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Meeting with a Catholic couple and their children throws light on the joys and struggles of an ordinary family today, as well as their main source of happiness and strength. Sr Celine Vas interviewed them for MAGNET.

“Children are a gift from the Lord, more precious than anything else a couple can dream of in this world,” says Mr Peter (all names changed). His wife, Philo, stands next to him smiling, and adds, “Children are truly a gift, Sister. We did not plan for any of our children.”

Philo is a staff nurse in one of the well-known hospitals. Peter joined as a health inspector in the Municipal Corporation of the city. After making a retreat, he had felt a deep desire to spread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

The Centre of the Day
The family begins their day by attending Mass together. Peter believes that the Eucharistic Lord has transforming power. “My family and I have witnessed many wonders and graces in our lives. I have five children. The eldest son just completed his Plus 2 and has joined a Graphic Design Diploma course. The other four—two girls and two boys—are in the lower classes. I have no bank accounts, no gold, no property and no house of my own. We live in a rented apartment. I do not have anything in abundance, but enough to meet our needs.”

Philo, a hard-working woman and a trained nurse, reached this city, and started working in a private hospital. She now works at another hospital, for a monthly salary of Rs 40,000, which is the only constant income for the family. Of that, Rs 22,000 go for monthly house rent. Although there are several Catholic schools in the city, Peter and Philo find that they can’t afford to send their children to those schools, since the fees are too high. “My children study in another school, where the monthly fee is only Rs 300 and the midday meal is free. We spend around Rs 5000 for the school bus.”  In the presence of her daughter, she adds, “We provide for their needs, and not for their wants.  We give them Jesus; other schools give education”.

I ask them about their family life. Philo says, “Our family life goes on smoothly because my husband is very patient. When the children fight, he is calm and cool. He will watch them, listen to them and then provide a solution. He will explain our situation to them and not grant them all their requests. We have no TV. If my husband thinks they should watch a movie or some other programme they want to see, he will talk this over them, and then show it to them in his computer. Children are happy with what he says, whereas I often get angry or irritated. I feel I am a failure. Whenever I am calm, I am able to control the situation.”

Ministry More than Money
For Peter, the toughest challenges are financial. He has no regular income, since he works as an evangelist. He goes from state to state, praying, preaching and distributing Catholic Bibles in Hindi. Most of the Catholics have a copy of the Gideon Bible. Hence it is Peter’s endeavour to print and provide every Catholic home with a copy of the Catholic Bible. As he goes about on his mission, he meets generous people who volunteer to help with the education of his children. He accepts the contribution of a priest or a religious sister just to meet the immediate needs of his children’s education. “God has been ever faithful,” Peter says. “I am more concerned about the character of my children than about money. I want them to love God and live an upright life.”

What about hardships and difficult situations?

“There have been painful moments in my life. Around fourteen years ago, my mother-in-law fell ill. My little daughter (one and a half years old at that time) was staying with her. I spent more than a month attending on my mother-in-law law and then returned home. I had converted my bedroom into an adoration chapel. People were coming and praying. Many were healed of their ailments; problems were solved, and people found peace and solace.

 “When I got back to Delhi, I was shocked at something that had happened. Someone had taken all the documents regarding this an association we had set up,  and changed the names of the society president, secretary, etc. I was told I have nothing to do with it and, if I wanted to be in, I could continue as a member. They promised to give me a two-wheeler instead of the four-wheeler we had.

“I listened to them. I went before the Blessed Sacrament and prayed. I felt that Jesus was telling me not to accept any offers they make. Next morning, I went to them and told them, ‘I do not need anything. The Lord will take care of me.’

“I was a zero; I had nothing. I started a new ministry of evangelising. I printed copies of the Catholic Bible in Hindi and started distributing them at 50% discount. Those who were buying the copies often paid me more than I require. All my needs were taken care of”.

“Whatever I do, God gives me success. Some people grow jealous of me. Even now, someone has complained that I am living a lavish life, that I have collected a lot of gold and money. The fact is that we are struggling to make ends meet. I think: This is the way the Lord treats me for working for Him. This is my salary, and I accept it gladly. All this has happened to me earlier, too. The Lord has always taken care of us, and blessed us abundantly.

Our Daily Bread
I talk with Teena, their second daughter. She says, “I am happy the way we are at home.” As for the inevitable tiffs and quarrels that happen among siblings, Philo gives the credit for her husband for calming them down with good practical solutions and his patience.

“If I were to give a number one place to something in our family life, I would give it for prayer,” says Teena. “We pray together; so, our family stays together.” She adds that one of the saddest experiences in her life was when she wanted to attend a friend’s birthday party, and Daddy did not allow her. She felt bad about it then. What she realized only later was that her mother was really sick that day and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Let me give the final word to Philo:

“In spite all the hurdles and challenges we have faced, I have no regrets for not having a comfortable life. We have hardships, but our “bank deposit” is our contented life without any regrets. We pray for our daily bread, and God has been faithfully providing for our daily needs. Everyday God looks after us. This is the most satisfying thing in my life.”

