By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw

When you hear the term “Religious brother,” do you know what it means?

Some do. Some do not. But most of us have visions out of the past.

We remember the brothers who taught us in school, tough men – some kind, some harsh – all of them dedicated to education. Or we remember the brother who took care of the Franciscan church across town. The church functioned because of his consistent, kindly dedication. Or we remember reading about the nursing brothers who took care of the sick and dying.

Bother Peter Collins remembers those visions too. “That’s the way it was for Religious brothers in the past,” says the LaSalette brother who celebrates the silver anniversary of his profession on June 12. “It was education, hospital or community maintenance. It’s way different now. Many other ministries have opened up for the brothers in the church.”

Brother Peter should know. He has helped found many of those ministries for his special vocation – the vocation of the vowed, male religious.

Take the work he is doing now. He is coordinator and treasurer of the LaSalette community residence in Hartford. For the first time in the history of the order, a brother now holds that position. Brother Peter is a superior and a special indult (or permission) was granted by the authorities in Rome permitting him to hold this office. Bishop Whelan of the Hartford Diocese, upon hearing of the appointment, said, “This is a healthy new development for the status of brothers.”

Since first entering the LaSalette Order in 1956, Brother Peter Collins has been ushering this development along. In 1964 just as the Vatican Council was in full swing, he was stationed in Rome and helped found the association called the Brothers of Rome. “This organization,” says Brother Peter, “was specifically for English-speaking brothers bringing them together for spiritual conferences, discussion and social events. It was and is helpful. It is still in existence”.

Brother Peter was in Rome until 1968. “They were memorable years,” he recalls. “It was especially historical to be there for the Council. I remember the opening liturgy of the last session and the historic occasion when Pope Paul VI signed the final documents.”

Returning from Rome in 1968, Brother Peter Collins became secretary for the LaSalette Province in Hartford. He remained in this administrative assignment for 10 years.

In 1978, he broke new ground by coming to Georgia as pastoral associate in the new St. Anne’s parish in Marietta. Brother Peter became a vital part of the parish team that would get this large community in East Cobb County off the ground.

“It was at this time,” recalls this man, now a religious for 25 years, “that I was elected vice-president of the National Assembly of Religious Brothers, an organization that is most active in the country. It is a grass-roots organization in that it seeks to involve religious brothers whoever they are and wherever they serve and not just superiors of communities.”

The National Assembly seeks to involve itself in pastoral and religious development of the brother and happily reports an uptrend in vocations to the special life of being a vowed male religious.

“Brothers now serve in prison ministries,” says Brother Peter. “They are into social services, parish ministries, and, as in my own case, serving in Diocesan Marriage Tribunals. There are many opportunities for service. And when I explain the vocation of the Religious brother, I like to sum it up in three ways. It is a call to the vowed life, commitment in that vowed life and service to others. The service is most varied today.”

So, on June 12, in St. Anne’s Church in Marietta, in a liturgy celebrated by Archbishop Donnellan along with his LaSalette priest brothers and the priests of the Atlanta Archdiocese, Brother Peter will celebrate 25 years in the service of God and the Church as a Religious brother. His father is deceased; however, his mother, Mrs. Vera Collins, will be present for the celebration. Brother Peter is the youngest of four boys. His brothers are all married.

The parishioners of St. Anne’s and the many friends of Brother Peter are making ready for the jubilee occasion.

Following the liturgy, Brother Peter Collins will return to Hartford and his new LaSalette assignment. He will find new ground to be broken in a vocation that is expanding in today’s church.