CONGREGATION BROTHERS OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (FIC) 

70 YEARS OF MISSION IN CHILE

 

WORKING FOR QUALITY EVANGELIZATION AND INTEGRAL EDUCATION 

FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS

 

 

 

THE FOUNDERS

It all started with Monsignor Luis Rutten, a Dutch priest, who in 1840 felt a strong call to offer his life and put all his assets at the service of the Christian education and formation of the poor and abandoned youth of his city: Maastricht.

 

For him, the primary task was to bring and guide children, young people and adults to an encounter with Jesus, to recognize him as the center in the construction of their personal and social life.

 

His great collaborator was Brother Bernardo, co-founder and first religious of the Congregation, who also expressed an apostolic preference for Christian education and formation for the most vulnerable. Strongly, during the years of his life and work, he insisted that the brothers do not lose sight of this dream and never tire of doing good.

 

This great initiative was called Congregation of the Brothers of the Immaculate Conception (FIC). During the following years his spirituality and apostolate spread strongly, especially in the Netherlands.

 

 

THE ARRIVAL IN CHILE

In 1952, the superior of the Congregation, Brother Buenaventura, received a call from Monsignor Manuel Larraín, bishop of Talca, who asked him for help to support primary education in the popular eastern neighbourhood of the city.

 

More than a century later, the story of Maastricht was repeated, but this time in Chile, where the brothers arrived with the mission of helping with the evangelization and Christian education of helpless children in one of the poorest sectors of Talca.

 

Buenaventura himself led an advance mission and his diagnosis was lapidary: very few children and young people had access to education and the majority wandered the streets without any care.

 

In January 1953, six Dutch brothers from the FIC disembarked in Valparaíso, started a trip to Talca and settled in one of the poorest sectors of the city with Monsignor Larraín's mission in their hands.

 

 

THE FIRSTS YEARS

The pioneers were Emerencio, Miqueas, Ricardo, Edo, Veranus and Jorge. They found the reality more difficult than they had thought.

 

Even though they did not speak the language, had never set foot in South America and knew nothing about Chile, the brothers fell in love with the beauty of the country and the affection of its people.

 

Nothing stopped the brothers as they set two key objectives: focusing on improving basic education and addressing technical-professional preparation. This they did without leaving aside community development works and support for the families with whom they worked.

 

This is how the history of the FIC in Chile began.

The dream became a reality in different parts of the country and in these 70 years it has allowed them to be present in Talca, Quinta Normal, Buin, Viña del Mar and Maipú. Around eighty brothers have spent time in schools and other apostolates. At first they were only Dutch brothers, but over time the call extended to Chilean, Spanish and Indonesian missionaries.

 

 

THE MISSION OF THE BROTHERS TODAY

Seventy years have passed since that summer of 1953 and currently the religious of the FIC are present in Santiago, Buin and Talca and continue with the mission that brought them to Chile: educating and training children, young people and adults from vulnerable sectors of the society.

 

They work for a comprehensive and quality education, permanently adapting to the demands of the time. Through educational innovation and support for parents, they seek opportunities for all students.

 

The Congregation coordinates its work through the FIC Educational Network, which brings together four schools and which together has approximately two thousand enrolled students and around one hundred and ninety teachers, professionals and educational assistants.

 

The mission is carried out at the Alberto Hurtado Educational Center, in Quinta Normal, Santiago, the Hermano Bernardo Special Education Center, located in the community of Buin, and at the Luis Rutten and San Antonio Educational Centers, in Talca.

 

For its administration, the Congregation has established the Estrella del Mar Foundation (Star of the Sea Foundation) for the centers of the Metropolitan Region, and the Creemos y Esperamos Foundation (Believe and Hope Foundation), for the schools of the Maule Region.

 

Both foundations have boards of directors that ensure that the mission of the Congregation is fulfilled and that the FIC's Ideology for Education in Chile is responded to.

 

In 1966 the Congregation created the Ludovico Rutten Foundation. This non-profit entity was established by the Congregation, with the mission of socially promoting the most disadvantaged in society, through formation and training of people oriented to work. Its action is based on the values of integrity, collaboration, training and probity. The Ludovico Rutten Foundation has training programs in SENCE trades, which are in line with their daily work. In addition, it supports the improvement of the quality of life of older adults through kinesiological gymnastics in order to improve their physical and emotional condition. It also delivers non-perishable food to vulnerable families in different communities in the region.

