OLD BOYS, SENIOR TEACHERS... AND A LOT OF MEMORIES AND CRACKERS BrittoNet
MAPUSA, July 30: Out of the 20,000 Jesuits worldwide -- priests who are members of the Society of Jesus -- some 4000 are based in India, and nearly 140 in Goa itself, said provincial Fr Anthony 'Tony' D'Silva while calling on priests, teachers and alumni to "carry the flag of service and dedication to our fellow human beings". Fr D'Silva was addressing a packed noon-day service at Mapusa's St Jerome's Church on Sunday, July 30, during a Mass to mark the 60th anniversity of St Britto's. St Britto's is a prominent school atop this North Goa town's hillock, which has for years attracted boys from across the taluka of Bardez and beyond. The Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu in Latin) is a Catholic religious order whose members known as Jesuits. It now comprises the second-largest religious order in the Catholic Church. Jesuit priests and brothers are engaged in ministries in 112 nations on six continents. Their work is focused on education and intellectual contributions, primarily at colleges and universities, as well as missionary work and ministry in human rights and social justice. Sunday's mass was also part of the triple jubilee celebrations this year -- commemorating the death of the order Ingatius Loyola in 1556, and the births of two other co-founders of the order, Peter Faber and Francis Xavier (both born in 1506). Fr D'Silva praised teachers, alumni and students, and said the educational initiatives of the Jesuits would have been nothing if it had not been for them. "You who have walked a bit of your life with us are also part of the Jesuit family. If it were not for you, we would have not even achieved a little," he said. In a short but spirited message, he called on all to "challenge" people they rub shoulders with in their daily lives. "Believe that it is possible," he exhorted all, pointing to the Biblical narration of how a few loaves and fish could feed the multitude. At the church, 'old boys' -- as alumni from this institution call themselves -- from diverse parts of Bardez could be seen. At the offeretory, one of the offerings was a giant-sized heart, with a prayer to remember the moments of joy spent by the many 'old boys' who passed through this institution. There was a prayer for educators to be mentors, rather than task-masters, and the function ended with staff who served this institution over the decades mingling with old boys who had studied there, some even four to five decades back. Old boys from the schools have by now grown to fill various positions -- from chief engineers, to chartered accountants, from judges to sacristians, from entrepreneurs to educators, from architects to artists and more. Priests long associated with this school, as principals and in other capacities, were present and co-celebrated the Mass. Fr Vincent Gomes Catao, who had the reputation as a disciplinarian-principal, the French teacher "Madame" Christine Pereira, science teachers NS Bhadti and V Hegde, former PT teacher 'Sir' Kaskar, former principals Fr Abraham sj and Fr Anil Soares, were among the many present. So were Jesuits, including GIM-Goa founder Fr Romauld DeSouza sj, and other priests. Britto's meanwhile has the finals of an inter-school soccer tourney to commemorate this event with an all-Jesuit schools finals -- where Loyolas from Margao takes on local-host Britto's at the school ground on Monday morning. Attempts are underway to activate the Britto's OBA (old boys association), and a general-body meet has been called for August 13, 2006. In cyaberspace, boys from this institution -- scattered in places as distant as Ireland, Singapore and Canada -- are networking to build their links via http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brittos in cyberspace. Another network of Britto's alumni is also active at the Orkut meeting place for social communities -- http://wapurl.co.uk/?LOSZ7KV -- _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
