WHAT A JOY…..

Oct20

outing

What a Joy to be together,

As something good we love to see.

It’s like from each one we gather,

The sweetness that we can be.

So we were ready to celebrate,

The joy of being together.

As we started on the 11th September of the date,

With the theme missionaries of love, joy, hope and gratitude with one another.

Everything was at move for this celebration,

Everyone could feel the joyous vibration.

It was a long awaited jubilation,

As we celebrated the vigil at 10th October with devotion.

Then was our heart bubbling with enthusiasm,

To see all of us on the stage.

Then 11th October night came with dynamism,

As the program went on with an amazing daze.

The 12th brought us a special day,

To see all so well prepared.

As we saw Fr. Sudhir on his way,

To bring Jesus in a table well spread.

Our hearts were happy to receive the food for our soul,

This helped us to enjoy the food for our body.

Then an eager waiting for our goal,

As we could see the excitement in everybody.

17th came after a long patient waiting,

To know that there was a place far away to go.

All of us were ready for an outing,

To know that Mandarmoni, we were to go.

The trip of 8 hours was an amazing thing,

To see the sea shore we longed.

It was from there we could bring,

All that the seas shore belonged.

It was all so well planned by God above,

To enjoy his love for us in the abundance.

Our sister’s hard work, all done with love,

Which, made our one day’s out all full of dance.

Now we are refreshed to begin our coming days with great chances.

Sr. Dominica T.

Care for our common home

Oct14

Catechetical day 2015The young Auxilians of Barasat celebrated the Catechetical day with the theme ‘care for our common home’ based on the “LAUDATO SI” on 6th October 2015. 2015 is also observed as the year of soil. The celebration began with invoking God’s blessings through the lighting of the lamp and prayer dance by class VI. The theme was presented as prayer moment through Power point presentation. Everyone felt the need to pray for the Mother earth as all are aware of the destruction caused to the soil.All the Catechism teachers prepared the students so well that through their programme they inculcated the values to respect nature and were made aware of the wonderful creation of God. The catechism students from classes I – XII took active part in the celebration, presenting the theme either through dance or skit or singing. Class IX and X boys also presented the theme through video which drew the attention of everyone to be responsible in taking care of the soil and nature.At the end whole school shouted out in praising the name of the Lord for His wonderful creation.

Alex Adhikari & Sumit Kr. Hansdak

Class IX

Reaching out …  bringing smiles on the faces …

Oct14

P.PupilsThe Past pupils of Dum Dum Unit came together on 11th October 2015 to reach out to the 80 Senior citizens and 20 ladies.The event started with an opening speech by Chumki Sengupta, President of the Past Pupils association, Dum Dum Unit. She then invited Superior Sr.Teresa A. to address the congregation. Superior congratulated the past pupils for their generous contribution and their attempt to bring smiles on the faces of a few members of the society.

Thereafter Superior and Principal Sr. Esther handed over the outfit to few of the senior citizens. Later on each past pupil took turn to distribute clothing to all those who had gathered for the occasion.

It was indeed a great moment of pride for the past pupils in being able to do their bit towards bringing in a bit of cheer in the lives of a few simple womenfolk, men and children.

Love, live and celebrate life togetherness

Oct14

Comty - BarasatAuxilium Convent Barasat celebrated life togetherness on 10th October 2015. One month long preparation came to an end and the long awaited celebration started with an hour of vigil service on 9th October 6.30 pm. Everyone took active part in prayers and praise during the adoration. Sisters had a beautiful morning prayer through power point presentation. Then the boarders, house staff and office staff joined for Missionary Rosary animated by Sr. Elizabeth and boarders. The meal together at 1.00pm was another occasion to cherish the company of each other followed by games and recreation. Different amusing games enchanted everyone and many won prizes for the games. The culmination of the celebration was the Eucharistic celebration at 6.00 pm presided over by Rev. Fr. VL Francis SDB from Kalyani. All entered the chapel with entrance procession as the entrance dance led the gathering towards thealter glorifying the Lord for the gift of the community. He aptly reflected on the community life in the year of Consecrated life. He emphasised on the importance of religious life even in today’s situation. The boarders through their melodious singing made the liturgy more participatory. During prayer of the faithful everyone raised thehands towards different group of people and prayed for their intentions. Rev. Fr. VL.Francis offered special prayers for the community members and all the associates giving solemn blessings for the occasion. The cultural evening was another event to add fun and frolic in the celebration. Sisters boarders, house and office staff performed programme with lots of creativity and made the evening a most beautiful one. All the sisters and aspirants also were invited for the cultural evening. At the end of the joyous day Sr. Stella the animator thanked everyone for their contribution in making the day a festive and memorable one. Indeed the day was spent meaningfully in company of each other and enjoyed the fruits of everyone’s contribution.

