JAMSHEDPUR DIOCESE

                       

 

“When the Spirit of the Lord is in my soul

I can do the thing I’ve never known before

I can prove the impossible, I can break all odds

 

I can walk on the seas

I can in my own sorrows sing

When the Spirit of the Lord is in my soul

 

In a world that is broken and torn

I can live a life that’s whole

When the Spirit of the Lord is in my soul. (Maria Sangeetha)

 

 

 

 

 

St. Paul’s Parish, Maluka: The solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul, the Parish Feast was celebrated on January 25. Fr. Edwin Coelho presided at the solemn Mass at 9.00 a.m. under the special leaf shamayana in the forecourt of the Church-presbytery-hostel. Parishioners from all the village segments were present for the celebration. Immediately after the Mass, the Parishioners had felicitation program for the guests with snacks. Later the people met together for the election of the new Parish Council with the Pastor, Fr. Valerian Lobo. This was followed by the family meal for all.  

 

Bishop’s House, Golmuri :  Fr. Cyril Fernandes landed at the Birsa Munda Airport on December 30^th evening and reached Jamshedpur on the New Year’s Day in the company of Fr. C.R. Prabhu. The two parishioners of Arcola Parish, Mrs. Lynda BUBB and Mrs. Bonnie Davis accompanied Fr. Cyril to Jamshedpur. They began their tour in the same afternoon and visited some of the parishes and institutions in the town. They left for Chaibasa on 3^rd a.m. for the 2^nd part.  They were given a grand welcome at Xavier’s English and Hindi Schools. They also visited CKP, Chandmari, Budigora, Siadih, Toklo etc before their visit to Adra-Kumardhubi- Dhanbad.

9 B.Ed examinees took shelter at the Bishop’s House for their university exams which began on January 5^th. They were lucky to get the ABM College, just across the street as their centre. They left Jamshedpur on 22-23 hoping to come back soon for the practical exams.

Bishop Felix had the biggest contingent of Jamshedpur clergy in his whirl wind tour of Mangalore after the 3 ordinations. PRO Joseph Surin has the actions captured in the cameras for the less privileged one’s to enjoy. Joe also managed to secure bit of Mangalore’s hard water for the taste of the anxiously waiting lot .The Ordinations were conducted in Konkani and Bishop Felix easily managed to communicate with the family members in the same language with ease and freely. Felix Crasta who went ahead to prepare the tour and vocation promotion is happy that it was a success story altogether.

The visit of Bishop Julius Marandi to Jamshedpur 18-19 was historical as he had special consultation with Bishop Joe Rodericks, met Fr. Pius Marandi and visited many institutions in the town to know the presence of the Church . He left Jamshedpur with the promise to invite us to Dumka very soon !

Msgr. John Bodra was rushed to Mercy on January 17 evening by Bishop Felix and was admitted in the ICU for 2 days and then rested two weeks in the cabin No. 106.

The diocesan regents had their recollection at the Bishop’s House on 28-29.

  

St. Mark’s Toklo :  Pastor, Fr. Camille Hembrom was admitted to St. Angela’s hospital before and after Christmas for malaria. It has indeed weakened him very much. The Christmas celebrations were held in the parish with house full at midnight and morning and so for the New Year. Immediately after the New Year Mass he rushed to Chandmari and got admitted to the hospital for 5 days.

Holy Family Church, Kumardhubi: The solemnity of the feast of the Holy Family was celebrated on January 08 in the Parish. Bishop Joe Rodericks was the Chief Celebrant at the concelebrated Eucharist in the Church at 8.00 a.m. The Church was packed to capacity. This was followed by a short welcome for the Bishop and the guests. All the parishioners and guests stayed on for breakfast and lunch and enjoyed the various games, singing etc.

