TALK GIVEN ON WOMENS DAY
My Dear Friends
I begin sharing with you my reflections on the role of a woman as a professor in a college
by thanking the god of Providence for the opportunities of Education I received for the possibilities that came my way and
for the profession that I have been able to pursue.
Every gift accompanies with it a task. With every honour there is a responsibility. With
every privilege comes a duty. Being an educator in a prestigious college of the city of Kolkata is not only God’s gift
to me but also comes coupled with a task.The task for me in my position as a Christian professor is one of witnessing. I feel
strongly called to be a witness to Christ both to the faculty and the students alike.
Needless to say the world today runs after power ,pleasure and the accumulation of wealth
at any cost. What is important is to succeed .The means utilized to achieve goals
does not seem to matter. Corruption of values is rampant .Unfortunately these trends
have crept into many of the educational institutions too. It has affected both staff and students alike. It is said that example
is more powerful than words.” TO BE is more precious than TO DO.”
In the above mentioned situation my first challenge is to be a good person, integrated,
honest, value based and having the courage to stand up for what I believe in. To imbibe and be transformed by the values of
Jesus in the Gospel is my life long goal.In short I want to be a true Christian and a true disciple of Jesus.
The second is to function as a Christian in my college. I have realized that it is not
necessary to be a Bible thumper. Christian presence is what is required. I wish that people recognize in me a disciple of Christ.. A presence of this kind- a presence that upholds Christian principles and values
is prophetic: It challenges the lives of people without you having to breathe down their throats the Sermon On The Mount.A presence as gentle as possible is non threatening and invites people to question
their own value systems and their world view.
In this task the woman of today can play a vital role. Hence the third challenge that
flows from the first two is to help young women of today to become free and to help them
to work for freedom of their less privileged sisters.
Without wanting to be offensive and gender
biased I ask the question that has often been asked before. “Where did
your Christ come from?
From God and a woman
Man had nothing to do with him!
God was born of a woman
And am I not a woman ?
And are’nt we women too?
Mary sings the song offreedom when she realizes that she has become the Mother Of God.
With Mary our Mother I too wish to sing that song of freedom on behalf of all women , women who are still in exile , still
in bondage and longing with the pangs of childbirth for that day of liberation.
To conscientize young women about their dignity , to appreciate the fact that they are
women and to take up liberative action on behalf of their sisters who are persecuted , violated , humiliated and live in fear
and shame is a goal I cherish and a challenge I wish to undertake.
Let me close sharing with you a CREED I firmly believe in
I believe in a God
Of the womb
And breasts
Flowing with the milk of compassion
In times of particular need,
Who is not at all involved in writing rules
And regulations
who is not a stringent task master ,
who never wrote a creed
I believe in a God
Who does not enjoy
Or condone exploitation
Who does not set out to conquer
But comes to support
And serve
Who suffers whenever humanity suffers
Who dies a little whenever her body is violated
Mutilated, or handled with disrespect
Who stands beside and within us
Whenever we lose our nerve
I believe in a God
Whose Spirit survives
All forms of degradation
Who mediates hope
That rises above the limits of time and place,
Who is durable and vulnerable
Who sometimes shows a masculine mood
More often a feminine face
I believe in a God
Who holds us all in HER everlasting arms
Who gathers us protectively
To the shelter of HER wings
Who binds our wounds, dries our tears
And promises us freedom
I pray………….
May God direct our going forth by making a way through the waters :
May SHE journey with us in fire and cloud on our exodus from exile
May SHE shorten or wilderness wandering and
bring us to the promised land of freedom for all
AMEN
Seminar on Stress Management conducted by the Dept of Education
St Xavier’s College Kolkata
Introduction and Welcome
On behalf of the Dept of Education St Xavier’s College I would like to extend a very warm welcome
to. Respected Fr Principal Fr P.C. Mathew,Respected Vice Principals Fr Pat Eaton and Fr Felix Raj and all members of the Managament,
our honourable resource persons present here today, all our colleagues from various departments of the college and our dear
students. A very good morning to everyone .We sincerely hope that you enjoy every moment of the seminar cum workshop on stress
management which we have carefully planned and organized for you.The need for stress management in the current socio economic
scenario of India is being deeply felt , although the need for it had arisen long before in the West and as the number of
persons with mental problems is gradually on the rise.It is an undeniable fact that modern life has become enormously complex.
The accelerating competition in every field of life , the continuous pressures of achieving , the growing unemployment rate
and myriad other complexities of urban life are taking their toll on young and sensitive minds . The student community is
probably the major victims of these complexities . The growing academic pressure added to various stresses of the outside
world is putting these sensitive minds under severe strain. Hysteric behaviour leading to fainting in the examination hall
, suicidal attempts, being drawn to drugs, indecent behaviour , use of abusive language, cheating are some of the pathological manifestations of enormous stress that the student community is trying to
cope with at home and outside..It is felt that stress management can play a role in eliminating or at least reducing this
crisis with which our society is plagued with.As educators we are directly dealing with the student community and therefore
it is imperative for us to make them aware of this therapeutic methodology.With this target in mind the dept of Education
St Xavier’s College decided to organize this seminar.In short it addresses a very important need of our times.
I take great pleasure in inviting Respected
Fr P.C.Mathew , Principal of st Xavier’s College to inaugurate this seminar and say a few words to us today
Vote Of Thanks
On behalf of the Dept Of Education St Xavier’s
College I would like to thank Respected Fr P. C. Mathew ,Principal of the college
for his constant support , encouragement and guidance. I would like to thank Respected Fr Pat Eaton and Fr Felix Raj for their
valuable and continue support.Heartfelt thanks is expressed to the management of St Xavier’s for your good
wishes, encouraging presence and support. .In a special way we would like to thank The Institute of Psychological and Educational
Research for having organized this interactive and educative seminar cum workshop for our students.Prof Amar Ghosh, Prof Bimal Chandra Das, Prof Subhash Chakrabarty and Prof Bijli Mallik have graced this seminar
with their valuable presence as well as their well researched presentations. I would like to extend to them our deepest gratitiude
and thank them for their dedication ad commitment .I would also like to thank all our colleagues from the other departments of the college who have taken time out
to be with us today. Your presence is greatly appreciated.To each and everyone of our B. Ed students who helped us to make
this day special and worth remembering we express our thanks.I would like to thank Prof Mandira Mukherjee and the dept of
education of our college for the cooperative effort and commitment which has contributed immensely to the success of this
programme. I would like to gratefully acknowledge our office staff Francis da, Nivedita di,and Pradeepda for their meaningful
involvement in our departmental exercise.Last but not the least I would like to thank each and every participant at todays
seminar. We hope that it has left an indelible impression on your mind and more importantly provided you with some essential
techniques of managing stress as you make this journey called ‘LIFE’.
As a token of our deep gratitude we would
like to present the Resource Persons of todays seminar cum workshop a little memento.May God Bless you.
You can email your comments to csimpson@vsnl.net
