Education Conference
This
gathering helps us to reaffirm our commitments, to seek support and
encouragement from one another and to work with renewed vigour.
When the Syro-Malabar Church hierarchy was established, one of the important things it did was to establish two colleges to offer University
education to the youths of the country—St. Thomas College ,Trichur(1921) and
St. Berchmans’ College(1922).
A great
revolution in the social advancement of our people has happened because of
those initiatives!.
An agrarian
community was transformed within no time into a very educated community. Now,
look at the transformation that has taken place in our community through the last
several decades.
Within a few
years, we will be reaching a century after the establishment of these colleges.
We have to think of new initiatives in the field of Higher Education , offering a new a horizon for the youths of the country. We
cannot remain where we are. We have to move forward. It is in the arena of our
colleges and the Universities that the best
integration of faith and reason takes place. Pope Benedict XVl has said in his address to the University
professors that the Church can never leave the field of education: “Education
is integral to the misson of th eChruch to proclaim the Good News.Every
Catholic educational nstitution is aplace to encounter the living
God.”Education, according to him is a work in charity.he calls it Intellectual
Charity.” All of you are engaged in a vital activity of the Chruch and hence
the responsibility and the opportunities are enormous.
We have in
our midst the Major Archbishop to inaugurate this Conference as well as to
share his vision of Catholic Higher Education. As you are well aware, he keeps a
very busy pace, moving from place to place, diocese to diocese , inspiring
people, sharing his faith and encouraging people to be committed to their
faith. Simple and self-effacing , he is open to new ideas and initiatives and
is accessible to all. He wants to support and inspire the people engaged in
Higher Education. This conference is being held because of that vision.
I am
very happy to welcome you, Pithavu, into our midst.
Archbishop Mar
Joseph Powathil needs no introduction to the Catholics of Kerala as he has been
working tirelessly for the promotion of true values in Catholic Higher
Education. He keeps a very busy pace, inspiring and supporting people to
be faithful to the Christian vision of life.
Let me
mention one strain of his administration of educational institutions which has
not been referred to in public. I worked with him for more than ten years as the
Vice Principal and later as the Principal of the college. He is a stickler for
transparency. He established very transparent methods for admission and
appointments. At a time, when many malign the reputation of our well-managed
institutions, his style of administration should be praised and highlighted to
show how transparency in administrative and financial matters can be kept in
our institutions.
I am very happy
to welcome you, Pithavu, on behalf of all gathered here.
We have here
Prof. J. Philip, the former Director of IIM , Bangalore to give the key-note
speech. I am so happy that he accepted our invitation to come to this meeting
and to give the key-note talk.
Those who are in the world of Business Schools
in India know very well his leadership and contributions in the world of
business education. After his retirement, he started the XIME Business schools
first in Bangalore and later at Kochi.
Another one will start functioning in Chennai soon and later, one more
in Malaysia. He is also involved in the organization of the Association of
Business schools in BRICK countries. He is never satisfied with average
performance. He always aims high and demands the best from every one working
with him.
We are happy
that you have found time to be n our midst. Most I am very happy to welcome
you, Prof. Philip.
Mr. James
Joseph is an innovator. After his engineering studies, he went to the UK for
his MBA. He worked at the Microsoft in executive positions. Resigned the job
and started a new venture in food industry. He can show us how to be innovative
and use our resources in the best way possible. Now, according to news reports,
even the students who have graduated from Ivy League Universities are returning
to India to start their own ventures (Snap Deal is started by one who returned
to India from the US). Our colleges should develop opportunities to become
participants in this new growth.
For many of you, this may be your first visit to Mt.St.Thomas
which is the Office of the Major Archbishop and it is here that the Synod of
Bishops gathers for their annual or semi-annual meetings.
This is the second time that a meeting of this sort, for the
newly appointed lecturers is convoked. The purpose is to encourage you to begin
your teaching profession with confidence as well as with an enhanced awareness
of your Faith in the Lord.