 

In 2018, the Congregation also created the Ludovicus social, educational and cultural Foundation, whose purpose is to promote culture, social development and education through artistic activities such as the Ludovico Rutten Children's and Youth Orchestra.

 

The educational projects of the four schools and the other apostolates are framed within the spirituality and values of the Congregation of Brothers of the Immaculate Conception.

 

 

ALBERTO HURTADO EDUCATIONAL CENTER (CEAH)

One of the first educational establishments to be established was THE ALBERTO HURTADO EDUCATIONAL CENTER (CEAH), around the year 1960. It was installed in the community of Quinta Normal, with a clear Catholic orientation, to serve highly vulnerable young people. and depends on the Estrella de Mar Foundation (Star of the Sea Foundation).

 

It all started with a tailoring course, and then another in carpentry. Currently its specialties are Administration with a mention in logistics and human resources, Automotive Mechanics and Electricity.

 

The CEAH prepares its students not only in the technical aspect, but also in soft skills, artistic, spiritual and sports skills, that is, they focus beyond the work curriculum.

 

Parallel to this, the school has agreements so that graduates can carry out their internships with important companies.

 

In terms of infrastructure, it has a large library, thematic rooms for different subjects, workshops and laboratories in each of the specialties, extra-programmatic sports, cultural and art activities.

 

From the beginning, the Alberto Hurtado establishment sought to provide good professionals, capable of developing in their specialty, of being able to support themselves and their family, with decent and honest work.

 

For this reason, much emphasis is placed on evangelization and guidance, so much so that topics related to the development of affectivity and sexuality, prevention of alcohol and drug consumption, empathy, companionship, social help and leadership are worked on.

 

The CEAH understands that for any learning to be meaningful for students it must be obtained in a positive climate, of respect and healthy coexistence. For this reason, the values that we seek to transmit are solidarity, honesty, respect, responsibility and justice, which permeate the work of all tasks of the school team.

 

Furthermore, there has been enormous wealth as a result of multiculturalism due to the arrival at the school of young people of different nationalities, which at this time corresponds to 24% of the enrolment.

 

The fact is that the mission has always been set on humanizing people's lives, making their desire for happiness more feasible, and ensure that the work continues in spite of  new challenges.

 

 

HERMANO BERNARDO SPECIAL EDUCATION CENTER (CEEHB)

20 years passed before the Hermano Bernardo Special Education Center was born. Specifically on October 3, 1980, on the centenary of the death of the co-founder, Brother Bernardo Hoecken, and that is why it bears his name. It is a free subsidized private establishment, belonging to the Estrella del Mar Foundation (Star of the Sea Foundation)

 

The school was established in Buin, from the Cardenal Caro School, where there were some students who required a more personalized and differentiated education due to some mild cognitive disability or learning problems.

 

The Special Education Center's mission is to comprehensively welcome boys, girls and young people with cognitive disabilities, providing them with a Catholic, inclusive and quality education.

 

As the years went by, students who presented greater care and support challenges were incorporated, creating the first multiple challenges course in 2013. We have spaces for these students, who need very personalized attention and our professional teams are trained to enhance their physical, spiritual and emotional abilities.

 

In addition, it has a curriculum with a Functional Ecological Approach, which starts from an inclusive vision and whose purpose is to design learning experiences that allow the student to develop skills, relate to others, communicate and achieve adequate personal management, integrating into society as much as possible and as independent and autonomous as possible.

 

In this way, students discover that “they are capable”, that they can successfully perform tasks and overcome barriers that seemed insurmountable.

 

Personalized, coordinated and systematic work is also carried out with families and parents to integrate them into the educational process, giving them the necessary tools to promote the comprehensive development of their children and young people.

 

It has a competent, committed, motivated transdisciplinary professional team, with the ability to work collaboratively and constantly update skills of specialist teachers of differential education, psychologists, speech therapists, kinesiologists, physical education teachers, professional technicians and classroom assistants.

 

All of the above are developed in an environment of love, welcome, security and trust, in a comfortable and favourable environment for the development of students' learning and training in values such as respect, responsibility, solidarity, honesty and acceptance of diversity.

 

We appreciate the commitment, professionalism, affection and dedication of each of the people who have been part of this great work, Brothers, directors, teachers and educational assistants, who with their presence have kept FIC spirituality alive.

