All Roads Lead to Rome...

All roads may lead to Rome but that doesn’t mean the bus lines within the City make any sense. Today’s conference schedule called for two sessions – one in the morning and one at 4:30 PM. With lunch at 1:00 pm (dinner is at 7:30 PM), there was only a short window of two hours to see anything. Ann Merchlewitz from Saint Mary’s, Winona and I decided to take the Metro to Saint Peter’s and walk to Castel Sant'angelo – Hadrian’s Tomb turned into the Pope’s fortress. It was a brilliantly sunny day, which caused the memory of the last three days of rain to immediately fade. We arrived at the Castel safely enough, climbed to the top of the fortress to get a million dollar view of the City of Rome. The return, however, was a little more adventurous than either Ann or I had anticipated. We decided to take the #46 bus (the one I took the other day) rather than the subway. All was well until Ann spied the sign for the McDonald’s (which is located directly east of the Motherhouse). Unfortunately, the bus took a left turn before reaching the fast food stop and sent us well into foreign territory. We got off as soon as we could and made our way back to the nearest bus stop going in the opposite direction; got on the #49 which was headed towards Via Aurelia and prayed that we would get to where we needed to be. Fortunately we guessed correctly and other than experiencing more drama than the sunny day deserved, got back in time for the 4:30 PM session. At that session we (finally) learned the primary purpose of our presence at CIL. Brother Charles Kitson, newly appointed Secretary for the Lasallian Family and Association, explained that the most recent General Chapter set as an Institute priority defining the context within which Brothers and lay partners (like me) work together to further the Lasallian Mission. Charlie noted that there are a variety of movements throughout the Institute (read “world”) that are reflective of the charism and vision of Saint John Baptist de La Salle. His focus for the next six years is to support these opportunities and create connections between and among them. The addition of 30 lay people to the CIL experience is intended to be one of several steps that will move this initiative forward. I suspect we’ll learn more about this as the month unfolds.

I feel compelled to comment on the use of the term "Lasallian Family". Most people who have heard me talk about La Salle, Pasadena, know that I am fond of using the word "family" to describe the environment that our administrators, teachers, students and parents create on a daily basis. To learn that the same metaphor is being used at the Center of the Institute encourages me to look at the world we create at La Salle as one that is reflective of the larger Lasallian world we occupy. I am looking forward to learning more about how this metaphor is used by those responsible for the world-wide Institute.

* The picture is taken from the top of Castel Sant'angelo. Visible in the center is the Victor Emmanuel Monument (called the "wedding cake"). To the left of it is the Pantheon (round, flattened dome)