The 60th anniversary of the canonization of their patron saint, St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort was a joyful celebration during which the missionary ardor and the dream of St. Montfort to see true followers of his ideals were recalled. His passionate love for God alone and for his neighbours that instilled the missionary zeal in him and stirred him to lead an apostolic life was reflected upon. The celebration was a call to fulfill his deep desire of following the two inseparable dimensions - prayer and providence and transmit the Montfortian Charisma.
The 337th Birthday of The School Patron St. Montfort
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, the school patron and the founder of the Society of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel followed and preached the true qualities of love and service in life. His 337th birthday was celebrated in school in a splendid manner.
St. Montfort, lived a life of charity, championing the cause of the needy. He lived his life taking one day at a time, placing his trust in heavenly providence. The choir sang St. Montfort’s Song, describing his way of life. The patron’s fame and mission has spread to more than 300 countries all over the world. Today many people have found happiness and a reason to live, because of the Montfort Missionaries.
Mr. Kiran Reddy, MD of Sathyam Cinemas presided over the function and shared his views. He said, “It is not learning that really matters, but how we learn. We must learn to do things with perfection.”
Feast Day Celebrations of the School Houses (Teams)
The housemates of each team celebrated the feast days of their patron saints. During the celebration, the children presented their house mottoes and explained the values and virtues given for each team to follow. The commemoration of these feast days proved to be learning opportunities for students to know about the life of their patrons and patronesses and also the essence of living a life in perfect fellowship with others that is acceptable to God.
Teachers Day Celebration
Children expressed their love and gratitude to their teachers on Teachers Day. During the programme they read out the life and contributions of Sarvapalli Dr. Radhakrishnan, whose birthday is celebrated as Teachers Day all over India. A short allegory of the seed growing into a sapling which is watered, pruned and taken care of by the gardener was performed comparing the student to the seed and the teacher to the gardener. The choir sang songs of gratitude for their teachers. Children prayed ardently asking God to bless their teachers in moulding their lives. The students gave a memento of an earthen pot to each teacher, symbolizing that they are the clay in the hands of their teachers who mould them into great individuals. This celebration helped the children in understanding the role of a teacher in their lives, and how important it is to appreciate their contributions in moulding them, thus practicing the virtue of Gratitude.
Children’s Day
MMS celebrated Children – God’s Amazing Gift on Earth and the Birth Anniversary of the country’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Children learnt the fact that Life on earth is a quest for understanding and meaning, it is a journey towards perfection, letting go of doubts, fears and problems. They learnt to appreciate the gift of life.
Diwali – Spreading the Light Of Social Awareness
Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.
Diwali is a festival in which people of all age groups participate, giving expression to their happiness by lighting earthen lamps. The significance of lighting a lamp is to beautify the world. It is a gift from God. Darkness represents ignorance whereas light is a metaphor of knowledge. Light indicates victory of good over evil. The programme began with the Chief Guest Mrs. Rosalinda Ireland, Former vice principal of MMHSS lighting the lamp while the choir sand the song “Like a candle”.
Students were made aware that bursting fireworks will bring about noise and air pollution. By buying fireworks child labour is being encouraged in our country. Pet animals like dogs and cats suffer on account of firecrackers because they have a more sensitive sense of hearing than humans. Therefore, as responsible citizens they took a pledge that they will discourage the use of fireworks during Diwali.
Christmas & New Year celebrations
This year, due to heavy rains in the month of December, the school closed early for the Half Yearly Holiday, postponing Christmas Celebrations to January. When children returned from their holiday, a grand celebration coupling Christmas and New Year revels was organized. Mr. Venkat and Mrs. Nisha Venkat, the small screen celebrities were the guests for the day. Prayer dance, a short skit explaining the uniqueness of each individual and how special they are, were staged. A live crib was displayed. Following this, one of the students explained how New Year’s Day came to be celebrated on the 1st of January and its significance as a day to renew our faith in ourselves and hope for a better future. The little angels of Montfort
performed a dance thanking and praising God for all the blessings the New Year brought along with it.
This celebration renewed their hopes and aspirations. It also helped them learn the true meaning of sharing selfless and unconditional love. They practiced the gift of sharing.
Pongal – A Tamil Festival
The dual festival Pongal and Tamil New Year was celebrated at Montfort Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Butt Road, Chennai – 16 in a grand manner. The Red team members of the school presented the programme as a package of awareness. Mr. Ramkumar, Regional Sales Manager of the New Indian Express presided over the function.
The celebration began with Tamizhthai Vazhthu in praise of the Motherland. A vivid description of the Harvest festival “Pongal” and the importance of Tamil language were given through a humorous skit. The play that followed explained the Free Education Scheme given by the Tamilnadu Government and how important it is to educate girl children. Children sang the song “Acham Illai” and performed a colourful dance giving hope to all in the New Year.
Independence Day
The 63rd Independence Day of the nation was celebrated at MMHSS. Mr. Gopalakrishnan, retired Superintendent of Police and Special Director in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Mrs. Mythili Gopalakrishnan, an Ex-Montfortian were the guests of honour. The programme began with a beautiful prayer dance evoking God’s blessings on the country and on its citizens. Following this Mr. Gopalakrishnan, hoisted the flag and took the salute. Children took the oath that they would be loyal to their country and have equal respect for all its citizens.
