The 43rd General Chapter observed that there is still a great need for the formation of Brothers and Partners in Lasallian mission. Formation is not simply education about; formation is growth toward a personal integration of and commitment to a concept, idea, or movement. In this case, formation to Lasallian mission represents deliberative efforts to educate about and to encourage greater personal commitment to Lasallian mission.

The Long Island-New England District offers formational opportunities at a variety of levels: local ministry level, District level, Regional level, and Institute level.

At the local level each school or agency provides opportunities for faculty and staff to be formed in Lasallian mission through in-service opportunities, on-going discussion groups, special programs on Lasallian topics, faculty prayer opportunities, and faculty days of retreat.

At the level of the District, the Director of Education offers District resources to the local ministries, engages Lasallian groups (school or agency Boards, faculties, etc.) in Lasallian formation programs, serves as a liaison for Regional and International Institute programs, and every other year plans and implements two Days of Faculty Lasallian Formation (one for Rhode Island ministries and one for New York ministries),

At the Regional level, two formation opportunities are made available to each District. The Lasallian Leadership Institute is a three-year professional, comprehensive formation program for leadership within Lasallian institutions and ministries throughout the United States/Toronto Region. This organic program is designed to train those who now exercise, or who will exercise, an important role in the Lasallian educational mission. This Institute assists teams of participants to integrate and promote the Lasallian heritage in their personal and professional lives and to become themselves catalysts for future development of the heritage within their respective communities. The Institute functions on a three-year cycle that includes one week each summer and two weekends (one each during the fall and spring). The three themes are Lasallian spiritual leadership, Lasallian educational leadership, and Lasallian leadership in the educational community. Each participating team develops a project to enhance Lasallian mission within their local school or agency.

Also at the Regional level is the Buttimer Institute for Lasallian Studies. The Buttimer Institute is a comprehensive formation and education program that studies in-depth the origins of Lasallian mission. This intensive three-week formative experience over three years is lived in community that is focused on study, prayer, liturgy, and a sharing of experiences with others engaged in Lasallian ministries. Through the reading and examination of the original writing of John Baptist de La Salle and his contemporaries, participants are able to touch the energy of the Institute’s beginnings and become animators themselves of the Lasallian heritage in their own ministries and communities. Each participant develops a project based on personal and ministerial interests.

In 2004, a new Regional program was launched: The Lasallian Social Justice Institute. The first year of this three year program takes place in El Paso/Juarez, and it addresses several social justice issues connected with the border. Beginning in 2006, there will be a second session of LSJI, which will take place in Chicago.

At the international or Institute level are programs offered at the Motherhouse in Rome (CIL). These programs, besides providing an understanding of Lasallian mission, allow participants to experience the Lasallian world with all its multi-cultural and multi-religious diversity.