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A Society is essentially an “association of persons” and hence has human persons as its “members.” The members are both “owners” and the “management” of the Society.

A Trust, instead, is essentially a “legal obligation” attached to some property which is carried on with the help of human persons called “Trustees” because of the trust reposed in them by the owner of the property (Section 3 of Indian Trust Act 1882, [ITA, 1882 for short]).  In this article we will discuss some issues of a Trust vis-à-vis Trustees.

Public & Private Trusts

A trust registered in India is generally governed by the Indian Trust Act 1882 or in the State of Maharashtra by the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 or by any other Trust Act in force in the respective State. A trust is defined as a “Public” trust when it is irrevocable, where the beneficiaries are the public-at-large and on dissolution the remaining assets are not shared among the trustees or select beneficiaries. A “private trust,” instead, refers to a trust that is revocable, where the beneficiaries are a private group of individuals or members of a family and where on dissolution the remaining assets are distributed among the select beneficiaries. A public trust is entitled for benefits under the income tax act, whereas a private trust will pay taxes.

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Fr Trevor D’Souza OFM

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CRYSTAL

Past readers of this column may already know how much I enjoy reading the lives of the saints, following their trials and sufferings, their joys and accomplishments as they bring the Good News to the world. Because each one’s life experience is so unique, and the challenges they faced so diverse, I find myself entering into their stories with interest. I wonder how I might have fared had I been faced with the same challenges, as well as learning how I might, in some way, emulate their virtues.  Usually, I come up feeling quite challenged in both categories.

Moved to Tears

Perhaps it was for this reason that I was completely taken by surprise on my powerful reaction to a short essay by Anthony Esolen on the life of Saint John Bosco.  As lovely as it was, my reaction was not inspired by the beautiful story of how he founded the Salesians to minister to thousands of boys in his lifetime. It was the portion of the story that relates to his mother’s contribution. Esolen writes,

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan

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Director: Robert Mulligan 130 mts. Cast: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White, Brock Peters, Estelle Evans. (1962. 130 minutes)

The classic movie adaptation of Harper Lee’s celebrated novel centers on the moral heroism of a American lawyer who stands up to defend an innocent African-American man against racial injustice. The story is set in the 1930s, when, Southern United States, whites routinely ill-treated African-Americans, and could get away with it. Equal rights did not exist.

Atticus Finch, is a lawyer and a widower bringing up his two children—the tomboyish Scout and her ten-year-old brother Jem.

Tom Robinson, a young Black man, is arrested and brought for trial over a false accusation of rape by a white woman named Mayella Violet Ewell, and her father Bob.  Atticus Finch, who takes up the poor man’s defense, has to face the hatred and prejudice of his fellow White racist community. Atticus stands his ground against a White lynch mob attempting to break into jail to kill Tom Robinson. He has to protect and encourage his children to stand up to the taunts and hate from schoolmates too. He explains the situation to Scout and Jem, assuring them of the righteousness of his cause. In the court, Atticus conclusively proves Tom Robinson innocent. However, the prejudiced and hostile jury offers an unjust verdict against Robinson, just because he is Black. Later, when taken to prison, Tom is reported to have attempted to run away and the sheriff shoots and kills him. Ewell insults and spits on Atticus. He attacks Scout and Jem. The movie won three Oscars, including best actor for Gregory Peck.

Father Rupert Mayer

Director: Damian Chapa * Cast: Oliver Gruber, Nicola Mayerl, Michael Mendl, Thomas Morris, Timothy Peach, Stacy Keach Torsten, Lennie Münchow (2014. 117 minutes)

This is the story of a martyr-hero of Nazi Germany who paid with his life to stand up to the Nazi regime.  The musically talented Rupert Mayer responded to God’s call  early in his life. He joined the Jesuits after a distinguished education and ordination as priest. He worked as a preacher in Austria and Germany, before taking up pastoral work among the poor migrant workers in Munich, where he was very influential, both as a violinist and pastor who spent his life for the poor. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Mayer’s patriotism drew him into the army to work as chaplain.. His bravery made him a legend among his fellow soldiers. He would administer sacraments to the soldiers under gunfire and became the first chaplain to win the Iron Cross for bravery in the field. In an attempt to save a compatriot threatened by Russians, he lost a leg in grenade blast.

