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Inspiring Outreach during COVID-19 and the Lockdown

This is something human beings know almost instinctively: Hardships sort out the wheat from the chaff. When the going is easy, we will have many so-called “friends.” When the going is tough—poverty, illness, court cases, false accusations—we realize who really cares and stands by us.

I wrote to the Major Superiors of Religious of India to send us a short report on what their provinces or houses were doing for those affected by the present emergency. We received 713 reports in reply. I passed the summary on to Caritas, the funding arm of the CBCI, which was asked by the Prime Minister’s office what the Catholic church was doing.

I am more than edified by the reports.

Then I found that religious in India are doing more, far more, than what the short reports said.

That’s the way, Sisters, Brothers, Fathers! We, religious—and the Church in general—are at our best when the challenges are toughest and others dare not step in. The heroic nuns of Philadelphia (See Cover Story 3) are just one example of this.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

The numbers change every day. For every city, every state, every country, for the world. With the current levels of instant information—and some misinformation—any of us can access the latest figures, and do it any time of the day or night.

The medical facts are pretty well known. A virus, not bacterial. Hence, antibiotics will not work. No known vaccine or medicine as of today. The only way to be safe is prevention.

Hence the strict lockdown, the social distancing, the frequent hand-washing, the use of masks and gloves, and separate seating, plates and utensils even within religious communities. Hence the acceptance of isolating those with fever, cold and cough, and quarantine for those coming from elsewhere.

Some have said this is the worst pandemic in human history. It is not. Nor is the number of deaths from COVID-19 (hyphenated word) comparable to some of the far worse tragedies humanity has faced.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

In 1962, Thomas Kuhn, a social scientist at the University of Chicago, wrote a book entitled The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that soon became a classic in social sciences. That book introduced the concept of Paradigms, paradigm shifts and resistance to paradigm shifts.

Twenty years later, the physicist Fritjof Capra wrote a book called The Turning Point, in which he tried to explain Kuhn’s concepts in a lay person’s language. Capra focused on two paradigms. One, the Dualistic which influenced thought and behaviour for thousands of years, to which was added the mechanistic understanding in the Modern Era to form the Dualistic-Mechanistic paradigm. The paradigm that has emerged recently is the holistic to which is added the ecological to form the Holistic-Ecological paradigm.

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Fr Jose Parappully SDB

KEVIN

Many of us would have to admit that to a greater or lesser extent we are creatures of habit. At different times in our lives, a predictable pattern seems to set in, one day to the next, month to month, year to year. Some of us may find comfort in the consistency of those rhythms of life and seek to maintain them.  At other times, particularly times such as Lent, we seek to disrupt the normal pattern of our daily lives in order to grow in holiness.  If you are like me, it really takes sustained energy and attention to make any change to the familiar patterns and behaviors that have been such a big part of who I have become.  Most of us don’t do change well. We really don’t like disruption to our accustomed lifestyle and we tend to resist it as best we can—that is, until we are faced with a situation where we are forced to adapt and change. We usually call such times a crisis.

New Situation, New Answers

At these times we come to realize that there are forces beyond our control that clearly and dramatically signal to us that the life we have been living has been changed in meaningful ways. When we come face to face with such life-altering times, like the recent/current pandemic, we are naturally inclined to give in to our human nature and judge ourselves as endangered and accursed.  We are not only inconvenienced, …

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan

Margaret was nearing death. Old and frail, her health devastated by age and cancer, she knew she had very little time left.

And she was alone, helped by a few kind-hearted neighbours.

 I called on her one day. During our conversation, I happened to mention Sr Ernestine, who was in charge of reaching out to the sick and shut-ins in the parish. I knew Sr Ernestine well, since we were part of the parish staff. She herself was getting on in years, and  was not in the best of health. But I never heard her complain about her own health, or see her go around with a long face.

When I mentioned her to Margaret, the sick woman’s face lit up. She responded with one of the most beautiful comments I have heard anyone make about a person. She said, “When Sr Ernestine enters a room, she lights it up!”

