Leadership Team

Office of Mission and Ministry

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Mr. Alan V. Weyland
Executive Director for Mission and Ministry
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Brother Ernest Miller, FSC
Associate Director for Mission and Ministry
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Brother Thomas Scanlan, FSC
Auxillary Visitor for Boards and Special Projects

The Office for Mission and Ministry serves to help support, animate, and facilitate the Lasallian mission for the diverse educational ministries of the District of Eastern North America.

Staffed by an Executive Director and an Associate Director in association with the Director of Communication, the Office specifically exists to support and develop formation programs and activities that enhance and highlight the individual ministries and their associations within the broader Lasallian mission; support, assist, and accompany ministries and individuals in their efforts to deepen their knowledge, pedagogy, spirituality, and expressions of association, of and within the Lasallian charism; and, ensure the vitality of and fidelity to the Lasallian mission for the benefit of present and future generations of young people. Integral to the function of the Office are the structures of the Mission Executive Council and the four Lasallian Associations (Affinity Groups). Together and by Association these individuals, structures, and ministries work to provide a human and Christian education, with a preferential option for the poor, to the young people of the District of Eastern North America.

Mission Executive Council

The Mission Executive Council of the District of Eastern North America of the Brothers of the Christian Schools shall assist and support the Visitor in the exercise of his duties with respect to the Lasallian educational mission in the existing and future ministries of the District.

Responsibilities of Mission Executive Council:

• The Lasallian educational mission of the District
• Lasallian formation for Mission
• The call for the renewal of existing works and the creation of new ones for the educational service of the poor
• Sponsorship Covenants and Lasallian Assessments
• Evangelization, defense of the rights of children, and education for justice
• Ministerial issues brought to the Council through District ministries, the Visitor, or the General Council
  

Duties:

• To implement the Acts of the District Assembly on Mission, as approved by the District Chapter, and any other Acts centered around Mission approved by the District Chapter.
• To conduct the planning and organizing of future District Assemblies on Mission.
• To recommend new ministries and mission initiatives to the Visitor.
• To recommend discontinuance of a ministry as a District work to the Visitor.
• To assess the presence of the Lasallian charism in the works of the District.
• To encourage and support the initial and continuing Lasallian formation of Brothers and Partners engaged in ministry.
• To assess the degree to which each ministry complies with directives of the most recent General Chapter and relevant directives from previous General Chapters.
• To undertake other relevant issues for District-sponsored entities.

N.B. The Mission Executive Council operates under a set of draft bylaws as approved by the Constitutive Assembly of August 2009 until a time that a final set of bylaws are approved by a Mission Assembly and submitted to the Brother Visitor for his approval. Plans are for the Mission Executive Council to begin operation in January 2010.

Lasallian Associations (Affinity Groups)

There exists within the structure of Mission and Ministry in the District of Eastern North America four Lasallian Associations that function to promote the Lasallian Mission within similar ministries.

The Four Affinity Groups

• Lasallian Association of Colleges and Universities
• Lasallian Association of Secondary Schools
• Lasallian Association of Youth and Family Services
• Lasallian Association of Elementary and Middle Schools

Each Lasallian Association has its own Mission Council. The structure and membership of each Council generally is left to the discretion of each Association. Separate bylaws govern the activities of each Association. The Councils meet between 2-4 times annually. The Lasallian Associations support and assist the Mission Executive Council in helping the District achieve its goals. In order to help accomplish this, each Council elects one of its members to the Mission Executive Council.

Responsibilities and Focus of the Associations

The focus of each of the Associations and their respective mission councils includes but is not be limited to:

• Lasallian formation
• Professional conferences and staff development
• Training of new teachers, youth and family services workers, and staff
• Resource and personnel sharing
• Mission quality and effectiveness evaluation
• Fidelity to the Lasallian Charism
• Public relations and fund raising
• Response to international/regional requirements and structures
• Advocacy and public policy support networks and activities