The Nazis seized power in 1934. Realizing the dangerous drift that was leading his beloved Germany into darkness and cruelty, Father Mayer used his influence to preach openly against Nazism. He refused to give in to threats and temptations When Hitler fully activated the political campaign against  the church, closing down schools and persecuting religious orders, he stood up to him. The Nazis feared his powerful influence. They wanted to silence him and even attempted to defame him. In May 1937, when the Gestapo  banned his speaking in public,  he continued to preach in church. He was arrested from there and put in Stadelheim prison, where he provided spiritual help to fellow prisoners, although this was very dangerous. In 1939, he was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp when people openly protested in his favour. He was released by the intervention of his loyal friends in the government. In 1944, he was interned in Ettal Monastery till the end of the war. When American forces liberated the country, Father Mayer returned to Munich, where he died a few months later.

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Prof Gigy Joseph

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PUBLISH AN INTERNATIONAL EDITION

I have been fascinated by recent issues of MAGNET, especially the three that have come out in 2021, with special features on mental Health and Catholic education. Living in Africa for 31 years (including eight years as a Salesian in Kenya), I see its relevance of those cover stories especially in the African context.

Christian missionaries in general have been contributing in a big way towards the education of young people in Africa. I must admit these years as a lay person and with my experience setting up and assisting in the running of Centres for technical skills training for young people who are financially and academically disadvantaged, those involved in Christian education could certainly become more attuned to the powerful and challenging ideas coming from your articles.

Besides, the various insights coming out of MAGNET on Mental health are a call for us in Africa as well to do more in this field. In these recent years there is a growing awareness in our part of Africa to take away the stigma attached to mental health problems and to stop considering it as a matter for traditional healers.

What troubles my mind when I read MAGNET and get touched by the wealth of practical insights and call to action, is how to spread the message by getting MAGNET reach more people in Africa. I am now resolved to do shop talk (starting this week) with a few friends among the religious and the clergy about spreading the word on MAGNET.

Meanwhile, a humble suggestion, would you consider an international version of MAGNET? That would basically mean just editing /removing articles that may not have much relevance outside the Indian context. We could try first getting into the Associations of religious superiors in various English-speaking countries in Africa and see how MAGNET gets received on line.

Raj A Joseph, Mozambique, Africa

WEAKENING OF FAITH

I would like to comment further on the current situation of weakening of faith mentioned in the article ‘The Superior’(April ’21 issue). In recent times, five things are noticeable among religious: (1) Lack of interest in prayer, which is quite puzzling, making people wonder why they become religious; (2) General decline and neglect in making confessions ; (3) Neglect  of spiritual direction; (4) Low esteem for community life. The few suicides among priests and religious have also caught media attention.

I am inclined to believe that there is some correlation among these.

 Fr Matthew Adukanil SDB, Tiruppattur, Tamilnadu

A GREAT JOB

I always love the inspirational quotes, but I especially appreciated in this issue that you had three quotes of Indian origin.

Joe Anthony’s column on Dr Collins was interesting and informative. I had not really heard about him, but he is a wonderful man. At CTU we are giving our Peacemaker award in a few weeks to Dr Fauci and his wife. I think Dr Collins, although not as famous, deserves the reward as well!

Brother Carmel always amazes me–his compassion and his acceptance of people is wonderful and challenging.

You were busy in this issue with three of the four feature articles. I liked each one. The first was a good “from below” approach to Fratelli Tutti, and the article about Pope Francis was warm and inspiring. Your third feature article reminded me of the book Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson. It’s a powerful book that compares racism in America to Nazism in Germany and Caste in India. It might be a book to recommend to your readers.

And Fr Matthew George’s s story of his work with the poorest of the poor was very powerful. Where you stand is what you stand for!

In sum, great job.

Fr Stephen Bevans SVD, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.

WAITING FOR MAGNET

I wait for the copy to reach at the beginning of the month. It’s a good start. I sincerely congratulate each and every person of the MAGNET team for your incredible work behind the success of the magazine. You play a vital role in forming the hearts of the readers and you deserve to be applauded in high esteem by all those who read and benefit from it.

Sr Teresa Alapatt FDCC, Vizagapatnam, AP

 FILLS A REAL NEED

Your magazine is greatly admired and fills a real need for good reading material. You have
managed to hold the attention of readers for three years now.
I wish you and your helpers and advisors the very best. May God continue to bless all your
efforts.

Janina Shanti Gomes, Thane, Maharashtra

SUGGESTIONS

MAGNET is excellent! It is one of the best magazines I know.

I would suggest that you publish articles on the following themes: (1) Series of articles on Psycho-Spiritual/ Psycho-Sexual Integration; (2) Eucharistic Spirituality; (3) Faith formation in the younger Generation.

