Br. Rob Robertson, CSV, is enjoying his travels on a pilgrimage through Portugal and Spain, but today he broke away from the group to reconnect with his confrere, Br. Jose Javier Garcia, CSV, who teaches at Colegio Nuestra Senora de Fatima (Our Lady of Fatima School) in Madrid. The colegio is celebrating its 75th academic year and strongly retains its Viatorian identity.
Br. Jose Javier Garcia with Br. Rob Robertson
Br. Jose and Br. Rob worked together over the summer at the General Chapter. Br. Jose served as one of the translators while Br. Rob was on the logistics committee, working with a team to handle the group’s details during their stay. They met a few years earlier, when Br. Jose stayed at the Province Center in Arlington Heights, while he studied English.
Reconnecting again and getting to see another Viatorian school was a thrill for Br. Rob.
“I loved it,” he said. “Everyone was so welcoming.”
Viatorians opened Colegio de Fatima in 1950 and they continue to remain involved with the school, although Br. Jose and one other Viatorian are the only ones on staff at the moment. The school serves children from preschool through high school.
“Our school focuses on students being the protagonists of their own education,” its website says. “We are supportive of the environment and open to the values of the Gospel.”
Br. Rob stopped into second and fifth grade classrooms, where students were excited to meet an American. Second graders sang him a song, while the fifth graders asked him questions, in English, a language they begin studying in the primary grades. Their first question made him laugh: “How old are you?”
During the morning, Br. Rob stopped by another Viatorian school, which opened in 1962, Colegio San Viator. 
“The mission of our Viatorian Educational Center is to announce Jesus Christ and his Gospel, to create communities in which faith is lived, deepened and celebrated,” its web site says, citing from the vision statement of the Viatorians, “facilitating the values of the Gospel through different actions that are developed throughout the course in the celebratory and solidarity field.” 