The Lasallian mission will now touch the hearts of young people in a Jamaican school. Brothers and lay Lasallians from the District of Eastern North America (DENA) will open a new community and serve in a high school starting August 1, 2013.
This commitment is in response to an invitation by Bishop Neil Tiedemann, CP, Bishop of the Mandeville Diocese of Jamaica, West Indies. DENA will provide the leadership for St. Vincent Strambi School, which had a modest beginning as a trade and agricultural school but reopened as an academic school in 1994. It currently serves 175 students from grades 7-13 as a college preparatory school and offers skills-training for grades 12 and 13.
Brother Augustine Nicoletti, FSC, D.Min, Ed.D, currently in his ninth year at Manhattan College and presently the chair of the Education Department, will assume the role of principal at St. Vincent’s. Brother James Wallace, FSC, Ed.D, a veteran missionary, currently in his 10th year of service at Manhattan, including the past three years as Vice President for Mission, will also serve at the school. Two lay Lasallians are in the process of being identified to complete the community and to serve in the school as teachers and as moderators of extracurricular programs.
St. Vincent Strambi will continue to be a diocesan school and rely on Jamaican teachers. DENA’s initial commitment to the ministry is for two years.