| In April 1996 Fr. Ashok Kumar appointed as the first Rector for the proposed house and entrusted him with the task of constructing a suitable house. The above said seminary was blessed and inaugurated on 18th June, 1997.
The steadily increasing number of vocations in India necessitated the expansion of formation centers and founding new ones. The Formation Board which was constantly monitoring the changing formation programs in 1995 found the urgent need to change the section of college education with philosophy, hitherto followed in Vidya Niketan, Mysore from 1983. The General Council approved the recommendation of the Formation Board to separate philosophy from college studies and one more house to be opened in South Indian Province. The Provincial council could not select a better place than Chennai Fathers Gnanavaram and Antonysamy were entrusted to study the possible sites in Chennia city and Divine Providence brought them to the Archbishop himself who in turn offered a suitable site, close to the Hill shrine on St.Thomas Mount. The Archdiocesan Council accepted the Society’s application and offered 3 acres of land for a ‘nominal donation’. Simultaneously the Archbishop also gave permission to start a religious house in the Archdiocese….
In April 1996, the Provincial Council appointed Fr. Ashok Kumar, a former Provincial, as the first Rector of the proposed new house…The construction work was completed and the new center was blessed by the Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, Most Rev. Dr. Aruldass James and inaugurated by the Provincial, Fr. Augustine Kanjamala on 18th June, 1997….The students are admitted in the renowned and prestigious Loyola College, run by the Jesuit Fathers which gives them a foretaste of their theological training, later in Pune.(P.66) |
