MCC goes 175 years down memory lane

CHENNAI: Thanksgiving service marked the beginning of Madras Christian College’s Quartoseptcentennial celebrations here on Saturday.With 175 choristers singing the invocation song, the bugle was sounded to mark the procession of Very Rev. Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury, UK,  Very Rev. Canon Ivor Smith-Cameron (alumnus of MCC), former Chaplain to the Queen, UK, Geeta Menon(alumnus of MCC), Dean, Stern School of Business, New York University  and other dignitaries to the dais in the thanksgiving service. The Dean of Canterbury, in his message, recalled the journey of three wise men from the east to Jerusalem to worship the Infant Jesus where wisdom knelt before innocence.Referring to the Scottish missionaries,  John Anderson, Robert Johnston and John Braidwood, as three wise men from west, he said they had come down to India to undertake the mission of spreading wisdom before vulnerable humanity. “Rev William Miller has been here for 47 years and the longevity shows how he was committed to serve the institution and the people here,” the Dean of Canterbury said. Earlier, he said “a human being must give his mind, body and soul to God and live in a community dedicated to hospitality.”A rare photograph of the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral of 1931 greeting Mahatma Gandhi was gifted to the College after the sermon. A greetings message from Archbishop of Canterbury on its 175-year celebrations was handed over to MCC Principal RW Alexander Jesudasan.