Media Release

Mangaluru, Feb 17: The Annual Bishop Basil memorial lecture was organized by St Joseph’s Inter-diocesan Seminary, Jeppu on Friday, February 14 at 6 pm in the Centenary Memorial Hall. The topic of the lecture was ‘Witnesses of Christ in Today’s Context’. Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ, rector, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, was the speaker of the day and Fr Antony Shera, secretary, Catholic Board of Education, was the moderator of the session.

Fr Joseph Martis, coordinator of the programme, welcomed the gathering and gave a brief introduction of the speaker following which the speaker delivered a meaningful, thought provoking, inspiring and moving talk on the topic. Fr Dionysius shed light on the present apathy of the state of India with the financial, social and democratic crisis. He cautioned the attendance with alarming rate at which constant attacks were being made on the multi-cultural, multi-lingual fabric of India. By sharing many anecdotes and using powerful images of the present context, he exhorted the gathering to rethink and reflect on the way Christians live today. He opined that it is not enough to just watch and keep quiet but to wake the people on the evils of society and to empower to speak up and act against these problems.

After the talk Fr Antony Shera coordinated the session for queries and discussion. There was a good participation from the crowd. In attendance were the student and teaching faculty of Seminary, religious sisters and lay people.

Br Joel, student of philosophy, proposed the vote of thanks. Br Pradeep Cardoza, student of theology compered the event.