25 March 2013 • 91

LEAD Delegation to International Assembly 2013. In preparation for the Lasallian International Assembly for Mission in in Rome this May 2013, the delegation of the Lasallian East Asia District met at the Hotel Rafael in De La Salle University - Dasmariñas. This meeting allowed the LEAD delegates not only to get to know each other and prepare for the assigned tasks prior to the Assembly, but it also served as a venue for the delegation to discuss and understand the various realities in LEAD. Present in the meeting were Br. Thomas Lavin FSC (LEAD), Br. John Pill FSC (PARC), Dr. Carmelita Quebengco AFSC (Organising Committee for the International Assembly), Mr. Ramelle Javier (Philippines), Br. Rodrigo Treviño FSC (Japan), Mr. Ronnie Holmes (Philippines), Mr. Nicholas Ng (Hong Kong) and Ms. Fritzie de Vera (Philippines). I wish to thank Br. Tom for putting all the work together as the LEAD delegates prepare for the International Assembly.

St. Xavier’s Institution: The Best Times in School. Below are excerpts from the weekly column of Mr. Wong Chun Wai in the Malaysian StarMetro, “Penang’s History, My Story” (26 January 2013):

“FOUR buildings still stand majestically along Farquhar Street today — the High Court, Cathedral of the Assumption, St Xavier’s Institution (SXI) and St George Church, the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia. Farquhar Street is named after Robert Townsend Farquhar, the Lieutenant Governor of Penang from 1804 to 1805.”

“The Church of Assumption moved to its present site, just next to SXI, in 1857. The church was built by the Eurasian community who had followed Captain Francis Light to Penang from Phuket, Thailand. Facing religious persecution there, the Catholics, led by Bishop Arnaud-Antoine Gamault, fled to

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Kuala Kedah before landing in Penang. They landed in 1786 on the eve of the Feast of Assumption and set up their church on Church Street before moving to Farquhar Street. I have lost count of the number of times I went down on bended knees in front of the Virgin Mary’s statue outside the church, praying for divine intervention because I did not prepare myself for the school examinations!”

“The St George Church was completed in 1818 by the Colonial Chaplain, Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings, who founded the Penang Free School (PFS) two years earlier in 1816. The current Hutchings School, which is just next to the church and the present Penang State Museum, was where PFS originally began. It was renamed Hutchings School after the founder when PFS moved to its current premises in Jalan Masjid Negeri. But for today, I shall not talk about my rival school because the biggest impact on my life was SXI, my alma mater. I had my primary and secondary education in that school. The best memories of my school life remain vivid until today, shaping my worldview, and more importantly helping me forge a great many memories with people of other races. We were united in one thing — we were Xaverians.”

“Ironically, SXI started off as a Malay language school in a hut cleared from a jungle in 1787 — just a year after Capt Light landed. It was only in 1825 that an English medium school took shape and was named the St Francis Xavier’s Free School, with the La Salle brothers taking over the management.”

“I entered SXI in 1968 as a Standard One pupil, and classes began at 1pm. The morning session was for the secondary students only. The humidity of the tropical Malaysian weather certainly did not help us eager students. Most of us were already soaked with sweat from running around before the assembly. But those were the best times of our life. It was the time of the beehive hairstyle and butterfly-rimmed glasses, so accurately depicted by Lat in his cartoons. Women teachers came in samfoo or cheongsam and they always looked terrifying to us. SXI has produced many famous Malaysians — the first chief minister of Penang, the late Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee, Opposition veteran Karpal Singh, Cabinet minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop and composer Jimmy Boyle, who wrote the classic Putera Puteri.”

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Church of the Assumption

SXI circa 1857

St. George's Church

“The school, for a long, long time, remained the only one in Malaysia with a full-fledged orchestra where students got to learn to play the violin and other instruments for free. My biggest regret was not picking up any of the skills, thinking it would a sissy thing for me to do so. The school band also, until today, has a corp of bagpipers. The school canteen had one of the best variety of Penang hawker fare including char koay teow, wantan mee, prawn mee, curry mee, assam laksa, nasi Melayu and mee mamak. In the 1970s and early 1980s, for 50sen, we could still get a plate of char koay teow with an egg and a prawn.” There was even a dental clinic operated by an assistant within the school premises. It terrified us whenever she came to class to hand- pick a number of us for checks. The clinic was located next to the Brothers’ quarters, which was out of bounds to us, adding an air of mystery as to how they lived.”

“Adjacent to Farquhar Street is Light Street, which was the settlement’s first road. It was, of course, named after Capt Light. According to Khoo Salma Nasution, for his “first municipal act”, Light sank a public well at the end of Light Street — the one-acre Well Estate is now part of the Convent grounds. Capt Light is said to have stayed to the west of the Well Estate, on the site which is now the St Xavier’s field. According to her, he lived with his Eurasian-Thai wife Martina Rozells in a bungalow on the site of the SXI field. After his death, she married one John Timmers, and they continued to stay at the bungalow.”

