Archives

Recollection Day at Auxilium Barasat

Jul28

 Recollection Day

On 23rd July the catholic students of Auxilium Barasat, had the privilege to spend half day in the company of Jesus. The day started with a hymn to the Holy Spirit followed by divine Mercy chaplet and adoration. Rev. Fr. Thomasine during his talk highlighted the Love and Mercy of God for each of us. He compared God’s love to a web closely interconnected. He invited us to be part of this web connecting with God and with each other, for it is love alone is everlasting. Everyone had the joy of receiving the sacrament of confession and experiencing God’s infinite Mercy. The day concluded with meaningful Eucharistic celebration. We were given refreshments and all went home thanking God and the sisters for this wonderful experience.

 Sr.Mary John

 

South Zonal Youth Feast  at Auxilium Kalyani

Jul28

 

ZYmeet

South Zonal Youth feast was held at Kalyani, Auxilium on 23rd July with the theme “Merciful like the Father”.90 youth in all participated from the 5 substation parishes of Ranaghat, Hobhipur, Teharpur, Madanpur and Narayanpur, accompanied by 12 priests and religious from their respective parishes.

Bishop Joseph Gomes from Krishnagar on the onset lit the sacred lamp to draw the Almighty’s blessings and guidance through the day. This was followed by a welcome address by Fr. Raphael sdb, the parish priest of Kalyani. The graceful welcome dance by Kalyani ushered us to the day’s program. 3 input Sessions given by Fr. Saroj Mullick sdb,  on the Year of Mercy, by Fr. Onshu Gayen, the Diocesan Youth Director on Evangelization and Brother Juntu Mondol on Contribution of Youth in the Church, all through Power Point Presentations.

Z Y.Meet

The afternoon session after lunch took all to their heels with the ‘Treasure Hunt’ with excitement, joy, enthusiasm and a mingling of one family, all eager to find the ‘treasure’. The cultural program offered by all the parishes was yet another ice breaking event that kept feet beating to the rhythm of music and dance. Finally the stirring message to all the youth by Fr. Onshu was certainly a home taking one where he stressed the need for all youth to be beacon lights of God’s mercy and love, his peace and justice. He said every gathering like this is to ‘learn’ something. It eventually is to bring about a transformation of ourselves and that of others.

Z Y .Meet

Before all could depart the entire group was again united in a moment of joy, laughter and merriment through group dances and singing. We thanked the good and Almighty God for favorable weather and a successful zonal Youth Fest.

 

Economers’ Meet

Jul25

Meeting.

The Economers’ Meet was held from 15 – 17 July 2016 at Provincial House Auxilium, Dum Dum. 22 Economers participated in the meeting. It was organized by Sr.Annie Thevarkunnel, the Provincial Economer. In the introductory talk Provincial Sr.Rose Ezarath helped the participants to understand the meaning of the economer and highlighted three important values that are essential to be an efficient economer. She said that administration is not only taking care of the house but reaching out to the mission especially the poor.

Meeting..

 Sr. Annie handled the topics of TDS, STDS, society and salary. She urged the participants to keep in mind the rules of the Church, Institute and of the nation. In the afternoon lawyer Mr. Tapas Chowdhury, dealt with the rules of Civil Law and stressed the need to update.

meeting

The last session was on auditing account and bank account taken by Mr. Sanjay, the auditor. Sisters were enriched and doubts were clarified. He urged the sisters to be more accurate in the works and to be aware of the present demands of the government. Sr. Provincial concluded the meeting by appreciating and encouraging the sisters by saying, “Trust in the Lord and carry out the mission with love and commitment.”

Annual Spiritual Retreat at Janta H.S. School Jumaikela

Jul25

retreat.

The students and teaching staff of Janta H.S. School Jumaikela had their annual spiritual retreat from 7th July to 9th July 2016. The retreat began around 11.00 a.m. animated by   Bro. Simon and Bro. Reggie James from Lurd Dipa Jharkhand. Bro. Simon began the session with action songs. It was followed by Bro. Reggie James’s session with video clippings. He shared   his own life experience.

