Br. Lawrence Goyette, Mr. Gabriel Moran, and Br. Dennis Lee

Br. Lawrence Goyette, Auxiliary Visitor, and Br. Dennis Lee, Visitor, present Gabriel Moran with his Letters of Affiliation.

Narragansett, RI – A former member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, for more than thirty years, Dr. Gabriel Moran rejoined the Institute, this time as an Affiliated member! More than fifty Brothers, family members, friends, Signum Fidei Society members, and former Doctorate students were on hand to witness Mr. Moran’s Affiliation ceremony, with Father Robert Joerger, CP, AFSC, presiding over the Mass.

Moran, when he was Brother Gabriel, served as Visitor of the Legacy Long Island-New England District. He directed a large graduate program of religious education at Manhattan College, chaired the department of Cultural Foundations at New York University, directed the program of Religious Education, and served on the board of directors of the Religious Education Association. He was also on the board of directors of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values and served as president of the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education.

A professor in the Department of Humanities and the Social Sciences at New York University for thirty-five years, Dr. Moran has been director of the doctoral program in religious education and has taught courses in the philosophy and the history of education. He has also taught special courses at two dozen other universities.

Over the course of fifty-five years, Gabriel Moran has published twenty-eight books and over two hundred essays on religion, ethics, and the nature of teaching. He has lectured throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Ireland, England, the Netherlands and Africa. He has helped organize programs in Jewish-Christian-Muslim conversation with the Religious Education Association. He is widely credited with reshaping the field of religious education in the United States, and to have had a significant effect in many other countries.

Brother Dennis Lee, FSC, Visitor of the District of Eastern North America, referred to Gabriel’s provincial tenure with the title he had created, “Brother President.” Br. Dennis referenced his own association with Gabriel while a scholastic on the Upper West Side of New York City. Gabe visited often, “I was a little intimidated and anxiously wondered what to say.” But he found common ground in Gabriel’s loves – BAM -baseball and movies. He added that M also stood for Maria, Mr. Moran’s late wife, whom he would marry after leaving the Insitute.

In response to his introductions, Mr. Moran was heartfelt and thankful. Mr. Moran recounted that after 35 years as a Brother, he ultimately chose between two loves, formally leaving the Brothers to be with his beloved Maria. He had continued to be a Lasallian educator, however, engaged in the ministry of education. “I continued to live as I always had.”