Lasallian North America Chapters Reach Out to the Philippines
Lasallian North America Chapters Reach Out to the Philippines
Then Archbishop of Manila Jeremiah James Harty, an alumnus of a La Salle school in St. Louis, MO, had called for Catholic schools to be set up in the Philippines, and saw his request of many years to the Christian Brothers finally bear fruit when nine La Salle Brothers arrived in Manila to establish De La Salle College in 1911.
In this year of the La Salle Centennial in Manila, the North American De La Salle alumni have made it their goal to publish One La Salle Centennial Book, a groundbreaking project by all the Canada and USA chapters, according to Southern California chapter president Gary Legaspi.
Gary adds that the One La Salle journal will not only bond Lasallians in the USA and Canada, it would also help batchmates and friends rediscover one another. With contents sourced from all chapters, the book will be edited by Robert Perez De Tagle.
Declares Gary, “It shows that despite being away from our homeland, Lasallians have lived the One La Salle vision, and that our true alma mater is deep within us. One in education, in culture and in spirit, our philosophy remains ‘La Sallista Ka, La Sallista Ako’.”
It has come full circle. Says Bong Domdom, president of the alumni chapter in British Columbia, “After 100 years, the fruit of their labors have spread like a mustard seed all over the world. Similar to the pioneering Brothers in Manila, the alumni overseas over the years have employed their faith as their sword and armor, deeply rooted in what St. La Salle strove for.”
One hundred years later -- after the American Archbishop of Manila had seen his wish fulfilled with the coming of the Christian Brothers to the Philippines from America, and with the La Salle Philippines alumni organization’s initial history of attracting alumni of overseas La Salle schools -- now the dedicated members of the chapters from North America continue to reach across the seas to fellow alumni from all over the Philippines and from all the schools of the De La Salle Philippines.
-Robert Perez De Tagle, (LSGH ’78), philcontext@gmail.com, is a past president of the DLSAA Metro New York Chapter and Fil-Am community awardee in communications and media, and wrote for the DLSAA Congress held in Los Angeles.
For more information about the “One La Salle Centennial Book Canada & USA edition”, contact the chapter closest to your location. Contact information for the different chapters are listed below:
Canada:
La Salle Alumni Association of Toronto
Tom Mascardo, President
Email: tom.mascardo@nexans.com
One La Salle Vancouver
Bong Domdom, President
Email: bongd2004@yahoo.com
United States of America:
La Salle Alumni Group of Hawaii
Joseph Ting, Representative
Email: jting@hawaii.edu
De La Salle Alumni Association of Northern California
Irvin Sevilla, President
Email: irvins@dlsaanc.org
La Salle Alumni Association of Southern California
Gary Legaspi, President
Email: GaryLegaspi@yahoo.com
De La Salle Alumni Association of Metro New York
Roy Lim, President
Email: yormail@gmail.com
Tess Canlas-Mojica, Immediate Past President
Email: mbcm10@verizon.net
De La Salle Alumni Association of the Midwest
Jerrick Simbol, President
Email: jerrick.simbol@dlsaamidwest.org
De La Salle Philippine Alumni Association of Washington DC
Eileen Nadal, President
Email: eileen_nadal@yahoo.com
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