Luurnpa Catholic School, Halls Creek Western Australia

Congratulations to Jubilee Catholic Secondary School, Papua New Guinea (P.N.G): Results have now been finalised for the whole country of P.N.G. and Jubilee Catholic Secondary School is the best performed High School in the whole country of Papua New Guinea in the Year Ten results for 2004.
^{(Br. Ambrose Payne, Visitor)}

Other news from the District of District of Australia/New Zealand/Papua New Guinea: The move of the Provincialate of the District of Australia/New Zealand/Papua New Guinea from Kensington to another suburb of Sydney, Bankstown, takes place soon. The new contact information is posted on the web. You can click here to view the new details and update your address books. The office will be functional from Monday 18 April.
^{(Br. Peter Gilfedder)}

Br. Alvaro’s visit to the Long Island / New England District: Br. Alvaro Rodriguez, Superior General, began the second part of his visit to USA and Canada with nine days in the Long Island / New England District. He was accompanied by the Vicar General, Br. William Mann, who is a member of the LI-NE district.

Br. Alvaro was warmly greeted everywhere he went in his short time in LI-NE. Festive dinners were enjoyed at Martin de Porres, at Bishop Loughlin, at La Salle Academy, with the Latino Outreach Project and at Christian Brothers Center in Narragansett. A lively liturgy for the Second Sunday of Easter was celebrated at St. Mary Magdalene parish in Queens and a joyous celebration of the church’s Feast of John Baptist de la Salle was held on the feast day itself.

Br. Alvaro and Br. William received several gifts along the way, including statues of the Founder, but it was the gift of the students they met that was most memorable. Br. Alvaro remarked frequently of the obvious attention to the Institute’s mission in all the works of LI-NE. He repeated the comment that our mission is to respond to the needs of young people and he was impressed with how consistently that is done here in LI-NE.

All who met Br. Alvaro have noted his own welcoming presence and a real holiness. During a week when the death of Pope John Paul II caused millions to focus on the sanctity of his life, we in LI-NE feel blessed to have had this very good and holy Brother in our midst.
^{(Br. Dennis Lee)}

Tsunami Relief from the Leadership Seminar at La Salle Academy in Providence RI, USA: For several months, Lasallian schools have been involved in a number of efforts to raise money for those affected by the tsunami which devastated areas in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and other countries in the Indian Ocean basin. One example of such efforts was recently described by Joseph R. LaPlante of the “The Providence Visitor.”

In the article he described what he saw as a most creative fundraising effort. Students attending the Leadership Seminar at La Salle Academy in Providence raised $6,555. They put into practice the lessons they learned from their teacher, Maryann Donohue-Lynch, in mobilizing virtually the entire student body.

They raised money by holding a “Dress Down Day” in exchange for a donation. (A Dress Down Day is when students are allowed to wear clothes other than their school uniform.) The money raised was donated to Catholic Relief Services for the direct use in tsunami relief efforts. Students also collected hundreds of pairs of sandals for victims in Sri Lanka where the Brothers operate schools.

Maryann Donohue-Lynch said that she was ambivalent about the project at first, because the school had already sponsored four “Dress Down Days” for other charities. She was uncertain whether the administration would permit another.

Mike Pereira, a Senior, recalled advice given by real estate magnate Donald Trump during an episode of the television show, “The Apprentice”: “If one ever has the opportunity to talk to the boss, take it, because it is personal and one can understand better what they expect and one can explain better what one wants to do.”

So, Mike asked for an appointment with the school’s assistant principal, Patricia Murphy, and she loved the idea.

“I was happy to do anything I could to make the students conscious of the world around them,” Ms. Murphy said. “Step up and do something, that’s what we are about around here.”

The students in the seminar wanted to teach a lesson, said Kayla Cruz, a Senior. “We wanted to show that just because one is younger, it doesn’t mean one can’t help.”

She recalled a class trip in November to the United Nations and the impact it had on the class. “We saw everything in the world that people are going through, and knew that doing this could help people out.”

In addition to the Dress Down Day, students created a Power Point presentation and hung information posters about the tsunami and the devastation that resulted.
^{(From an article by Joseph R. LaPlante, The Providence Visitor)}

Workshop of Associates for the Educational Service of the Poor (TASEP) The Dominican Republic: Between March 10th and 12th in the Pastoral Centre of Jarabacoa, 40 Lasallians from our works in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico gathered together in the “Workshop of Associates for the Educational Service of the Poor.” The main themes were:

1. The Response from my Life Itinerary
2. A Community united around Jesus to announce the Good News to the poor: the Church
3. A Brotherhood raised up by God to announce the Gospel to the poor: the Brotherhood of Christian Educators of Saint John Baptist de La Salle.
4 Called to be a Community: to be Lasallian Education Institutions.

The reflection was animated by Teresa Guzmán, Director of the Primary School of Colegio Dominicano De La Salle and Br. Alfredo Morales, Advisor to the De La Salle
Youth and Culture Centre.

The Eucharistic celebrations of the Workshop revolved around the Year of the Eucharist; in the evenings the theme of 100 years of La Salle in the Antilles was the centre of fraternal sharing.

Next year this group will end the Plan of Lasallian Formation which the Delegation is animating, with a third workshop.
^{(Luis Peña, Association Commission)}

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