STORIES FROM AROUND PNG NEW GUINEA ISLAND REGION EAST NEW BRITAIN LASALLIANS 2020 By Louisa Opu On the last day of February, Saturday 29th in this leap year, 2020, Lasallians in the East New Britain Province (ENBP) gathered at St. Peter Chanel Catholic College of Secondary Teacher Education for our very first meeting. East New Britain has Lasallians and the Area was in our LSF Directory in the Hagen office then, in late Br. Iggy’s time. However, it has gone silent for some time since 2011, when Br. Iggy and Lambert flew over for a weekend gathering with them. I remember this well as I was in the office as the National Lasallian Family Secretary.
contact numbers. I have also invited a few friends of mine who are Secondary school teachers. On Saturday 14th March, we had our first Lasallian Reflection. I facilitated the two sessions and took them on ‘The Life of De La Salle’ and after a short break, we went into the ‘The Four Hinge Events of DLS”. From the expression on their faces, they have forgotten all these vital Lasallian concepts. Our second gathering was the Recollection, scheduled for Saturday 28th March, unfortunately could not have it due to the COVID-19 SOE restrictions that came into place on Sunday 22nd March 2020. Hopefully, we will get through this recollection in the coming months, also to prepare for our weekend gathering, if not for July as per the National Calendar, then we will plan for it in September, at the Couppe’s Pastoral Centre Vunapope.
The attendance, to my surprise was very good. We were able to put together our plan for Term One (1), in anticipation of reviving the lost Lasallians in this part of the country. ENBP Area has 15 members, at the moment and of the 15, 5 are student teachers of St. Peter Chanel College and 10 are teachers: 2 lecturers and 8 Primary school teachers. The 8 Primary School teachers are Holy Trinity Teachers’ College graduates and were all inducted by late Br. Iggy. I was taken aback when I heard from them that this was the only formation they have ever received and my heart sank for them over what I heard. I am praying and have plans to do more for these 8 Lasallians in terms of their formation. There are other Lasallians out there in the province, and our prayer is to bring them back to the Lasallian circle. I keep inviting them, since I have their
Another significant event was the National Catholic Teachers’ Day celebrated at St. Peter Chanel College for the first time at the college on Friday 15th May 2020. The event was an initiative and organized by the Student Representative Council (SRC). The students put on entertainments for the lecturers as a show of appreciation. I can see a bright light rising from the horizon for East New Britain Lasallians and I am very excited about it and I need prayers for the intercession of our Father and Founder, St. John Baptist De La Salle, “Great things are Possible”.
MAMBU MAGAZINE
14
2020 EDITION 1
