Ministry Experiences

Synodality is not merely a theoretical concept but a practical call to action embraced by Pope Francis. It urges Catholics worldwide to engage in meaningful dialogue with individuals from diverse backgrounds and to foster relationships based on mutual respect and understanding. By actively practicing synodality, we can contribute to the creation of a more just and peaceful world for all.

One notable example of synodality in action occurred during the celebration of International Women’s Day in March 2023 organized by the Brahma Kumaris, a renowned spiritual movement known for the prominent role women play within their organization. The event took place in Dwarka, New Delhi, and served as a platform to advance the cause of women’s empowerment. Recognizing the immense spiritual resources women possess, which often remain untapped and undervalued, the Brahma Kumaris invited empowered women from various sectors of society to address the gathering, aiming to inspire others with their wisdom and experiences. To my astonishment, I received an invitation from the Brahma Kumaris to be the main speaker at this event, which provided me with a remarkable opportunity to interact with a world-renowned group of another faith. As a Catholic nun serving among the marginalized convicts in Tihar Jail, this invitation reaffirmed the reality of synodality in my life—a step taken by Pope Francis to guide the Church forward, listening to each other’s voices and discerning the signs of the times through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Sr Inigo Joachim SSA

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I would like to share with you the experience of my own growth in the Religious life after joining a Congregation with a charism that appealed to me. I felt a definite call to be at the service of those who were poor and marginalised.

In the early days of my Religious life, I accepted in obedience, the transfers given and continued to follow the varied orders of my superiors. However I did begin to feel confused about the practice of the vow of obedience and I experienced difficulty in carrying out routine tasks in an institutional setting. As years passed, I became more aware of the stirrings of God’s Spirit deep within me, in quiet moments of prayer. I began to see more clearly what I was motivated to do and God gave me the courage I needed to articulate my desires, in dialogue with my superiors. Understanding the seriousness of my desires, the superiors allowed me to take a different path to reach out to the poor and marginalised people.

My life among the poor and the social analysis challenged me radically.  I began to understand religious life differently: the vows, community life, prayer, spirituality.  I realised that it is very hard to say ‘No’ to the set norms or established conventions and live an authentic life.

Knowing well that I have just one life to live and wanting to live it as best as I could, placing myself under the guidance of the Spirit, I chose to follow my conscience. Since others around me are on a very different wavelength, I am unable to share with them and they have difficulty understanding my ways. While I do feel sad about this, yet deep down within me, I experience a joy and happiness which is beyond what others can give me.

Manju Kulapuram SCSC

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Paradigm shifts take place and our ministries take a turn to be the signs of the times. We ought to adapt ourselves to answer to emerging issues or situations. We as a community of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary have involved ourselves to catering to the needs of the HIV infected and affected children and people since 2005, as Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu showed a high rate of HIV/AIDS. As the number of child marriages and the victim girls of sexual abuse increased due to COVID 19 curfews, our Home became a Reception Home. Here is how our community became a Fresh Wine Skin.

Rationale of Our Ministry

COVID 19 curfews gave rise to issues that made girl children vulnerable. The children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, orphaned, abandoned and destitute, child labourers, abused and differently-abled, victims of child marriage and teenage pregnancies do need our care and protection. If they are not protected in the Homes, they would be vulnerable before the sexual offenders and perpetrators of this abuse, because, the offenders attempt to erase evidence of crime against girl children and at times attempt to murder the victims. We, as the conscience of the society felt the need to give them care, protection, formal education, training in soft skills, in children entrepreneurship and higher education.

Sr Antony Mary FMM

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Sunday Liturgy, the premier liturgical publication, turns golden this month. Published by the Indian Province of the Society of St Paul, the periodical was launched in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the mother house of the Congregation in India in November, 1972, coinciding with the beginning of the approaching liturgical year. The goal of the till-now four-page leaflet was/is to help the Catholic faithful to participate more actively in the Sunday Eucharist. It was also intended to help busy pastors to prepare themselves for the celebration of the following day’s Eucharistic Liturgy.

His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Mumbai, will be the main celebrant at the Golden Jubilee Eucharist, and at the other festive programmes to be held at the Blessed James Alberione Hall, St Pauls Media complex, Bandra, Mumbai, on November 27, coinciding with the liturgical feast of Bl. James Alberione, the Founder of the Society of St Paul and the Pauline Family.  In addition to felicitating the Paulines who edited the Sunday Liturgy, through its glorious journey till date, His Eminence will also release the golden jubilee edition of the periodical, with the new larger user-friendly format, and many other new features.