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

CRYSTAL

As we walked into our local church for daily mass recently, Kevin and I were greeted by an elderly parishioner who shared the news that he had just been diagnosed with a cancer that left him few treatment options and a diagnosis that he might live for only about six more months. While sympathetic to the shock and worry he shared, it also led Kevin and me to consider how we ourselves would respond if we were given the knowledge that we only had a short time remaining on earth. Perhaps it is the fact that it was not really our diagnosis, but we both strongly believed that our reaction would (eventually) be one of gratefulness for the time we have had together and the many blessings that have come our way over our lifetimes. As we shared our feelings on this, we realized that we have both become aware that old age in itself is not the ultimate desire for either one of us.

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan

As far as the current Coronavirus pandemic is concerned, we need to create awareness about what we need to do, and why. At the same time, we might actually need to have disincentives like, just make it a criminal offence for people to meet that in many numbers. At least out of fear people will stop doing that. We need to take the government regulations seriously and medical recommendations on hygiene (e.g., hand-washing) seriously.

Understanding the Virus
There are three qualities that decide how bad the disease is going to be. They are,

1. The Mode of Spread: Any disease that spreads through respiratory secretions always tends to spread faster. The virus is there in the cough and the sneeze, and it is extremely difficult to have one hundred per cent hand hygiene or cough etiquette.
2. The Infectiousness: There is something called R0 (basic reproductive rate) which decides how infectious each virus is going to be. Technically, this number means that during the disease period, in any patient, how many other people will this patient infect. Now, that is the infectiousness of the virus. The infection rate of Coronavirus is high. And that is the reason why this entire concept of social distancing and avoid physical touch.
3. The Mortality rate: This means the percentage of affected people who die. The case fatality rate has changed from country to country. Most of those who contract Coronavirus get a mild form of the disease and get well, but a small percent die.

Our Response
How do we, as disciples of Jesus, respond to this situation?

1. The Word: The Prophets and many of the Psalms speak to people who are caught up in mass hysteria or subject to pandemics. We may need the current cultural moment precisely the hermeneutic to read the Old Testament, which can otherwise feel so foreign, deeply for the first time.
2. Our Real Faith: Times of public panic force us to align our professed belief with our actual belief. We all say that we believe, God is sovereign and he is taking care of us. But we reveal our true trust when the world goes into meltdown. What is really our heart’s deepest loyalty? The answer is forced to the surface in times of public alarm, such as we are wading into now.
3. Reaching out in Love: When the economy is tanking, opportunities come up to surprise our neighbours with our confidence and joy. Now, is the time to be more outgoing, to be loving more, to be hospitable more. Love stands out strongest when it is least expected, rarest, but needed most.
4. Indomitable Providence: No infected molecule can enter our lungs, unless sent by the hand of a heavenly Father. The Christian faith defines God’s providence. All things come to us not by chance but by His father love and care. Like an inhaler, hope in God’s providence, calms us down, allows us to breathe again.
5. Heart of Jesus: In times of turmoil, in seasons of distress, Jesus is more feelingly with his people than ever. Jesus experienced all the horror of this world that we do. We can go to him. We can sit with him. His arm is around us, stronger than ever, right now as we go through strange days, days of fear, days of panic. His passion and His death are larger than ours. His Sacred Heart is loving and longing for each one us to quench our thirsts.
6. Heavenly Assurance: The cautions are wise. Our bodies are mortal, vulnerable. But our souls, for those united to the risen Christ, are beyond the reach of all eternal danger. How blessed we are, who are in Christ. Be at peace in Christ. All is assured in His unconditional love.

Fr John Singarayar SVD

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How do we respond when atrocities are committed against another community?
Here is an inspiring example.

You will have read about the violence that erupted in a part of North East Delhi in February. It seemed to have been a planned attack on the Moslem community. Houses and shops were attacked and burnt. We should not call such attacks “riots,” which word can make it look as if two or more groups are fighting with each other. This was not the case. One particular community was targeted.

Such things have happened before. What we want to highlight is the exemplary response of the local Catholic Community, especially of a number of Sisters, who moved in, visited the families and the camp, organized medical help, counselled women and children.

