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THE LASALLIAN INSTITUTE
Since our founder St. John Baptist de La Salle first established a school in France over
300 years ago, the Brothers have founded educational institutes all over the globe, covering all
five continents. The head office is in Rome and the Superior General is Brother John Johnston.
This International Religious Institute functions as Regions, Districts, Sub-Districts, and
Delegations. The borders of Regions do not necessarily coincide with the geographic limits. The
following are examples of Regions: RELAL (Lasallian Region of Latin America), ARLEP
(Lasallian Regional Grouping of Spain and Portugal), CLAF (Lasallian Center of Africa) and
PARC (Pacific-Asia Regional Conference). Each Region has its Regional Committees and they
meet at regular intervals. The head of a District is the Brother Visitor. The head of a Sub-District
is the Auxiliary Vistor.
Hong Kong belongs to PARC and is in the District of Penang which comprises Malaysia,
Hong Kong and Singapore. The current Brother Visitor of the District of Penang is Bro. Peter and
the current Auxiliary Vistor of the Sub-District of Hong Kong is Bro. Patrick Tierney.
THE LASALLIAN INSTITUTE IN ASIA AND OCEANIA
Asia and Oceania cover half of the globe. The immense territory they represent offers an
infinite variety of contrasts: the immense mosaic of races, cultures, stages of development,
evolution, traditions and politics. In Institute terms, Oceania and most of Asia form a Region
known as PARC (Pacific-Asia Regional Conference). Another part of Asia, however, which by
tradition is called the Middle East, is not part of PARC. We have schools in Turkey, Jordan,
Palestine, Isreal and Lebanon.
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La Salle College
PARC
The PARC Region is very extensive: it stretches from longitude 65 to 175, and latitude
45 north to 40 south. PARC is comprised of the following Districts, sub-Districts and Delegations.
The Districts and sub-Districts include: Australia, Colombo/Paskistan, Penang (including
Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore), Philippines, Vietnam. The Delegations include Japan,
Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and India.
APLEC
In 1994, PARC saw the need to invite Lasallian teachers of schools in the PARC region
to stay together, to learn and to share in the Asia Pacific Lasallian Educators Congress (APLEC).
Eleven delegates from our various schools in Hong Kong attended the Congress held in the
Philippines. In December 1996, 13 Hong Kong delegates participated in the second APLEC held
in Singapore.
The APLEC 1998 was held in La Salle College, Hong Kong in December 1998. The
Organizing Committee headed by Bro. Patrick Tierney. The Theme was “Lasallian Shared
Mission – Asia Pacific Region”. The Chief Presenter was Bro. Gerard Rummery.
Our delegates has just returned from the APLEC 2000, from 1-6 December 2000, in
Madurai, India. It is scheduled that the next Congress, APLEC 2002, will be held in Malaysia.
DISTRICT OF PENANG, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE AND HONG KONG
The District of Penang, the oldest in
Asia, dates back to the arrival of the first Brothers
in Penang and in Singapore in April 1852. A
feature shared by all three territories is the British
colonial connection, dating from the latter half of
the 19th century. Another is the Chinese Diaspora,
dating largely to the same period.
Together with numerous lay teachers of
different races and faiths, the Brothers ran a
network of very prestigious schools and colleges
across Asia. These schools facilitated social
mobility within rather rigid traditional cultures,
often helping pupils of the poorest back-grounds to
find a more worthy place in society.
THE LASALLIAN YOUTH CONGRESS
The Regional Lasallian youth congress
brings together from Lasallian schools a core of
student leaders together with their teachers. For
most of a week they are given a formation
experience in Lasallian spirituality. The
participants return to their respective schools
with the strongest Lasallian convictions and with a plan of action to share with fellow students the
fruits of their experience.
In November 1993, four students and a teacher from Hong Kong participated in the 3rd
Asia-Pacific Lasallian Youth Congress held in Ipoh, Malaysia. We were again invited to join the
4th Asia-Pacific Lasallian Youth Congress. The theme was “Walk the Talk”. Four students and a
teacher represented Hong Kong to take part in this Congress which was held from 8th December
to 15th December 1996 in Ipoh.
The most recent Congress was in July 1999 in Sri Lanka and Hong Kong had 11
delegates and 2 teachers.