March 30, 2020

Dear Brothers and Lasallians,

Our world continues to attend to the COVID-19 pandemic in astonishing ways. God bless all who are on the front lines! Be assured of our ongoing gratitude to you for staying attentive to the directives of medical, church, and governmental agencies.
This is our weekly message/conversation with you. Today we share the following points:

  1. Community Best Practices. Thank you to all who have sent your practices to Lars. Attached here are the first set of community practices. More to come next week! And if you have others to recommend, please send them to Lars by Thursday.
  2. Community Conversation. As we become aware of the spread of COVID-19, we are aware that members of our communities might develop symptoms of the virus and/or test positive. It would be advantageous for communities to have a conversation about how to respond, should this become a reality.
  3. Writing. Last week, we highlighted some areas of reading that you may wish to take up. This week, we take time to suggest ways that you may wish to take up writing.
    1. What a great time to return to (or begin, or continue) journaling. It may be one concrete way to deal with the crisis.
    2. What an opportune moment to begin a blog where you are able to share your thoughts with a wider community on matters that are important to you.
    3. Maybe you have had entertained thoughts of being a novelist or a playwright (maybe not!). If you have ever said to yourself, “Someday I would like to dabble at being a writer,” what better time to explore this than now?
  4. Being in touch. Allow us to reiterate the value of reaching out to others during this crisis. It is ironic that at the same time that we are keeping six feet of social distance, we are also provided the opportunity to connect with people on an even closer level. The power of asking another how he/she doing is so profound. As this social distancing continues, might we increase our real connection to friends, family, Lasallians, Brothers and even strangers whom we have not yet met? Please consider going through our District Directory and be particularly mindful of our Brothers who are living alone or far from our geographic area.
  5. Prayer. Lars has prepared a timely prayer for use in the communities at any time during these weeks.
  6. Resources. Thank you for those who are sharing various resources, some of which are more pertinent for some individuals, as not all of us are dealing with this crisis in exactly the same way. The ecumenical BTS Center has resources to support and equip faith leaders (all of us are!) during this crisis. Thank you, Jack Curran, for this recommendation.

Finally, of course, let us stay relentless in continuous prayer for each other and for our one common humanity around our one world.

Blessings,

Richard Galvin    Lawrence Goyette    Dennis Lee