Ministry and Religious Community Go Hand in Hand

April 26 , 2010 • VOL. 48, NO. 8 • Oakland, CA
from The Catholic Voice | http://www.catholicvoiceoakland.org/2010/04-26/inthisissue4.htm

By Gerald Korson, Voice correspondent
Photos by José Luis Aguirre

Sometime around 3 p.m. every weekday during the school year, they come straggling in — some singly, some in twos or threes. In a study-friendly environment stocked with computers, reference resources and every school supply imaginable, they find a seat at a table and begin to tackle that day's homework.

If they get hung up on a problem, help is immediately at hand here at the LEO Center, an after-school program for students in grades 6 through 12 located on 40th Street on the grounds of Sacred Heart Church in Oakland. That help comes in the form of a handful of staff members that includes Christian Brothers Anthony Lenz and Robb Wallace.

"We provide a quiet place for students with lots of space, equipment and everything they need — pencils, paper, folders, poster boards — anything," said Brother Lenz, who has been with the LEO (Lasallian Educational Opportunities) Center for 11 years.

"The students work on their own until they get stuck in one place, and then we help them overcome the hurdle so they can finish the assignment."

The center also offers separate GED preparation and computer skills instruction for adults.

The two Brothers arrived at similar ministries at the LEO Center by way of diverse but intersecting backgrounds.

Brother Lenz was first exposed to the De La Salle Christian Brothers through his father, a civilian U.S. military cartographer who had been educated by the Brothers in Hong Kong and later taught at their schools. Brothers who were former colleagues would visit the family after they settled in San Francisco, and young Anthony would listen to anecdotes of their teaching experiences. That piqued his interest in becoming an educator, although not necessarily in consecrated life.

Later, while a student at Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco, "I saw the Brothers in action there, and it impressed me and inspired me as I was thinking of what I would do when I grew up," he said.

While still in high school, Anthony entered the junior novitiate in Napa, took his first vows in 1964, received his degree from St. Mary's College in Moraga and has been a teaching Brother ever since — including a dozen years at his alma mater, now Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, sandwiched by two stints totaling 20 years at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles before coming to Oakland.

Brother Wallace heard the call to consecrated life while in graduate studies in Oregon. "I never really had a strong connection to religious life, but I had this experience of developing a relationship with God that seemed to be asking me to do more than I was doing," he said, "and I was pretty sure it was not the priesthood."

Inquiring about which was the "best" community, a friend suggested the Christian Brothers. When he entered the novitiate in Napa in 1974, he promised himself he "would enter and stay as long as it seemed to be meaningful," Brother Wallace said, "and I've now been a Brother for 37 years." He completed his studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley while living in the St. Mary's College community.

His teaching ministry has taken him to De La Salle High School in Concord, to Cathedral High in Los Angeles as vice-principal and dean of students, and to the principal's desk for three years at an elementary school in Yakima, Washington. He is now in his 11th year at the LEO Center.

The two Brothers live in community with two Lasallian Volunteers in Berkeley who also assist at the center.

"One of the ways we talk about our vocation is that it involves ministry and community, so community is very important in living out our lives," Brother Wallace said. "We believe that the life we spend together influences what we do as a community, and the community influences our ministry. They kind of feed into each other."

The Lasallian Volunteers make a one- to two-year commitment after college to work in ministries with the Brothers. They share in the community's prayer life as well as the daily communal prayers of the larger LEO staff, which includes its director, Deacon Noe Gonzalez Alfaro.

The Brothers' work at the LEO Center allows them to model the consecrated life to the students they serve as well as to the volunteers. They also promote the Brotherhood in an unusual way — cooking meals for the community's vocations retreats, where they often interact with young men who are discerning their own call.

Because the Lasallian mission is specifically in education, the vocation requires both a call to celibate religious life and a love of teaching, both fortified by community life, said Brother Lenz.

"There is strength in numbers, especially when the group is focused on one particular type of activity or mission," he said. Celibacy allows a Brother to focus more energy on the teaching ministry, "so you have the support and direction concentrated in your efforts to help your students."

Like the priesthood and most other religious congregations in the United States, the Brothers of the Christian Schools have seen their ranks decline in recent decades. While they continue to promote vocations, they realize that it's not just about statistics.

"Our mission is with the poor and disenfranchised, and as long as we get people like the Lasallian Volunteers who buy into our mission of helping these people, then it's OK. It's not the end of the world," said Brother Wallace.

"It's really important to keep working at vocations, but what's more important with the brotherhood is whether or not the Lasallian mission continues."

 

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