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SIGNUM FIDEI
NEWS
(May-August 2010)
Cordial greetings from Rome.
It is with great pleasure that I send you this page of NEWS about the last few months, refer-
ring to the activities carried out by some of the SIGNUM FIDEI communities of the Lasallian
world. My thanks to those who sent in information. May getting to know of these realities help
us all to strengthen our links of fraternity and solidarity and to remember each other in
prayer. Br Alberto Gomez Barruso
Panama
The Signum Fidei of Panama (Dolores de Gonzalez, Carlos Gordón, Gladys de Ruiz, Rosa Maria Elias,
Luis Wong, Alfredo Rabat, Jésus Campos, Nelson Da Fonte, Italo Castillo, Amparo de Gutiérrez) re-
newed their Consecration on May 14th at the College Mass in front of 1,500 students. During the Mass
which they shared with the Brothers on Pentecost Sunday, the following renewed their Consecration (as
they could not be there on the 14th ): Juan Palacios, Miriam de Palacios, Jose Luis Matute.
Br. José Morales and Ms.Amparo
Malta
The Consecration of 14 new Signum Fidei took place on Pente-
cost Sunday in Stella Maria College. Br. Alberto and Br. Denzil
Perera, Visitor of Sri Lanka, travelled from Rome to take part in
this ceremony. Those present, apart from the members of the fra-
ternity, included Br. Louis Camilleri, local Advisor, and Br. Mar-
tin Borg, who is in charge of Malta Sector, as well as the Broth-
ers from the communities on the island.
The presence of Br. Denzil had as its objective the consolidation
of the Twinning between the fraternities of Malta and Sri Lanka.
The Signum Fidei of Malta offered a donation of 1,500 euro to help finance the apostolic activities of our
brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka. But, apart from this, they have formed themselves into an NGO and
have managed to get the government of Malta to finance three projects in Sri Lanka costing 18,000 euro.
SECOLI will contribute 10,000 euro to cover the total of the budget for the projects. Two Maltese teach-
ers, John and Tyrone, spent the summer helping as volunteers in Sri Lanka. Their experience was very
satisfactory.
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Costa Rica
The Costa Rica community continues working with enthusiasm
and dedication. They have sent us a photo showing themselves
renewing their consecration in the presence of Br. Otto, Visitor.
We wish them to continue faithful to their commitment as educa-
tors and Lasallians in their workplaces and in their families. A
few years ago, a new college started and it is a point of reference
for dedication and living the charism of La Salle.
Tahta – Egypt.
The young coordinator, Mr.
Mena Zakariah, has written to
us from the town of Tahta in
Egypt. It is a community
which lives in a town where
there was a De La Salle
college which closed in
1938. The Lasallian charism
was reborn there thanks to this group
and the collaboration of the Signum Fidei of Alexandria. These are his words; “We send you a greeting of
peace from this Egyptian town. May the Lord Jesus be our guide and Shepherd and may he bless you and
show you his face. May he grant you peace. We are sending you some photos of the activities we carried
out with the children during the month of May. We offer workshops for manual work, theatre, music and
drawing. Our group is getting on well. Greetings to all. Pray for us before Jesus and Mary”
Mena Zakariah
Guayaquil - Ecuador.
“On Trinity Sunday eight members of
the community of Guayaquil renewed
their consecration in the chapel of our
San José College. For reasons beyond
their control, two other members were
unable to be present. Br.Pablo Armijos,
at 92 years of age, continues encourag-
ing us to be true „Signs of Faith‟. The
following are in the photo: Hector Fraga, Alfonso Baquerizo Luis Rangel, Geoconda Dominquez, Maria-
nita Guijarro, Angelito Olivo, Zaina Benitez and Margarita Luque, acoompanied by Br.Pablo Armijos
and Br.Richard Manosalvas, Director. Dr. Margarita Luque Espinoza de los Monteros
Antananarivo - Madagascar
Br.Joan Sala informs us about a new project by the Signum Fidei
Fraternity. They are trying to find some land in order to open a
school for poor children. Two Brothers, Theo and Jerome, both
Signum Fidei and teachers in the Sainte Famille College are pre-
pared to drop everything to devote themselves to the project.
