Callum seeks support for charity walk

The ASSEDIL Gathering will take place on March 25th and 26th this year from 9.30am to 11am GMT (10.30am to Noon in Malta) as a way of supporting each other in these difficult times. The theme of this online meeting will be: ‘You are part of the Miracle’. This meeting will span two half days, allowing for the sharing of experiences of solidarity during the pandemic and for a celebratory cross-border get-together. We will keep you updated with details about the programme but here we simply wanted to give you a brief outline of the content of the gathering. This will include:

• How are we experiencing the pandemic - using videos from different Districts illustrating their responses.

• What are our students saying? We will ask them to briefly to speak about their hopes for post-COVID-19, illustrating one thing that they are looking forward to.

• We will have a short presentation from a psychologist speaking about the impact of COVID 19 on young people.

• We will finish with a short Lasallian celebration, using music and other material from the countries of the Region, as a means of encouragement and support.

Here you have the link for registration:  https://forms.gle/XrcP5XJupXqwEBrx6

More details of the programme will follow closer to the time.

Students from De La Salle College Malta Junior School have been doing their bit to help protect our environment by taking part in the EkoSkola programme.

This Eco-Schools project aims at mobilising the whole school to empower students to adopt an active role in environmental decision-making and action in their school and in their community. Schools that have successfully achieved this goal are awarded a Green Flag – a prestigious eco-label testifying the school’s commitment to fostering sustainable lifestyles.

The programme was launched in 1994 by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and now includes over 43,000 schools distributed around the world.
The school’s EkoSkola members undertook the Xrobb I-Ghagin Nature Park Boundary Wall Project.

The initiative began on Wednesday January 27th when the students collected 50, one litre empty cartons, rinsed them and thanks to Ms Claudine, prepared the milk cartons.

These cartons were placed in the small garden and a mixture of soil and compost was used to plant seeds.

This ongoing project will be tended to by the students and teachers over the coming weeks and months.

Students at St Simon Stock Catholic School are being encouraged to take part in the Lasallian Awards initiative which has recently been introduced at the school.

The Lasallian Awards work similarly to that of the Duke of Edinburgh Award and Faith in Action Awards which the school organises for older year groups. Students will be asked to complete one activity from each Core Principle to receive the Bronze Award. Students can choose whichever activities they would like to do but they must do one from every category.

The activities list (see below) can all be completed at home following government guidelines. If students have an idea for their own category, they can e-mail chaplain Lauren Bassett to get confirmation that it will count.

Once they have completed an activity they will need to take a picture of it or do a write up on it to use as evidence. Only once they have completed all five activities must they put together all their evidence into one document and attach it on to Microsoft Teams in their Reflection Teams.

Once the information has been received by Ms Bassett the student will receive a badge and their name will go into a prize draw for a £20 Amazon Voucher. Then, students will then get the opportunity to go for the Silver Award (three activities from each category) and Gold Award (five activities from each category).

Stay tuned for more information - in the lead up to this year’s Founders Day/Week (May 10-14, 2021) the District will be adapting and extending this model of Lasallian Awards to all schools in the District. More information on how to participate and the prizes available will be launched in April 2021.

The members of a number of our committees have been finalised over the past few weeks, with the updated lists as follows:

 

District MEL Council

• Br. Laurence Hughes - Brother Visitor

• Br. Ben Hanlon - Brother Visitor's Delegate for Mission

• Brian Halpin - MEL Committee, Ireland

• Emma Biggins - MEL Committee, GB

• Mariella Vella - MEL Committee, Malta

• Dr. Aideen Cassidy - District Representative on the ASSEDIL Council

• Stephen Cachia - Director of Educational Mission, La Salle Malta

• Brendan Wall

• Andrew Rannard

• Joe Gilson - Director of Mission

 

MEL Committee Ireland

• Br. Stephen Deignan

• Brian Halpin (Chair)

• Jason Poole (Secretary)