Fr Alfonso Elengikal SSP

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I received a call from my godmother on 20 January 2022, my birthday. After greeting me, she narrated a pathetic life story of a twenty-two-year-old-lady who lost her husband during the pandemic. Sharon (name changed) hailing from Thoothukudi, Tamilnadu, lost her mother at a young age. They were three children at home. Her alcoholic father had given her in marriage at the age of sixteen. Sharon was blessed with three children. She had to borrow a big sum of money to treat her husband when he was ill. Her husband succumbed to the Corona virus after few days. Sharon was burdened with Rs 1.25 lakhs in debt when her husband died.

When Sharon was sitting and crying with a heavy heart in St Quiteria’s Church, my godmother noticed her. Going closer to her, she enquired about the reason for her tears. After listening to her, she called me and narrated Sharon’s life story. I received Sharon as my greatest birthday gift and sent a message to our prayer group, asking for help. A lady by name Laura from Mumbai, whom I had never met  or ever spoken to, messaged me saying she would like to help. I sent her Sharon’s account details and, to my surprise, Laura sent Rs 45,000/- to help Sharon. Many other friends too came forward and we cleared her debts in a week’s time. We bought a tailoring machine for her. Today, Sharon lives happily after having cleared her debts. There are so many Sharons who need to be reached and be helped. If such families are not helped, financial burdens make some of them to end their lives.

Sad Statistics

Around 1.89 billion people, or nearly 36% of the world’s population, live in extreme poverty. Nearly half the population in developing countries live on less than $1.25 (about Rs 100) a day. India is a developing nation. Although its economy is growing, poverty is still a major challenge. It has around 84 million people living in extreme poverty, which makes up six percent of its total population as of May 2021. COVID 19 pandemic has pushed millions of people into poverty. The poorest in the world are hungry, have much less access to education, have no light at night regularly, and suffer much from poor health.

Sr Lini Sheeja MSC

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Here are some shocking statistics:

• In India, 21 people commit suicide out of every 100,000 persons.
• Suicide is the second highest cause of death in the 18-29 age group.
• An average of 370 to 380 persons commit suicide every day in India.
• Compared to other countries, the number of Indians affected by depression is high.

Here some statistics on suicides that should make us think—and act. (I am taking the following facts and figures from The Indian Express.) A report published in the Express on October 29, 2021 had this glaring title: 24.6 per cent of total suicides in 2020 by daily wage workers, NCRB data shows.

This report, written by Harikishan Sharma, sasys that the percentage of suicides by daily wage earners has doubled in seven years between 2014-2020.

Further, it gives these shocking figures:

“Amid the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the number of suicides in the country increased by 10 per cent to 1.53 lakh in 2020 from 1.39 lakh a year ago… Suicides by students registered the highest increase of 21.20 per cent, followed by professional/salaried persons – 16.50 per cent and daily wage earners – 15.67 per cent.

The NCRB report ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2020’ stated that suicides by students increased from 10,335 in 2019 to 14,825 in 2020 and their share in total suicides also went up from 7.4 per cent to 8.2 per cent during this period.”

Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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It was a usual Sunday morning. As I was getting ready to leave for Baghar, a slum in Howrah, where I have been spending the Sundays for the past several years, a phone call came from the coordinator of the projects there, asking me not to come as a tragedy had struck the place during the night before. Taken aback, I asked her for details. She told me that two young boys had got drowned in the pond in the middle of the slum while the  immersion of an idol was taking  place,  and that the whole community was in mourning. I expressed my shock at this tragic news and I told her that I would be coming shortly.

Pall of Gloom

Baghar is the garbage dumping ground of the Howrah Municipal Corporation. Every day. hundreds of trucks carrying waste materials collected from the corporation area dump them here. Several mountains of garbage dot the place. Some three hundred families, mostly migrants from Bihar, live around this dumping ground, eking out an  existence by collecting recyclable materials from  the garbage and selling them. The whole place reeks with slime and dirt and unbearable stench, and smoke envelopes the region. People live in highly unhygienic conditions under plastic sheets and in dilapidated huts. Children suffer from malnutrition and from sicknesses associated with unhygienic living conditions.

