Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Rice.
Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland, in 1802. At the time of its foundation, though much relieved from the harshest of the Penal Laws by the Relief Acts, Catholics faced much discrimination throughout the newly created United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland pending full Catholic emancipation in 1829.
This congregation is sometimes referred to as simply "the Christian Brothers", leading to confusion with the De La Salle Brothers—also known as the Christian Brothers, sometimes by Lasallian organisations themselves. As such, Rice's congregation is sometimes called the Irish Christian Brothers or the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers.
History
Formation of the Christian Brothers
At the turn of the nineteenth century, Waterford merchant Edmund Rice considered travelling to Rome to join a religious institute, possibly the Augustinians. Instead, with the support of Thomas Hussey, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, he decided to found a religious community dedicated to teaching disadvantaged youth.The first school, on Waterford's New Street, was a converted stable and opened in 1802, with a second school opening in Stephen Street soon after to cater for increasing enrollment. Two men from his hometown of Callan, Thomas Grosvenor and Patrick Finn, soon arrived to aid Rice in his makeshift schools, with the intention of living the life of lay brothers. In the same year, Rice used proceeds from the sale of his victualling business to begin building a community house and school on land provided by the diocese. Bishop Hussey opened the new complex, christened "Mount Sion" on 7 June 1803, and pupils were transferred to the new school building the following year. The reputation of the school spread and across the next few years several men sought to become "Michaels".
On 15 August 1808, seven men, including Edmund Rice, took religious promises under Bishop John Power of Waterford. Following the example of Nano Nagle's Presentation Sisters, they were called "Presentation Brothers". This was one of the first congregations of men to be founded in Ireland and one of the few founded in the Church by a layman.
Houses were soon opened in Carrick-on-Suir, Dungarvan, and in 1811, in Cork. In 1812 the Archbishop of Dublin established a community in the nation's capital and by 1907 there were ten communities in Dublin, with pupils in excess of 6,000. The schools included primary, secondary and technical schools, along with orphanages and a school for the deaf. A community was founded in Limerick in 1816, followed by establishments in several of Ireland's principal towns.
The Holy See formally established the congregation in 1820. This, too, was an unusual event, since the Christian Brothers were the first Irish congregation of men approved by a charter from Rome.
Some brothers in Cork chose to remain under the original Presentation rule and continued to be known as Presentation Brothers, a separate congregation but also recognising Edmund Rice as its Founder.
Expansion
The congregation of Irish Christian Brothers spread to Liverpool and other parts of England. These new ventures were not always immediately successful. Two brothers had been sent to Gibraltar to establish an institute in 1835. However, despite initial successes they left in August 1837 on account of disagreements with the local priests. In 1878 the Brothers returned to the then Crown colony of Gibraltar. The school eventually flourished supplying education to the twentieth century. The "Line Wall College" was noted in 1930 for the education that it supplied to "well to do" children.Similarly, a mission to Sydney, Australia, in 1842 failed within a couple of years. Brother Ambrose Treacy established a presence in Melbourne, Australia, in 1868, in 1875 in Brisbane, Australia, and, in 1876, a school was commenced in Dunedin, New Zealand. In 1875 a school was opened in St. John's, Newfoundland. In 1886 the Pope requested that they consider setting up in India, and a province of the congregation was established there.
Christian Brothers' College Kimberley, the first Christian Brothers' College in South Africa, was founded by the Christian Brothers from Ireland, UK, on 8 September 1897. It is a high school in Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa, founded by E.I.Rice.
In 1900, the Brothers were invitated to establish houses in Rome, and in 1906 schools were established in New York City. In 1940 Iona College was founded in New York, as a Higher Education College, facilitating poorer high school graduates to progress to a college education.St. Patrick's Christian Brothers' College, Kimberley
St. Joseph's Junior Novitiate, Baldoyle was where trainee brothers went to complete their second level studies, normally proceeding to St. Mary's in Marino to train as school teachers. To-day there is a nursing home there, and there are over 1000 brothers buried in the cemetery in St. Patrick's, Baldoyle.
