PAKISTAN SECTOR

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Mambu, Mambu, Mambu!

Dear Reader,

Looking for some bright days during COVID and lockdowns? Try this latest issue of the Lasallian PNG Family news.

You can sense the massive faith, and the energising zeal of the writers here, leaders with deep conviction about the Lasallian Mission in Papua New Guinea.

The nation of the Bird of Paradise shows its kaleidoscopic colours huge variety of regional commitment, despite distance and cultures. Something for all of us to be proud of, after 75 years.

The Brothers over the years have made the sacrifices and the partnerships, which allow you, Lay Brothers and Sisters to be the leaders for today and tomorrow.

Get cosy, and read on!

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LASALLIAN PRESENCE IN PAKISTANI EDUCATION

De La Salle Brothers began a mission in the Punjab of Pakistan in 1960, with the establishment of a high school in the city of Multan, a strong Muslim area. Only 12 of 177 boys were Christian, the rest being Muslim. Three very experienced foreign Brothers Sri Lankan Br. Oliver, Englishman Br. Stephen Harding and a French Br. Caesar - came from Sri Lanka. Within a year, a second high school was opened at the request of the same bishop in Lyallpur. By 1963, schools and hostels for poor Christian boys were opened in two small villages, and significantly, Brothers started administering the catechist training centre for young Catholic adults at Khushpur. By 1967 a small technical school was opened in Karachi, in Sind Province. Already, Lasallian education was seen as valuable by the Catholic Church.

The predominantly Muslim nation demanded Muslims to be educated. (A large number of other Christian and government schools catered for the better-off classes). Muslim boys’ fees could sustain the two English-Medium city schools, but the Brothers’ three Urdu-Medium schools and hostels were catering for about 1,000 “poor low-caste” Christian boys, according to a visiting Superior Brother. The calibre of the Brothers’ training, their dedicated zeal and the flow of manpower from Colombo were key factors for success. The Catholic Church’s Vatican II Council ensured that focus on disadvantaged youth with a deep respect and openness to the local culture were hallmarks as the 1970’s-1990’s proceeded. War, nationalisation of schools, discrimination towards minority Christians were all weathered.

A striking achievement from the 1990’s has been catering for marginalised Christian youth, and increasingly girls. Brothers have always administered La Salle Urdu High School Faisalabad, Alban’s Boys and Girls High School Multan and La Salle Khushpur. “Sister Schools” (previously “supervised Schools”) are fully conducted by Lay Partners, usually with a supervising Brother Principal on a part-time basis. Those at Gokhuwal and Sant Singh Wala, both out of Faisalabad, are thriving under female lay Principals. Both enrol and promote female students in the main. There is a primary school St. Solomon’s Ahmadabad and a mainly boys’ secondary school at Malkhanwala.

Over the last ten years, as Pakistan joined the District of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, greater emphasis has been placed on the vast number of lay colleagues in the schools, on resourcing professional development of Brothers and Partners, and on improving infrastructure and teaching conditions.

PAKISTAN

The increasing numbers of the more disadvantaged Christian students in the English-Medium schools have continued in La Salle High School and College Faisalabad and La Salle Higher Secondary school Multan. In 2019 the Brothers took over administration of 700-strong St. Joseph’s English High School, Gujranwala, out of Lahore.

The Lasallian Sector is served by 20-odd Brothers and 570 Lay Partners in thirteen institutions. Its strengths include a recognised principle of religious inclusivity and harmony between Muslims and Christians. There is a movement towards strategic planning via a Mission Council, and growth of youth ministry at local and inter-school levels. Two critical goals are leadership formation of middle-management in administration, and continued emphasis on the education of girls, severely disadvantaged in the schools system. A shining light, too, is the enduring commitment to lead the St. Albert’s National Catechists’ Training Centre, with upward of 100 students, in Khushpur. The Lasallian Mission Council provides some professional education, as well as promoting a ‘twinning’ program with Australian and New Zealand schools.

ST. ALBERT’S CATECHETICAL TRAINING CENTRE, KHUSHPUR

GO AND SPREAD GOOD NEWS! - YOUNG CATHOLIC CATECHISTS IN PAKISTAN

Authors: Br Gary Wilson / Br. Zafar Daud In Khushpur, a very small village in largely Muslim Pakistan are fifty young Catholic men preparing to be catechists. The role they have taken on is support and enrich the Catholic way of life in one of the seven dioceses of their nation. They are ‘catechist’ students at St. Albert’s Catechetical Training Centre (CTC), conducted by the De La Salle Brothers.

