SYDNEY – AUSTRALIA – “Lasallian Encounter”: Lasallian Youth Leaders (LYL’s) from five of the Sydney metropolitan senior colleges met on Wednesday November 8th at LaSalle Catholic College, Bankstown for a new initiative of the District’s Lasallian Youth Ministry Team “Lasallian Encounter”.

Led by the Director of Vocations & Youth Ministry, Br. Mark McKeon and his team of Lasallian Youth Ministers, James Camden and Darren Perrett, the workshop involved further training for students in their school youth ministry environments and the opportunity to meet and share their Lasallian experience with students from other schools.

The student LYL’s were put through a range of activities such as undertaking listening exercises, preparing improvised testimonies, facilitating small groups, controlling large groups, giving instructions and furthering their understanding of what it is to be a leader, especially to the younger students, in a Lasallian school. All of these skills will be used as they facilitate the retreats and reflection days in their schools over 2007.

Lasallian Encounter also gave students information on upcoming events for the PARC District such as Lasallian Youth Gathering (Melbourne 2007), APLYC (Singapore 2007), Lasallian International Youth Gathering (Melbourne 2008) as well as our Share the Mission program and Balgo Hills Summer Camps..
^{(James Camden, Lasallian Youth Minister, Oakhill College, Castle Hill - jcamden@oakhill.nsw.edu.au)}

Hong Kong – China - Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers - Lasallian Leadership Camp 2006: With the positive response and encouragement from various parties, the Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers organized the second Lasallian Leadership Camp. The Camp for this year was held on 14 – 15 October 2006. The Organizing Committee started planning for the camp at the start of the summer holiday. Members of the Committee are either graduates or current Form 7 students of the Lasallian Schools. 50 Lasallian leaders from the Hong Kong Lasallian secondary schools joined the Camp.

The program kicked off with a service session in the Haven of Hope Sunnyside School. The School caters for students aged from 6 to 18, and suffering from medium to severe mental-challenge.

We are glad to have invited Brother Anthony Cummins, who came from Australia and is currently working in the New Zealand, to be our Guest Speaker for the second consecutive year. In his first session, Brother Tony enlightened us on the life of St. de La Salle through a question-and-answer format. The campers were invited to answer the multiple-choice questions.

On the second day, Brother Tony started the programme by asking the campers to face different directions in order to remember Lasallians from afar. After breakfast, he continued to talk to us about the Lasallian survival kit – The Thrivival Kit. There were different items inside this kit, such as pencils, erasers, chewing gum, etc., representing different leadership qualities. Quotes from St. de La Salle were also used in response to these items.

Though the camp has come to a close, it marks the beginning of our mission. The Lasallian leaders will live the Lasallian Spirit and spread it to their neighbors. The cooperation among Lasallians of different schools will continue in the days to come.

The Organizing Committee would like to take this opportunity of thanking different parties and individuals for their unfailing support and guidance. Specially to the Brother Directors of the Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers – Brother Patrick Tierney and Brother Thomas Lavin. Without their help and support, the Camp would never have got off the ground. We look forward to similar functions which bond Lasallians together in the near future.
^{(Peter Leung - Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers)}

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