Province of Mary, Mother of the Americas

Brother Bob Russell, Director of La Salette Shrine in Attleboro, in front of the Shrine Church. (Staff photo by Mike George)

Brother Bob Russell, M.S., marks half a century by thinking of new ways to serve. When he isn't performing in a talent show fundraiser, say as Elvis or Whoopi Goldberg, turning in cans and tabs to raise money for LED lighting for the La Salette Shrine Christmas display, leading prayer groups or countless other undertakings, the Rev. Brother Bob Russell is thinking - thinking of other ways to make people welcome and the shrine successful.

 

“People say I don't sleep,” he said after ticking off a lengthy list of all the activities planned or in the planning at the shrine. He said that after dozing off while watching the Rangers-Cardinals World Series game last Sunday, “I woke up refreshed. And guess what I thought? We could have a La Salette Movie Night.” His first choice for a movie would be “Pay It Forward.” The young actor in that movie needs to do a social studies assignment: Think of something to change the world and put it into action. He decides on the notion of paying a favor, not back, but forward - repaying good deeds with other good deeds for three new people.

 

It's not unlike the lesson Russell learned from his parents. “My mother would say: 'Say what you mean, mean what you say - and do it,” said Russell, who has been director of the shrine twice in the past seven years.

 

 

Garden of the Apparition during the Christmas Festival of Lights

Over the course of his religious career, he's decided on ways to aid the La Salette missionaries and deliver the message of faith, and then done it. It's a long list, from ministering to 850 teenagers at a youth center in Ipswich for more than 20 years, including acting as a manager and roadie for three teen bands, to his latest goal of getting the electric bill for the Christmas display down and attracting more people to the shrine.

 

Today, his devotion will be celebrated as the Missionaries of La Salette and the Russell family mark his 50th anniversary of religious profession and diaconate with a Mass of Thanksgiving at 4:30 p.m. in the chapel. The day before, the 71-year-old Russell was in costume as a lobster, handing out candy to children. “I love lobster,” he said. The costume was made for him to wear at an earlier fundraiser in which some of the proceeds of lobster roll sales went to a ministry project. Ask him, and he'll proudly tell you how much was raised.

 

Russell, in an interview at his artifact-filled office earlier this week, said he doesn't like to talk about himself. Clearly. The first 30 minutes was filled with what's been happening and what will be going on at the shrine. “I'm a religious. That's who I am,” he eventually said.

 

In 1973 Bro. Bob received the “Man of the Year” Award from Ipswich High School in Ipswich, MA.

Raised in Parkersburg, W. Va., he's one of four children born to a Baptist minister father, who at age 65 converted to Catholicism, and a “staunch, German mother” who insisted the children attend church and be dressed well for the occasion.

 

After high school, Russell attended West Virginia University, where he roomed with Jerry West, who later would become a legendary basketball player and Hall of Famer. “We played a lot of basketball,” said the somewhat diminutive Russell, whose real name, as he points out, is Bill Russell, the same as the Boston Celt great and Hall of Famer. He said West still stays in touch every Christmas.

 

“I enjoyed my family life, but something was missing. I felt that God had a deeper purpose for me,” Russell said. “After some discernment, I joined the La Salette Missionaries and professed my perpetual vows as a La Salette brother.” He served in two parishes in Cartersville, Ga. Then, he was in Connecticut for vocation work. For 23 years, he served in Ipswich at the La Salette Shrine where he helped promote Our Lady's Missionary Magazine, building the mailing contacts to 85,000 homes, along with ministering to teens at the youth center.

 

Of his 50 years in his vocation, he's been a deacon for the past 30 and still recites the words his bishop spoke at his ordination: “Remember, you have come to serve, not to be served.”

 

Taking over La Salette in Attleboro has been a challenge. “The Shrine is in need. Like everyone else, we're hurting,” Russell said, noting the oven in the cafeteria where people in need are fed every Monday, has just broken after 25 years. But he said his greatest challenge, financially and spiritually, is having as many people as possible learning about and coming to the shrine “to hear the message, which is reconciliation.”

 

Bro. Bob (center, back) surrounded by his La Salette Community, seminarians and Shrine volunteers

There are 24 men, brothers and priests, and three sisters on the site. “The priests hear 42,000 confessions a year,” said Russell, who can shoot off statistics on a number of shrine-related subjects.

 

He is happiest when talking to and encouraging needy people who come to the shrine depressed or in need, “to see them come out with peace and comfort.” Besides operating a soup kitchen, Russell said the shrine helps with certificates for food and he has tended to the homeless at an informal tent city in Attleboro.

 

The shrine has also grown to embrace more ethnic groups, with the Vietnamese comprising the greatest number in pilgrimage. Next year will include a pilgrimage from Burma. He gives much credit to the brothers and priests, but Russell said volunteers have been key to keeping the shrine going. Without volunteers, he said, “a lock might as well be put on the shrine.”

 

Bro. Bob reads the gospel at a Jubilee Celebration in Orlando

Russell said they help to make the popular Christmas display shine. There will be more than 350,000 lights at this year's Festival of Lights. The theme will be “Light of Life.” “We're halfway there with LED lights,” said Russell, whose goal is to have all of the old bulbs replaced with the more energy-efficient technology within three years. He estimates that will trim the electric bill for the display - which runs from Thanksgiving night through January 1 - from $40,000 to $8,000.

 

Of course, Russell is always planning, and this year, for the first time, he says, “there will be a professional singer to do the national anthem.” Then, there's a golf tournament fundraiser he's participating in, there's the carnival in July, the Winterfest and Springfest, for which he has brought in vendors. He's planning a dinner theater next year as a fundraiser. There are concerts and, of course, the talent shows. Dolly Parton and Liberace are in his repertoire and something he wouldn't have thought of doing 20 years ago. “I used to be shy,” Russell said. “Not anymore.”

 

(article reprinted with permission from Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Sat., Oct. 29, 2011;

staff photo by Mike George)

 

 

 

 

 

Shrine Rosary Pond during the Christmas Festival of Lights