November 2012 Volume Twenty-Two Number 3
Dear Parents and Guardians, The job I have is a great one, because it gives me the opportunity to touch almost every facet of the life of a very dynamic institution, even if only superficially. Such exposure, even to very simple things, also provides wonderful chances to gain insight on the nature of what we do. My reflection recently has been inspired by the branding tagline used by a company that has certainly rocketed to great prominence in the past decade: Under Armour. I’d be quite surprised if more than five percent of The Belcroft’s audience hasn’t purchased at least something from its product line for someone in the family over the past year. Their marketing tagline, meant to inspire athletic consumers, proclaims: “I will protect this house.” What is it that protects this storied house that is La Salle, especially as we prepare to open it to new residents, potential members of the Class of 2017, on the second Sunday of this month? My first insight comes from standing outside in the morning when the students arrive. I’ve seen a couple of funny things, among them an underclassman carrying one of those monstrous hockey bags, his sticks, AND a musical instrument into school. La Salle is protected by its inclusive approach to success, by its stress on competitive excellence across all areas of achievement. La Salle students really get the chance to spread their wings and find out who they are, whether they be that particular gentleman’s fellow musician who’s in the pool for water polo most afternoons, or the members of our offensive line lauded in the Daily News for their academic prowess. All these successes are celebrated and valorized within a culture of pride and support. Support: that’s another element which protects this house. One of my more youthful colleagues in Alumni House went over for lunch wearing his signature blue blazer on college interview day. Perhaps not good for his ego, but good for a laugh and an insight was an unfamiliar underclassman’s inquiry, “How did your interview go?” La Salle is a place where it’s clearly cool to care, where kindness is always in stock, distributed first by the faculty and staff but then by the students in turn, whether to their brothers at La Salle or those in need outside. It’s support we feel within the school as well when we see the hundreds of parents who give of their time to volunteer with this month’s Auction or various booster organizations.
Speaking of alumni, one Wednesday last month gave me a clear insight into what protects this house. At late morning, the “Golden Explorers” gathered for Mass, lunch, and companionship. These men graduated from La Salle at least a half century ago. While the youngsters in this year’s group were from the Class of 1962, the oldest graduated in the Class of 1938. Only three classes eligible to attend studied at the Wyndmoor campus. Almost all attendees went to school at 20th and Olney, while a few even did a ninth grade year at the 1240 North Broad Street Campus! Later that afternoon, I visited our seniors, Class of 2013, at the first Kairos of the year. Neither the contrast nor the connection could have been more striking. Young men, struggling with the choice of direction in so many areas, a horizon of unlimited possibility, and seasoned veterans, life’s wounds healing into wisdom, linked by a common bond: they are La Salle. This lesson was made crystal clear to me at that luncheon when a graduate of the Class of 1957 handed me his deceased son’s class ring. His hope: that the ring could be re-struck or melted down for a young man coming up who could not otherwise afford one. So that’s another thing that protects this house – tradition. Yet it’s not a tradition that tends towards rigid unresponsiveness or progressive irrelevance. It is a tradition that connects across the years, a tradition that enlivens and inspires our best, most generous selves, and a tradition that never graduates. Comprehensiveness, inclusivity, involvement, attentiveness, kindness, and tradition are all in the mix, then. It only remains to draw your attention to one thing additional that protects this house, ultimately the most essential one: the loving Providence of God our Father who cares for us at the intercession of our Patron, Saint John Baptist de La Salle. As this season of giving thanks begins, let us be grateful to Him for his protection shown in giving us our sons and students, each other, and this solid house, this secure home that is La Salle. Fraternally,
Brother James L. Butler, FSC President