The LEAD Joint Councils Workshop (JCW) 2024 took place last 20-22 November 2024. The six District Committees together with the LEAD personnel came together in this collaborative exercise to respond to the essential question: “What good news does the Lasallian Family in East Asia wish to share to the world?”
In his opening remarks, Br. JJ Jimenez FSC (LEAD Visitor) challenged the participants to start imagining LEAD as part of a global movement, continue building a Lasallian culture in our communities, and begin consolidating the District’s knowledge and financial resources. Coreen Paul (LMC Chair), Kenny Rebeira, and Fritzie De Vera reinforced this message in their plenary sharing by locating LEAD in the context of the global Lasallian family and presenting their insights from their recent benchmarking visit with the Districts of LA SALLE, France and La Salle Arlep. The remainder of the morning was reserved for joint Committee meetings where accomplishments from the past year were discussed and presented. In the afternoon, Jose Boncodin (District Secretary) introduced the Institute’s new District Annual Report template and steered the Committees to begin assessing how LEAD has been responding to the commitments of the 46th General Chapter and proposals of III AIMEL and II IYBA.
On the Day 2 of JCW 2024, participants were led to reflect on the good news our District wants to share and our hopes for each of the seven Sectors in LEAD towards developing a communications plan. In the first session, members of the District Council and LEAD Mission Council were asked to choose a photo that resonated with them from a selection taken from past issues of LEAD Story and Facebook posts, and see what good news our District are sharing. This was followed by three rounds of Sector-station rotation wherein participants were able to know more about the state of Sectors other than their own. At the end of this activity, they were asked to post what their hopes are for the Lasallian mission and family in the Sectors they visited. In the afternoon plenary, the conversations and activities in the morning were summarized by those who held the Sector-stations by giving three headlines from their Sectors. Br. JJ then shared his reflection on the common threads that were evident from the hopes of the Sectors and possible points for collaboration between the Committees. The last session for the day was the presentation of the proposed Communications Plan for LEAD. Day 2 of JCW 2024 was capped off by a Eucharistic Celebration, during which participants renewed their vow to be true to God’s call as a Lasallian educator.
The third and final day was a time to reflect on the call to be leaven to those in peripheries, with the Declaration on the Lasallian Educational Mission (2020) as reference. Br. Jorge Gallardo de Alba FSC (Auxiliary Visitor for Mission) began the session with a brief introduction on the Declaration on the Lasallian Educational Mission (2020). He touched on the historical context and evolution of the document, its core principles, and the challenges that it poses to the global Lasallian family. Jerald Joseph (Chair of the Commission on Justice and Peace) followed, and shared new and emerging forms of poverty that we as Lasallians are invited–not just to see–but to act on with compassion. The last resource speaker was Br. Dante Amisola FSC (Director of the Office of Solidarity and Development), who reminded us that the pathways we can take towards solidarity with those in the peripheries are already outlined for us in relevant Institute documents that needs to be read together with the 2020 Declaration: The Rule, the Report of the III AIMEL, the Documents of the 46th General Chapter, and the Leavening Movement. Both Jerald and Br. Dante joined via Zoom.
Participants of the LEAD JCW 2024 had lunch at The Farmer’s Table, Tagaytay after the morning sessions. In the afternoon, much deserved rest and recreation activities were offered at Nurture Wellness Village and master conservator Eddie Jose’s art studio.
Last 23 November 2024, members of the District and Mission Councils as well as staff of the District returned to their home Sectors bringing with them new hopes and paths for the Lasallian educational mission in LEAD and the world.
You may view more photos of the LEAD Joint Councils Workshop 2024 here: https://bit.ly/4fkxxi9
