| 5 MSC Attend Religious Brothers Conference |
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| Monday, 18 August 2008 10:15 | |
 Four MSC Brothers, John Rose, Warren Perrotto, John Peralta, Jim Miller and our one member in formation, Frank Natale, MSC, recently attended the annual convention of the Religious Brothers Conference (RBC). This was held in St Louis from July 25 to 28.The Religious Brothers Conference is the organization that gives visibility to the special charism of the vocation of Brothers and invites all Brothers and others of the Church Community to proclaim the role and ministry of the Religious Brotherhood in today's world. The Mission of the RBC is to promote an awareness of and the calling of Brothers in the Church and society. The theme for the convention this year was “In Our Own Backyard: Challenges and Invitations for Brothers of the Americas." The Keynote Presenter was Fr. Allen Figueroa Deck, SJ. Fr. Deck is the Director of the Office of Cultural Diversity in the Church for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. In his presentations, Fr. Allen talked on some of the cutting edge issues facing those in ministry today. A large part of these talks were on the importance of serving the many different ethnic groups that have come into the country. Although the most predominant group is the Hispanics, there are many other groups that are in need of ministry in the Church; i.e. Filipinos, Vietnamese, Indian, African, Chinese – just to name a few. He emphasized the importance of relating to the people in their cultural context and in understanding that we, as a global church, are interdependent on one another. As the Catholic Church shifts from a European (North) domination to a 3rd World (South) emphasis, the leadership of the Church will be coming out of these countries. There are now more lay leaders being formed in the Church and we need to empower them to be able to assist in the running of the Church for the future of the Church in the Americas depends on the laity. As we focus on this mission, we should allow for a both/and approach over an either/or. There were two other presenters who gave some practical applications of work being done by their specific groups. The first presentation was about the ‘Franciscan Connection’ by Br. Donald Lachowicz. He showed a power point on their work with the poor of South St. Louis. The 2nd presentation was by Thomas Nolan on ‘The San Miguel Schools’. He laid out how these schools improve the quality of education in poor urban settings by offering a structured program. The highlight of the convention was the Awards Banquet that was held on the last evening of our stay in St. Louis. Three men were chosen for their exemplary work in the fields of Ministry, Witness and Presence. There was an Alexian Brother, a Glenmary Home Missioner and a Franciscan who were selected for the three awards. Our MSC community was honored by a special presentation of the Heritage Award, which was given to Br. John Rose for the long period of time that he was with the RBC organization. He went to the first meetings when some Brothers were proposing an organization that would be a voice for their communities and has been a member ever since. We were proud that Br. John was there to share his story with the assembled group. |