Bro. Tierney, Patrick
Biography
Brother Patrick Tierney was born on 4th December 1942 in Ireland into a family of 7 sons and 5 daughters. He studied in a primary school run by the Christian Brothers at his hometown. When he was asked why he joined the Order, Brother Patrick joked. “In the early 1950’s, life was tough and there were few exercises. All the boys craved above all was the opportunities to play soccer. But the only people that possessed footballs were the Brothers! I was also attracted perhaps by the fact that I thought the Brothers got better food than I.” The fact was his eldest brother has become a Christian Brother already. When a Brother recruiter asked for volunteers to join the Order, he simply put up his hand. A visit to his parents was made by the Brother, their consent and his fate was sealed. He joined the Order in 1955. He studied in the formation centres of Brothers and then finished his O and A levels in England. Afterwards, he entered the Teacher Training College in Manchester. In 1964, Brother Patrick, together with Brother Thomas Favier, were posted to Hong Kong. He was the Principal of St. Joseph’s College, Hong Kong from 1974 to 1986. In 1998, Brother Patrick became the Ninth Principal of La Salle College. In the same year, La Salle College was recognized as one of the 114 schools that were qualified to continue the use of English as the medium of instruction (EMI). Dennis C.Y. Ho (2002) of the UK Chapter, LSCOBA shared with us: “In my final two years at La Salle College, Brother Patrick became the principal as well as the supervisor. He was a friendly leader but also a busy man. He chaired the Third Asia Pacific Lasallian Educator’s Congress (APLEC) held in Hong Kong in 1998. He wrote many Catholic articles. He introduced “Day by Day” extracts from the writings of St. John Baptist de La Salle to our classes. It contains spiritual formation, classroom behaviour, stories of saints, biblical quotes, etc. It was a pity that I never had the opportunity of being taught by any Christian Brothers.” In 1999, Brother Patrick set up the Information Technology Management Team. The LAN of ED3 and Multi-media Learning Centre were completed in 2002. Brother Patrick was a devoted educator who had no hesitation to speak up on controversial issues. In 1999, he coordinated a joint submission by all Hong Kong Lasallian schools on the proposed reforms to the Education Commission. Before the turn of the millennium, Brother Patrick organized a Millennium Photo Taking on 21st December 1999. A total of 690 students stood on the school field and formed the characters of LSC 2000. The year 2000 was fruitful. Brother Patrick led the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the coming of Christian Brothers to Hong Kong and 100th Anniversary of the Canonization of St. John Baptist de La Salle and the 50th Anniversary of Declaration of St. John Baptist de La Salle as the “Patron of all Teachers”. On 17th April 2000, the Jubilee Feast Day was held on our school field with Rev. Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun S.D.B. as the guest of honour. Our boys shone in the HKCEE 2000. They scored a record of 477 A’s. Brother Patrick launched the redevelopment of our primary school in July 2000. The new school building possesses a large auditorium, a gymnasium, a 25-M indoor swimming pool and a football field. Brother Patrick is well known for his patience and acceptance of diversity. He dislikes noise, bad manners and argument of a protracted or bitter nature. He loves all kinds of sports In his spare time, he would coach our boys in the field. He is present in many interschool competitions cheering for our boys. Upon his retirement as the principal, he concentrates on preserving our heritage. He has written articles about Lasallian Schools. He has a large collection of photos of our buildings, Christian Brothers and teachers. Brother Patrick spent hours helping the Editorial Team in preparing this publication and shared his own collections of photographs and articles. The Editorial Team is deeply in debt to his kindness. Courtsey of http://www.lasalle.org.hk