I do appreciate the article, “Fratelli Tutti: From Theory to Practice.” The same could be done whenever an Encyclical is promulgated.

Kudos to Fr. Joe and Team for the excellent work you’re doing; stay blessed always!

Sr Dominic SJV, Vizakhapatnam, AP

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Is the church a well-structured pyramid or a loving, caring, family? What counts more—who holds which post, or how to create a world of love? What is more crucial—theological precision or eagerness to reach out, help and heal?

There was a time when the “Pyramid image of the church” was the standard: The Pope on top, below him the bishops, below them the priests, and then? Most priests would see sisters and brothers as inferior to them—and all these “special groups” saw themselves as above the laity!

In this way of thinking, “vocation” meant something a few special people had. “Peter comes to serve Mass; I think he has a vocation”; “Mary is a pious girl; she has a vocation.” The much-used expression, “vocation promotion” meant trying to get new members for one’s religious order or diocese.

This is still largely our vocabulary (and thinking and praxis) in India, isn’t it?

Vatican II—over fifty years ago—asked us to see the Church differently, more in line with Jesus’ teaching. The Church is the “People of God.” Everyone belongs to God and is part of God’s family. There are no higher or lower states. Every believer has the same vocation—to holiness. And holiness means to live as Jesus lived and taught. There are no first grade or third grade Christians. The Pope and his cook, the bishop and his driver, the mother general and the girl sweeping the corridors—all are equal before God, and have the same vocation to holiness.

Leaving religious life is not “losing one’s vocation.” Perseverance is not the same as fidelity (as Father Pascual Chavez, former superior general of the Salesians, used to insist). Just staying in is not the same as being faithful to God’s call.

This issue has vocation as its focus. It starts with Pope Francis’s message on Vocation Day (25 April). He presents St Joseph as a model for people from all walks of life. Next come seven vocation stories—four women religious, a priest, a religious brother, and someone who was once a happy priest and is now a happy married man.

The Couplespeak column presents the matchless impact of a mother’s vocation.

Other challenging examples: A footballer’s commitment to feed the poor; a book about finding strength in the midst of atrocious suffering; another book about “dying empty”; touching lessons learnt from feeding the poor; stories of three women—one who moved from rejection to acceptance, a second who was brutalized, and a third who became a beacon of hope; great movies about two heroic witnesses; and more. All these are true “vocation stories.” Tell us what gripped you most.

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Sr Theresa Phawa FMA has completed her two-year term as Associate Editor of MAGNET. Our sincere thanks to Sr Theresa for her involvement in every aspect of the magazine—from getting articles to getting the printed copies dispatched.

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In a field generally considered a preserve of priests, I was keen on getting a woman religious to continue our Canon Law column. Here she is: Sr Navya Thattil OSF has a doctorate in Canon Law from Rome, and has been Associate Judge and Defender of the Bond in the Marriage Tribunals of Bombay and Bangalore Archdioceses. She has provided canonical aid to several religious orders of women, including their general and provincial chapters, and taught in theological colleges. She is the Coordinator of ongoing formation for her religious institute and Canonical Consultant of Bhopal Archdiocese.

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My sincere thanks to the readers who have sent us feedback about MAGNET. Those who have not, please take five minutes and do us this favour! Your opinion matters to us! What has come in is extremely encouraging. We are delighted to see that MAGNET more than meets your expectations, and helps you personally and in your ministry.

One more request:

I am looking for someone to take my place as editor. Do you have any good names? The person needs: Excellent mastery of English, good writing skills, knowledge of editing, willingness to re-write, aesthetic sense in choice of illustrations, fanatic commitment to quality, contacts with columnists and other writers. MAGNET should be as good as any Catholic mag anywhere in the world, and its design and production not inferior to the best secular magazines today. This means late nights and much work (as any writer or editor knows), but we can enrich thousands of lives, and animate our animators. The written word, as you know, has an impact larger and more lasting than we can see.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

Editor

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By Walter J. Ciszek SJ, with Daniel L. Flaherty SJ (2014)

This is the memoir of a self -willed, rebellious boy whom God chose to do something unique—to suffer and witness in the heart of intense suffering. Walter Ciszek was born of a Polish immigrant family in Pennsylvania, USA.  Being a trouble-maker, his joining the Jesuits surprised everyone. After his ordination, responding to the Pope’s call to seminarians to volunteer to serve in Communist Russia, he trained in Rome. During the World War II he worked in a parish in Poland.

