Dear Hindu Friends,

1. As in the past, we join you in the celebration of Deepavali, sending you our sincere greetings and congratulations on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. May God, the Supreme Light illumine your minds, enlighten your hearts and strengthen the human bonds in your homes and communities! We wish you all a joy-filled Deepavali!

2. On this occasion, I would like to reflect on how best we can strengthen our friendship and cooperation by mutually ensuring and enhancing respect and trust.

3. Respect is the proper regard for the dignity which naturally pertains to every person irrespective of any external recognition. Dignity implies the inalienable right of every individual to be protected from any kind of violence, neglect or indifference. Mutual respect, therefore, becomes one of the fundamentals for peaceful and harmonious co-existence as well as progress in society.

4. Trust, on the other hand, nourishes every genuinely human relationship, both personal and communitarian. Mutual trust, besides creating an environment conducive to growth and the common good, shapes a shared conviction that we can depend on each other to achieve a common purpose.

5. This shared conviction creates in individuals and communities a readiness and willingness to enter into productive cooperation not only in the area of doing good in general, but also, addressing the grave and unresolved challenges of our times.

6. Applying the above to our engagement in appreciating and promoting interreligious dialogue and relations, we well know that respect and trust are not optional extras but the very pillars on which the edifice of our engagement itself stands. This engagement involving all of us, believers and people who seek the Truth with a sincere heart, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, is “…together to become artisans of peace, in a reciprocal commitment to understanding, respect and love.” (Address to the delegates of other Churches and Ecclesial communities and of other Religious traditions, 25 April 2005).

Thus, the greater our engagement in interreligious dialogue, the fuller our respect and trust become, leading us to an increase in cooperation and common action. Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, on his first visit to India, said: “Dialogue between members of different religions increases and deepens mutual respect and paves the way for relationships that are crucial in solving the problems of human suffering” (Address to non-Christian leaders, Madras – Chennai, 5 February 1986).

7. As people who hold in common the well-being of individuals and communities, may we give greater visibility with every means in our power to a culture that promotes respect, trust and cooperation.

Once again, most cordially, I wish you a happy Deepavali.

 Jean-Louis Cardinal TAURAN                                                         Archbishop Pier Luigi CELATA
          President                                                                                                             Secretary

The Mother Teresa Express launched by Hon.Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is a mobile wagon presentation on the life and work of Mother Teresa....
done very tastefully... it will be at Sealdah Station, Kolkata, today and tomorrow between 10a.m. - 8 p.m.......

Do visit the exhibition if you are around.......it is expected to be taken to different stations in India.

by Pradeep Vijayakar (Class of 1966)

Mumbai: Students of the St Stanislaus High School Bandra observed a minute's silence when school opened on Wednesday morning as homage to a famous alumni,India's oldest surviving Olympian, Leo Pinto, who passed away at the age of 96 on Tuesday.Later a few schoolboys carried the school flag and created an arch of hockey sticks as the coffin was taken from St Francis D'Assisi Church to the St Peters seaside cemetery.

At the mass, Fr Jude Fernandes SJ, Principal of St Stanislaus, Pinto's Alma Mater, said the player with his Olympiad deeds, had vindicated the school's motto, `Natus Ad Majora' which meant 'Born for Greater Things'.

After the service Pinto's granddaugher read a tribute recalling  her grandfather's genial nature. No wonder the church was full, as if entire Bandra had turned up.
Before the body was lowered into the grave the students of St Stanislaus and their sports director Hycinth Cardoz , sang the schools anthem after which the people paid respects to daughter Susan and son Darryl.

A host of sportsfolk from Tata Sports Club led by billiards ace Mike Ferreira, Anu D'Cruz, Apanna, Gilbert and Clarence Lobo and players of a later era like Diago D'Souza were present. Ferreira summed up the feelings of the players when in his tribute he said, "I had the good fortune of being with Leo Pinto for a long time during my job with Tomco and again when Pinto worked with the Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra. I never ever saw him sad." From Hockey Olympians of the 60s like Kulwant Arora, to those of later years like Mervyn Fernandes, Joaquim Carvalho(a Stanislite), Mir Ranjan Negi,Viren Rasquinha (a Stanislite) and Dhanraj Pillay  were there to lift the coffin

Negi remarked, "Even in death his face retains an unmistakable shine." Rasquinha said, "Whenever I met him he was always positive." Dhanraj Pillay said he would take youngsters to Pinto's house to make them aware of India's greatness in the sport.

St. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High School

St. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High School

St. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High School

St. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High SchoolSt. Britto's High School

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