La Salle Affiliation: Evergreen Commitment to Service

Lasallians gather many connections in their work or activities. One significant one is “Affiliated Members” of the Brothers’ Institute , of which there are 106 members in the District to date. There are  some still working our institutions, others retired, and those who have died in years past. If agreeable, affiliation is a close association recognised formally for extraordinary support in the mission. They have shown a great esteem for Lasallian spirituality, and have offered pro bono work, often over some decades. Affiliates are prayed for by the Brothers.

Here are profiles of two affiliates that illustrate the diverse ways in which Lasallian links can manifest.

Father Peter Matheson

Father Peter Matheson’s first contact with the Lasallian world was in 1956, as a student from St Mary’s Dandenong, attending De La Salle Malvern in Year 8. Peter’s father was State school teacher in Victoria’s Wimmera and Gippsland. He ventured into the seminary for priests at Weribee and then Glen Waverley.

Selected to finish his theology at the Urban University in Rome in the post-Vatican 2 sixties formed him for the Melbourne archdiocese Religious Education  (R.E.) sector, which involved the formation of lay catechists, with writing modern resources. The 6 years teaching at the National Pastoral Institute from 1973, together with archdiocesan in-service work engaged him. Peter’s return to Rome for doctoral studies linked him again with De La Salle– Br Gerard Rummery , his old teacher at Malvern DLS, now an R.E. expert, and the charismatic Br Damian Lundy, a national youth retreat leader in the UK.

Returning home as head of R.E. at Mercy Campus Ascot Vale (later a part of ACU), Peter continued a “very fruitful connection with Gerard and Damian, as the latter and Br Herman Lombaerts were brought out to lecture and present on modern catechesis and faith education. Eleven years later, at 49 years-of-age, Peter transitioned into parish leadership as head priest at Montmorency and then Cheltenham, for 13 years each, until his retirement age of 75.

What has driven Peter in his ministry?

“The theology of that (Second Vatican) Council and the spirit of aggiornamento begun by Pope John XXIII  has coloured my whole priestly ministry. Pope Francis’ building a new way of being church through synodality is a return to the theology and spirit of Vatican II and gives joy to this old heart.”

That conviction plays out now, Peter says, in helping with weekend supply work, celebrating funerals (mainly in funeral parlours), visiting the sick in hospitals and at home, and editing the National Council of Priests quarterly magazine “The Swag.” Still very busy, giving support and building Christian community: “continuing pastoral work remains my greatest interest and hobby….and continuing my friendship with so many people,” including some golf and Western Bulldogs AFL, a team member being his great nephew.

The pastoral work includes the Lasallian links – a part-time chaplain at St Bede’s Mentone, Masses led for the Brothers there, and what Peter saw as an honour – to officiate at the funeral of Br Gerard. This year has seen the formal affiliation of Peter in the De La Salle Institute.

John Boeyen     

The story of John Boeyen, a native of Adelaide, South Australia, is very different. Now in his eighties, he has had a very successful career in accountancy, and can boast that all three of his children today work and serve in Catholic education. One is a school principal, anther a business manager. and a third a P>A> to a principal.

Coming from a large Catholic family of 8 children, of whom he was the 4th eldest, John “was fortunate to be able to complete schooling to matriculation as my older siblings were expected to start work at an earlier age as was common practice in the 1950’s”. He started work at 17 with the Adelaide City Council treasury department, studying accountancy part-time.

John’s career took off when he became Accountant with Channel 9 in Adelaide, and later, joined a small Adelaide based privately owned sheet metal company. At Stratco he was CFO within a staff of 30; he left 32 years  later, when the staff exceeded 1,000, with operations in all states and NZ. “I was part of the senior management group that made this growth happen,” responsible also for computerization and some marketing. He was also chairman of directors of the Stratco Superannuation Fund.

Married to Wendy in 1967, John was searching for a good school for his son Andrew in Grade 4 and chose St Michael’s College Beverley. As a volunteer for sports activities, “I started to understand the charism of De La Salle.”

The Lasallian connection was deepened in 1990 when the Principal of the time, Br Paul Rogers, invited him to join a Committee established to develop a Constitution for a College Advisory Board which he was initiating. John became a member of that Advisory Board.  A committee to evaluate governance structures under Br John Pill’s principalship benefitted from John’s expertise; he was chosen Deputy Board Chair, a Director of the College, and Chair of the Finance Committee. These services lasted over 28 years.

The recommendation for his affiliation noted his “clear understanding and commitment to Lasallian values” and his own “strong spirit of faith and zeal” as a practising Catholic in his parish’s activities and organisation. He understood, he says, the Lasallian charism to the degree of a presentation to SMA students on “shared mission.”

Since retirement in 2004, going to Test cricket, following the Adelaide Crows AFL football, and working as a consultant in accountancy, with an involvement of 60 years in the profession.

Source: Br Gary Wilson