Eight years ago, the Don Bosco Development Society, the social work wing of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Kolkata, launched a programme in Baghar with a view to weaning  away the children and youth from collecting waste materials and putting them on to the path of  education and skill training.  A number of projects were launched—nutrition programme for babies, health camps, medical help, educational support, computer classes, drinking water supply, making of community toilets, low cost housing and educational tours. Over a period of time, these projects began to bear fruit. They made tangible changes in the slum, especially in the increased admission in schools and decreased school dropouts.

Fr Mathew George SDB

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Some years ago, while taking classes for us in Shillong, Fr Paul Puthenangady SDB told us that a parish should not be merely defined and demarcated by the number of Catholic families in it but by the number of poor people in it. Often, when we engage in the administration and pastoral care in a parish, we limit it to the number of Catholic families in the parish. In several places, especially in North India, we have large geographical areas under a parish but with very few Catholic families in it. But, if we think in a little more broadminded manner, we will realize how much more meaningful and fruitful our service will be.  It will be an authentic following of the example left behind by Jesus during his public ministry, when he reached out mostly to the poor and most marginalized people of his times, irrespective of their religion or ethnicity.

This new way of understanding a parish dawned on me as a big bolt from the blue, when I was assigned to a new mission some months ago to Don Bosco HRD Mission at Dhobasole, in one of the remotest areas in West Bengal. It is a mission among the Santhals in West Midnapore, bordering Bankura district, in the Jungle Mahal area, the original homeland of the Santhals. It is a mission pioneered by Fr Scaria Nedumattathil, who was also a pioneer in Prison Ministry, India. In the Dhobasole mission, there are no Catholics, but the mission is lively and vibrant like any other parish.

Fr Mathew George SDB

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December 12, 2020, was the 262^nd and last day of the non-stop daily feeding of people in the Tengra and Sealdah station area of Kolkata. The people there were severely affected by the first lockdown. This initiative of the Salesian Provincial House community in Kolkata was spearheaded by Father Joseph Aymanathil the first Salesian to die of Covid 19 in Salesian India. The sudden and unexpected lockdown and its continuation for months brought about untold sufferings to the most vulnerable sections of the society—daily wage earners, scavengers, slum dwellers, beggars.

When hunger struck the people hit by the lockdown, we decided to provide cooked food daily to the starving people in the slums nearby and the footpaths around Sealdah Railway station. We could feed around 1500 people daily during the first six months. Once the lockdown was partially lifted, this number came down to around 300. A group of dedicated volunteers braving the virus daily saw to the preparation and distribution of food, an incredible feat indeed and display of their grit and perseverance. Food was transported to various locations by van rickshaws. The distribution was done strictly adhering to Covid 19 protocol. For almost all the beneficiaries, it was the only meal of the day for months. Life had come to almost a standstill for so many.

Fr Mathew George SDB

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Imprisoned, Abandoned & Desperate
Prashanthi (all names in this true story have been changed) was just eighteen years old when she given in marriage to Lokesh, an alcoholic. His drunkenness and irresponsible attitude made life miserable for Prashanthi. Even the basic needs of their little son, Anand, were not met. Lokesh came home drunk every day, beating her for no reason, so much so that, when she would see him coming home, she trembled with fear and hid behind the door. One night, he started thrashing her as usual. The two-year-old child was in her arms. Lokesh dragged his wife into the kitchen and battered her fiercely. In self-defense, she pulled out a log of firewood and hit him on the head. He dashed against a wall and dropped dead. Terrified, she ran to the police station with the child in her arms, and admitted to the involuntary murder of her husband. She was arrested and sent to prison along with the two-year-old Anand.
At the age of six, Anand was shifted to Kolbe Home in Bengaluru, a rehabilitation centre for prisoners’ children run by Prison Ministry India. With tears rolling down cheeks, Prashanthi told me, “If Anand had grown up with us, he would not have become the smart and intelligent boy that he is now. His talents in singing, dancing and in sports have also bloomed only because he has been under your care.”
Prashanti, now released from prison, and her son are two of the forty beneficiaries of the “Housing project” launched by Prison Ministry India (PMI) as part of the Ruby Jubilee celebrations (1981-2021). PMI is a national voluntary organization under the Justice, Peace and Development Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), working for the integral human development of prisoners. Bishop Allwyn D’Silva is its Chairman, and Fr Francis Kodiyan MCBS the National Coordinator.

Sr Lini Sheeja MSC

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