between senior and young brothers and lay partners. We are deeply convinced that we can be more effective in our mission if we share the mission with committed partners. We believe that they can help us in our educational service if they are given opportunities for Lasallian formation.Working with and trusting our Lasallian Partners need to be part of our initial formation and continuing formation for older Brothers. The young Brothers commit to undergo programs to animate sharing the Lasallian mission among lay partners and exemplify successful stories of working in association with our lay partners.We promise to do our part as young Brothers in our District / Delegation / Sector to show the possibility and fruitfulness of working towards a shared mission.

Consecration 4.1


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As vowed Brothers for some years now, we were able to rediscover the denition of our witness to consecrated life. Our religious consecration is an invitation from God for a deep and full living out of our baptismal consecration. Integral to our consecration as Brothers is the Vow of Association which entails a HORIZONTAL relationship with one another, with our partners, and with those whom we serve.

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We are moved to deepen our consecration by seeing conicts between older and younger Brothers as a chance to grow in holiness and journey towards God. We commit to rediscover within ourselves and among our Brothers living out our consecration to associate through personal and communal efforts.

Identity 5.1


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We have seen how Brothers have manifested and expressed their identity in various and diverse ways across Asia and the Pacic, which is characterized and inuenced by different social factors. Our identity as Brothers is dened against the context of community life as Brothers: rich and fullling relationships with one another, with our partners, and with our students. We are challenged to learn more about the different contexts and expressions of the Brothers identity across these countries and sectors. We commit to use these cultural differences and challenges to deepen our fervor to be prophetic witness in an ever-growing global society faced with challenges of secularism, individualism and materialism.

Spiritual Life 6.1

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Sharing with meaning and courage, we were able to recognize the need to name our personal demons, taking into consideration our cultural and social conceptions of personal struggles. We recognize that we come from multi-cultural and pluri-religious region and it is in this rich and wonderful context that we realize Lasallian spirituality is an integrated and an incarnational spirituality. We wish to continue studying and deepen our understanding of Lasallian Spirituality, through study programs and retreats, in order for us to integrate this in our daily life and work. We commit to recreate and innovate, using our diversity to enrich ways in developing our spiritual life. We see the need to implement formation programs for both older and younger Brothers who encounter difculty and crises in their spiritual life.

Community Life 7.1

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Our stories have highlighted our realization that there is no such thing as a "perfect" community, in our experience, we have learned that in our striving for an authentic, free, and listening community we express our total consecration to God. We commit to transcend the boundaries of our immaturities, cultures and age in our striving for an authentic community.
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We strive to make time and space to share our experiences of living in community, both good and bad, so we can learn from our experiences and support each other. We also recognize in honesty, through our sharing of stories the signicance of respectful and fraternal dialogue between young and senior Brothers and share with each other their experiences, viewpoints, and wisdom, especially in times of conict.

Formation 8.1


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As we have shared our diverse experiences of formation both within and outside of our sectors, we see that formation is a local and global and a LIFETIME process of TRANSFORMATION towards integration with oneself, with the world, and with God. We see the needs of the different sectors in formation depending on their various contexts.With this, we wish to be trained in formation and accompaniment preparing us for leadership roles in our respective sectors and PARC, keeping in mind these different backgrounds. In light of formation being a lifelong process, we see the need for continuing formation programs which would include special intervention programs for Brothers in various forms of crises (addictions, depression, midlife issues, personality disorders, interpersonal difculties, loneliness, burnout, intimacy, ministerial boundary violations, etc.).

Vocation 9.1



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Sharing our different contexts in promoting vocations, especially in countries that are predominantly secular and pluri-religious, the differences in promoting vocations, we afrm that being authentic in our own call to holiness as Brothers is what attracts young people to join us. We are deeply convinced that our ministries and communities should prioritize vocation promotion. We need to nd ways to involve our fellow Brothers, lay partners and the local Church in the promotion of vocations.

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