Hailing the Bishops and Priests among others for their selfless services to the community, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker M. Appavu said that the Christian Missionaries functioning in the State from time immemorial were instrumental in imparting education to the masses.
Presiding over the centenary celebrations of the Tuticorin Roman Catholic Diocese here on Sunday, he said that in Tamil Nadu, peace and social justice prevailed because of the fair functioning of the rules of the land. Irrespective of the caste, creed and community, the people lived together.
Recalling the passion for Tamil, Mr. Appavu commended the role of ‘Vadakankulam’ Thaninayagam, who established a Tamil literary society in 1948 and conducted world Tamil conference in Kualalumpur and the second conference in Chennai with stalwarts such as Anna and Karunanidhi addressing the gathering.
He said that the educational institutions run by the Christian Missionaries imparted knowledge to all that children from different castes and community benefited out of them. At least 60% of students from other communities in every society were alumni of Christian institutions.
The Tuticorin Diocese, which was established in 1923, had rendered support to the needy and poor. Women, who had struggled, were given helping hand by the sisters. In fact, very many government welfare schemes such as education for all, helping the economically weaker sections and women empowerment et al, were nothing but already delivered by the Diocese, he noted.
Thoothukudi Lok Sabha MP K. Kanimozhi in her address said that there were no issues at all in Tamil Nadu and people from different walks of life lived happily. However, not in a mood to stomach the reality, some sections created an impression as though there was a rift.
She said that she was educated from a Christian school. The late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa too had her education in a Christian institution. When such had been the practice, some people had suddenly surfaced here vehemently attempting to canvas without any basis.
The MP said that the Tamils, especially, womenfolk and others had the responsibility of explaining to the younger generation the truth. The past was very important and it had to be disseminated in the right manner to the next generation as otherwise, they may be misled, she cautioned.
For his significant contribution to the tribal population, stalwarts like Stan Swamy was arrested and given a different colour by those in power. The people shouldn’t be misled or given factually incorrect information. “We have the utmost responsibility of recalling the history as it was and ensure that those with ulterior motives were chased away...” she said.
Ministers Geetha Jeevan, Anitha Radhakrishnan, Mayor N P Jagan, Bharatiar Vidyalayam secretary APCV Shanmugam, Arulmighu Bagampiriyal Sankararameswarar Temple chief Selvam Bhattar, District Haji Mujibur Rahman and others offered felicitation.
Tuticorin Roman Catholic Diocese Most Rev. Fr. Stephen Antony welcomed the gathering. The Diocese, which launched its centenary celebrations last year, had been performing various events through out the year. Started in 1923 with 18 Parishes and 23 Priests, the Diocese had 118 Parishes and 218 Priests and 4.78 lakh Catholic Christians. He also said that the Diocese offered quality education and health care to the people in the region.
