Back home!

By 5 pm this evening, all the Brothers returned from their Christmas vacations and we had the feastday Mass of the Epiphany together as a community at 6.30 pm.  The only person yet to return is Fr Balaswamy, the Confessor as he is away to attend a meeting in Hyderabad.

Fr Maliekal, the Rector, welcomed the Brothers back to the Seminary and exhorted them to get into the rhythm of the community, especially its academic activities, with ease and pace.  Given the typical hectic schedule of the remaining three months, one hardly needs a reminder about this.  We now look forward to the last lap of the academic year.  In a little more than another month, the final year students will complete their Philosophy classes while simultaneously polishing their final dissertation.  

Comprehensive Oral Defense

The comprehensive oral defense of the final year students, held on February 24 and 25, 2012 marked the conclusion of the Philosophical academic studies for the said batch. In all 28 students defended their thesis before a panel of two (the guide and the reader) and of course, backed by the supporting presence of their batchmates as well as companions from the other courses. Unlike previous years, there were no external readers invited for the defence. The resident professors shared the readers responsibility among themselves and thus there were four guides and the same number of readers.

With the change in the mode of preparation and presentation of the papers, this year was a bit different. Though the results were not the best of expectations, at least it was a start in a new and hopefully better direction, as far as the academic requirement of students forming a comprehensive view of their three year course of Philosophy is concerned. Hopefully the coming years will see a gradual development in the mood and mode of this important aspect of the Philosophical studies, as offered and envisaged at St John's Regional Seminary, Kondadaba.