During the summer Br.Joan travelled to Spain for a holiday and
to visit his family. Ms Liva, a Signum Fidei went with him with a
view to getting some medical treatment.
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Furthermore this was an excellent opportunity for furthering mutual knowledge between the communities
of Antananarivo and Cataluña and to take further steps in the Twinning which is being carried out be-
tween these communities. Br.Joan Sala
Iligan - Philippines.
Greetings from La
Salle Iligan. We are
preparing for the
beginning of the
school year. We
Signum Fidei have
had a working din-
ner with Br. Raffy, our Advisor. We evaluated our aposto-
late and planned our activities for the new school year. We will develop special activities for children on
Saturdays. We also wish to be a prayer group to pray for those in difficulties and for those who are ill.
Bata - Equatorial Guinea
Br. Santiago Carro, Signum Fidei Advisor in Equatorial Guinea, writes to us:”finally I am able to get In-
ternet and tell you something about the renewal of consecration by the Signum Fidei. There were six who
renewed, as Marcos is in Spain. There are three „aspirants‟. These are moments of reflection and deepen-
ing for the group rather than looking at quantity…and that is where we are. We are reading the message
on the Word of God which you sent us. It serves to form us and for prayer. Br. Santiago Carro
Andalucia - Spain
The community of Andalucia, made up of persons
from various towns, has held a meeting to evaluate the
school year and to study the document “Orientations
for the process of Association in ARLEP “, especially
the section on Lasallian Intentional Groups. Taking
into account the conditions of each one, we have come
to the conclusion that we feel integrated and we are
living the Style of Life and the conditions which the
43rd
General Chapter established on Association. We are studying the proposal for Twinning with the
Signum Fidei of Equatorial Guinea and we have decided o begin this Twinning during the next school
year. During the Mass on Mission Day (July 10th) Mr. Manuel Lozano made his first consecration.
Luis Lacida
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Barcelona - Spain
The Signum Fidei community of
Barcelona renewed its consecra-
tion during the District Day
which took place in La Salle Bo-
nanova in the presence of Br.
Jésus Miguel, new Visitor of the
District of ARLEP and of Br. Jo-
sep Guiteras (new Auxiliary Visi-
tor of Cataluña) and Josep Martí
(ex-Visitor). This celebration coincided with another in which various Brothers celebrated 50 years of
Perpetual Profession. Present also were Br. Joan Sala and Ms Liva Rahelimd, a Signum Fidei from Ma-
dagascar who also renewed her consecration. Vicente Fortunato
Antigua Guatemala
They wrote to us from Guatemala about the eruption of the volcano
Pacaya: “Thanks be to God we are all well here in Antigua, but in
nearby areas they have suffered a lot of damage. From the volcano
a current came down which flooded many houses. The incredible
amount of rocks, trunks of trees and mud meant that many families
lost everything and in the worst cases they als lost family members.
We visited some of our affected pupils. Our Signum Fidei Fraternity
helped some of the victims. Classes were suspended for a week. Nature is very active all over the
planet, but the most worrying thing is the deterioration which we humans have caused and for
which we are now getting the bill. Floridalma Gaytán
Alexandria - Egypt
75 members of Signum Fidei came together in Alexandria from July 25th to 29th for a meeting on the
theme “Witnesses along the way”. There were 23
members from Lebanon, 20 from Palestine and Jor-
dan and 32 from Egypt.
The groups from the different sectors were accom-
panied by their respective Brothers Advisors in the
presence of Br. Visitor, Georges Absi. Br. Alberto
Gomez, General Councilor and Advisor to Signum
Fidei,
partici-
pated in
the entire meeting. The fraternal and spiritual character of the
meeting was shown in the personal time periods and in the
sharing in groups following talks and various workshops and
witness sessions. The first day dealt with what a Signum Fidei
member should live. The second presented what each one was
living and the third involved an evaluation and practical sug-
gestions.
This meeting takes place every two years in a different sector by rotation. May the Lord bless us each
time that we meet in his name in order to grow in his spirit of faith, fraternity and service.