Deeply committed to their religious faith, they are preparing to assist and stand in for the priest in sometimes 20 + villages - teaching, leading worship and pastoral support. They will be contacts, helpers and care workers to their Catholic brothers and sisters. (Only 2% of Pakistanis are Christians, of various denominations; many of them are very poor and discriminated against).

A significant recent event at the Centre was the yearly presentation, by fifteen of the final year students, of their researched theses on a topic of their choice. Three such were “The Role of Christian Youth in Pakistan”, “The Role of Women in the Bible”, and “The Nine Gifts (sic) of the Holy Spirit”. As Br. Zafar Daud, Director, reports:

“As the students are promoted to 3rd year, they are given different topics for research... (They) are asked to choose the topics and come up with three, according to their interests. The staff helps and guides them to choose one of them. At the same time, a mentor is provided to each student for further guidance and help. The topics are based on theological studies, Biblical (study)... Church history, social issues and current affairs, well-known personalities and saints’ lives. Though the writing resources are very much limited according to the modern world, still the trainees and staff try their best to fulfil their requirements. The catechists learn how to write a thesis, with a proper understanding of the chosen topic, (and)... also how to develop the ideas with proper references and footnotes”.

The staff team includes Br. Zafar, five laymen, one lay woman and Br. Shamoun. They constitute an examining panel which questions the student defending his thesis, judging the presentation critically and grading it on set criteria.

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The student learns through initial reading, interacting with people for information, research, and writing critically. A great plus, the Staff notes, is the trainee gaining in self-confidence and communication skills. The thesis is an important component of the final assessment for the course and diploma. It is the happy end to great self-sacrifice and an invaluable religious education. The fifteen young, mature-aged students who presented their theses, received their graduating diploma on 1 June 2021. Some, as married men, were learning with their wives, who attend the on-site Benildus Literacy Centre. (A number of the wives have never been to school before). “The diploma holders”, Br. Zafar mentions, “were from three different dioceses - Archdiocese of Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi Islamabad. His Excellency Bishop Indrias Rehmat (Bishop of Faisalabad Diocese) was the main celebrant for this year diploma Mass and ceremony.

The De La Salle Brothers have been an important group within the Catholic Church in Khushpur, conducting the reputed Centre for the Bishops, from 1963, and running St. Thomas’ High School (to 1971). La Salle High School was opened at the request of villagers in 2004. Its current Principal is Br. Qumar Iqbal. Little Khushpur village is an important facet of the Brothers’ work in Pakistan.

LA SALLE HIGH SCHOOL, FAISALABAD

LASALLIANS FROM OPPOSITE ENDS UNITE

The De La Salle Brothers took over the management of La Salle High School, Faisalabad, in 1961, from the Diocese of Faisalabad. Co-educational primary classes (Nursery to Grade 5) were established in 2002, and a separate girls’ school (La Salle Girls High School) was established in 2012 on the same site, with the two schools having a common Principal and governance structures.

Five hundred sixty-five girls were enrolled in 2020, spread over 11 classes from Nursery to Grade 10. In Pakistan, it is both legally and culturally unacceptable for secondary school students (aged 11-18) to be in a co-educational situation; girls are therefore taught separately from boys and have their own dedicated recreation area.

Staff strive to provide a comfortable environment for the girls who attend, to educate and instil in them moral values. Since its inception, the school has shown outstanding results in matriculation exams.

The girls’ school occupies the oldest building on the La Salle College site, and in 2019, the roof ceiling of the building began to collapse, forcing staff and students to evacuate to the boys’ school. In Pakistan, it is not culturally acceptable to have girls’ classes on the boys’ campus, so the need for repairs is urgent.

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La Salle University Nezahualcóyotl in Mexico has committed to raising the USD 86,000 towards the structural repair of the classroom block. The assistance of the Lasallian International Solidarity and Development Secretariat in sourcing a donor is acknowledged and appreciated, as is the willingness of La Salle University Nezahualcóyotl in raise funds for this project.

CLEAN GREEN PAKISTAN

Clean Green Pakistan (CGP) is a flagship five-year campaign of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Imran Khan. Recently, “Clean Green Pakistan” was celebrated at La Salle High School and College Faisalabad, among the “Iqbal”, “Jinnah”, and “Liaqat” Houses.

The house system is a traditional feature of schools, whereby the school is divided into sub-units called “houses”, and each student is allocated to one house at the moment of enrolment. Houses occasionally compete with one another at sports and, in other ways, providing a focus for group loyalty.

All three houses were tasked with implementing practical ways to beautify buildings and classrooms with the vision of “Clean Green Pakistan”. Flowers of different colours and many trees and seasonal plants were sowed.

Principal Br Shahid Mughal expressed his appreciation to the school community for putting their heart and soul into promoting the vision of the Prime Minister, “Clean Green Pakistan”.