During the retreat the animators spoke about self-esteem, kindness and character building. They made the participants to become aware of their own life, where they stand and the goal of their life.  Through the power-point presentations, action songs and videos clips they were able to convince the participants that they are precious in the sight of God and to each other.  They were invited to live their lives happily and meaningfully.

Retreat

The last day of the retreat the students were invited to share their experience of the retreat. Many of them said that they want to be kind and become good children of God .We thank and praise God for this wonderful experience the students had during the retreat.seminar.

 

seminar

On the last day of the retreat there was orientation program for teachers. The questions they put forward were who is an effective teacher and who is an educator? The animators explained to the staff every idea point by point and helped them to understand the value and role of a teacher. They were told that a teacher should be a mother to all the children especially to the poor and weak students.  The students and staff expressed their gratitude to the animators for their availability.

 

 

 

Starting afresh at Auxilium Convent Barasat

Jul11

Adoration

On 7th July 2016, the community of Auxilium Convent, Barasat  raised  a hymn of gratitude to the Almighty for the gift of all the community members especially the new members. It commenced with the Eucharistic celebration in the morning, and in the evening the whole community gathered around the well decorated chapel for the Adoration. The altar was decorated with a chain made of different colours to indicate our union with God and  with one another in spite of the  diversities and the names of all the community members as well as various groups of the Educating community. Adoration began with a hymn inviting the assembly to be united in the Lord and with each other. The sisters, representatives of the boarders, teachers and other collaborators carried a lighted candle to the altar. During the Adoration each one expressed their gratitude to God for the gift of each and every member of the community and implored his blessings on each one and the educative mission. This meaningful Adoration led everyone to experience the spiritual communion among ourselves.

Auxilium Barasat

Provincial Visit at Sacred Heart Novitiate, Ranchi

Jul7

Provincial Visit

From 25 -26 June 2016, Provincial Sr. Rose Ezarath made her visit at Sacred Heart Novitiate, Ranchi. It commenced with the inaugural prayer inviting the assembly to be the merciful face of the Father.  Provincial with her sincere appreciation and gentle reminder exhorted the sisters to spread the beauty of the Religious call so as to be an inspiration for the novices to say their total ‘yes’.

Oratory

The oratorians were happy to greet Sr. Rose, whom they have known. Sr. Rose during her friendly chat elucidated from them the secret of their coming to the Oratory “to hear stories about Jesus”.

Outing

The Novitiate and Mazzarello communities had an outing together in the company of Provincial to Patratu Dam which was a thrilling and exciting experience.

 

Seminar held at St. Mary’s Geyzing

Jul6

 

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On 2nd July 2016 a seminar on moral education was conducted in St. Mary’s Convent School Sikkim for the teachers. Sr. Lucy John, Principal welcomed and introduced the resource person, Mrs. Joita Shah of Macmillan publishers. Teachers from six different schools of West Sikkim participated in the seminar.

Sr. Lucy John, the principal of St.Mary’s Convent School in her welcome addressed  stressed that the children are the wealth of the nation and are looked upon as future leaders of the country. So children are our assets. Education is a great challenge for us today. We need to impart values, and form the character of the child from the very early stages of life.

Ms.Joita Shah in her input session focused on the moral values such as

Respect others, Fairness, Caring, honesty, responsibility, integrity etc.

The 6 pillars TRRFCC which forms the personality of a person is:

T-TRUSTWORTHY

R-RESPECT

R-RESPONSIBLE

F-FAIRNESS

C-CARING

C-CITIZENSHIP

Through mono act she brought out the contemporary moral issues. The seminar highlighted the value and moral responsibility of educators to be good role models and to build relationship with students.

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 Seminar was comprised of activities, screening of video clips, and discussion on the importance of emotions. Importance of 4c’s CONNECTION– having the sense of belonging, CAPABILITY–having the ability to take care of oneself, COUNTING–having the knowledge that can make a different and COURAGE–beliving,one can handle what comes.Seminar ended with the song “Light the lamp” where teachers raised their voice to sing together and pledge themselves to light the flame in the hearts of every young child.

