Philadelphia, PA – The Lasallian Youth Assembly took on its second day of service throughout the city. A re-shuffle of the groups, and some service sites, provided new faces, new scenery, and new experiences for participants.
Returning to campus, Br. Ed Shields, FSC, Director of Vocations invited the young people to think about their passions, gifts, talents, and the pull God has in their lives during his presentation “Vocational Call: Here I Am Lord!” With some audience participation, Br. Ed examined different vocational calls and realities with assembly participants. Br. Ed invited the young people to consider a call to religious life, citing the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) study from 2012 that found over 600,000 never-married Catholics are serious about religious vocations. Students were asked to share ways they think vocations could be promoted to other young people, and the group was full of enthusiatic ideas. Br. Ed implored, that no matter what their call may be, that young people need to be advocates and agents for change and social justice, especially in light of recent national immigration issues.
It was only fitting that Br. Ed bring up the subject of advocacy. Later in the evening, Ms. Nancy Benoit, Lasallian Youth Moderator for St. Raphael Academy, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, reviewing the 20 year history of Lasallian Youth Assembly, reminded the participants that the pillars of Faith, Service, and Community are also joined by advocacy. Students were asked to consider ways that they could be advocates for immigrant children trying to gain access to the United States, fleeing violence and desperate conditions throughout South America. Mr. Kevin Lamoureux of Ocean Tides School in Narragansett, Rhode Island was invited to share his recent Lasallian Social Justice Institute experience in Tuscon, Arizona, giving students a glimpse into the harsh reality at the U.S. / Mexican border. A student panel was formed to devise possible ways the Lasallian family could lend its voice and incite action to help these child refugees. Taking suggestions from their respective school groups, the committee of students worked together well into the late evening to draft a request to the Christian Brothers and Lasallian family to address this growing humanitarian crisis.
