“The seminar is a place for conversation, where the most important thing is the words that are shared and the back-and-forth between life and the theoretical consideration of the problem we face.” With these words, Brother Santiago Rodríguez Mancini opened the Lasallian Research Seminar, which from 20 to 24 October 2025 addresses catechesis and its challenges in the current context.
The Lasallian Research Seminars, Brother Santiago continues, “are an annual space in which we look, in particular, at one of the Pathways of Transformation outlined by the 46th General Chapter, and we focus on a specific aspect. Last year it was the association of Brothers and lay people for the mission. This year it is the proclamation of the Gospel, according to the contexts, in more or less explicit forms that we call ‘catechesis’, including many different experiences.”
“The General Chapter explicitly invited us to ‘renew our zeal for catechesis and evangelisation‘,” recalled Br. Carlos Gómez, Vicar General, when presenting the seminar, adding that “the International Assembly of the Lasallian Educational Mission (AIMEL) had already referred to the topic, as had the Young Brothers and Young Lasallians who made it one of the five projects to be carried out in recent years.”
Catechesis and Leavening
Recognising that “catechesis plays a central role in our spirituality and in the being and work of the Lasallian Mission,” the Vicar General also pointed out that “nevertheless, this fundamental mission has been weakened in our educational proposal,” becoming diluted or even disappearing from the curriculum.
Therefore, “if anything demands a great deal of leaven, attention and revitalisation, it is the catechetical ministry within our proposal to the world, which seeks to be transformative and evangelising,” emphasised Brother Carlos, with an explicit reference to the Leavening Movement: “it is urgent, necessary, and vital for the very life of the Institute that we succeed in revitalising catechesis and turning it into leaven for evangelisation and for the construction of peace, justice, and integral development.” Furthermore, he asserted, “how exciting it would be if this meeting were the beginning of an international movement of Lasallians for the renewal and revitalisation of our catechetical proposal.”
More than 50 Brothers and lay Lasallian partners from various Districts and Regions of the Institute are participating in the Seminar, organised by Brother Santiago Rodríguez, Director of the Office of Lasallian Heritage and Research, and Brother David García, Coordinator of the Administrative Secretariat of the Institute.
Throughout the sessions, the seminar addresses various issues concerning the Lasallian project and the proclamation of the Gospel in its origins, history and present day; the subjects of dialogue; the formation of catechists and pastoral agents; Lasallian catechetical periodicals; and the methodology of proclaiming the Gospel in different educational situations.