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BRBC-CRI- CDP Bengal- Sikkim Annual Meeting

Nov18

The Bengal Regional Bishops, Major Superiors and delegates of Institutes of Consecrated Life and representatives of the conference of Diocesan priests of Bengal had the Annual Meeting at Don Bosco Youth Centre, Krishnagar, from 9th to 11th November 2015. The theme “Catholic Family: Leaven in Today’s World was thoroughly studied through a panel discussion on the first day after the welcome ceremony conducted by the Local CRI. The panelists consisted of a couple (Mr & Mrs Steve) from Fatima parish Kolkata; Dr.Silpa Goswami from St.Patrick’s parish Dum Dum and Sr. Rachel Chetri, provincial of Cluni sisters, (Darjeeling) and a Youth representative M/s Priyanka Biswas. Each of them spoke on personal experience in living the Family life highlighting God experience in crucial moments of their life, as the unseen force that sustained and guided to being faithful to one’s vocation and role as husband, wife, parents, teenager and religious. Fr. Robin Gomes SDB was the coordinator for the panel session that concluded with the intervention of the participants.

Our Archbishop Thomas D’Souza, the President of Bengal- Sikkim Regional Bishop’s Council,  presented a summary of the 14th Ordinary Synod of the Bishops held in Rome from 4th to 25th October 2015 using video clips. Holy Father’s invitation to be merciful under difficult circumstances of family life was stressed with reference to the forthcoming year of Mercy.  Each day we had the privilege of having a bishop to celebrate the Holy Eucharist along with other regional bishops who were present for the sessions as well.

Mr.Allan Doulton of Pune was one of the main resource persons and animator of the third day. He was actively involved in the survey on families in preparation for the 14th Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the “Vocation and Mission of Families in the modern World”. He shared his rich experience on family and Christian life which goes much beyond being mere “Sunday Christians”. In matters of Church he stressed in “making things happen” rather than hoarding mere “wish lists”.

At the conclusion of the enriching inputs and elaborate discussions, a time bound plan of action was drawn up on forming integral, faith filled Families in our parishes and dioceses. The theme for the next Regional Assembly was finalized as “The Role of Catholic Church in Bengal in promoting Peace”. It will be held at the Bishop’s house, in the diocese of Jalpaiguri from 27th to 29th October 2016.

With special thanks to Fr. Robin Gomes SDB and Fr.Mani SDB the local hosts we, Sr. Mary Ann the secretary of local CRI unit of Kurseong , Sr.Teresa A, delegate of  Sr. Rose Ezarath, departed for our own destinations at the earliest. We are grateful to our dear Sr. Provincial for the chance given to us to experience and enrich ourselves by participating in the Regional meeting of such an august assembly.

Reported by Sr. Teresa A.

        Missionary Animation Seminar

Nov11

Missionary Animation Seminar 2Mission Seminar 1

The Missionary Animation Seminar with the theme “Consecration and Evangelizing Mission” was held at Don Bosco Skill Mission, Bangalore from October 30- November 01, 2015. It was conducted by Rev. Fr. T.C. George SDB, Regional Delegate for Missionary Animation, South Asia. The participants were from all members of the Salesian Family of South Asia (SDB, FMA, MSMHC, SMI, VDB). They were the Province delegates for the mission animation and in all 40. Sr. Rose Kureekattu and Sr. Nirmala Tigga took part in this seminar from FMA INC.

The seminar began with an hour of Eucharistic adoration in the evening of 29 October. On 30th – 31st  we had  input sessions on various topics by the eminent persons such as; Situating Vocation, consecration and Mission as Relational Realities: by Fr. Dominic Veliath SDB, Towards a New Understanding of Vocation: by Sr. Ruby Korah FMA, Mission as Proclamation, Dialogue and Lifestyle: by Fr. Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB, Prophetic Dimension of Consecration lived through Mission: by Nestore Guria SDB, Missionary Commitment of the Consecrated People in the Present Socio- Religious Context: by Dr. T.C. Thakachan and Formation for Mission: by Sr. Christine Mynsong MSMHC.