You are the new standard bearers of Catholic Higher Education
and it is very appropriate that you begin you begin your professional life with
a solid foundation—with a desire to deepen your scholarly pursuits and faith.
Pope Francis in his recent talk to the European Parliament
referred to a painting at the Vatican by Raphael, known as the “School of
Athens.” In it, Plato and Aristotle are shown , with Plato, raising his finger to heaven, while Aristotle , pointing
it to the earth. The Holy Father used this painting to illustrate the point
that for the revitalization of Europe, Faith and Reason are needed.
In a way this is true of Higher Education too. There should
be a proper integration of Faith and Reason in Higher Education. Our students
will have to come out not only with profound knowledge and technical know-how but also with Religious and Moral values.
Thomas Merton , one of the great spiritual masters of our
time once said: “We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace
with ourselves and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at
peace with God.’
Francis Collins, one of our great scientists who was the Director
of the Genome project which mapped the DNA of mankind says: “ Faith and Reason are not mutually
exclusive .They have never been.”
As you begin your teaching profession, let it be your resolve
to deepen your scholarship as well as your faith. You should become the best
teacher as well as the best persons on Campus so that the students will have a
role model as they form their views, ideals and character.
I am very happy that we have in our midst Mar Jose Puthenveettil
to inaugurate the Conference. I am very thankful to him for the gracious and
generous way in which he accepted the invitation to inaugurate Conference by
rescheduling many of his programmes. He is the new face of the hierarchy of our
church: young, talented, scholarly, always available to all, the hope and dream
of our Church. He did his doctoral degree at Leuvan, Belgium and was previously
the Professor of Theology at Vadavathoor Seminary. Let me offer you our cordial
welcome.
We have Professor Edward Edezhath to give the keynote
address. He was formerly the Professor of English at St. Albert’s college and
is at present a Member of the Calicut Syndicate. He is one of our distinguished
lay leaders and has been actively involved in many of the different
associations of the Church like the Jesus Youth and the AICUF.
I am very happy to
welcome you to this meeting.
Very happy to welcome all of you .Wish you a very happy
Easter.
This is an
occasion for us to come together to share our thoughts and concerns on Catholic
Higher Education in the presence of our Major Archbishop.
Many of our
colleges have such a long history of solid and reputed contributions to the
academic atmosphere of the State. Even when there were no colleges to take care
of the educational aspirations of the poor and backward castes, our colleges
provided them opportunities to pursue higher education. Many a time we forget
our own important contributions in the past.
We cannot
remain where we were before but have to move forward. We have to make use of
all the available resources to make our contributions more significant and
modern.
No man is an
island should be true of our colleges too. We have to work together and share
our resources in such a way that our students may realize that we have a common
goal.
Regional
collaborations, sharing of teachers, libraries, sharing of innovative projects,
using language albs to better communication skills of our students etc are
something in this direction.
We have to
think big of our colleges and get our colleges ready for the challenges of the
future.
Also there should
be transparency in the financial affairs
of the colleges and never allow suspicions and rumours to destroy the
reputation of our colleges.
I am very
happy that our major Archbishop Cardinal Mar George Alencherry is with us. You
know he is always interested about the development and growth of our colleges.
This is an opportunity for us to meet
with him and for him to share his views
about Catholic higher education. May I
welcome our beloved Major Archbishop.
Rev.Dr.Thomas
Chathaparampil, the Vice-Chancellor of Christ University is a visionary among
Catholic educationists. I am so happy that he is in our midst to share his
views on Catholic higher Education and how he has put his ideas of a University
into a reality. He has taken daring steps to make Christ University to
reach this level of excellence. He readily consented to come away from
Bangalore to be in our midst. I offer you my cordial welcome and offer you congratulations
on the stellar accomplishments you have made
with your great initiative and vision.