All the teachers were grateful to the Management for organizing the workshop.

Sr.Sandhya Minj

 

 

Pope’s Day Celebration at St. Mary’s Geyzing

Jul6

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St. Mary’s Convent School celebrated the Pope’s day. To demonstrate our honor and love to Holy Father Pope Francis the students of class V staged a short program. They acted out Holy Father’s love towards the whole universe and brought out the messages of the Holy Father “Praise be to you my Lord through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us. To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God.” Through their short skit they conveyed the message that each individual should take up the responsibility to save the Mother .

Sr.Sandhya Minj

 

 

 

Workshop   on Training of Trainers on Child Protection Policy

Jul3

The National Development Forum of FMA-India organized a training programme on Child Protection Policy (CPP) at Don Bosco Wellington from 22nd to 25th June 2016. Srs. Leelamma Palliparambil, Stella Potteparambil and Inocencia Jojo participated  from the Province.

At 7.45 a.m the Eucharist was celebrated by Fr. Joe Xavier SJ the resource person for the TOT workshop who through the breaking of the Word and bread strengthened the  spirit of participants to commence the journey of the workshop.

The inaugural ceremony commenced with introduction Sr. Isabella the NDF national coordinator  and continued with   lighting of the lamp  by Provincial of INM Sr.Magnificat Soosai , Fr. Joe Xavier and the representatives of the six provinces.

CCP ..

This was followed by the releasing of the newsletter of the NDF  by Sr. Soosai Magnificat and was presented to Fr. Joe Xavier and the SDC of  all the provinces. Sr. Magnificat enlightened the participants with her keynote address and in her discourse she gave a short description on the origin CPP.  She invited the participants to live the chapter deliberations and follow the footsteps of Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello in serving the downtrodden in the periphery.

Fr. Joe Xavier conducted the session as how to   become an efficient trainer for sisters, staff, children and parents of CPP. He then presented 3 model modules for parents, teachers and students.  After which the participants were divided into   groups to study the modules and to give their suggestions. A fourth group was formed to prepare the module for the sisters.

CCP

The second day and the third day were set aside for the experimenting revising and presenting the modules.  Fr. Joe Xavier revitalized the modules with new objectives, interpretations, vital tips for implementing it.  The meeting came to its close on 24th evening with thanksgiving ceremony.

Participant – Sr. Stella P.

SEMINAR ON “PASSING ON OF OUR MEMORY”

Jul2

The Seminar on PASSING ON OF OUR MEMORY – Glimpses of Indian Salesian History, was held in Don Bosco Provinical House, Bangalore, June 24-26, 2016. The Seminar was held under the aegis of the premiere institute of history of the Congregation, the ISS (Istituto Storico Salesiano), Rome, and the mother body of ACSSA (Associazione Cultori di Storia Salesiana). Rev. Fr. Thomas Anchukandam sdb, the Director of ISS and member of the Executive Committee (Presidenza) of ACSSA represented both these institutions at the Seminar. Fr Thomas was a source of inspiration and guidance right from the inception of the idea, the planning and conduct of the Seminar. The realization of this Seminar was also thanks to the interest and initiative of Rev. Fr. Maria Arockiam Kanaga, Regional Superior of South Asia, by way of motivating the Provincials.

The participants were all from the Salesian Family – 8 Salesians (RMG 1, INB 1, IND 1, INK 2, INH 1, INN 1, INS 1); 11 Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (INB 1, INC 2, ING 2, INK 1, INM 3, INS 1); 1 Sister of Mary Immaculate (Bangalore). Sr. Maria Pettayil and Sr. Lily Perumpettikunnel from our province were among them.

ACCSA 2016

The Inauguration began at 9.30 a.m. with a fervent hymn in praise of and in prayer to Don Bosco. Rev. Fr. Kapplikunnel, the Coordinator of the seminar welcomed everyone in affectionate terms. Rev. Fr. Joyce Thonikuzhiyil sdb the Provincial, gave the presidential address.

