17 February 2013

Greetings from Rome where the General Council has concluded its third week of meetings and the Preparatory Commission for the 45th General Chapter has concluded its two weeks of meetings.

Golden Jubilee Celebrations in the District of Colombo: Diyagala Boystown, Ragama celebrates 50 years this year with the main celebratory events scheduled for December. The celebrant of the Jubilee Mass will be Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo who is a former student of De La Salle College, Mutwal, a Lasallian school in the District. Congratulations to all associated with Boystown past and present.

Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers: This is a group of graduates from Lasallian schools in the Hong Kong Sector of LEAD. The group has a constitution and has just concluded its Annual General Meeting. Their aims are: 1.To serve the needy and transform their lives in the spirit of St John Baptist de La Salle. 2. To share faith and community with the De La Salle Brothers. 3. To give sound formation to those within and in connection with Lasallian volunteers. During 2012 the volunteers offered a Bridging Programme for newcomers to schools, organized a Facilitators’ Camp for the volunteers and also the Annual Lasallian Schools’ Leadership Camp.

 150 Years of the Lasallian Presence in Ecuador: On 28 February 1863 ten Brothers from France arrived in Ecuador having sailed via Southhampton in Great Britain. The President of Ecuador at the time; Garcia Moreno requested Bro Philippe, Superior General to send the Brothers thus planting the Lasallian seed for the first time in Latin America and the Caribbean. Recently we celebrated the feast of St Miguel one of the first vocations to the Institute in his country. We join the Brothers and Lasallian Family in Ecuador and rejoice on this occasion.

PARC Brothers in Rome: Over the past couple of weeks we have had Brothers Christopher (India), Ambrose (Australia) with the three permanents; Mawel and Jorge (LEAD) and Joseph (India) and the itinerant David. We all braved the winter cold last Saturday night and enjoyed the warmth of fraternal company over a Chinese meal in a local restaurant. There are now four Chinese restaurants within walking distance of the Casa Generalizia but the Indian ones require a bus or metro ride.

IALU Board meets in Mexico: Bro Victor Franco from the College of St Benilde, Manila and Mr Arnulfo Azcarraga of DLSU, Manila were in attendance at the Board meeting held at the Universidad La Salle, Mexico City. Bro Claude Reinhardt, General Councillor attended also. The Board has virtual meetings at other times during the year. Lasallian Higher education is an important mission in the Institute and the board met on various issues pertaining to that mission, eg, the development of web based communications, projects for students, the Lasallian formation programme for teachers held annually in Rome, scientific research projects and preparations for the IALU Encuentro in 2015.

Some news of Bro Mark Murphy:

 Mark Murphy has reported in from the District of San Francisco that he has begun full time the new responsibilities that called him back.

He is evolving the actual job description for being the Brother Consultant to two entities at the same time: (1) the Lasallian Education Fund(LEF) - which represents the network of secondary schools and raises fund for scholarships granted those who qualify to attend but their families do not have finances to meet tuition and other costs; and (2) the Christian Brothers Charitable Trust which raises funds for the health care and retirement needs of the senior Brothers andeducation/formation costs of the young Brothers. Both these areas will take on increased importance with the movement toward the District of San Francisco and District of New Orleans-Santa Fe moving to become one District.Mark has just completed a tour of all 11 secondary schools, meeting the Presidents and the Principals, as well as individual members of the Board of LEF in order to begin a process to hire an Executive Director.

 CIL Vocations Programme: Applications for the programme are due on 15 March. Congratulations to the District of Vietnam for being first to send an application. Let’s aim to have every District/Delegation in PARC represented.

Visitors to La Salle Novitiate Lipa: Recently Bro Edmundo Fernandez, Visitor, LEAD spent time at the Novitiate followed by Bro Mark McKeon, Visitor of ANZPPNG. Both Visitors interviewed their Districts’ novices and interacted with the novitiate community. The Novitiate staff and novices welcome such visits. Date claimer: Habit taking for the incoming novices will be held on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 7 June, 2013. Brothers Visitors/President have been invited to attend.

Bro John Pill: John is currently on leave in his home country Australia but has also squeezed in some work on behalf of PARC. He returns to Singapore on 25th February.

Schedule Bro David: General Council Meetings conclude 22 February; 24 February – 2 March, Australia, attending District Seminar for Leaders of Lasallian works and the opening of the Lasallian Community Melbourne. This community involving Young Lasallians is an initiative of Bro Tony Cummins. 6-9 Seminar on “Vocation of the Teacher”, St Anthony’s School, Jakarta.

Best wishes and prayers for your intentions.

Bro David Hawke FSC
General Councillor PARC