“The Leith Street Ghaut, located next to the SXI field, used to house several government quarters, and was formerly called Martina Lane, in honour of Light’s wife. I spent countless hours at the field, where I played football and hockey, and I cannot think of any school where we could just walk to the end of the field to enjoy the sea breeze and watch the waves hit the sea walls. Students were banned from fishing but there were always occasions when the rule was breached! The best part about growing up in Penang is that George Town’s history truly comes alive in our surroundings.”

Institute Bulletin 254. The Institute has released Bulletin 254: “STORIES OF HOPE... Associated for our Lasallian Mission”. “This Bulletin takes Circular No. 461, Associated for the Lasallian Mission…an act of HOPE, and gives it a “human face” through personal testimonies of Lasallian Association from around the world. Through reflection questions at the end of each chapter, readers have the opportunity to deepen their commitment to the international Mission while at the same time building bonds of unity with other Lasallians locally.” I encourage all Brothers and Lasallians to use this document for personal and communal reflections. You can download the Bulletin from the Institute website:

http://www.lasalle.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Bulletin-254_ing_web.pdf http://www.lasalle.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Bulletin-254_spa_web.pdf

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SXI circa 1940

Dates to Remember. Kindly take note of the following events in the Institute and the District.

Date Event Venue

2013

April 18April 20

LEAD Economic Council MeetingLEAD Council 9

Singapore

May 5 – 19 International Assembly 2013 (Mission) Generalate, Rome, Italy

July 1 – 13 II International Assembly Signum Fidei Generalate, Rome, Italy

July 20 – 22July 23 – 28

International Lasallian Youth Meeting 2013World Youth Day 2013

Niterói, BrazilRio de Janiero, Brazil

July 29 – August 7 International Young Brothers Assembly 2013 Dasmariñas City, Philippines

August 24August 25

LEAD MidTerm EvaluationLEAD Council 10

Thailand

October 28 – November 8

CIL 2013: Formation Program for the Pastoral Ministry of Vocations | Part 1: Brothers and Partners

Generalate, Rome, Italy

November 11 – 29 CIL 2013: Formation Program for the Pastoral Ministry of Vocations | Part 2: Brothers

November 20 – 24 LEAD Mid-Life Workshop | Details to be finalised Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

November 22November 23

LEAD Economic Council MeetingLEAD Council 11

2014

February LEAD Senior Brothers Conference Details to be finalised

February 9 – 15 3rd International Symposium of Young Lasallians Generalate, Rome, Italy

April 12 – June 8 45th General Chapter Generalate, Rome, Italy

November 1st LEAD Mission Assembly2nd LEAD Chapter and Assembly | Part 1: All Brothers

Details to be finalised

2015

May 2nd LEAD Chapter | Part 2: Chapter Delegates Details to be finalised

November 1st LEAD Young Brothers Assembly2nd LEAD Vocations Summit

Ipoh, MalaysiaDetails to be finalised

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Holy Week. May this Holy Week be a time of grace and conversion for everyone! There are some Sectors that have organized retreats for the Brothers, namely, Hong Kong, Philippines and Thailand. I enjoin all Brothers and Lasallians to be united in prayer and in reflecting on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus through personal retreats and/or meaningful participation in the week’s liturgy especially the Easter Triduum. Finally, for our personal reflection, I wish to share an excerpt from the Palm Sunday homily of his Holiness, Pope Francis:

“Jesus on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection. Dear friends, we can all conquer the evil that is in us and in the world: with Christ, with the force of good! Do we feel weak, inadequate, powerless? But God is not looking for powerful means: it is through the Cross that he has conquered evil! We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! With Christ we can transform ourselves and the world. We must bear the victory of Christ’s Cross to everyone everywhere, we must bear this great love of God. “And this requires all of us not to be afraid to step outside ourselves, to reach out to others. In the Second Reading, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself, assuming our condition, and he came to meet us (cf. Phil 2:7). Let us learn to look up towards God, but also down towards others, towards the least of all! And we must not be afraid of sacrifice. Think of a mother or a father: what sacrifices they make! But why? For love! And how do they bear those sacrifices? With joy, because they are made for their loved ones. Christ’s Cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy!”

Fraternally,

Br. Edmundo L. Fernandez FSCThailand

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Stations of the Cross for Children. This website of the Passionist Missionaries of Union City, NJ USA provides simple reflections for children on each “Station of the Cross” and has one for adults as well including other useful information: http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/child/stations/01.html

Holy Week at the Vatican. Vatican liturgies, Way of the Cross, and the homilies of the Pope for this week can be accessed through this Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/liturgical_year/holy-week/2013/index_en.htm

“Semana Santa” in the Philippines. If you are curious about how Filipino Catholics celebrate the Holy Week, this website will give you a complete narrative and description: http://thaholiday.com/holy-week-2013-in-the-philippines-filipino-customs-values-and-beliefs-in-high-definition/