 

 

SAN ANTONIO SCHOOL (CESA)

The San Antonio School (CESA) is a free subsidized basic institution, belonging to the Creemos y esperamos Foundation (Believe and Hope Foundation) which has more than 30 years of experience.

It is located in Talca and seeks to provide excellent education, with Catholic values, and develop comprehensive skills in its students, through cultural and artistic activities, pedagogical outings, reinforcement workshops and sports.

 

It began as a basic school in the Carlos Trupp sector. The objective of this educational establishment was to reach a population with limited resources. For this reason, in 1984 the Brothers of the Immaculate Conception commissioned Brother Gerardo van Vugt to create an educational establishment in Villa San Antonio.

 

This is how a simple construction was born with only two classrooms, bathrooms and an administrative office. Today San Antonio School has Digital Learning Rooms, Library – Learning Resource Center, with thematic classrooms and welcomes more than 750 students.

 

The CESA educational community is made up of families who need and want to improve the quality of life of their children through education. This is why it is focused on providing students with a process characterized by high academic demands, the use of innovative educational technologies and a healthy and positive school climate and other key factors to guarantee respect for all people.

 

The values that we seek to instil in students are spirituality, humility, integrity, responsibility, solidarity and self-improvement. All of them are principles that inspire the educational model and are essential characteristics for the teachers, para-teachers and administrators. We start the day by greeting our friend Jesus and mother Mary.

 

The academic and comprehensive training results of CESA have been recognized by the Quality Agency of the Ministry of Education, which has described the class structure and the learning model used by our teachers as examples of success.

 

The San Antonio School has well-defined characteristics, the first of which is our work methodology, the MAACC, since for us it is imperative to constantly search for new ways to achieve more and better educational learning, for this reason, the school has implemented an active, creative and collaborative learning methodology, with the use of cutting-edge educational resources.

 

The other seal of the institution comes from the hand of the Founding Congregation, that is, a Catholic Christian orientation through which the dissemination of the values of Western Christian humanism is promoted, with the conviction that, through its practice, it is possible to construct a better world for all human beings without distinction.

 

Based on these seals, the establishment seeks the development of the person in all its dimensions, integrality, with the objective that graduates can insert themselves and be a contribution to society, managing to improve their quality of life.

 

 

LUIS RUTTEN EDUCATIONAL CENTER (CELR)

 

The Luis Rutten Educational Center is a private, subsidized and free technical-vocational secondary school.

 

It is located in the Carlos Trupp town of Talca and was born with the purpose of generating an educational space to contribute to the improvement of this sector.

 

The name of the establishment is due to the founder of the Congregation, the priest Luis Rutten. On April 24, 1993, the educational center was officially recognized.

 

The high levels of vulnerability in the eastern sector of Talca made it necessary to create this establishment with technical-professional characteristics. The first two courses of the educational center began in the premises of the San Antonio School while the classrooms were being built. In 1994 the rest of the units were built.

 

And of course the establishment receives young people from vulnerable sociocultural levels, to whom it aims to instil cultural and educational tools to access better quality living standards.

 

Since 2017 it has been administered by the Creemos y esperamos Foundation (Believe and Hope Foundation) and its main task as an institution is to provide all its students with comprehensive training based on the Christian values of fraternity, freedom, justice, truth, peace and solidarity.

 

In that same year, he received the Preferential School Subsidy by signing an Equal Opportunities Agreement with the MINEDUC (Ministry of Education)

 

The Institutional Educational Project is based on the principles of the FIC Education Ideology and seeks to transform the culture of students, with training for life for their personal and social well-being, self-improvement and academic progress.

 

The Gospel and the Pedagogy of Jesus are the models that guide educational action and focus on finding in each student what makes them unique in order to put their talents and abilities at the service of their community.

 

It currently has three specialties: Administration with a mention in human resources, Automotive Mechanics, since 2003, and Nursing Care with a mention in Elderly People, since 2009. At this time, graduating students increasingly aspire to pursue higher education studies.

 

But the objective goes even beyond achieving cognitive, social, cultural and attitudinal skills and competencies. The aim is to promote people to become models of personal improvement, capable of transmitting the values internalized during their educational process and being citizens willing to contribute to society.

 

 

In this celebration of 70 years of the brothers' presence in Chile, we hope that children and young people can achieve their goals and be happy, and that Christian values continue to be transmitted.