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Loyola, I salute you...
Wednesday, 18 December 1996

Eric Cassel
Eric Cassel
When I graduated from Loyola in 1958, I was just plain Eric Cassel. Thirteen years later after studies in Hazaribagh, Bombay, Kodaikanal and Pune, I was ready to celebrate MY FIRST MASS on Loyola’s Red Stage along with Fathers Joe Lacey and Rocky Vaz, as a JESUIT PRIEST. Sixteen years later, I was appointed PRINCIPAL of Loyola. I had come a full circle : STUDENT to PRINCIPAL.

Regardless of what I have been and am since I left Loyola, the LOYOLEAN in me still remains — firm as ever. The ideals that Loyola instilled in me, the values that Loyola imparted to me, are still with me. Therein lies the greatness of Loyola School; therein lies Loyola’s ability to make you different from others; make you truly a person to serve God and your fellow beings selflessly.

Like Ulysses I too can say, “I am a part of all that I met”, especially in Loyola. In Teaching, in Speech Training, in Dramatics. I had before my eyes such models as Father Power, Fr. Judge, Fr. Dietrich and a host of others. In Administration, the figure of Fr. George Hess looms large on the horizon: NO NEED OF THE LEATHER STRAP, NO NEED OF RAISING MY VOICE — the “RULE OF THE EYE” got the desired results. No wonder, at the end of my first year as Principal, I was described as “The Ghost That Walks” moving silently past classrooms as if on padded feline feet. In my early years as a Jesuit Regent in De Nobili, Dhanbad, I was in charge of the Daily March Past. I fell back on methods used by Mr. P.C. Thomas and Mr. Khare when I was a student. I used the same stentorian voice, the same vocabulary for precision marching. The results were there for all to see.

Class of 1958. The author is second from left (top row)
Class of 1958. The author is second from left (top row)
In your Golden Jubilee Year, Loyola, I thank you, the Jesuit Fathers, the Staff and the myriad of EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, especially SCOUTING that have made me what I am today — A PRIEST, A TEACHER, AN ADMINISTRATOR, A JESUIT — always seeking that “MAGIS”, that “WHAT MORE CAN I DO?” in my life.

Loyola School, I salute you with love, pride and joy as you celebrate your Golden Jubilee in 1996. You have come a long way from classes in a bus to classes in impressive buildings — from just football and hockey to cricket and handball too! From a handful of Clubs which could be counted on one’s fingertips to a phenomenal growth of almost 30! All this because of your untiring effort to reach for the sky, to seek and find, to strive and conquer.

My beloved ALMA MATER, I wish you many more years of achievement in the fields of academics, extra-curriculars, social service and spiritual growth of all those associated with you. God bless you, Loyola, and all those who relentlessly and untiringly labour to keep you moving ahead on the path of progress into the 21st century. Loyola, may you learn from the past, live to the fullest in the present and look forward with hope to a bright future.

JAI LOYOLA!

Fr. Eric B. Cassel, S.J.
 
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