In 1925 the brothers bought St. Helen's, Booterstown which became their administrative headquarters and novitiate. Around 1968, land to the South was used to build two new schools Coláiste Eoin and Coláiste Íosagáin. St. Helen's was sold in 1988.
In 1955 Stella Maris College in Uruguay was established. In 1972 the alumnus rugby team was travelling in Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 when it crashed in the Andes, stranding survivors in freezing conditions with little food and no heat for 72 days; 16 of the 45 people on the aircraft survived.
In the 1950s, due to the number of brothers in Ireland, it was split into two sections divided into North and South by a line from Dublin to Galway.
In 1967 the Christian Brothers had a membership of about 5,000, teaching in around 600 schools.
The Christian Brothers teacher training centre at St. Mary's/Colaiste Mhuire, has become the Marino Institute for Education which has trained lay teachers since 1972 and has offered degrees validated by the University of Dublin since 1974. In 2012 Trinity College Dublin became a co-trustee with the Brothers of the institute.
The Brothers' schools include primary, secondary and technical schools, orphanages and schools for the deaf. A number of these technical schools originally taught poor children trades, such as carpentry and building skills, after which they could progress to gain apprenticeships and employment. As the National School system and vocational schools developed in the Irish Republic, the Irish Christian Brothers became more concentrated on secondary education.
Contraction
As of 2018, there were 872 Christian Brothers and 172 houses.In 2008 it was reported that not more than ten Christian Brothers were teaching in Irish schools, with the expectation that there would soon be none. This was contrasted with the mid-1960s, when over 1,000 Brothers worked in schools, with no shortage of new recruits. The last teaching brother in Ireland died in 2019.
Remaining Christian Brothers schools in the Republic of Ireland were vested into the newly created Edmund Rice Schools Trust in 2008.
Organizational structure of the Christian Brothers
Geographically, the Christian Brothers are divided into five provinces that encompass every inhabited continent. The brothers within each province work under the direction of a Province Leadership Team. In turn, the entire Congregation operates under the leadership of a Congregation Leadership Team based in Rome, led by the Congregation Leader. These provincial and congregational teams are elected on a six-year basis at Congregation chapters.Restructuring took place in the congregation in consequence of the discovery of pervasive physical and sexual abuse of children by Christian brothers going back decades, in particular the findings of what has come to be known in Ireland as the Ryan Report, published in 2009. This led to declining numbers of brothers in the developed world. The three provinces of North America restructured into the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America on 1 July 2005. The provinces that cover Ireland, Great Britain and the Congregational Leadership Team in Rome combined into a single European province on May 5, 2007, while the five provinces covering Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea combined into one Oceania province on 1 October 2007, The English Province is a registered charity. The Dublin Headquarters are in the grounds of Marino Institute of Education.
A special community within this new European province will be based in Geneva, Switzerland, working to establish an NGO known as Edmund Rice International. The purpose of such an organization is to gain what is known as a "general consultative status" with the United Nations. "This position allows groups the opportunity to challenge systemic injustice and to engage in advocacy work with policymakers on behalf of people who are made poor." As well as including Christian Brothers from provinces all over the world, members of the Presentation Brothers will also have a presence within this community.
Edmund Rice Development is a faith-based non-governmental organization with charity status in Ireland. Based in Dublin, Edmund Rice Development was established in 2009, to facilitate the 161m euros, agreed with the Irish Government, to be paid in restitution for the historic abuse identified in the recently published Ryan Report. It was accorded charitable status shortly thereafter. Funding raised by the charity is directed mainly to nine countries in Africa, where The Christian Brothers work on mission in development: Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In Kenya, they support the Ruben Centre and Mary Rice center in Kibera Additional funds are also raised for similar work in South America and India.