 It was very enriching and inspiring to see how each province and the members of the Salesian Family live their missionary identity. The third day was to evaluate the Mission Statement and Action Plan of the last year. Many shared their positive reply as how they have lived the action plan.

The mission Statement and action plan for the year 2016-16 were drawn up. Each family made their own action plan. The FMAs action plan: 1. To live the “culture of care”- welcoming, joyful FMA missionaries of the young, sensitive to the needs of others, especially families, 2. To celebrate annual Missionary Day at local and provincial levels- Sr. Teresa Balestra Day on 22 November, 3. To revive the animation of the Missionary Groups.

The seminar was concluded with the beautiful and meaningful Eucharistic celebration with the young people of Bangalore Christian Community of Meghalaya (BCCM). The participants went back to their provinces carrying home the message: We are consecrated missionaries and joyful agents of evangelization called to relive in our lives the mysteries of Christ and shared Him joyfully with others as the Saviour of humankind.

Sr. Nirmala

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC SCHOOLS (AINACS)

Oct29

AINACS..The 48th National Convention of AINACS was held at Leonia Holistic Destination, Hyderabad from  22nd  – 25th October 2015. Sr. Inocencia Jojo and Sr. Rosy Veliyan took part in the Convention.

The four days of convention had its theme “Educators as Protectors of Child Rights”. At the inaugural function the Chief Guest Mr. Raymond Peter, I.A.S. Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Govt. of Telengana highlighted the need of the hour and the importance of protecting children as educators of the 21st century. The Guest of Honour Most Rev. Dr. Joshua Mar Ignatios Chairman for Education and Culture, CBCI stressed on the attitude of Christthe Good Shepherd, taking care of the flock entrusted with in every Christian Institution.

The following three days were saturated around the theme of the convention.  Fr. Edward Thomas sdb, Child Protection Activist from Hyderabad, spoke about the child protection mechanism and he said that ‘Attitude is everything’. Attitude is formed by knowledge and skill. Education in every Catholic school should consist of Nine Developmental goals:

  • Physical development
  • Intellectual development
  • Spiritual growth / development
  • Psychological development
  • Social development
  • Political development
  • Economic development
  • Cultural development and
  • Ecological / Environmental development.

AINACSAnother important session was conducted by Mr. Arul Subramaniam, a NLP (Nero Linguistic Programming) Master Trainer & Coach. He convinced the participants with his principles and experience. He said, “the way we think influences the way we feel; the way we feel influences the way we behave & communicate; the way we behave & communicate influences the quality of our life and relationships”.  By the end of the convention all the participants, 560 in total, believe that as educators our prime duty and responsibility is to safeguard the children in every institution. Though it entails multi-risking process and well-programmed planning, the safety of our children is our prime concern.

Formation of Formators

Oct23

42 participants  from 25 religious congregations working in various parts of the country took part in a 10 day course on the theme “ Formation of Formators.” It was from 10th October – 20th October.  at CRI House New Delhi. It was a very comprehensive and meticulously planned  programme to equip the participants to accompany the formees who would live the legacy handed down to  make their lives something beautiful for God. Sr. Lily D’Souza, Sr. Leelamma Palliparambil, Sr. Rosalia Tirkey and Sr. Lucy Manookulangkara were privileged to be a part of this programme.

SeminarThe seminar began with an inspiring power point on psalm139, “You are never alone” which highlighted that God has planned every detail of our life and nothing is accidental. Gathering everyday around the Eucharistic celebration was truly meaningful and life giving.

