Some of us have been with the world of La Salle for many years in one capacity or another. Others perhaps are encountering our Lasallian Heritage for the very first time.

For all of us, new arrivals or long established, there is a need to look back again and again to rediscover our story, in the light of our ever changing world.

Our story links us with Lasallians across Asia and the world at large, as well as with thousands back through more than three centuries since La Salle, then 28, opened his first school in France in 1679.

Perspectives on education change century by century, and today more than ever we can be baffled at the speed by which cherished certainties keep changing.

It is therefore something of a mystery why so many leading educators keep looking back over three centuries to La Salle, for inspiration, for a new way forward.

Perhaps the most compelling reason why La Salle remains relevant is his firm focus on the person of the teacher as the priority beyond all priorities for effective presence and credibility among the young. In La Salle's vision the teacher had to be a person of spiritual depth, a person of unshakable FAITH. A teacher who lacked this faith was seen as a 'dead' member, no matter how qualified or personally gifted.

From this faith flowed a sense of commitment to the welfare of the children, of passionate commitment even, which La Salle called ZEAL.

Finally in view of the stressful nature of his role, the teacher needed to be sustained by a supportive fraternal COMMUNITY.

The Lasallian heritage is a living tradition, kept alive by actual people, by generations of dedicated educators who then bequeathed it to others, who took ownership in their turn.

For centuries in some countries, for several decades in others, this heritage was a purely Catholic movement, mainly in the hands of the Brothers.

Today it is shared with lay partners of all faiths or culture traditions who are happy to take ownership and contribute a new distinctive richness in the process.

This development of the Lasallian Family has been in large measure a proud feature of our special Hong Kong experience of being Lasallian.