Republic Day worship

The Republic Day worship was conducted yesterday in the Tagore Hall. Fr. Dr. Ambrose Pinto was the chief guest. The worship order and preparations for the worship was done by the Carey Society of the college with help from various students.

Fr. Dr. Ambrose Pinto

Fr. Amrose Pinto has been the head of many Christian institutions in Bangalore including St. Joseph's college. He received the Karnataka Rajyostava award in 2010. His articles include

India: A Symphony of the Absurd
India: Cyber censorship should be opposed
Hate And Anger Won’t Bring Votes; People Always See Through Divisive Politics
India: Intellectuals, Maoists and the State
Justice for Binayak Sen
India: State, Religious Ritualism and
 Politics in Karnataka

In his sermon Fr. Pinto talked about the Indian republic and why reservation for women, rights for the minorities, and freedom for everyone was critical for the country today. He said that India is a country of common traditions and pilgrimages and any move to oppose this will only be done by divisive fundamentalist forces who had no part in the freedom movement of India.

He went on to say that conversion is a political protest and a protest against hierarchy. Fr. Ambrose Pinto asked the congregation to take part in the electoral process of 2014 and said that we have a responsibility of including the excluded. We need to take the leadership in collaborating with others for building the nation and bringing it back to the early stage of the preamble and the core message of what Dr. B.R. Ambedkar wanted for the nation.  

Photo credit- Calvin Sushith Ambler

JK