Sr. Basanti Ekka FMA

Sisters’ Day Out 

Oct13

Photo0045The community sisters at Kalyani had a happy day out for a picnic to Monsada. We set out at 8.a.m. in our vehicle, and flew like a jet on the smooth roads as we journeyed along through fresh vegetable markets and squares, green fields and small villages, singing, joking and praying too all the way long. At a point on the road we had a very bad odor…holding our breath and noses impatiently. Just then Sr. Margaret blurted out ‘This is Self Love!’ We all burst out in a nonstop of great laughter! On reaching Monsada, the little boarders and sisters gave us a warm and hearty welcome with song and offering us flowers. It was a happy and long awaited joy of both the communities coming as one family. A sumptuous and delicious meal prepared by the community of Monsada  is worth mentioning greatly after which we had “dumb shards’” played, each having to do a forfeit, that made us happy and laugh to one’s contentment. We left the premises thanking profusely Sr. Valsa and the community of Monsada for making this day an enjoyable and happy one for us sisters at Kalyani. We thanked the Lord for favoring us with good weather and his blessings throughout  this day out.

Sr. Geraldine

Happy to be members of the Salesian Family …

Oct12

Cooperators...On 12th September 2015, six newly pledged Salesian co-operators namely, Mrs. Lucy Ajay, Mr. Amit Banerjee, Mrs. Margaret Banerjee, Mrs. Rita Rodrigues, Miss Jenelle Rodrigues and Mrs. Jiji Joseph were felicitated at Auxilium Convent, Dum Dum. A thanksgiving Mass was offered by them at 6. 30 am after which Superior Sr. Teresa A. and Sisters of the community and the pledged Salesian co-operators of Dum Dum unit felicitated them. They newly pledged members expressed their joy of being part of the Salesian Family.

Cooperators..

Salesian Family.

 Parents’ Day Celebration at Auxilium Mirik

Oct12

The little kids of Auxilium Mirik celebrated parent’s day on 9th October 2015. It was a very memorable day for the parents. Around sixty parents and few invited guests were present for celebration.DSC01401DSC01326

Rev.Fr.V.C.Jose SDB, the chief guest of the celebration revived the spirit of the parents encouraging them to have genuine and faithful love for the children, to lead them on the right path. He entertained the children with queries and offered them beautiful prizes which helped the children to take a step forward. They staged the program with beautiful and colourful traditional costumes. At the end of the performance Superior Sr. Cecila K. spoke to the parents as to how to deal with children in our day today life.

Visit of Rector Major Rev. Fr. Angel Fernandes Artime – Ranchi

Oct9

The Salesian family at Ranchi was happy to welcome the 10th successor of Don Bosco Rev. Fr. Angel Fernandes Artime at Don Bosco School Kokar on 2nd October 2015.DSCN1528

The sisters of  Mazzarello Convent  together with 75 students went to eyewitness this occasion. The celebration began with the traditional welcome of Chotanagpur.  Rector Major in his homily said that we are all created by God for a definite purpose and it needs to be accomplished by the individual. He exhorted the assembly to be always cheerful, thus radiating the joy of Christ to everyone we meet.DSCN1531

After the Holy Eucharist the young people interacted with the Rector Major. He in his simplicity vividly answered all their queries. Every answer was marked with the note of practicality and genuineness and also it was a kind of guide lines for everyone especially the young people who are striving to situate with the fast changing world, and who are confused in deciding their future.

DSCN1547The cultural programme added colour to the day’s celebration. The children from Mazzarello Convent School performed a Marati folk dance inviting everyone to announce the message of Christ. Rector Major in concluding talk thanked everyone and appreciated the multi culture of India. Finally he stole the stage with his presentation of a Spanish song.DSCN1565

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