La Salle Higher Secondary School Multan

LASALLIAN PRIDE IN MULTAN, PAKISTAN: DR. ABEEL IRSHAD

Authors: Br Gary Wilson / Mr. Hadayat Nazar Schools, as social institutions, prize success in members of their communities. La Salle Higher Secondary School Multan is no exception. Its long heritage from its foundation by the De La Salle Brothers seventy-odd years ago has seen many alumni find success in Pakistani business and politics. One such was a previous Prime Minister.

Abeel Irshad, who graduated as top of his class in 2012, is now an intern doctor in a Multan hospital. He remembers his alma mater: “Along with the academics, I was always very fond of the extra-curricular activities carried out in our school. I used to take part in speech competitions, plays, spelling-bee competitions and sports events. The importance given to our English accent and hand writing left a lasting impact on our grooming”.

Starting in the recognised Cambridge curriculum Section from 5 years of age, he notes, with respect and enthusiasm, Brother Herman Nanayakkara (recently deceased, a fine humanities teacher from Sri Lanka who spent over forty years as a Lasallian missionary in Pakistan). Equally remembered are Brother Shahid Mughal (current Principal of La Salle Faisalabad), Mr. Dominic Gohar, Mr. Tanveer Ahmad and Mr. Raheel Mukhtar. He admires them as leaving no stone unturned in helping him be successful in life.

He appreciates their valuable contribution, saying “Because of the excellent education I got from La Salle, I got admission in the Aga Khan University, Karachi, one of the best medical colleges in Pakistan”. Mr. Hadayat Nazar, a current teacher at La Salle, reports also that it is quite difficult to get admittance to the public medical colleges/universities. Only the very best make the cut-off mark. (There are a number of privately managed medical colleges as well but they charge high fees).

PAKISTAN

Teaching and caring run in Abeel’s immediate family. His father is a teacher at La Salle Higher Secondary. While his mother is a teacher-nurse at Nishtar College of Nursing. One of three boys in the family, Abeel has joined his elder brother Tabeel, also an intern doctor in Nishtar Hospital, Multan. Both have attained a MBBS in medicine, a profession that holds great status in the Islamic nation. The family used to live in Village 174/10-R, about 45 kilometres from Multan.

The city in the southern Punjab, was the choice for the Brothers’ first school in Pakistan. Called the ‘City of Piris and Sufis’, it is an important and very historic city, and an industrial and commercial centre. It has numerous schools, hospitals, universities and a strong Muslim culture. The Brothers welcomed many bright young farm boys, like Dr. Abeel, from the outskirts, so they could- and still- gain the advantage of a fine education under their humanistic and Christian influence.

ISLAM AND MISSION

On 12th of March this year, SEDOS organized a “Spring Session” on the topic of Islam and Mission. Due to the ongoing pandemic, it was organized as an on-line Seminar, a webinar. This meant that we were not able to see and hear the speakers live. However, it gave many more people the opportunity to join in the event, also from outside Rome, even from far away countries, such as Asia and Africa; places where the dialogue with Islam is an especially “hot” topic.

In this Bulletin we have gathered the talks of the Seminar, and printed them in the order they were given. The flow of the Seminar was prepared with the help of Fr. Markus Solo, SVD, and Fr. John Mallare, CICM, both well qualified to deal with this difficult topic. The lead idea was to have two Speakers in the morning: a Christian about mission in Islam, and a Muslim about mission in Christianity. The result was that Fr. John Mallare, who has just graduated in Arabic and Islamic Studies at PISAI, Rome, spoke about the concept of da’wah, and Dr. Aan Rukmana, professor at the Paramadina University in Jakarta, Indonesia, about his experience of Christians. The first talk was very scientific, the second very friendly. These two talks were introduced by Fr. Markus Solo, SVD, who is in charge of organizing the dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters, in the Vatican structures.

The afternoon session was devoted to our missionaries working in the field. Fr. Victor Edwin, SJ, gave the opening lecture. He spoke on how he tries to encourage the dialogue with Islam through teaching and other activities in India. Since both religions experience a similar situation in India today, this helps the two to co-operate. This talk was followed by three testimonies. Sr. Jeanne Lokalola, ICM, who lives and works among Muslims in Podor, Senegal, gave the first one. She spoke in a very lively and happy way about her work there, and had even prepared a short video of a dialogue with one of her Muslim friends. The video can be viewed on the SEDOS website.

Fr. Thomas Hendrikus, CICM, gave the second talk. Fr. Hendrikus works in Antwerp, Belgium, to help the Diocese and its Christians to dialogue with Islam. He has many contacts with Muslims in Belgium, and these encounters enable him to transmit in an honest and dialogical way their faith and religious practice.