(Br. Fadi - Coordinator of the Lasallian Family in the Middle East)
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Perú – 25th
Anniversary of the Signum Fidei Fraternity
The Signum Fidei Fraternity in Peru has celebrated its 25th anniversary with many events during the first
two weeks of August 2010. The Signum Fidei family on the national level in Peru consists of 249 mem-
bers, all of whom are connected, associated and committed to the fields of education and catechesis. Of
this number, 83 are consecrated.
On August 10, 1985, four Lasallian Peruvians, Gilberto Cieza de León Rojas, José L. Alva Sagástegui,
Nicolás Gavidia Valverde and Gino Grossi Biaggi, made their first consecration and they agreed to found
what was then known as "The Signum Fidei Association of Christian Teachers." Based on their own lay
identity, they committed themselves, according to their own words, to "adapt their way of living to the
service of education, trying to imitate and follow the example of the Founder of the Christian Schools,
Saint John Baptist de La Salle."
Brother Manuel Olivé, the initiator of this new community, was appointed its advisor by Brother Adrián
Revilla, who was the visitor at the time. Brother Adrián was present for this Sixth Congress. Since that
time, and thanks principally to the work of Brother Manuel and many Brothers and lay Lasallians, the
Fraternity has spread through Peru and there are now 15 Fraternities.
Their commitment to education of the poor has led Signum Fidei members to initiate various educational
projects. At the present time they administer two schools – Colegio Signos de Fe-Manos de Dios in Lima
with 800 students and Colegio Signos de Fe in Trujillo with 230 students. Besides these two schools,
there are 3 schools that are classified as associated with the Fraternity, one in Lima, another in Puerto
Maldonado and a third in Quillabamba.
Santiago - Chile
In the city of Santiago in
Chile a meeting took place
which was attended by
the members of Signum
Fidei and teachers from
various colleges such as
Valparaiso and Talca. Br.
Rodolfo Andaur, President of
the Delegation of Chile, has shown great interest in revitalizing the existing groups and beginning new
experiences of association.
Br. Gabriel González will be the Advisor. Those present expressed the wish to give new life to the Fra-
ternity and to promote organization, programming meetings and retreats and giving life to some project
of the Mission.
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There was talk of the possibility of establishing some type of Twinning with some of the Signum Fidei
communities in Peru. Keep up your spirits and may God bless you, your families, communities and the
entire Delegation.
Death of Br.Rafael Martínez
Rafael Martinez was born on November
3rd
1916 in Lagos de Moreno, Mexico
and died on July1st 2010. During his
life he worked in the formation of
young Brothers, was Director of vari-
ous colleges, Visitor and Assistant-
General in Rome between 1966 and
1976. Committed to higher education,
he received a Doctorate‟ honoris causa‟
from La Salle University Mexico for his outstanding career as a person, as a
Brother, as an educator and as a university teacher. He was the driving force be-
hind the Lasallian Signum Fidei Fraternity of Mexico and was its Advisor for 30
years. Much loved and admired by all, he gives us an example of generous dedication and great apostolic
zeal. May he rest in peace!
Santiago de Compostela - Third Meeting of Associates of ARLEP- Spain
Even though the news does not refer expressly
to Signum Fidei, we believe that news such as
this is of service to us all in getting to know
better the present time of the Lasallian Family.
On May 1st and 2
nd a national meeting of new
Associates of the equally new District of AR-
LEP (Spain-Portugal) took place in the city of
Santiago de Compostela. “About 100 of us
took part, between Brothers and Lay Lasallians, from all the Districts. In the first session there was a
presentation on three distinct realities of communities and of three experiences of commitment which
were very interesting and above all they were shown with much realism and sensitivity. In the second
part of the meeting there was a presentation by
Br.Charles Kitson, Institute Secretary for the Lasallian
Family and Ms Ana Sarrate, representative of Lay
Marists. At the end of the meeting the participants
made a pilgrimage from Mount Gozo to the Cathedral
of Santiago de Compostela, availing of the symbolism
of the „path‟ which we are following as Associates in
the Lasallian Mission. Maria Cruz Miquel (Associate, Valencia –Palma Sector)