The sessions were thought provoking. Every input session was coupled with examples of daily life experiences and situations lived by religious today. The audiovisuals made the sessions interesting and innovative. The topics dealt with were relevant, practical, informative; motivational which spurred the participants to be Prophets of today. Some of them are mentioned below: Lessons from experience, Stakeholders in formation, Stages of formation, Qualities required in a formator, Aspects of formation, Atmosphere for formation,Formation for Emotional maturity, Handling negative emotions,Personality types and disorders, Counseling and spiritual disorders, Formation in India : the rhetoric and formation, Pope Francis on religious life and formation, Psycho – sexual integration; celibacy, Spirituality and prayer, Cultural Issues, Assessment, Bible and formation, Discernment

Besides many eminent speakers and resource persons, Fr. Joe Mannath sdb had a giant role to play for this course. With a great sense of humor interspersed with  unending jokes and wits which made his sessions lively and interesting and our stay comfortable and enjoyable with his team.

 Enthused by the course the formators   committed themselves to daily find  time to come apart and  rest awhile in the company of the Lord. So that His grace would energize each one to handle any situation and not be like those   digital religious who when God calls; many are found   outside coverage area, too busy, with many missed calls or often switched off .

Departing   the  participants surely carried home the messages: Be human, be holy, Living  the ordinariness of life with the sense of the sacred, seeing problems as opportunities, seeing competence coming from God, celebrating celibacy, allowing  God to do greater things through us and making our atmosphere filled with sunshine, joy and love  so that the candidates whoever desires will come, see and stay offering their joyful “ yes” of their  life of Consecration.

Workshop on Chid Protection Policy

Oct2

Child Protection Policy

A Workshop on Child Protection Policy was conducted at the Provincial House, Dum Dum from 29 – 30 September 2015. There were 39 participants. The resource persons for these days were Rev. Father Joe Xavier sj and Sr. Isabella Alphonse FMA of the Chennai province.   At the inception we were led to a prayer moment followed by felicitations and a warm welcome to Sr. Isabella and Fr. Joe Xavier. Provincial Sr. Rose Ezarath in her keynote address exhorted us live our commitment to the full with a passionate love for the young after the heart of St. Don Bosco so that our mission may be truly fruitful.   With a brief brain storming by Fr. Joe, we were made to realise what are child abuses, by whom they were created and the challenges we may encounter to face them so that we could acknowledge them, be aware and how they could be protected.

The baton was then passed to Sr. Isabella who proceeded with the Purpose of the Workshop enabling us understand the FMA-INDIA Child Protection Policy, the Content, Process and the Final Document which was a journey to be viewed globally and nationally with the situation of the Children and the young.

Fr. Joe in his next main session explained in detail: The FMA Child Protection Policy with its Preamble, Guiding Principles, Objectives, General Guidelines for Child friendly Organisational Governance and Complaint Mechanism. He said it is very important to know the Structure of the Complaint mechanism, the role and function of the Child Protection Officer, of Child Protection Committee, the Animator, of the Local Enquiry Committee, Province Enquiry Commission, of the Provincial and the Procedures to be followed in all cases of complaints.

Our next Session led us to group work to take up a mock Session of a child abuse situation and follow the right procedures to be adopted for its protection of the child. We observed the first group’s presentation after which there were interventions from the assembly to share some gaps in the proceedings. It was a great help as Fr. Joe guided us on the right way to go about this case. The second day’s program led us to yet another very important aspect of this workshop ie the Activity Planning Matrix, viewing the overall goal, the objectives, Indicators and the Person/Persons responsible for the activity and the Monitoring. A Core group took care of compiling and synthesising the group work that eventually would be carried out in regard to Child Protection Policy in the Kolkata Province.

Ultimately, we expressed our sincere gratitude to Fr. Joe Xavier and Sr. Isabella for enlightening us on this most needed policy of the day, for their generosity and availability in appropriating this issue in depth to the understanding of each of us. We also extended our grateful thanks to Sr. Rose Ezarath our provincial for extending this golden opportunity for us and helping us get enriched and fortified with the very  words of Jesus : “Let the children come unto me for unto them belongs the Kingdom of God.”

