16th South Zone Jesuit Alumni Congress opens at SAC

Mangaluru: The inauguration of the 2-day Karavali Milana which is the 16th South Zone Jesuit Alumni Congress hosted by St Aloysius College Alumni Association (SACAA) was held on May 27 in the LF Rasquinha Hall of LCRI Block of the College. St Aloysius College Alumni Association gets the privilege of organising this Congress after 18 years. Alumni representatives from Jesuit Schools and Colleges from the Provinces of Karnataka, Madurai, Chennai, Andhra & Telangana and Kerala, in the age group of 25 to 75 attended the program.

Provincial of Karnataka Province Rev Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ was the Chief Guest. Chenthil Kumar, the National President of JAAI, Rev Fr. Swebert D’Silva the PCA of Karnataka and Krishna Reddy the South Zone president of JAAI were the guests of honour. Principal, Rev. Dr Praveen Martis, SJ, Dr Richard Gonsalves, Convenor of the Programme, Stephen Pinto, President, SACAA, and Michael DSouza, Organising Secretary were present on the dais.

There was a book release marking the Ignatian Year ‘St Ignatius Loyola- Cannon Balled to Sainthood’ authored by Prof. Edmund Frank held during the programme.

Rev. Fr Dionysius Vaz, Provincial, Karnataka Jesuit Province addressed the gathering by narrating the ideas and innovations of Jesuits brought out in the field of education and helping the society in various capacities in general. He also urged the Alumni to come forward and help the marginalized attain education.

Rev. Fr Melwin Pinto, SJ, in his presidential remarks explained the need of education for the children of the poor and marginalized and urged the Alumni to keep up the motto of the College “Lucet at Ardet” by contributing to the alma mater.

Chenthil Kumar in his introductory remarks emphasized the need for networking with like-minded institutions and organisations for harnessing the potential for ideation, and startup activities leading to innovations and patents. He asserted that Jesuit institutions need to reinvert themselves by reading the signs of the times to make the best use of their resources and talents.

Dr Alwyn D’Sa, Registrar of the College, compered the programme. Rev. Dr Praveen Martis, SJ welcomed the gathering. Rev. Fr Swebert DSilva, Province Co-ordinator, Karnataka Jesuit Province briefed about JAAI. Dr Richard Gonsalves proposed the vote of thanks.

There are 4 sessions which will be held during the programme. The first session will be on “Role of alumni in promoting entrepreneurship among youths- start-ups – incubation’. The resource person for this session is MV Nair, Chairman of the TransUnion CIBIL. The session will be moderated by Prof Edmund Frank.

The second session will be held on 28 May on ‘Engaging the youth in sustainable development by Dr G Srinikethan, Director (Technical Research) Nitte Deemed to be University. Dr Cletus D’Souza will be the moderator. It will be followed by presentations from five provinces.

The third session will be on ‘Gender sensitivity, families and me’ by Brinda Adige, a social activist. Dr Rose Veera D’Souza will be the moderator.

The final session will be the business session where elections for the office bearers of the South Zone JAAI, will be conducted.

The valedictory programme will be held at 4.00 pm on May 28. Dr Vinaya Hegde will be the Chief Guest. The Convener for the congress is Richard Gonsalves and the Organising Secretary is Michael D’Souza.