• The Joy of Brotherhood
The story of Blessed Edmund Rice has inspired generations of people across the world. Among the values that we cherish from his tradition are his generosity, his courage, his humanity, his love of God’s word in Scripture, his devotion to the Mother of God, his practical reaching out to the poor and oppressed, and his absolute trust in God’s providence.
The Joy of Brotherhood.
For us Christian Brothers community living is a central part of our identity. We live together the vowed life of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience in a way that is life-giving for us. We pray together to Jesus our Brother, and we share our cares and joys. As members of a community we carry our gifts to others. We are enriched as the lives of others touch our own.
We experience the love of God in our lives.
We meet God in our community prayer, and in our personal prayer and reflection. We experience the love and care of God in the ordinary and extraordinary events of our lives. Like Edmund we trust ourselves to his providence.
We want to share our search for God and our experience.
The search for God is an important element in the lives of many young people. Christian Brothers are travelling on this journey, and we want to accompany others on their search for a spiritual life.
We have a strong commitment to justice.
Human rights advocacy is a new ministry of the Christian Brothers and reflects a new understanding of global mission. Right across the world young people and children are the victims of injustice and poverty. Many are abused. All are in need of compassion, services and a safe place where they can speak of and about their situation. When Edmund Rice looked out the window in Waterford he saw the children on the street; today he would see the children of the world.
Eco-justice is a new area if concern for us as we try to bring an awareness of our responsibilities as stewards of the world around us.
We are on the side of the poor and disadvantaged.
Since the time of Blessed Edmund the Brothers have directed their personnel and resources to educating the poor, and our school immersion projects have opened the eyes and hearts of Irish students and teachers to the realities of poverty in Africa and India. Our justice offices throughout the world stand up for the rights of the oppressed.
We empower people through education.
Education was the means Edmund Rice used to transform the children of his day. Since then it has been the method of “helping people to help themselves.”
The Brothers have been involved in all levels of education for over two hundred years, and in thirty-five countries. Recently the foundation of “Life-centres” in urban areas has shown the recognition that normal school structures do not always work.
Edmund Rice Network Europe
• Brothers for the 21st Century
Brothers for the 21st Century
When Edmund Rice contemplated the Waterford of 1802 and saw the plight of the poor, his response was daring, bold and imaginative. He established an education system for poor boys where none existed. It was a creative response to a crying need. Over the past two centuries, generations of brothers and their co-workers have build upon Edmund's dream.
Nevertheless, there has been a growing awareness that while we have been good at replicating Edmund's response, we have lost something of his boldness and daring. In the world of young people, new needs have emerged to which the congregation has been slow to respond. Galvanised by recent Congregation Chapters, brothers have been encouraged to rediscover a splash of Edmund's boldness and daring.
In Africa where the congregation has been growing steadily, the most obvious crying need is the scourge of HIV/Aids. The brothers have committed themselves to address this appalling tragedy through a variety of initiatives.
In South America, the crying need is the countless numbers of homeless children. Many of these unfortunates end up in squalid jails with no provision for their welfare. The brothers have responded by involvement in juvenile prison ministry, and by initiating projects for the education and care of street children.
In India, the brothers have traditionally worked in prestigious private schools. In more recent years, the brothers have changed the focus of their ministry, and all of their recent openings have been for the benefit of the Dalits, the untouchables, in the tribal villages.
Working with the poor, it soon becomes apparent that unjust structures ensure that the poor remain poor. Brothers have learned that advocacy on behalf of those who have no voice is an important dimension of their ministry. Recently, the Christian and the Presentation Brothers have established an NGO called Edmund Rice International. Associated with ERI is a community of four brothers who live in Geneva, and work in advocacy at the United Nations.
Brothers have heard the crying need of the earth itself, and appreciate the importance of advocacy on behalf of the whole earth community. A number of Eco-justice centres have been opened to raise awareness in the human community of the consequences of our profligacy and wasteful use of resources.
Br. Mark McDonnell
• Edmund today
Edmund Rice and the Brothers Today
On 15 August 1808 Edmund Rice and six companions dedicated themselves by vow to God's service. The rule adopted was that of the Presentation Sisters, approved by the Pope in 1805. From then on many of the Brothers’ establishments were referred to as Presentation Monasteries, and the Brothers as Presentation Brothers.