Gandhi Jayanthi
Montfort School paid homage to the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi on his 140th Birth Anniversary. Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest humanitarian of all times saying “Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” “Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong” “The Roots of Violence are: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, and Politics without principles” was quoted. The programme was organized by the members of the Peer Group Association in school who also observed the International Day of Non-violence and Human Rights. Students took part in the celebration with utmost reverence and awe for God and respect for the noble soul of, Mahatma Gandhi. The programme began with an invocation dance, beseeching God’s blessings.
107th Birthday of Perunthanthai Kamaraj
The 107th Birthday of the King Maker, Kamaraj was celebrated in school. Children, through skit and oration brought to light the reforms and schemes that Kamaraj brought in education to enable and make elementary education free and compulsory for all children, thus taking education to all the poor children of our society. Children danced and sang songs while celebrating the birthday of this great leader. The entire programme was in Tamil.
Republic Day
The 61st Republic Day celebrations were held at Montfort celebrating Democracy. The programme began with a March Past Parade, with the four teams of the school marching unison. The ‘Tricolour’ our National Flag was hoisted by the Chief Guest Mrs. Nirmala Natarajan, wife of Mr. Natarajan, ex-commissioner of police, Chennai, ex-montfortian and associate member of Costs and Accounts of India. Children saluted the national flag and renewed their pledge to be loyal to their country and make India a developed nation.
TEACHERS’ ANIMATION
The Academic Year 2009 – 2010 commenced on the 1st of June 2009. It began well with a two-day Animation Programme for the teachers. The first day was handled by the Principal, Rev. Bro. George welcoming the teachers and giving them guidelines for the smooth functioning of the school in the year ahead.
On 2nd June Rev. Fr. Cyril a redemptorist priest and an Ex-Montfortian animated the teachers by sharing his experiences and knowledge. Through the parable of the Good Shepherd from the Bible he explained how teachers can be Good Shepherds to their students by identifying the weak and the needy, by restoring their spirits and moulding
them into good people. He also compared the parable of the sower with the teaching profession, reiterating the fact that teachers are givers of the “Word” – Knowledge and Wisdom. He was positive that teachers could change weeds into wheat.
The lovely songs that Fr. Cyril sang and taught the teachers were refreshments during the session making it active and interesting.
THE INAUGURATION OF HIGHER SECONDARY
At Montfort, Higher Secondary was inaugurated with the beginning of classes for the first batch of Std. XI students, on 17th June 2009. Students were assembled for prayer at 9:00 a.m. The inauguration took place formally with Rev. Bro. George lighting the lamp, followed by a short prayer and a thanksgiving song.
The students were then taken to their respective classes by their class teachers.
LAUGHTER AND AMUSEMENT
Humour - an important ingredient of life, is necessary for our happiness and longevity. What cannot not be accomplished with swords and armours can easily be accomplished through wit. Tenali Raman, the jester in King Krishnadevaraya’s court was a perfect example for this fact. Famous personalities like Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln were also people with a good sense of humour. The famous comedian Charlie Chaplin made many laugh and forget their worries though his own life was a tragedy. When life poses a lot of sufferings and sorrows it is the sense of humour that keeps us going. Therefore, a special programme called “The Humour Assembly” was organized at MMS to make children laugh.
EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATIONS
At the start of the new academic year 2009 – 2010, Rev. Fr. Kulanthai svd celebrated Holy Mass. Thanksgiving prayers were offered for the year that had gone by so smoothly and also for the good results the school had achieved in the Matriculation Board Examination. Prayers for God’s blessings in the new academic year ahead and for peace in the world were also offered.
LEGION OF MARY
The object of the Legion of Mary is for the Glory of God through the sanctification of its members by prayer and active cooperation under the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The main aim of the Legion is to bring salvation to souls, to enlighten those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death, to bring back souls who have gone astray. The Legion of Mary was founded by Brother Francis Duff on 16th September 1933 at Dublin. It is now the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church, with well over 3 million active members in almost every country of the world.
INTERACTION WITH SCOTLAND
With the invention of the internet, the world has been reduced to a global village where everything is available online, at the click of the mouse. It has made international cultural exchanges possible, crossing hundreds and thousands of miles by just sitting at one’s PC.
This has provided the opportunity for students at Montfort to build a very meaningful relationship with the students of Ashley Road Primary School, Aberdeen, Scotland. Children send e-mails to their friends in Scotland to learn about their families, their schools and their countries. They send their greetings to each other on Christmas, New Year, Pongal and other festivals. They also exchange magazines and newsletters enlisting the
activities held in their schools. Children are thus encouraged to build friendships, overseas. These exchanges among children will help them understand and respect each other in spite of the diversity in their cultures.
MMHSS has had many celebrities in its campus gracing many functions. Their visits have not only been influential on students but also inspiring. Children look up to them as role models and aim higher in life.