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Sr Celine Vas, BS

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One of the legal requirements of a registered society is to have its accounts audited,   if its turnover exceeds the basic exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakhs in a financial year.  In compliance with this legal requirement, all registered societies have their auditors.  Now is the time to get our accounts audited.

The reality may be different from Society to Society.  There are societies where the auditor, with no malice to anyone, with total commitment to the society, decides everything unilaterally, takes appropriate steps and files the required income tax returns. Here the Board Members may fully trust him/her and leave him/her to function on one’s own and in the process be totally ignorant of what the auditor does.  On the other hand, there are societies where the auditor is only for name’s sake.  He/she has no commitment to the wellbeing of the society and does not even care to defend the society before the Income Tax Officials. The Board Members remain helpless here. In some other societies, the members are scared of saying anything to the auditor. Here the auditor dictates terms to the members, as it were.  On the other hand, there are also societies where the auditor may lack the knowledge and competence required of him and he is not in a position to point out even the obvious legal non-compliances and mistakes.  Finally, there are societies where the Board Members hide things from the auditor. This article is an attempt to spell out the role and function of the auditor and the scope of the audit requirements.

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Fr Alex Gnanapragasam SJ

When meeting old students, it is a pleasure to be told that everything they are today is due to what you have done for them in their school days. What they actually remember may be limited to your elocution classes and the slips you made, your good manners tips which you yourself violated in a moment of annoyance, or your strictness in discipline and the troubles you gave them. Forty years after events, these become central themes for thrilling narrations. Legends grow up over trifles, both positive and negative, and small bits of kindness you have shown assume Himalayan proportions. But what is touching to note is that they feel a sense of bondedness with you in spite of the smallness of your contribution and the flaws in your character. The affection you have shown them and the ideas you have shared remain a motivating force all the time.

The Real Difference

Your joy rises to another level when, independently of these idle tales, you hear that so-and-so is effective in whatever work he/she takes up, that he has a sense of mission in life, and that he exerts an influence for good in the neighbourhood. It rises further when you learn that he/she believes in certain principles, stands by some values and is extremely helpful to people in need. Your joy would be even more complete if, in addition to all this, he/she were to emerge as a ‘thought leader,’ influencing other intelligent persons positively in society.

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“The goal of education … is to form professionally competent, morally upright, socially conscious leaders …who will … make a difference in society…” I summarise thus the challenge of the editor who is setting forth the outlines he wishes discussed in this piece, which outlines he concludes with a comment of his own: “If we [Catholic teachers] lose our vision and sense of mission, education can simply become a business or a cult of routine and mediocrity that makes little difference to the students or to society.”

Too late!
Harshly, dear Editor: too late. This latter is largely what education has in fact become in most schools in our country, including Catholic institutions. I am tempted to offer supportive illustrations, but such are all too familiar to those in the field, and of little interest to (or too late for) others. Just a comment or two however to underline the dimensions of this negative observation:

The ‘big name’ schools in our country are almost all run by Christian institutions, are English medium, are largely patronized and equally demonized by the powerful in our country, are expensive, and turn out good young women and men who take their place in society as polite and comfortable nobodies. Their names are rarely if ever heard challenging situations that are harmful for India in one way or another. And among those names Christians are a tiny minority.

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Brother Brendan

Rather than discuss ideas and theories, Sr Marian shares with our readers some of the precious lessons she has learnt about education through experiences that touched her heart. These events also show why teaching has meant the world to her.

I have not done anything very big in my teaching and in the administration of schools as a principal. Yet I would do anything to continue to teach. Why? The following experiences will hopefully answer this question.

Heart-warming experiences, after all, touch us and change us far more deeply than beautiful theories. Allow me to go back to some such experiences which I was blessed to live as a teacher and as a principal.

“Thank you for teaching my wife!”

 One evening I received a phone call from someone whose voice or name I did not recognize.  I responded to it rather carefully.  “Are you Sister Marian?” a man’s voice asked me.    To my answering Yes, the person said he was Justin (all names in this article have been changed).  He continued, “I want to thank you for teaching my wife Julie.”  I could not recall who Julie was, since I had worked in schools for more than thirty years, either as a teacher or as the principal.   He said, “Sister, a few days ago, my wife and I had a quarrel.   I was so angry with her, that I closed the bedroom and left her outside. She too was upset and angry. An hour later, she knocked at my door. I did not open it. She continued to knock, but I refused to open the door. At last, determined to give her another piece of my angry mind, I opened the door.  As I did that, before  I could even open  my mouth, she said, ‘Justin, I am sorry  for making  you angry,  and I want to apologize for that. Even if you do not want me to enter the room, it is OK , for I cannot rest  till I do that. Sr. Marian’s words are ringing in my mind, ‘Do not go to sleep till you settle your squabbles.’

