COVER STORY
EIGHTY years is a long time to commit to anything.
But as the harmonious voices of the Jubilee Catholic Secondary School choir filled a church in Port Moresby recently, it was clear that for the Lasallian community in Papua New Guinea, eight decades is simply a profound milestone in a mission that has no end date.
The special mass, though small, was a tapestry of generations, drawn together to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the De La Salle Brothers arriving on our shores.
The day was less about looking back and more about taking stock of a living, breathing legacy.
This legacy started with four Australian missionary brothers – Patrick Howard, Anthony Broderick, Lucian Thorpe and Celsus Maquire – arriving in Port Moresby in January 1946 to establish the first Lasallian mission in PNG.
“When they came, they started off with 80 young men,” said Annette Ingirim, principal of De La Salle Secondary School, the first safe classroom established by the brothers.
Two years later, the brothers expanded the mission to Yule Island in Central, focusing on catechist and teacher training. They also helped build roads and schools.
The mission and the Lasallian spirit of reaching out to the last, the lost and the least, drew in locals who sought to learn from the brothers – to be part of the mission. This eventually led to the first local vocation, when Peter Keaga became PNG’s first De La Salle brother.
They opened Mainohana Boarding School in Bereina in 1958. Then, in 1964, the brothers moved to Bomana, outside of Port Moresby, to establish De La Salle Secondary School, which later became the mission’s flagship secondary institution.
Since then, these two schools – especially De La Salle Bomana – have contributed many young minds, fueled by the Lasallian charism and mission, towards PNG’s nation-building.
Today, the seed that was first planted in 1946, those schools, have grown into a vast network.
For Ingirim, the journey was deeply personal; she has served within the Lasallian mission for 50 years, beginning her teaching career at Rosary Secondary School in in the Highlands.
“You can see (the impact), from four brothers to how many of us are sitting in this chapel right now,” she told those who attended mass.
“The Lasallian principles and values that the brothers brought with them are part of our DNA. It’s within us.”
It is a DNA built on profound human connection. Lasallian schools teach their students that their fellow classmates are their brothers and sisters, walking the same walk, fighting the same fight and deserving of compassion.
Many alumni carry this mentality into their professional lives.
Alice Kalawan, the deputy principal (academic) at La Salle Technical Secondary School, knows this firsthand. Reflecting on her time as a Grade 9 student at Mainohana 20 years ago, she recalled when, during her second week of school, she had lost her dinner plate.
“For that week, Br Robert was very observant that I did not have a plate,” she shared, smiling at the memory.
“On the third day, he came into the mess with a plate for me. Reflecting on this experience, the mission the brothers had was not only for quality education, but to care for all.”
You can see, from four brothers to how many of us are sitting in this chapel now. The Lasallian principles and values that the brothers brought with them are part of our DNA.”
That spirit of care extends well beyond the classroom, binding older institutions together with new ones. A perfect example is the Lahara Birdwing School, which officially joined the Lasallian family in 2023. Their principal, just five months into the role, proudly described being “the baby”, yet already deeply impacted by the community’s leadership ethos.
Rose Polume from Sacred Heart Teachers College (SHTC) echoed this shared strength, taking time to point to the bedrock Lasallian catchphrase: Together and by association.
It’s an association that demands much of its teachers. It sometimes demands a teacher spend even his or her weekends away from the comforts of their homes.
It’s also one that moves students to stand with their friends and peers during their times in need, and when one of them has a calling, as seen in the numerous occasions where a haus krais is overrun by young men and women there to stand by a brother or sister.
Even times when there is a call for alumni to talk to and inspire the students – we see De La Salle alumni show up for their school and their brothers, most recently during a meet and greet early this month.
Jubilee Catholic Secondary School principal Barbara Miles challenged her peers to treat their profession as a profound calling. She credited the De La Salle Brothers for founding Jubilee, an associate school, and Brothers Anthony and Alf for shaping her own path.
“To Br Anthony, the man who will always pick up the phone regardless of the time I call, thank you,” she said, warmly acknowledging his silver jubilee marking 25 years of as a De La Salle Brother.
“We have the young souls that are entrusted to our care every single day. We must be there for them.”
To truly understand the weight of this 80-year milestone, you have to look outside the chapel walls and across Papua New Guinea. Since those pioneer brothers set foot in the country in 1946, their singular classroom has multiplied exponentially.
Today, the Lasallian network encompasses major educational pillars across the nation—including De La Salle Secondary Bomana, Jubilee Catholic Secondary, Mainohana Catholic Secondary in Bereina, Sacred Heart Teachers College, and Holy Trinity Teachers College in Mt Hagen.
Through these institutions, the brothers achieved something remarkable: They built the capacity of the nation. They poured their focus into training local teachers, ensuring that the light of education could reach far-flung rural communities where it was needed most.
NCD Education Services first assistant secretary Kutna Bepwik said PNG should be thankful for Lasallian teachers.
“Lasallian teachers have a passion and a heart for the calling,” she said.
Bepwik reiterated that the country needed the engine that the De La Salle mission was. She said the De La Salle Brothers helped mold Papua New Guinea before Independence.
The socioeconomic and political impact on PNG is staggering. Countless former students have held high positions in government agencies, or are currently leading major government departments. If you walk into any prominent boardroom, public service office, or hospital in the country today, you are almost guaranteed to find a proud product of a Lasallian school.
Dozens of influential persons in Papua New Guinea, whether in the youth space, politics, commerce, tech or business, trace their foundational leadership skills back to a Lasallian classroom, where they were taught that true leadership means serving “the last, the lost and the least”.
Today, the physical presence of the Brotherhood in PNG looks vastly different than it did decades ago. There are only a handful of De La Salle brothers remaining in the country, such as Br Anthony and Br Alf, working tirelessly in the National Capital District.
Yet, their numbers belie their immense output. Instead of manning every classroom, the modern brothers focus on administration, youth ministry, and mentoring the lay teachers and principals who now run the schools. From four to thousands, the Lasallian legacy truly is alive and breathing.
As Annette Ingirim noted so poignantly, the brothers have successfully worked themselves out of a job by instilling their mission into the local educators. They may be few, but the Lasallian heartbeat in Papua New Guinea has never been stronger.
