The first provincial or superior of the LI-NE district, Brother Charles Henry FSC, selected the spacious Barnes estate in Narragansett, Rhode Island as the site for a central headquarters and religious novitiate. A fund drive by loyal alumni and grateful parents resulted in the 1960 completion of an impressive religious center on the 105-acre, ocean-side property. The LI-NE Brothers, under successive superiors, succeeded in extending their welcome educational influence. In addition to the three Rhode Island high schools in Providence, Pawtucket, and Newport, there were further secondary schools in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens boasted of two parish elementary schools and three renowned diocesan high schools – along with La Salle Military Academy further out on Long Island. In collaboration with other U.S. provinces, productive educational centers were founded overseas in Africa, Central America, the Philippines and in strife-torn Bethlehem in the Holy Land.

The 1970s saw a decline in religious vocations and a consequent consolidation in personnel and schools, but the LI-NE Brothers continued to look for new apostolates. A core group of Brothers, experienced in higher education, assisted the Sisters of Mercy in the successful development of Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. In the long tradition of the Brothers in caring for wayward youth, the excellent training facilities at Narragansett have been transformed into an educational and counseling center for troubled young men, Ocean Tides – with supplementary supervision in group homes elsewhere in the state, and a second school campus in Providence. In addition, Tides Family Services was founded to provide the neediest youths and their families with specialized services (outreach, tracking, home visits, education, court advocacy and other non-traditional programs). Meanwhile, in Queens, NYC, Martin de Porres School and Group Homes came into being to serve emotionally disturbed youngsters and court-adjudicated young men. In more recent years the Brothers have established the first of a planned series of inner-city San Miguel schools that are devoted to helping disadvantaged middle school students with learning problems; in addition to San Miguel, Providence, LI-NE conducts The De La Salle school in Freeport, NY.

The LI-NE Brothers, like many religious today, must search out public support to finance their charitable services as well as to care for their sick or aged confreres. The Saint La Salle Auxiliary offers friends and former students a simple way to demonstrate their allegiance and concern. The Familiares are a group of distinguished laymen whose concerted generosity helps defray the costs of the Brothers’ mission and educational enterprises. Individual men and women, who render exceptional service to the work of the Brothers, are honored as Affiliated Members or Benefactors of the Congregation. All these associates share in the prayers and good works of the LI-NE Brothers.

Under the seasoned guidance of the current LI-NE superior, Brother Edmond Precourt FSC, the sound reputation of Lasallian schools, such as La Salle Academy in Providence, St. Raphael’s Academy in Pawtucket, Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn, and St. Gabriel’s School in Queens, will continue to resound well into the future. With the skilled assistance of dedicated lay teachers who are imbued with Lasallian tradition, all of our schools and agencies offer sure promise of sustaining the standards of educational excellence that have always been characteristic of the mission of the LI-NE Province of the Christian Schools.