Between 1802 and 1820 schools had been opened in Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir, Dungarvan, Cork, Dublin, Cappoquin, Limerick and Thurles. The Brothers in Cork and Thurles were volunteers from these cities, who were trained in Waterford, but returned home and made profession of vows to their diocesan Bishop. Like the Presentation Convents, the community was subject directly to the Bishop of the Diocese.
This system was not convenient for Edmund as his vision was to open schools “in all parts of the kingdom.” Transferring Brothers from one diocese to another was a complex process. However, while remaining autonomous, all communities looked to Edmund Rice and Waterford for guidance and direction.
In 1820 Pope Pius Vll approved the rule of the Religious Brothers. Its principal feature was that all the Brothers in all dioceses would be directly obedient to the Superior General. However, when the time came in 1822 to accept the new rule several Brothers and several communities declined to accept the new system. The principal school to opt out was in Cork.
The Presentation Brothers saw the organisational benefits enjoyed by the Christian Brothers of having Papal approval and they applied to Rome for similar approval which was given in 1889 and a Superior General was elected. The immediate result was the opening of new schools in Cork and Birr and further expansion followed in Ireland, England and worldwide.
In recent times, the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers are jointly involved in several new projects. These include the new development and the community at Mount Sion; the Advocacy & justice Office in Geneva; the promotion of devotion to their Founder; Blessed Edmund Rice; formation and retraining programmes like Trasna and Tóir; and in Edmund Rice Camps for needy children in Ireland. Both Congregations now have joint trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Centres in Callan and Waterford.
Today the Presentation Brothers live and work in Ireland, England, Canada, the United States of America, Peru, the West Indies and Ghana. Blessed Edmund Rice is honoured in the Mardyke in Cork where a special garden, honouring the women associated with him, has been developed.
• Logo interpretation
The central symbol of Christianity, i.e. the cross, is also the central to our expression of our identity as Christian Brothers. The shape of the cross takes its origin from Celtic spirituality as does our Congregation. The significance and the insights of Edmund Rice are highlighted in the stylised E which is incorporated in the logo.
As disciples of Christ, Christian Brothers are continually called to let go and leave behind all that prevents us from living faithfully the values of the Gospel and from promoting the Kingdom of God. This call and response is shown symbolically by the movement of the circle away from its regular pattern. Our call to internationally, which flows from the time of our founder and continues on to this day, is not just in geography but also in moving, as flexible and mobile followers, to meet the needs of the times. The new leaves and shoots express new life in the Congregation and signs of hope for our Brothers and for our world. Yet even the new leaves continue to express our growth through fragility, by their links to the cross and in the risks of branching out.
• Join Us
The followers of Edmund Rice are found in a great variety of places, ministries, employment and volunteer situations around the world - living as single and married people, as Religious, as retired, as students. We all express our commitment to life in different ways. But a common element around the Network is that we are captured and influenced in some significant way by the spirit of Edmund Rice. What does it mean to be a follower of Edmund Rice, to have a sense of belonging to the Network?
Our calling is more than our own invention as our life choices take root through the influence of parents, educators and loved ones, the awareness of personal abilities, the witness of communities, the force of cherished ideals. It comes from a voice 'in here' calling me to be the person I was born to be.The Network
The call to become part of the Network may come through the suggestions of friends, through personal experiences, by responding to advertisements, by desiring to exercise a sense of justice, by an attraction to offering service to the marginalised, by knowing the story of Edmund Rice and by being inspired by his example.
Vowed members
Going back as far as the early centuries of Christianity, some experience the call to live as celibate men and women, and this call today to follow in the footsteps of Edmund, while rather dormant in Western cultures, is still strong and growing in many other cultures around the world. Daring to be different is part of the challenge of living brotherhood today- an unconventional and alternative way of being brother to all, walking beside, supporting, empowering and encouraging others flowing from a deep respect for the dignity of all humanity.The two Congregations offer their contact points around the world for those interested in exploring their vocation as vowed members of the Network.