In 1939 the Soviet Army captured Eastern Poland, and unleashed a fierce persecution. Ciszek was arrested by the NKVD, the Soviet Secret Service. He was in solitary confinement for five years, and then sent to the Siberian slave labour camps. He spent the next fifteen years witnessing human suffering and cruelty at its most intense. Many thought him dead. Unknown to the outer world, Ciszek survived, slaving away in the midst of cruelty, bitter cold and starvation. Faith held him close to God and helped him endure while serving the faithful, secretly administering sacraments to fellow prisoners, consoling and encouraging them in their sufferings. In 1963 he was released in exchange for two Soviet spies held by the US government. His experiences were narrated in his first book, With God in Russia. But soon he felt that he had missed something—the spiritual lessons he learned from his experience, which prompted the present book.

He reflects how God had stripped away his physical and religious consolations, and left him with a core of seemingly simple truth. Prayer life provided the courage and relief from mental and spiritual suffering. His unshakeable inner serenity overcame the “arrogance of evil” that he faced. Solitary imprisonment became his “school of prayer.” He treated his slavery in the notorious Siberian salt mines in subzero temperatures round the year as a labour pleasing to God, providing him with a deeper understanding of God’s infinite compassion. His Catholic faith strengthened him. When he returned home, Fr Ciszek only felt a “simple sense of gratitude to God.”. He asks: “What can ultimately trouble the soul that accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do His will?” This wisdom sums up the meaning of all his sufferings. What a source of inspiration to all who suffer!

Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

By Todd Henry (2013)

Die Empty is a tool for people who aren’t willing to put off their most important work for another day.

“Don’t go to your grave with your best work inside of you. Choose to die empty,” is the message of this book. The inspiration for this book came from a question: “Which is the most valuable piece of land on earth?” Answer: “The graveyard.” Reason: It is the place where “all the unwritten novels, never-launched businesses, un-reconciled relationships” and all those things that had been put off for the next day lie buried! The absolute certainty of death raises the question who you want to be if you were to die empty. Instead of going to the grave with our best work inside us, we should be able to leave a body of work over our lifetime to make us proud in the end.

Firstly, we need to be “developers.” Secondly, we must overcome mediocrity, which grows over time and affects everyone including the most successful people. Treat each day as the last day of life. Henry cites an imaginary situation in which we can think of someone who accompanies us through one day of life reporting on everything that we do. How would it be if this would represent our whole life?

The author identifies seven deadly sins of mediocrity: aimlessness, boredom, comfort delusion (which forces us to live according to others’ expectations), ego, fear  and guardedness (which isolates us from fruitful  community life). We need to step out of our comfort zones to achieve great things.  Henry also speaks of “S3 goals”—Step Go, Spring Go and Stretch Go. The first is to decide what we will do today, the second is the series of long-term goals and the third short term efforts and challenges that help us grow.

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Prof Gigy Joseph

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Vocation is a call to religious life or married life. Everyone has a call from God.

Sincerely speaking, I think that “vocation promotion” is often an attempt to get people to maintain our institutions and communities. Anybody can live as Jesus showed. As for doing good, I see that many married couples and young people do works of charity.

Some say that young people from well-off families won’t joint religious life. I don’t fully agree. Quite a few join a religious order or seminary after finishing their studies or leaving their career, because they receive an inner call. Another reason is that they have been inspired by the life of some religious or priests.

In my case, I was inspired by seeing my nun aunt, her love and the way she treated each one of us whenever she would come home, which happened rarely. At the same time, I did not like the sisters who taught me in school. I used to think: How unapproachable they are!

As for my life now, personal prayer, recollection and retreats help me to live this life with joy.

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Sr Beena Raphael OP

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I am Sr. Gutberta, the Superior General of a Congregation. At present we have only two novices. Our novitiate house is situated in a place where other religious communities too have their novitiates. So, classes are arranged for them together. Therefore, together with my council, I decided to appoint Sr Pica, who is a teacher in our school, as a novice directress. Can she be appointed and be given both the responsibilities?

Religious life begins with admission to the novitiate. The novitiate holds an indispensable place in formation and the entire religious life. To guarantee that the novitiate will correspond to its purpose, the Codes offer an extensive section on this period of formation (CIC Canons 646-653 and CCEO Canons 517-525). These canons of both the Codes specify the content of the novitiate programme, qualities required for novice director/ess, and the decisions made at the end of the novitiate.

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Sr Navya Thattil OSF

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An Impractical Ideal or the Best Way Forward?

Is religious faith—such as, believing in Jesus and wanting to live as He taught and showed—a practicable way of life, or an ethereal, glossy theory that we are not expected to take seriously?

