The 24th Triennial National Conference of the Xavier Board of Higher Education in India (XBHEI) was held from the 22nd to 24th October, 2022, at St. Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre, Old Goa, on the theme ‘Journeying with the Synodal Spirit through Networking and Academic Collaborations – Together in Communion, Participation and Mission.’ The Inaugural Mass was celebrated by Most Rev. Elias Gonsalves, Archbishop of Nagpur, who spoke about the need for networking and collaboration in the spirit of synodality. Shri Conrad Kongal Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, was the chief guest of the formal inauguration. In his keynote address, he acknowledged the contribution of Catholic institutions to the country, in the areas of human resources, language proficiency and personality development. Engaging with each other with a focus on research, innovation and entrepreneurship is a need of the time, he added. Sri Marvin Godinho, Transport and Panchayat minister, Goa, released the souvenir of Xavier Board. Dr. Fr. Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary-General, CCBI, as the resource person, spoke about the need to make our institutions into synodal institutes. Dr. Shashi Tharoor spoke about the idea of university, and enumerated the ideas of Cardinal John Newman fostering International culture and vocational training. After having conducted fair and democratic elections, Fr. Joye James the Election officer, announced Fr. Lingareddy Joji SJ, (AND) Principal, Loyola Academy, Secunderabad, as the new President of Xavier Board for the coming triennium 2022-2025 and Fr. Gilbert Mascarenhas SJ as the new Vice-President. Earlier, new office bearers for 8 regions of Xavier Board had been announced. XBHEI strives to promote and safeguard the interests of Catholic higher education, help institutions in the spiritual, religious and general education of staff and students, and represent the special interests of the institutions before the government.
Antony Prabhu, SJ
Secunderabad
