Servant Leader Awards 2020 – Bro. Robert Werle, FSC When Robert Werle, GS'58, HS ’62 was considering dropping out of the University of Maryland, Sister Flavia, O.S.B., then principal at St. Anthony High School, made a critical recommendation.
Having graduated with a high school class of 82 students after attending grade school at St. Anthony, Werle (pronounced “WERE-ley”) found the state university at College Park to be an overwhelming place, given the number of students. Sister Flavia recommended that Werle transfer to Christian Brothers College in Memphis, Tenn., a comparatively small, all-male institution at the time.
“I fell in love with it,” he reflected. Upon his graduation with a bachelor’s degree in English, at 24-years old – Werle had worked after his St. Anthony graduation for the FBI – he joined the De La Salle Christian Brothers.
“Somehow, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Werle said. “I knew it was a perfect fit. It was what God wanted for me,” he said of joining the teaching order.
Fifty-two years and assignments in four states later, Bro. Robert Werle, FSC, has learned to be flexible in following his vocation. He has worked as an archivist, in vocations, college admissions and fundraising, as well as a high school and college instructor, a school counselor, an art museum curator, and a college administrator. He has learned how to run retreats, bingo games, and carnivals, as well as how to discipline students.
“The sign of God is we will be led where we didn’t plan to go,” is a saying Bro. Werle likes to repeat.
He loves talking about St. John the Baptist de la Salle, the 16th century French founder of the Christian Brothers, whom he credits with revolutionary advances in education. Before St. John the Baptist de la Salle, education in countries like France was mostly reserved for wealthy white males who received individual tutorials.
Because he believed that all should be saved and that education can help one to know and love God more, St. John the Baptist de la Salle thought that group, classroom instruction would help teachers reach more students, and that students should not be turned away due to lack of money. The founder also standardized textbooks and curriculum. The De La Salle Christian Brothers have grown from staffing 20 schools in France during the founder’s lifetime to working in every free country in the world, including six colleges and universities in the United States and more than 60 high schools and primary schools.
Even though joining a religious community was not in his initial life plans, being a part a community that is religious with his parents and five older siblings – namely St. Anthony Parish – helped form him to accept his religious vocation. Bro. Werle remembers a parish that people rarely ventured away from because it met so many of their needs.
In addition to the parish grade and high schools, there were weekly teen dances on Fridays, not to mention CYO sports, Teen Club, Scouts, Our Lady’s Sodality, and the Men’s Club. Sunday evening teen dances at St. Bernard’s in Riverdale represented the occasional chance to step outside the parish.
Bro. Werle called the Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth, N.J., who staffed St. Anthony School, “the most amazing group of women I have ever seen.”
The Werle family roots at St. Anthony began in the 1940s, and the family occupied a house on Webster Street, N.E., across from the Whitehall Friars, somehow squeezing 11 people into the residence, which Werle’s father ultimately sold to the late John Thompson, Jr., St. Anthony High School basketball coach, who ultimately became the head men’s basketball coach at Georgetown University.
A third favorite subject, in addition to his St. Anthony Parish and his college alma mater, which is now known as Christian Brothers University, is the art of teaching. During his time as a teacher, which has included teaching English, Industrial Arts, and Religion, Bro. Werle has learned that teachers need to help create “teachable moments” for their students.
A good teacher should challenge his or her students. Bro. Werle remembers insisting that one college student who was academically capable but a chronic procrastinator remain in place in a college building until he finished his essay. Hours after the student began his essay, he concluded it at 3 a.m. Bro. Werle also advises teachers to build on what students do well and help them make small, incremental improvements over time.
St. Anthony Catholic School is pleased to award Brother Robert Werle, FSC a 2020 Servant Leader Award!