Sr. Geraldine Barratt

Seminar

Jun4

Seminar EP-

From 1st – 3rd June 2015, 34 sisters of the Province assembled at Auxilium, Kurseong for the Seminar on the Education Policy of the Province.  It was organized and animated by Sr. Elizabeth Makil and Sr. Stella Potteparambil, the coordinators of the Education Sector of the Province.

On the first day   Sr. Stella dwelt the topic ‘Educator extraordinary’ and Sr. Elizabeth Makil stressed on the integral education of the young people and the fulfillment of our mission in the manner of Good Shepherd. The two days were enriched with input sessions given by both the sisters on personal policy, management Administration, service rules and condition.  Ample opportunities were given for deepening the contents in connection with the school and its administration.

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We remain grateful to Provincial Maria Pettayil, Sr. Elizabeth and Sr. Stella for updating the sisters, to be well prepared and efficacious educators in our educative mission.

Sr.Regi

Leadership Seminar

Mar5

Geyzing

A Leadership Seminar for the ARCIES students (Association of the Roman Catholic Educational Institutions of Sikkim) was held at St Mary’s School Geyzing West Sikkim from 20 – 21 February 2015. Hundred and eleven students from eight schools participated in it from North, South, East and West Sikkim. The resource person for the programme was Rev. Fr.Patrick Lepcha SDB from Salesian, College Sonada.

At 4.30 pm the programme started with a warm welcome to Rev. Fr.Patrick as well as all the participants by the Principal. Then Fr.Patrick conducted a thrilling ice breaking session to know each other.

 The first session was well displayed through PowerPoint to drive home the meaning of being a leader. “Leader” means ‘trustworthy’, ‘remains cheerful’ and ‘aims higher’. After a short break, second session continued based on the ‘fake’ and ‘good’ leader. In order to make them understand more, short stories were narrated vividly. After dinner the leaders gathered again at 9.00 pm for viewing the picture ‘Chillar Party’, which had a special message to every young leader, who can bring about change in the society through team work.

The next day began with a peaceful gesture of prayer and meditation animated by Fr.Patrck himself, which made the leaders reflect on the importance of giving priority to the matters of the soul and not to one’s body, friends and wealth. The session which followed after the breakfast, made the leaders understand clearly the difference between character and reputation. Character is what we are and reputation is what other people think of us. Some qualities that a leader should cultivate were highlighted like ‘Never give up’ Look ahead’, ‘Stay positive’ and ‘do all you can’ etc. To make the session more interesting games, action songs and different exercises were part of the programme.

The last but not the least leaders were taught the ten Hall Mark of an educated person and were asked to keep in mind the values they want to live by. Father encouraged us to have great dreams for our schools.

In his parting message Fr. Patrick quoted “some people are born great, some people have greatness trusted upon them and some people become great”, and wished them to become 100% good leaders for this year and in future. On behalf of all the leaders present one of the students thanked animator for the wonderful, inspiring and thought provoking leadership programme and the students appreciated with a thunderous applause. The students also expressed their gratitude to the ARCIES and the Host school for making the leadership programmes a reality for them. They set out to their respective schools carrying happy memories of the days, determined to be good leaders.

Renuka Chettri, student

St. Mary’s Convent School

Geyzing

National CRI meet

Nov28

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The National CRI meet was held on 21st – 23rd November 2014 at St. Anne Generalate, Ranchi. It was conducted by the CRI team, on the theme “ The Consecrated life”. 254 participants from different congregations were present for the Seminar. It was inaugurated with a short prayer, animated by Fr. Joe Mannath SDB, the National Secretary of the CRI. The Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi Rt. Rev. Theodor Mascarenus declared opened the seminar with his short message on the theme of the day. He exhorted us to be people of prayer.

Fr. Joe, the resource person of the day, dealt on the topic ‘Psycho-Sexual Integration’. He highlighted the different stages of Psycho, Sexual development and the types of abuses.

