I. Charism - La Salle.org

VI. EIGHT TESTIMONIES FROM LASALLIANS
227
We struggle with our call to marriage everyday, but we cannot
ignore the charism that burns in our hearts. On a daily basis, we
recommit ourselves to our developing vocations, as a sacrament to
each other and a sacrament to the world.
The Form of Our Association Today.
In the Fall of 2000, shortly before we married, we moved to
Chicago, IL. Karin studied theology at Catholic Theological Union
and Mike began working as a teacher and administrator at San
Miguel Middle School of Chicago, founded in 1995. Today, Karin
serves on the Leadership Team of the Christian Brothers of the
Midwest District as the Director of Shared Mission and Formation.
Mike continues to work at San Miguel School Back of the Yards
Campus as Director of Community Outreach and Adult
Education. After living in an apartment for two years, negotiating
the first stages of our marriage, we chose to move into the Lasallian
Community associated with San Miguel School in the Spring of
2002. In May 2003, our first son, Jack Edward, was born and welcomed
into our community. Currently, the three of us live with 9
other Lasallians: Brother Edwin Dupré, FSC (72 years old), 3
Lasallian Volunteers, and 5 other Lasallians (all former Lasallian
Volunteers between the ages of 26 and 45 years old). We are men
and women; we are married and single; we are lay and consecrated
religious; we are old and young and in between; we are teachers and
administrators and cooks and sisters and brothers and mothers and
fathers. The community house is located in a low-income neighborhood
across the street from San Miguel School Back of the
Yards. Among our students and in the neighborhood, our community
is known as “the teachers’ house.” While living in community
under one roof is not part of every Lasallian vocation, nor of most
marriages, it is for us the most authentic response we can give today
to God’s presence in our lives and the Lasallian charism that burns
in our hearts.