BIS #2972 'A FRESH BEGINNING': INAUGURATION OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2012 - 2013

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BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE #2972

'A FRESH BEGINNING': INAUGURATION OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2012 – 2013

Cl. Bosco Carvalho sdb

DIVYADAAN, JUNE 14, 2012: On June 11, 2012, the feast of St. Barnabas, the apostle, Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy re-entered into another year of maturing in wisdom and love by beseeching the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Michael Fernandes, the Salesian Provincial of the Mumbai province was the main celebrant for the Eucharist. He was joined by Fr. Michael Fernandes, the Capuchin Provincial, Fr. Kenneth Pereira, the Rector of Don Bosco Parish Baroda and other priests from the campus.


At the very beginning of the Holy Mass, Fr. Michael Fernandes, sdb, invited the congregation to ask the Lord for wisdom and the grace to live it in our lives. In his homily, Fr. Provincial urged the gathering to be open to the Holy Spirit; this yields joy, peace, forgiveness and a sense of mission. He also emphasized the presence of Jesus Christ in each one's life and mission.


The Eucharist was followed by the inaugural ceremony in the Vincent Vaz Hall. The program commenced by invoking the Holy Spirit by way of a hymn and lighting of the lamp by the eminent superiors. Fr. Savio D'Souza, the Rector of Divyadaan, welcomed the gathering and expressed his appreciation of the growth in academics and spirituality during the previous year. He also mentioned about Divyadaan being a journey – heading towards Jesus Christ. The Divyadaan brothers melodiously sang the choral piece 'Constantly Abiding'. Fr. Robert Pen, the Principal, made a presentation of the Academic Report of the year 2011-2012 during which he thanked the staff, welcomed the new staff and listed the activities conducted and achievements attained during the course of the year. He also enumerated the various publications of the professors that contribute to growth in the academic field.


Fr. Provincial then released the book "Communication to Communion" written by Fr. Robert Pen, sdb, and commended the latter for his work. The work serves as a guiding post to develop the what, why, how of communicating and expressing oneself and thus building bridges of communion with people. Fr. Provincial also released the new Academic Handbook for the year 2012-2013 and presented it to the staff members.


The inaugural speech was delivered by Fr. Kenneth Pereira, the Rector of Don Bosco Parish Baroda. In his lecture based on his recent scholarly work "Nurturing Presence: A Spirituality for Educators based on the Pedagogical Insights of Don Bosco and Carl Rogers", Fr. Kenneth focused on Carl Rogers, a twentieth Century humanistic psychologist who like Don Bosco, gave importance to the presence of educators among educands.

Fr. Kenneth pointed out that unlike Freud and other negative psychologists, Rogers believed in man's inborn tendency towards self-perfection. Man, for him, is positive, forward moving, constructive, realistic and trustworthy. Fr. Kenneth then emphasized three essential qualities for an educator: congruence – genuineness with respect to one's personality, positive regard – prizing and appreciating the student, empathy – understanding the other from his/her point of view. He then drew parallels between Rogers' three pillars of congruence, positive regard, and empathy with Don Bosco's Expressive System of reason, religion and kindness. He concluded by saying that educands grow through self-expression, the art of which they pick up from their educators. This was followed by an array of doubts and clarifications from the audience with respect to the presentation made.


The inaugural ceremony ended with the vote of thanks expressing gratitude to Fr. Kenneth, the Provincials, the superiors and religious of the neighbouring communities for their esteemed presence. The students were commended for their hard work put in which reflected their enthusiasm to begin afresh the new Academic Year 2012-2013.

BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE (BIS) MUMBAI

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