To illustrate the kind of trauma people went through, here is just one case, narrated by Sr Anitha Chettiar DHM:
“While I was in the Eidgah Mustafabad camp on 4th March 2020, Sr Kalai FMM came to me and said that there is a woman who was just brought to the camp who is suffering from severe trauma. She and her family of four members were blindfolded during the violent attacks and taken to a place and kept for two days and nights. Later, after much pleading, they were released on the roads. With fear and  trembling they rushed to a friend’s place who directed them to the camp. Till one week even after the violence ceased, the family couldn’t muster courage to go towards their house. The woman was most traumatized of all. She couldn’t trust anyone in the camp too. When offered medicines for her blood pressure, she would refuse saying, “People are here to kill us in the name of medicine and injection, I  don’t want anything… they are coming to kill us…” Worst, she wouldn’t even drink water nor eat even fruits. Later on, to avoid going to the washroom she wouldn’t even drink water nor eat food.”

This woman became normal and started taking medicine and food, when she saw the kindness of the Sisters, and their interest in helping them with very basic needs. Loving action changed suspicion to trust.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi got involved actively and directed Holy Family Hospital to arrange a medical team to go the camp. The relief work from the Catholic side was done under the patronage of the archdiocese, rather than of any particular religious order or NGO.

RUPCHA (the North Indian wing of CHAI) was actively involved.

The Delhi CRI sought help—both money and things, and made sure it reached the victims. The National CRI supported, mostly through a cash contribution. With admiration and thanks, I want to mention the following religious and priests who took the lead, got actively involved and made the terrible sufferings of the victims known to more people. In doing this, they showed the Catholic community, especially religious and priests, how we should reach out and help victims of such cruel attacks.

This relief work is carried out under the guidance of Waqf board in Eidgah, Mustafabad. The core group from the Catholic side consisted of the Coordinator, Mr Anshu Anthony, Sr (Advocate) Anastasia Gill PBVM (Member of the Delhi Minorities Commission), Fr Alex OFM Cap. (Provincial) Fr Sebastian (Director, CHAIRUPCHA), Fr John Britto (Director, Chetanalaya, the Social Wing of Delhi Archdiocese), Fr George PA (Director, Holy Family Hospital), Brother Denis SJ (Vidya Jyoti), Sr Preethi BS of Burari, and Sr Anitha Chettiar DHM (of Prabhatara).

Hats off to them, to the medical personnel from Holy Family Hospital, volunteers from various religious communities of Delhi and others who went personally and helped out generously and lovingly.

Have a look at the photos. They need no explanation. They speak for themselves.

Know that more was done than what these photos show— loving presence, listening to the victims, listing the losses to seek compensation, care of the children, providing emergency relief in cash and kind.

Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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As the years roll by and life’s striving at full throttle settles down to a mellower pace. I think that’s the best time to do all those wonderful things you dreamed about in your younger days, but never really got to do them. For then life was: stress, stress and more stress!

You can call these the ‘golden years.’ You have celebrated fifty years of marriage or religious life or priesthood. If married, you see your children grown up, and are making their own faltering way through life, often exhaustingly uphill. You know, history repeats itself. The nitty-gritty of a growing family, ups and downs on the work front, financial setbacks, illnesses, family rubbings, tension with growing youngsters … it all had its time, and it all took its toll!

Then things gradually begin to settle down to a quieter rhythm. The road is more level and foreseeable. For married couples, the nest is empty. The fledglings have grown and flown away. Retirement. Time alone with one’s spouse. A more relaxed honeymoon. More time for each other. No busy schedules to catch up with.

Then comes the extra bonus! Grand-children! All the pampering and cuddling you never had time for with your own kids—because those other jobs demanded so much of you—now you can shower these on the dear little ones that heaven sends you! They mean a world to you and you mean a world to them! Parents need to do a bit of disciplining. Grandparents can indulge in the caring and caressing!

With some doors closed, so many others open up spontaneously—as if just waiting for the right moment.