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Sr Marian Mathew PBVM

Background

I have been associated with Catholic educational institutions all my life—both as a student and as a teacher. I stepped into a convent school at the age of three. I am fifty-two now. I am the Head of the Department of English in a First Grade College run by Sisters where only young women study. All my life I have been surrounded by Catholic values, vision, mission, motto and the like and I think I am fairly well-equipped to write on this topic. But I also know I have to distance myself a bit if I am to write anything at all.

I am me because of what I received in St Joseph’s Nursery School run by the Canossian Sisters, St Joseph’s Lower, Upper, Middle, Higher & Secondary Schools again run by the same team, St Joseph’s College and St Berchman’s College (where I did my UG & PG) and, of course, Bishop Kurialacherry College, Amalagiri, that made a teacher out of me—all of them beautifully, convincingly and unwaveringly Christian/Catholic institutions then and now. (This is what I meant. The Lucasian dilemma!).

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Prof. Rekha Mathews

I remember reading: “We need saints without cassock, without veil… We need saints in jeans that listen to music… Saints that place God in the first place… that are not afraid to eat pizza…” It’s part of a poem thought to be inspired by the words of John Paul II.

Regardless of its authorship, this poem’s view of holiness resonates in me. Moreover, I feel privileged to have met a number of persons who fit the bill. Katy is one of them.

I first met Katy in a school where we were both teaching. She had just finished her teacher training and had been teaching for about two years. At some point, we were asked to jointly handle the school choir. Soon, what started as a work relationship evolved into a deep friendship.

Katy has a sense of style and a clean elegance. I always wonder how she manages to be both fashionable and, in a way, detached from her personal appearance. Her grace is a gift she shares just by being.

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Sr Marie Gabrielle Riople SCSM

CRYSTAL

We all know that parents can strongly influence their children’s development and learning, in effect becoming their first ‘teachers.’ However, determining how much influence we have is not always as straightforward as it may seem. In fact, one of the things that used to frustrate me when I was a young mother was hearing that parents can control the outcome of their children’s habits by modeling those habits themselves. The wisdom of the day was that if you wanted your child to be a healthy eater, provide and eat healthy food yourself; if you want them to be readers, let them see you reading.

It made perfect sense, and I did my best to model behaviors and habits that would last a lifetime.  Imagine my consternation when our young son became the age when he could have been a reader, and getting him to sit down and enjoy a book was considered a torture tactic. I still remember him rolling around on the kitchen floor holding the book he was supposed to be reading and moaning as if in pain. And this was in spite of the fact that reading for me was a pleasure and a constant part of my daily life. What had I done wrong?

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan

WHAT EVERY NEW ADMINISTRATOR NEEDS TO KNOW

For most priests and religious in India, the month of May is the time for transfers or appointments.  I am therefore addressing the issue related to transfers and appointments from the point of view of administration.

It is only natural for anyone to feel uncertain and to some extent nervous and frightful too, when he/she is appointed the first time in any administrative post—be it the Bishop, Provincial, Vicar General, Councilors, Bursar/Procurator/Treasurer, Superior, Principal, Secretary, Manager, Director, Parish Priest,  Minister, Administrator,  farm or kitchen in-charge.  If the person has no one to guide him/her, then the feeling of insecurity is all the greater.  This article is an attempt to guide such persons.  Some may be given more than one responsibility, such as Principal and Superior, Minister and Treasurer, Secretary and Treasurer, etc.

We will first discuss one of the most important topics applicable to us, namely, administration, and then within the administration, what is common for all, irrespective of what post one is to take up, and then deal with the matters specific to the general administration, financial administration and property administration.  Finally, we shall also see the roles (job description) of some important officials in administration.

What is administration?

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Fr Alex Gnanapragasam SJ

 

 

 

Using her experience and knowledge as a lawyer, administrator and provincial, Sr Regis presents the basics of administration for superiors and administrators.

1. Registered Society
A Registered Society is a juridical person or a legal entity. In legal terms it is known as Association of Persons. It has a registered office.
Each society is an independent legal person. It is represented by the President and is governed by the governing body. The registers and reports of the Society are to be maintained up-to-date by the secretary.

2. Five Documents
A registered Society has 5 important documents: Memorandum, Society Registration Certificate, 12A Certificate, FCRA Certificate and PAN Card. The name and all other information in all the documents should be the same. All the units attached to a particular society will use the same documents for any needs, like KYC for bank accounts, registration of vehicles, payment of TDS, etc. So we need to keep a copy of these documents in every community in the province.

3. Memorandum
Just as every Religious Order has its Constitutions and Regulations, every registered association has its Memorandum with its rules and regulations. A memorandum has Two parts: Aims and

 

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Sr Regis Savarimuthu SMI