I remember a Christian-Moslem dialogue meeting in Hyderabad years ago, at which a Moslem lady professor shared her view of Jesus’s teachings. “Sounds beautiful,” she said, “but totally impractical.” She added: “I have, for instance, no great regard for the Sermon on the Mount, which you Christians admire a lot. Show me a society based on that. How can we live by principles like, ‘Show the other cheek’? Mohammed, instead, was not only a religious leader, but also the head of a state. He gave us practical rules by which we can run society. Thus, people know that, if they steal, their hand can be cut off. So, they will not steal.”

Is loving everyone—seeing and trying to treat everyone—as one’s own brother or sister a realizable guide for living, or simply a nice-sounding exhortation that will not work in real life?

Are there people who see (or at least try to see) every human being as one’s own?

Do people who claim to represent Christianity—such as, church leaders, priests, religious superiors—have this type of a great heart and mind, with no bigotry or narrowness? Is the typical clergyman and religious and the typical church-going Christian someone unblemished by cultural and ethnic narrowness? Do we really see and treat others with genuine affection and care, irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, income, place of origin, religion or whatever?

Or, are we more part of the “we-they” game?

A simple way to check this would be: When I meet someone for the first time, is it my main interest to “place” him or her in some group identity—place, language, religion, income, …? Or do I really LISTEN to this person, try to RELATE to this individual, UNDERSTAND him or her? Do I feel closer and more interested if they belong to the “right group”? That may be my place or language group, or caste or tribe, or political party, or area of studies and work. How many close friends have I from groups and settings different from my own?

This issue of MAGNET attempts a look at what this means. Cover Story 1 presents people from different backgrounds who learnt to move from narrowness to largeness of heart. Cover story 2 has quick look at Pope Francis’s vision and practice. Cover Story 3 looks at the experience of a priest-professor among the destitute in a Kolkata slum and the questions it raises. Cover Story 4 shows some blemishes and the reasons for the rot.

As we grow older—not necessarily wiser or better—we may move from childhood certainties and cultural narrowness to adult thinking and a larger mind and heart, or we may focus on the negatives of a group or person, define ourselves in opposition, and fail to notice that we are wasting our life on petty concerns. No group is all good, nor all bad. No group is better or worse, wiser or more stupid. Whatever group I am born into, my main task remains that of becoming human.

This came to light in a discussion among junior members of a religious order, where there were seniors from different states, especially Tamilnadu and Kerala. When a particular priest’s name came up, the juniors spontaneously remarked, “He is neither a Tamil nor a Malayalee. He is a good human being.”

May that be true of you and me. If so, we can truly be a brother or sister to every other human being.

Pope Francis is certainly such a human being, with a large and compassionate heart, and a wise and ever-open mind. His teaching on “EVERYBODY IS MY BROTHER OR SISTER” (FRATELLI TUTTI) inspires, challenges, and shows the way. Many outside the Church, too, see his vision and style as the best way forward. It is much wiser to live together as a family than perish together as fools. Don’t you agree?

 

Does professing the same religion or belonging to the same country or caste or tribe prevent divisions and mutual hatred?

The answer is a huge NO.

Even a superficial knowledge of history gives us the shocking answer.

Think of the mutual persecution of Catholics and Protestants—both professing faith in Jesus.

Or the oppression of African Americans by church-going white Americans.

Or the Iran-Iraq war—between two Moslem countries.

Or the caste-based atrocities in India.

Or the millions who died of starvation in China during the so-called “Cultural Revolution.” The enemy was not a foreign conqueror.

A Study on Multi-Culturalism

Closer home, does joining a religious order—and claiming to want to follow Jesus more closely—or becoming a priest (and hence claiming to want to preach his message of love) make a person a brother / sister to all?

Not necessarily.

A doctoral thesis done at Madras University by Brother Paul Raj SG on multi-culturalism in religious life threw up the following three main findings:

• A significant number of religious were reluctant to be in community with those differing from them in mother tongue or caste;
• But the majority have had happy memories of such heterogeneous communities;
• And the majority stated that such divisions are against the Gospel, and must be resisted.

In other words, the problem exists. So does the desire to solve it.

Years of daily prayer, thousands of Masses, and dozens of retreats do not necessarily “convert” the heart of a person and make it Christ-like. I can stay in the Salesian congregation, attend all the religious practices, do all my jobs regularly—and be a saint or a crook. I can become a true and loving brother to all, or be a linguistic or caste- or tribe- fanatic, and divide people.

……..

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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