How often in the past you must have thought: Oh, if only I had the time to help them! The time is now. You can get involved in social services, like helping in charity institutions, or Church initiatives (Bible Study groups and the like), or informal visits to a family in need, a lonely neighbour, someone bed-ridden, some kids to be helped with their studies … the list can be endless. There’s a whole world out there! You will find that you can make a difference for them, and they will make a difference in your life too. You could join or organize groups to work with, in the slums, prisons, homes, with street children, …

Socializing: There was no time for that before; calling on relatives you never really got to visit. Our technological age offers us possibilities previous generations never had or dreamt of. And when you visit or call, you often find another ‘free’ soul just wanting to connect with the world that seemed lost, or just too far away. Almost every church or neighbourhood has its spontaneous senior-citizens club. You qualify now … to enter into the world of another … share the joys and sorrows that life brought along. Laugh and cry and play together! Life is precious, every moment of it. Season after season of life unfolds possibilities not noticed before! They were all there, but we just did not see them before!

Then there are the hobbies you always wanted to take up: cooking (not just that daily stuff, but those yummy specials you never got to make), perhaps the good old embroidery and knitting, or gardening, carpentry, fixing things up in and around the house, musical instruments, painting, sketching, …

For the more adventurous, it could be sight-seeing, going around the world to see its more than seven wonders!  In quieter moments there is all that reading you had had no time for. Then there is the charm of creative writing, where your dreams take fantastic shapes. Want more hints?

Take a peep at what happens to priests and religious after their ‘retirement.’  For those in schools that comes as early as fifty-five or fifty-eight years of age, when you are still full of plans and dreams that did not materialise because you were somehow glued to those institutions. Now that you are free to look around, you see all those ‘extra-curriculars’ that had so efficiently eluded you! Activities for youth, interaction with young couples, family counselling, getting to know the neighbourhood through regular family visits, activities for senior citizens, rehab centres—so much to choose from. There are the house-bound, due to age or illness; the unemployed waiting for guidance or a helping hand… When people come to know that you have time to give them a listening ear, you’ll always have company–the young and the not-so-young!

For Sisters who had spent most of their time in schools and hospitals, there are the unexplored sectors of social activities for the underprivileged—non-formal classes for children and adults, training in skills for rural men and women, training in leadership, organization of groups to address some particular needs of the area etc. All those non-institutionalized sectors you had to set aside! Now is the time for these!

Then there are also those household chores that you enjoyed doing, but did not have the time for before. There are all hose hobbies that enticed you but that just got cut out somehow. There is the apostolate of the press, of social media … The list here too is … well … unending…  Close your eyes, dream, and let them get hold of you. One step leads to another, then another and another. Before you realize it, you have launched out into a second career. When it is time to step out and ‘retire’ from that too, other doors will open spontaneously!  Keep yourself open to the wonders of life as they unfold, one after another! Ever thought of writing your life story?

Life gets slower and fuller at the same time. This may seem a contradiction, but give it a try! Add life to years and years to life! Bon Voyage!

Sr Esme da Cunha FDCC

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Happy by Forgiving and Deciding to be Happy

Fr Abraham Kadaplackel SDB, 89 years (popularly known as Fr K V Abraham),
Spiritual Director, Salesian Theologate, Kavarapettai, Chennai,
former Rector, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Chennai.

Father KV, you are known as a happy and contented person. What is the main reason or what are the main reasons for your contentment?
No ill-feeling against anyone, and praying daily for those who may have hurt me. Accepting myself as I am. I am from an economically poor background, but I was blessed with extremely good parents and a good family. Another gift: Enjoying a sense of humour.

Looking back, can you share with us some of the persons who inspired you most, and what you learnt from each of them.
Fr. Med, Fr. Murphy, Fr. Dennis, Archbishop Arulappa.
Fr. John Med SDB (was Rector of the Aspirantate, then provincial): His great, sincere, sacrificing love for us, aspirants. His great love for Don Bosco and the Congregation, His exemplary life.
Fr. Joseph Murphy SDB (was Principal, Sacred Heart College, Tiruppattur): Cheerful, simple life-style, genuine love and concern for the poorer college students. He never went to bed without asking pardon even of the youngest aspirant, whom he might have shouted at during the foot-ball game.
Fr. Dennis Duarte SDB (was Dean of Studies in the Aspirantate):  A strict disciplinarian (of the forties), but very kind and helpful. Many of us remember him with great gratitude.
Archbishop Arulappa of Madras-Mylapore: He accepted his poor family background. He had genuine love for priests, especially those in difficulties. He was convinced. He had a deep spirituality. …

NOT RETIRED FROM LIFE!