• Br. Patrick Collier

• Anna Baird

• Martin Brennan

• Br. Martin Curran

• Marie Fitzpatrick

• Br. Damien Kellegher

• Br. Francis Manning

• Mary McDonagh

• Br. Kevin McEvoy

• Br. Finbarr Murphy

• Edel Nolan

• Joe Twomey

• Siobhan Wyatt

 

 

MEL Committee Great Britain

• Emma Biggins - Chair

• Faith Wheat

• Fran Walsh

• Andrew Bridson

• Sally Bennett

• Joanne Millea

• David Garrido

• Laura Young

• Mike Bennett

 

 

MEL Committee Malta

• Stephen Cachia (Chair)

• Mariella Vella

• Manuel Cilia

• Isabel Zahra

• Jacqueline Farrugia

• Br. Austin Gili

• Chris Kenely

 

District Young Lasallian Council

• Siân Thomas – District Representative on the RELEM Young Lasallian Council (Chair)

• Joanne Millea – St Helens: De La Salle School

• Cian Ó Náraigh – Dundalk: De La Salle College

• Keely Xuereb – De La Salle College Malta

• Ishmael Cocker – Stella Maris College Malta

• Jason Poole - Beneavin De La Salle College: Dublin, Ireland

• Theo Arthur - St Joseph's College: Beulah Hill, London

• Isobelle Cording - St Cassian's Residential Centre: Kintbury, UK

 

District Vocations Team

• Brother Martin Curran, FSC

• Heather Ruple Gilson

• Joanne Millea

• Yvonne Joye

• Brother Saviour Gatt, FSC

• Audrey Borg

• David McArdle

Br John Deeney, of the Oxford Community, has shared a poem about our Founder.

The global pandemic may have restricted us in a lot of our activities, but for some Lasallian students even Covid couldn't prevent them from helping others.

Last year, students and staff from De La Salle College Malta Senior School collected books to donate to the hospital for their library. Due to the pandemic, the hospital is not taking any more books. However, the hard work of the students didn’t go to waste as these books were instead donated to "Donate Books for Libraries in Tanzania".

Lasallians throughout the District and beyond were saddened to learn about the passing of Br Cyril Collins in Castletown on Monday February 15th.

A man of many talents, Br Cyril joined the Juniorate in Castletown in 1941 and over the following 80 years dedicated himself to the Lasallian principles and was highly respected and admired wherever he went.

At the funeral Mass, the eulogy delivered by Br Damien Kellegher summed up the contribution made by Br Cyril in inspiring so many people. 

Click h ere for Br Damien's full eulogy and additional information from Br Kevin McEvoy.

The generosity of the Lasallian Family was highlighted once again after the Fondazione De La Salle Solidarietà Internazionale ONLUS shared the wonderful news that the ‘La Salle for Beirut’ appeal has achieved its goal with the restoration of all education centres.

On August 4th, a massive explosion ripped through central Beirut, killing hundreds of people and injuring thousands more. The blast rocked the Lebanese capital’s port area, flattened buildings, and caused significant damage to the Lasallian schools Collège Sacre Coeur-Frères Gemmayzé, Collège Notre Dame and École Saint Vincent de Paul.

The appeal was launched soon after and thanks to hard work and generosity at total of $1.8m was raised and the work completed. As a result the appeal has now been closed.

For full details see https://www.lasalle.org/en/la-salle-for-beirut/

A reminder to all Lasallians that you are invited to take part in the final day of the District Lenten Retreat on Monday March 8th.

You can join using the following Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84524197905?pwd=ZmY4amdEVnBCbEQ4UUpjSEM5eEc2QT09
Meeting ID: 845 2419 7905
Passcode: 931897

The theme for Monday is ‘Hope – Looking forward to the future’ and will be presented by Br Austin Gili. The retreat commences at 10am with Morning Prayer. Mass will be celebrated at Noon and the day will conclude at 5pm with Evening Prayer.

The opening two days of the retreat explored the themes of ‘ The Covid Pandemic - a desert experience’ (February 22nd) and ‘To heal we must remember’ (March 1st).