(BANGALORE ACADEMY OF PHILOSOPHERS)

31^st August (Thursday), 2023

St Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore – 560 055, Karnataka.

A 17^th C French philosopher Blaise Pascal once said that every human person should possess two ships, namely, friendship and scholarship. BAP is a beautiful entity which enables us to possess as well as maintain these two ships. The 31^st BAP meeting was held at St Peter’s Pontifical Institute on 31^st August (Thursday), 2023. The meeting began with a short prayer service conducted by the L.Ph. students which was followed by the Welcoming of the gathering by Rev. Dr Richard Britto (Rector, SPPS) and the honouring of the dignitaries. After the self-introduction of the participants, Rev. Dr Joseph Souza (Professor, SPPI) presented the summary of his Doctoral thesis which was beautifully moderated by Most Rev. Dr Lawrence Pius (Vice-Chanceller, SPPI and Bishop of Dharmapuri Diocese). After a floor discussion on the presentation, we had the business session conducted by Rev. Dr Kurian Kachappilly CMI (President, BAP). The meeting came to a beautiful end with the vote of thanks proposed by Rev. Dr Antony Lawrence (President, SPPI). After our academic scholarship, we had a fellowship meal to strengthen our friendship – thanks to Rev. Dr Sunil  Kumar D’Souza (Trasurer, SPPI), Rev. Dr Joseph Souza (Administrator, SPPS), Rev. Dr Stanly Kumar (Procurator, SPPS), and Fr Rex Alex Silvester (Librarian). The entire programme was coordinated by Rev. Dr Arnald Mahesh SDB (Dean of Philosophy, SPPI) who was also the MC for evening programme. There were more than 50 participants from seven different institutes [Dharmaram College (CMI), Christ University (CMI), Jeevalaya Institute of Philosophy (MCBS), St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute (SPPI), De Paul Institute of Philosophy (VC), Jyoti Sadan (MSFS), and Deepahalli Educational Centre (SM)]. The Participants thanked Rev. Dr Antony Lawrence (President, SPPI), and the entire institute for the wonderful organization of the 31^st BAP Meeting and appreciated the way things were done – invitation, hospitality, academic scholarship, meal friendship, etc.