 

 

D.S.W.C. Dhanbad : Fr. Cyril Fernandes  , Mrs. Lynda Bubb and Mrs. Bonnie Davis visited Nirmala and other centres during their short stay in Govindpur. They were given a grand welcome by the hostel girls on arrival. Fr. Walter accompanied the group to Kolkata –Delhi- Amritsar-Mumbai-Goa. They flew out of the country on 24^th . Fr. Gualbert had a short home visit to bless the marriage of his niece and returned on 11^th. He had the special luck to relax in the train 10 extra hours without payment during the return journey. Fr. Walter celebrated his 52^nd birthday with Indian Airlines on flight from Managalore to Mumbai. The real celebration on home ground was on 28^th. . Frs. Michael and Gualbert made sure that everybody got their share of cake in honor of the Director.

 

Sacred Heart Church, Adra. : The ‘First Communion’ for the parish was on January 08. Fr. Jerome Pereira presided at the solemn Mass and gave communion to 15 children in the company of their parents, family members and friends. It was a very special occasion for the parish. The Confirmation in the Parish was on January 15 and 50 youngsters received the Sacrament from Bishop Felix Toppo during the solemn Mass in the Church. Fr. Edward came back from his short home visit on January 02 while Pastor, Fr. Jerome left for retreat at Potta and later home holiday on 19^th. Fr. Alex Dodrai  joined the community  to give support and security to Fr. Edward from January 15 until the end of his winter vacation.

Bishop Joe Rodericks was the Chief Guest at the Xthers graduation ceremony on January 28. He presided at the Mass on 29^th morning in the Church for the people of Adra.

 

Holy Cross Convent, Chowka-Chandil:  Bishop Joe Rodericks ,S.J. blessed the newly constructed beautiful and massive convent building at Berada, Chowka on January 07 . The ceremonial blessing took place before the solemn Mass at 10.30 a.m. in the presence of the clergy and religious present for the occasion. Sr. Daya and community welcomed the guests and the hostel-school children’s choir was superb. Soon after the Mass there was a cultural program to felicitate the guests. This was followed by a family meal. The new convent building is spacious and can accommodate many.

 

St. Anthony’s Church, Dhanbad:  Dean, Fr. Edward and the Parish team is extremely happy with the New Year gift of a Tata Sumo for the pastoral and social ministry of the Parish. The Parish Council has made great plans for the year at their 1^st meeting of the year. The New Year Day and the days that followed attracted crowds to the campus.   Surprisingly Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not spared but were kidnapped from the crib during one afternoon. Fr. Edward came to Jamshedpur on the 16^th with the sketch plans for the Dobatan mission. Mr. Theodore Ekka of Parusdih visited the place on 22-23 to divine water source for the new foundation. He has identified 3 sources for Fr. Edward to decide the proper spot.

 The Parish Council has made special plans to extend a warm welcome to the Missionaries of Charity sisters to the Parish as the new community and convent will be blessed on February 02 by Bishop Felix Toppo.

The Parish Liturgical committee is divided into 5 zones and the Sunday Liturgy is taken care of by one of the groups. They prepare the hymns, Readings, Prayers of the faithful, collection and offertory etc. Congratulations to Frs. Edward and Norbert Kindo for encouraging the laity to take leadership in the Parish.

 

St. Albert’s College, Ranchi : All the seminarians returned by 4^th evening after the Christmas ministry in their own dioceses . The New Year began with various activities and with a new student body to monitor. Fr. Prabhu preached  a retreat in Mangalore for Priests  in the 1^st week of December, later in Ranchi for Sisters and a program for the Priests at Ambikapur during the vacation.

In the new semester Brothers Pradeep Marandi, Jondko Kandeyang and Stepehn lost their posts but Patrick Khess was elected as the new Monitor for the 1^st year Philosophy. Raju Crasta retained his Monitorship of 1^st year theology. He added another star to his credit  by founding a stationary out-let n the campus with a promise to the staff and students to sell all necessary items on wholesale rate and he is made in-charge of the same. Fr. Rector inaugurated the stall on the 2^nd Sunday of January and Fr. Raphael Kujur , the birthday Baby of the day was the 1^st victim to purchase from the stall.