Sr Mariazinha Carvalho PBVM lives in Goa. She was principal of Sacred Heart Matriculation School, Chennai, and then a missionary in Zambia

Several people asked me, “Sister, have you retired?” I stopped to think and ask myself, “Retired from what?” From religious life, ministry, living fully????  Certainly, not from living life fully!!!!

The issue of ageing did not dawn on me until February 2007, in Zambia, when I was diagnosed with cancer. Being “Number 8” on the Enneagram, I’ve always been an independent person. When I was diagnosed with this illness, I thought to myself, ‘If so many people have cancer, why can’t I be one of them?’

It is only when I began the treatment, after the surgery, at AIIMS, Delhi, that I felt I was totally dependent, and that was not at all easy!!! I had so many people attending to me, my family, the sisters and others. Throughout my therapy (radiation and chemo) of over six months, I never gave up being positive, telling myself, ‘All was well, all is well, all will be well.’ This I attribute to the grace of God, not myself. It was possible only due to Divine intervention. I have experienced  being at death’s door eight times—three drowning incidents , one bus accident, three car accidents and the last one was on Christmas Day 2007, when all thought I was almost  dead after the fifth cycle of chemotherapy. Someone remarked, ‘Eight means wait !!!’ …

FROM MOVIES TO GOD,
FROM POLITICS TO MEDIA MINISTRY

Bro Jesudass Amirthan SSP
Executive Secretary, NARBI

Brother Jesudass, you come across as a joyful and optimistic person. What is the secret of your joyful spirit?
There was an extraordinary intervention in my life by Jesus: I failed in my SSLC in 1972, became a farmer in my village, entered politics at the insistence of our village elders, became a member of Congress Party, joined Kamaraj and Jayaprakash Narayan’s Satyagraha Movement, which sent me to Poonamallee (Chennai) jail! Later got employed as a junior Clerk in Poonamallee.
Finally, in 1976, something happened that changed me. I went to Dhyana Ashram, Mylapore, Chennai, for an annual retreat for the youth.
There I encountered Christ face to face, and distinctly heard Him calling me by name. He pursued me even when I escaped from the encountered sight to the Chapel and shut the door, but He walked in, through the locked door and gave me a capturing smile. That was my road to Damascus, a ‘Hound of Heaven’ moment. It is this extraordinary encounter with Jesus, and His constant presence in me, that has made me an optimistic person with joyful spirit.

You must have faced hardships and tough situations. What gives you the strength to face and overcome them?
After the extraordinary experience of Jesus which I have just mentioned, I knew I am called for an extraordinary life, but I did not know where to go and what to do. After the youth retreat at the Dhyana Ashram, I went to the Connemara Government Central Library in Chennai. There I found an adverisement at the back cover page of  Katholikka Sevai, a Tamil Catholic magazine. The announcement was from Society of St Paul and it captured me: “Young man, do you want to preach Jesus through Modern Means of Communication, like Cinema, Radio and Television?”
I had failed in my SSLC mainly due to cutting classes and watching movies in theatres. Now an opportunity was knocking that I can preach Jesus through Mass Media such as Cinema, Radio, and Television etc. In June 1976, I entered Society of St Paul to become overnight an apostle of modern means of communication.
To my surprise, I found no movies to see, no television to watch, no radio stations for preaching. That very night I went to the chapel, closed the doors and windows , and asked Jesus to come and explain the predicament. It was almost midnight.
Jesus came (I felt), and explained that it was true that these modern things are not there in India, but he assured me that all these things would be realized in and through me, and that He would equip me for that. …

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