Dr.Manoj
Varghese is the Director of XIME here at
Kochi and was formerly the Director ,HR Dept at XLRI and later the
Director of Asia Pacific Google and the Director of Facebook India. Xime has
become one of the top 20 business schools in India. I am very happy to offer
our cordial welcome to him.
Dr.Prasanth
Palakappally is the principal of S.H.Colege and is a principal very much
involved in introducing new schemes and programmes at the college ,He is in the
forefront of taking challenges and new responsibilities in making SH a great
educational institution. Very happy to offer our welcome to you.
Very happy
to welcome all of you.
Campus Ministry
The purpose
of this gathering- – -to reawaken in us a deeper desire to share our faith in
our campuses, to devise programs that will help us to transmit religious and
moral values, to give right leadership formation to our students.
In fact,
this is one of the major efforts of the Committee for Higher Education—how to
create a Campus that carries forward the values of the Gospel.
Pope Benedict
XVI on April 17,2008, addressing the University Professors and Educationists in
Washington D.C. mentioned two points very vital to Catholic Education:
1. To ensure that students receive
instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice and
2. To play a major role in the primary mission
of evangelization .
Abp Mar
Joseph Powathil is here to inaugurate this session. As you know, he has a very
distinguished and stellar place in the history of Catholic education of Kerala.
He was , you
may not now, once an AICUF Chaplain, Coordinator and Head of Religious
Education and after becoming the Archbishop, Head of the KCBC Chairman of
Education commission and Head of the Inter-Church council for Education.
I had a very
beautiful time in my life when I was working under him as the Principal of SB
college.
We are
thinking of starting many initiatives to revitalize our Catholic presence, like
E-journal, a bi-monthly to highlight Catholic Campus activities etc. Hence, it
is very appropriate that he is with us to bless these initiatives.
I welcome
Pithavu on your behalf.
Mar Jose
Putheveettil— was a former Professor at Kottayam seminary, later, the Pro VG of
Ernakulam Archdiocese.
Full of energy and enthusiasm, he is available
to all at all times. Delighted that Pithavu is with us. Welcome
As future
scientists, managers, teachers and educators your voice will have a great impact
on the society.
Pope
Benedict XVI in his book The Light of the World speaks about a
tendency that is very common among contemporary Christians which he calls
“Negative Tolerance”. What he means is that Christians are very tolerant with
regard to speaking about their faith when it comes to the question of defending one’s faith because of the false fear that they may offend
others who do not share their faith.
We speak
highly of our academic accomplishments but we are very silent when it comes to
speaking about our faith.
Pope Francis
in his sermons and homilies calls us to have a new vision of life—loving
everyone and becoming available to all. He calls for a bruised Church that gets hurt because of the service rendered to
others.
In Laudato
Si, he offers a new vision—loving God, man and nature, an integral vision of
life. Nothing is left out in our love.
This gathering
is an opportunity for you to broaden your vision as well as to deepen your
faith in the Lord, to prepare yourselves
to be the new leaders for the Church.
From here, you go to your Campuses , renewed in your faith ,
deeply committed to the Lord and to his
message.
I am very
happy that we have our Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar George Alencherry in our
midst to inaugurate this meeting. It is really a great blessing for all of you
to have the opportunity to have the presence of the Major Archbishop, the Head
of our Church. His tireless work for the Church, meeting people in different parts of the country and offering them his prayers and support are all
known to you. His affability and availability
make him very pastoral in his vision and life.I welcome our beloved Major
Archbishop into our midst.
Archbishop Mar
Andrews Thazhath keeps a very busy
schedule, working day in day out for the Archdiocese of Trichur as well as for
the Catholic Church of India.He is the Vice-president of the CBCI and the Chairman
of the KCBC Ed.commisison.Trichur is one of the largest Catholic dioceses of
India and is a great centre of Catholic Educational institutions. His presence
will be a great source of inspiration for all of us. Dear Pithavu, please
accept our cordial welcome.
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