M’lore: New Book of CASK Focuses on Kanara Catholics down the Century

Media Release

Mangalore, 6 Oct 2013: A specially commissioned book, CASK and Fellow Centurions, was launched at the opening function, with Mrs. Margaret Alva, Governor of Rajasthan, presiding, of the year-long centenary celebrations of Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK) on September 22, 2013.

One of the important projects of the centenary year, the book, compiled by noted author and journalist, John B. Monteiro, tracks the history of CASK over the last one century. It is essentially in the form of ‘Readings’ wherein past CASK leaders are projected through their writings on contemporary problems and issues faced by the Kanara Catholic community.

The architecture of the book involves three parts. The first part, Facets of CASK, is the history proper in the format explained above. It is organized under 24 chapters, based mainly on Mangalore magazine, the monthly official organ of CASK, started in 1927 and published continuously to this day, and presents the progress of CASK, the platform Mangalore has provided for the community, selected creative contributions from the magazine, CASK’s advocacy of the causes of Kanara Catholics, how Mangalore has provided a forum for ventilation of the community’s views and grievances, focus on  mother-tongue Konkani, CASK’s concern for rural folk, specially agriculturists, its social concerns, its role in educating the community on issues affecting it, its involvement in civic affairs, its periodic introspection and course correction, its extra-curricular forays, the catholicity of Mangalore’s editorial coverage, its role as monitor of developments in Mangalore and beyond,  its role in nurturing other entities, nostalgic writings, focus on Mangalore town/city and the survey of support to Mangalore by a band of generous advertisers and sponsors.

 

The second part of the book is titled ‘Fellow Centurions.’  As CASK marks its centenary, there are a number of Kanara Catholic institutions and entities that have crossed the century goal post. The CASK leadership presents about 50 institutions and other entities in this second part, in the form of articles written by John Monteiro in the print and electronic media over the last decade, chosen carefully and edited to some extent.

The third part, ‘Concluding Cocktails’, presents a Kanara Catholic hero, Captain of a ship, the central character of a racy book on sea piracy by an internationally best-selling writer, another story with international facets and involving the Fernandez family of Bolar, as well as a piece on how Catholic civil servants, in the last two centuries under British Raj, have climbed the ladder on the recommendation of their superiors.

In his foreword to the book, Bishop Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza says: ‘…On this occasion (centenary celebration) it (CASK) is bringing out a book, CASK and Fellow Centurions, to highlight its growth and achievements. Mr. John B. Monteiro, a noted author and journalist, has taken upon himself this noble task of authoring this book. I congratulate him…Let the book…inspire our laity to emerge as committed members of the Church and loyal citizens of our country.’

In his preface to the book, Dr Derek Lobo, president of CASK, writes: ‘The book is aimed at recalling, recounting and recording for posterity, the 100-year journey of CASK which is closely linked to the 100-year history of the Mangalorean Catholic community. The next step was to identify and commission a reputed author to accomplish this gigantic task…Our search needle stopped when the name of John Monteiro cropped up. Monteiro fulfilled the criteria of being an author and writer of repute and has long experience as the head of the PR department of Larsen & Toubro. He has put his heart and soul into the venture and the final product has turned out to be of high quality content and priceless value. Thank you, Monteiro. Thanks are also due to Anand Bandarkhar of Tiger Den for designing and producing the book.’

The book, with 424 crown-size pages, is priced at Rs 500 and is available at CASK Office at Catholic Centre and Gerosa Shop, both at Hampankatta.

Incidentally this is the second book of the author published this year, the first being Corruption – India’s Painful Crawl to Lokpal, published earlier this year by Strategic Books, USA. Priced at US $21.5, it is available online from Amazon.com and other online book-sellers and locally at Gerosa and Biblios on Bunt’s Hostel Road.