What followed was a ‘Connect to the Centre’ listening to the messages received from Rome:

  • The Rector Major Rev. Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime exhorted the participants, to demonstrate in a credible way the Salesian contribution in the various sectors of human promotion, especially in that closest to the world of the young.
  • The Mother General of the FMAs, Sr Yvonne Reungoat reiterated that writing history for recognizing the wonders of God in the educational endeavours of our past, and that examining the past with the intention of learning to plan for the future is a commitment on the part of historiographers.
  • In his message, Rev. Fr. Maria Arockiam Kanaga, the Regional Councillor for South Asia made a poignant mention about preserving the memory of our history and of our ancestors for the sake of our posterity.
  • Fr. Francesco Motto, President of ACSSA, affirmed that the Indian ACSSA will be instrumental in passing on to the future generations of the Indian Salesian Family the rich documentary heritage that previous generations have gathered with much sacrifice and zeal for souls.

Fr. Anchukandam presented his paper on Preserving and Passing on of the “Memory” in the Salesian Tradition. He also spoke elaborately on ‘Preserving the Sources and Writing History’. Fr. Mathew Valarkote sdb the Provincial Secretary dealt on ‘Archive Keeping’.

Sr. Philomena D’Souza (INB) presented her paper on the Founding of Auxilium, Wadala (1945 – 1954);  Fr. Varghese Palatty sdb ( INN) on ‘Don Bosco Ashalayam Delhi;  Sr. Lily Perumpattikunnel (INC) on ‘FMA Presence in New Delhi’(1967 to 1980); Sr. Cecily Thomas (INK) on the ‘Mission of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco for the Girl Children at Risk in Bangalore’; Fr. Mahimai Das (INM) on ‘The Social Service Guild’ of KJC, Bangalore (1968 to 2000); and Fr. Jerish Kochuparambil (IND) gave an account on the Servant of God, Bishop Orestes Marengo sdb as the Architect of Salesian North East India.

Other events of the seminar were: a memorable experience at DB Tech Skill Mission Centre at Bannerghatta Road for the training of Trainers; visit to FMA Convent, Nirmal Jyothi, and  Don Bosco Renewal Centre .

In the Concluding Session the participants of the Seminar expressed their intention to proceed with the launch of the South Asia unit of ACSSA, with those who were present for the seminar as the founding members. The English expansion of ACSSA was fixed as: Association of the Promoters of Salesian History. In the elections that ensued, the following were elected unanimously as the office bearers of the ACSSA:

Sr. Philomena D’Souza fma                  : President

Fr. Varghese Palatty sdb                       : Vice President

Fr. Mathew Kapplikunnel sdb               : Secretary cum Treasurer

Sr. Rajapushpam smi                            : Joint Secretary

Fr. Anchukandam sdb officially welcomed the Office Bearers of the ACSSA. The deliberations continued with defining the criteria for membership of ACSSA, frequency of meetings, date, venue and theme for the next meeting, finance, publication of the papers presented during the seminar and suggestions relevant to the promotion of Salesian History.

Future admissions will be regulated by a set of Statutes which will be drawn up by the Executive Committee (Office bearers) and approved by the general body in the next meeting.

It was decided to hold the next meeting of ACSSA in the last weekend of June 2018 on the theme: Salesian Stalwarts of India. The venue proposed was Hyderabad, or in the case of any inconvenience, Mumbai.

The frequency of meetings: The Executive Committee will meet at least once a year and as often as is necessary. The general body will meet once in two years, on which occasion serious studies/papers should be presented.

Fr Kapplikunnel earnestly pleaded with the participants to continue as members. He noted that continuity was of paramount importance for the realization of the scope of ACSSA.

With a joyful hymn of thanksgiving to God for Don Bosco, the curtains came down on the South Asia ACSSA Seminar held at Don Bosco Provincial House, Bangalore, from 24 to 26 June 2016.

Participant – Sr. Lily P. FMA