Karnataka Church concludes youth convention

(October 01, 2012) As many as 5000 youth from across southern India’s Karnataka state, an archbishop, 13 bishops and more than 100 priests, nuns and political leaders on Sunday participated in the concluding ceremony of the eighth Karnataka Regional Catholic convention on youth called ‘Karnataka Yuvajanostava-2012’ held at Holy Redeemer Church, Belthangady. In his presidential address, Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore called upon the youth to take the initiative of inculcating leadership qualities in them and thereby build the church and nation at large. The 3-day Catholic convention was based on the theme “Transformed by faith - Transforming the World: Networking - Human Dignity - Employability - Caring for earth.” The event was organized by the youth commission of Karnataka Regional Catholic Bishop’s Council and locally hosted by the Indian Catholic Youth Movement of the Diocese of Belthangady. Appreciating the contributions of Christian missionaries, Union Minister for Corporate Affairs and Power, M Verrappa Moily appreciated Christian education saying where there is a church, there is a school to disseminate education or an ashram to care for the poor. Ronald Colaco, a Non-Resident Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist also appreciated the contribution of Indian Christians to the nation especially in the field of education, health care and social service, but regretted that the government has failed to recognize their services through providing them administrative positions in the government. Colaco thus announced the formation of a “Corpus Fund” of Rs. 3 crore (one crore each for 3 consecutive years) in the name of a Trust, whose interest would be utilized to financially assist IAS, IPS and KAS aspirants from the Christian community through scholarships.