WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHRISTIAN BROTHER?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHRISTIAN BROTHER? I am a Christian Brother. What does it mean? In the Catholic Church there are many Religious Congregations of men. Fr. Doohan and Fr. Gore belong to a Congregation called Columban Fathers. Our Bishop belongs to a Congregation called Salesians. My Congregation is called Christian Brothers. Fr. Doohan and Fr. Gore are priests. I am a Brother. Fr. Rembert River does not belong to a Religious Congregation. Rather he belongs to the Diocese of Kabankalan and has made a promise of obedience to the Bishop. There are also many Congregations of Sisters in the Catholic Church. They cannot be priests. Brothers choose not to be priests. The man who began our Brothers is Blessed Edmund Rice. He lived 200 years ago in Ireland. Some of his Brothers came to Australia nearly 140 years ago. Three years ago, four of us Brothers came from Australia to the Philippines to work in Kabankalan Diocese, assisting the Bishop in Education. We hope to share with you what it means to be Brother and we hope to share in your faith in God. Being Brother means being equal – walking with others. It means not being important in our own eyes. It is about being supportive, helping others to grow to become what God wants them to be. Sometimes it means taking risks and going to places others cannot go or don’t want to go. It means living without knowing exactly what will happen in our life. Being Brother means being prayerful and reflective about what God is saying to us in the things that are happening in today’s world. I believe that without Brothers the church is incomplete. Being a Brother involves full time commitment to God through Religious vows. It involves trying to live simply. It involves a loving relationship with God, trying to make God the center of our lives. We have a vow of celibacy so we can give almost all our time in serving Him. Just as Jesus was not married because God was enough for him in his life, so we say ‘No’ to marriage as our way to God. We try to become welcoming and loving to everyone. Being Brother involves a deep listening to what God is saying to us in our lives, in the things that happen and especially in the people we meet and interact with. I would like to invite young Filipino men to join our Brothers. Brothers have an important role to play in the church. We are different from priests. Not better, not worse, just different. Blessed Edmund Rice, the man who began the Christian Brothers, was moved by God’s Spirit to hear Christ appealing to him in the cry of the poor. We Christian Brothers try to do that too. We have come to Kabankalan Diocese to try to be like Jesus and to listen and respond to the cry of the many poor people we find here. We have been made to feel very welcome. It is good to be here among you. May God bless you all. Br. Rod Ellyard