Fr. Cyril Fernandes visited SAC and offered Mass for the Jamwllas along with Fr. Rector. (Raju Crasta)

 

St. Theresa’s Parish, Sindri : The celebrations at Christmas and New Year had Church full of people . The Parish Council had made special arrangements for all with tea and snacks. The people braved the cold weather and came in full strength to give glory and praise to the new born Child . The Parish children had a special celebration on the 23^rd.

 

St. Xavier’s  English School, Purulia: After reopening the school  on 4^th January, 06 the Pre-ICSE Exams for 64 students, the largest batch as ever commenced . During the vacation Principal Hilary went for a brief home visit and attended the ordinations of Frs. Stanny Furtado and Donald D’Silva. He accompanied Fr. Provincial to the homes of some of our Jesuit brethren in Mangalore.

Our students have been doing very well in various inter-school and inter-district competitions. Nilabjan Nayn Mukherjee of Std X brought laurels to the school by standing First in Solo Song (Hindi) in all Bengal Multilingual Cultural Competition held in Kolkata . His outstanding performance out of 16 districts earned the best accolade for the school and Purulia district. At the Science Fair 12 of our students who participated stood third among 15 schools. Then the students participated in the Road Safety week in the town organized by the Purulia Police Department from 9^th January till 14^th January,  took part in the Rally on 9^th January, Painting Competition on relevant theme on 8^th January and Traffic Management of the Purulia traffic on January 12 with the help of traffic police. As per the results of the events, Ishani Mukherjee of Std IV stood third out of 300 contestants in the Painting competition and our school bagged the second place in the traffic management. Principal Hilary was invited to speak on the awareness of traffic rules among the students at the Prize distribution ceremony on 14^th December. In the Computer Science Competition held at Science Centre our school won four prizes.(Hilary Lobo)

 

 

St. Joseph’s School, Golmuri : The 57^th Republic Day was solemnly celebrated in the school on 26^th January. Mr. Peter Bonnerjee, Chief Guest after hoisting the National Flag at the school grounds addressed the staff , students and guardians. The school band earlier welcomed the guests with bugles and trumpets to the podium. The Chief Guest inspected the parade and received the salute. Immediately after, the school children presented entertainment programmes and patriotic songs for the joy of all present.

 

St. Mary’s Hindi School, N. Road: The school celebrated for the 57^th Republic Day, 26^th January. Fr. Edwin Coelho hoisted the National Flag and gave an inspiring message for the students-staff and guardians.  Earlier, the school band welcomed the guests and presented a military style march past. The school students had couple of cultural and patriotic programmes for the day. All shared sweets to celebrate the day before leaving the school campus.

On January 17, Tuesday couple of miscreants came to the school campus and broke the notice boards before breaking the window of the school office and throwing lighted match sticks on the sofa. When the Sisters came to the school they noticed smoke in the office and got the burning sofa out of the office. Later information was given to Bistupur police and investigations are on to identify the real culprits.

 

Catholic Charities, Sundernagar : “ It was indeed sad news not only for Fr. Bipin but all of us as he lost his beloved mother on 27^th morning around 11.30 a.m. as he was blessing the marriage of a relative at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Many Priests, Sisters, Religious and people participated at the funeral liturgy on 28^th at the Gyan deep grounds and at the Babudih cemetery.

On 4^th January we had a prayer service for the repose of the soul of Late Teresa Pani with all our staff members and well wishers at the Catholic Charities with the family members of the Fr. Bipin.

We were privileged to have Fr. Cyril Fernandes, Ms. Bonnie and Ms. Lynda of Arcola with us to meet the boys and girls who are at the vocational training sponsored by them. The students were very happy to have met and interacted with the visitors.