The second day began with the celebration of the solemn Holy Eucharist, presided over by the National CRI President, Rev Fr. V.M. Thomas SDB, the Provincial of Guwahati Province. In the homily, he quoted the message of Pope Francis, “Spirit filled evangelizers with the fragrance of the Gospel. He urged us to be the smell of the sheep, the living of the Gospel in words and actions, the living memorial of Jesus and to be seekers of God.”

In his sessions Fr. V.M. Thomas mentioned that the consecrated life is a gift to the Church and to the world. He gave us some practical tips, how to be effective in our mission, likewise: creative fidelity, net working, reflection, taking risks, daring, determination, faith and will power.

On the last day the session was on celibacy by Fr. Joe, who led us into a deeper understanding of the topic. At the end of the session there was a short thanksgiving for all the resourceful persons. Sr. Linda Mary, the Mother General of the daughters of St. Anne was highly appreciated for her hospitality. She encouraged us to live our consecrated life to the full.

Since it was the feast of Christ the King, we had a thanksgiving Mass solemnized by Rt. Rev.Theodor Mascarenus, the auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi. In the afternoon we participated in the solemn Eucharistic procession in honour of Christ the King. During Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament, the year of the consecrated life was officially declared opened, by Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi Rt. Rev. Telesphor Bilung, in the name of his eminence cardinal Telesphor Toppo.

It was a memorable day for all especially for us 20 Salesian sisters from 3 provinces, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai who participated for the first time. It was really an amazing and eye opening sessions on how to live our consecrated life.

We are grateful to our dear Sr. Provincial Sr. Maria Pettayil for giving us the opportunity to attend this course and supporting us with her prayers.

2nd Novitiate sisters

Ranchi

Work shop on Campaign against Child Abuse

Nov10

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Seminar on “Campaign against Child Abuse” was conducted for the teaching staff of Kolkata Zone on 01 November 2014 at Auxilium Convent School, Kalyani by the KSSDS Team. The participants were 27 teachers and 4 Sisters. The presence of Mrs. Shonta Sarkar, the Panchayat President of Kalyani, for inauguration added joy to the occasion. In her speech she highlighted the work of the Sisters for the poor and the marginalised and expressed her gratitude and appreciation. The resource persons of the seminar were Sr. Leelamma Pallipparambil and Mr.Debarshi Bhowmic. The topics they dealt were Concept of Child and their stages of growth, the attitude of the children and the students of today, Developmental stages of a child and the types of abuse.

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Media Mesmerizing

Oct4

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 A three day of seminar on Media Technology was organized by the Social communication Sector of the Province from 1 – 3 October 2014 at Auxilium Provincial House, Dum Dum. There were 27 participants form different communities of the Province. The animators of the seminar were Sr. Rosy Veliyan, Sr. Stella Potteparambil, Sr. Esther Rani Abraham and Sr. Mini Chettayil.

The Seminar commenced with the welcoming address by Vice Provincial, Rev. Sr. Teresa Adampakallel. She stressed on the importance of Communication and on the use of Technology in today’s world referring to the message of Holy Father Pope Francis on the occasion of the World Communication Day. “The internet is the gift of God and we are to use it in a useful way”.

The resources persons dealt the following topics such as Art of News Reporting by Sr. Stella Potteparambil, Challenges of media in today’s educative scenario by Sr. Esther Rani Abraham, Photography & Power Point Presentation by Sr. Rosy Veliyan and Social Network and use of Publisher by Sr. Mini Chettayil.

At the end of the seminar Sr. Rosina Thomas said, “Sr. Esther Rani Abraham’s talk on the importance of the media and our role as educators to help the youth was very thought provoking. Sr. Rosy made great effort to make us understand the basics of power point presentation and photography. It was very interesting”. Sr. Sabita Nayak added, “After the Media Seminar the light of Media Technology began brightly shining.”

Sr. Restitula Kharpran expressed her joy saying, “All the resource persons were very much to the point. I profited much. They updated us about media to become efficient in our educative mission. It is an encouragement for me to update myself with Media Technology.”

By Sr. Prema Francis

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