By Karina Fabian

Living a life of teaching and living in community as a De La Salle Christian Brother suits Ray Bonderer perfectly. “As a kid I was fascinated by that life – becoming a priest, becoming a brother. I went to a Christian Brothers high school in St. Louis and in Kansas City, and I met the brothers. I felt that God was calling me and I wanted to be like them. Plus, I always wanted to teach.”

He joined the Christian Brothers right out of high school in 1969 and taught high school English, religion and computer programming for 30 years – at Newport Catholic in Newport, Ky., for four years; Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tenn., for 14 years; and at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, Mo., for 12 years.

Four years ago, however, he decided he was ready for a change. “I was the technology coordinator in St. Louis, and we were moving to a whole new campus. I was ready for a change so I thought I’d do it as the school moved. I had a love for the West, so when we opened a school here I was interested in it. I wanted something totally different, so it seemed a natural move – to a middle school and to the West. It’s a whole different world,” he said.

First, after so many years of teaching high school, he’s now working with kids in fifth through eighth grades at the De La Salle Blackfeet Middle School, a new experience he’s enjoying thoroughly. He’s also enjoying the different culture of the reservation. “It’s kind of funny in one sense: the people are just like any other people I’ve ever lived near and yet being Blackfeet gives a whole new perspective on things that I’d never experienced before.

“I love history, and here, history seems to be very immediate. You talk about something that happened in the 1880s and it’s like it was very recent, in a good sense. In St. Louis there’s a lot of history but there’s the sense that that was a long time ago. Here it’s almost like you’re talking to the people who lived it. People don’t treat it as if it was something that happened in a distant past.”

Computers, however, are something not new to him. “I was introduced to them in college back when they were monsters and I was fascinated by them. From the big mainframes to what we have now, I’ve loved programming them, understanding how they work and working with them. My biggest problem with computers is getting off of them.”

Brother Ray teaches keyboarding and video skills in end-of-school programs, as well as taking care of the computers and working in the development office.

In addition, Brother Ray also loves hiking, reading and photography.

The Christian Brothers live in community, so at least two brothers are together; he lives with Brother Paul Ackerman who is also at the school, as well as three La Sallian Volunteers.

Brother Ray said being a religious fits his life. “It fits my prayer style. I have private prayer, but I’m also one who needs and wants community prayer and that’s something we do daily. I love the service, and it fits what I wanted to do as a career and how I wanted to live.”


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 22, No. 12, December 15, 2006.