Mr. Timothy from Maryland visited us together with Fr. John Guidera on January 24 to learn the activities of CC and SJVK.

Many funding agencies visited the office and work sites for physical verification and auditing of the projects.

Sr. Jayamma is very busy with the malaria eradication activities with the staff and partners in action. The CC has signed a MOU with the Jharkhand Health Society for new programs for the training of Sahiayas for villages. We will be working in the five blocks of Seraikela-Kharswan namel, Kuchai, Kharswan, Seraikela, Ichagarh and Chandil.

We also have signed MOU with the XISS, Ranchi in promoting Gram Sabhas in the blocks of Potka and Patmada in the district of East Singhbhum. This project is being supported by CORD AID from Netherlands.

Fr. Bipin was in Delhi for the Project Selection Committee Meeting of Caritas India and then flew to Andaman to see the rehabilitation works.

We have new telephone connections: SJVK- Fax. 0657-2297048,  Vikas Bharati : 0657-3099256 . The number 2495325 is disconnected” (David Vincent).

 

Gyan Deep Vidyalaya :  The Graduation ceremony  of  Class X was held at the school on January 28. Sr. Flavian A.C. was the Chief Guest. The class IX students had programmes to thank and felicitate the out-going batch. The Chief Guest presented mementos to the graduating batch.

 

St. Joseph’s  Cathedral, Golmuri : Dean, Fr. Amatus Kujur organized the Clergy Picnic  for Jamshedpur Deanery on January 29 at the Dalma Guest House. About 30 clergymen had the privilege to go up to the Dalma Hills and enjoy the coolness and beautify of nature as one team.

 

N A T I O N A L – I N T E R NA T I O N A L   R O U N D – U P

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“With Jubilant Hearts”: A Jesuit Jubilee Year Gift : The Society of Jesus celebrates three jubilees during the year 2006: the fifty centenary of the birth of St. Francis Xavier (7 April 1506) and of Blessed peter Faber (13 August 1506), and the 450^th death anniversary of St. Ignatius of Loyola (31 July 1556).

“We should truly profit from the jubilee year”, said the Jesuit Superior General, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., “to examine our way of life and taking the means to live more profoundly the charisms received from our Founders. That is to say, in our apostolic prayer, nourished by the Eucharist, in our missionary ardour , in our ministry of spiritual aid to others”.

Father Hedwig Lewis has brought out a masterpiece in the context of the Jesuit Jubilee Year. “With Jubilant Hearts” captures the charisms of the three Founding Fathers of the Society of  Jesus . It vibrates with a spirit of joy , of ‘Jubulation’ of spiritual celebration. It is a ‘resource book’ containing a variety of informational and inspirational material that can be put to creative use at the personal and community levels. (Cbcisite)

 

Kerala HC stays Judgment Allowing Priests and Nuns to be enrolled as Lawyers:    “ A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday stayed the landmark judgment of a single bench of the same court that had allowed Catholic Nuns and Priests to be enrolled as lawyers” (cbcisite.cm).

 

Pope Benedict Introduces His First Encyclical: “GOD IS LOVE” : Pope Benedict XVI while addressing the meeting of the Pontifical Council “COR UNUM” has introduced the theme of his first encyclical: Deus Caritas est” (God is Love) which was released on January 25. (cbcisite)

 

“ My time and ministry in Germany was very nice, with lots of snow ! New Year celebrations were grand with fire-works. I am back to Leuven and to my studies. I have been offered a ministry in London for the month of August 2006. In July and September I will be in those parishes of Germany where I was last summer. It was a wonderful and prayerful Christmas  celebration for me in Germany. Wonderful, because it was full of snow all the time. It was prayerful too, as I was busy with lots of liturgical services during the Christmas-New Year Season. January is the month of semester exams and I was not spared either. I appeared for the language exams, German and Italian. The exams were any how easier than I had expected” ([email protected]).

 

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