August 2009 Newsletter
by Admin - July 31st, 2009
Vol. 24 No. 7
Fr. General has appointed
- Fr. Peter Bujko as the Provincial of Slovakia
- Fr. Mario Alberto Torres Regional Superior of Puerto Rico
- Fr. Viktus Gintaras Provincial of Lithuania-Lettonia
From the Central Curia
New Undersecretary of the Society. Father Ralph da Costa, of the Karnataka Province (India) has been appointed under-Secretary of the Society of Jesus. He will replace Father Juan Andrés Llauger,
New Secretary for the Spanish Provinces. Father Luis López Yarto, of the Castile Province has been appointed the Regional Secretary of the South European Assistancy for the Spanish Language, replacing Father Llauger.
New ARSI Director. Father Marek Inglot of the South Poland Province is the new director of Archivium Romanum Societatis Jesu (ARSI). He replaces Father José Antonio Yoldi, the director ad interim.
Video-Conferences. The General Curia is testing a video-conferencing system… A room in the General Curia is being equipped for vide-conferences. This will enable Father General and the members of the Curia to participate in “virtual” meetings and consultations with Provincials and others throughout the world.
The curia has established a new office named Communication and Public Relations which will oversee all communication activities of the Curia. Fr. Giuseppe Bellucci will have overall responsibility for this new office.
Regional Superior Appoints:
- Fr. Antonysamy as the Region Coordinator of Jesuit Higher Education Association of South Asia (JHEASA)
- Fr. Paul K.C., as the Region Coordinator of the secretariat for Ignatian Spirituality for South Asian Assistancy (JIGSA)
- Fr. Jomon Jose as the Region Coordinator for Dialogue
Regional Superior’s Program
2 August: Region Consult
23 August: Meeting of the Directors of the work
The SLC results of Catholic Schools in Nepal
AROUND THE REGION
St. Xavier’s, Jawalakhel
Keeping up the tradition, we invited all the religious and priests of the valley for a celebratory tea on the occasion of the Boto Jatra, a valley festival that signals the arrival of monsoon. The community also hosted a dinner for all the staff members on Guru Purnima (Teachers’ Day). Seven of our teachers were awarded as the Outstanding Teachers of the Year 2009. The school hall and the premises were used for the annual Aishwarya Shield English Spelling contest organized by Godavari Alumni Association (GAA). Both the junior and the senior teams succeeded in reaching the finals. With the report card day distribution on 18 July the First Term came to a successful end.
However, there is no end to the “teaching-learning” process in the school as Fr. Marty, who finds “tiffin” or lunch break a fine time for counselling students, especially the younger ones, discovers: “Never a dull moment, they come with their screw-top carriers. Several weeks experience convinces me that most homes have some sort of mechanical device for achieving a perfect, airtight fit. After trying all my accumulated skills I sometimes have to enlist the aid of older students (class three) with even more experience of similar devises. One can expect the contents to contain some sort of liquid which will spill before getting a chance to be digested by any human. Plastic wrappers pose another kind of challenge, but my faithful pocket knife never fails to penetrate any thickness of greasy, fingerprinted plastic. During an average day, all students can be expected to drop at least part of their lunch and also all of what is left of their plastic water bottles at least four times. Unbreakable plastic water bottles never were so much appreciated as during tiffin. Then after this ordeal, containers, several bits of all kinds of food, some lunch bags and colourful wrappers of all shapes and sizes and many dented but unbroken water bottles remain for the crows, pigeons and sparrows to pick over.”
In the mean time, the School Management Committee and the Parents’ Council are working hard on resolving the on going problems in the school. The Parents’ Council submitted a memorandum to the CDO office urging the government to initiate action against interference in children’s basic right to quality education. With the blessings of St. Ignatius, we hope for a good run of classes in August. — Irenius
St. Xavier’s, Godavari
We heartily welcomed Fr. Paul Chemparathy to our community. He will be working as the full time vocation promoter. On July 27th, Fr. Amrit gave Recollection to the youth of Godavari parish. He also directed a thirty day retreat to Sr. Bimala Gurung, a novice of Sisters of the Light of the Gospel.
In spite of a number of disruptive bandas (general strikes) we completed our first term successfully. The performance of students was heartening. After a term break of four days, it was business as usual. To mark Guru Purnima the students honoured the teachers with a scintillating cultural program. We had an International Students’ Exchange Program with the students of Netherlands. Sixty four Dutch students with their teachers came to the school and interacted with our students for four days.
Our Table Tennis teams participated in the Joint Schools Table Tennis tournament held at Rosebud School. In doubles our junior team won the second place and in the singles our senior team had to be satisfied with the third place. After a long gap, St. Xavier’s Godavari School participated in the Annual GAA Spelling Contest and both our junior and senior teams emerged as the winners and proud holders of the rolling shield. The rising mercury in Godavari meant that we had to sacrifice the much celebrated annual swimming competition this year; not enough water to fill the pool! — Amrit Rai
St. Xavier’s College
Soon after the announcements of the SLC results in the country, the college processed around 6000 applications for Plus 2 in one week, held entrance test in one day, declared the results on the next day and completed all the interviews in two days, including personal interviews with the Principal of each one of the 504 selected candidates along with their parents. The ISc which the college conducted for the last 20 years is being phased out. Plus 2 Classes commenced from 23 July. College has started using the facilities in Kamal Niwas for accommodating about 20 first year students and a couple of teachers. Annual send up exams for different streams at the Bachelor level are over.
Hearty welcome to Fr. Masillamani (MDU) to Campion House and College where he will be working in the Social Work Department! Fr. E.C. Sebastian returned from the Procurator’s meet in Rome and a brief sojourn in the US, with a Hollywood star Fr. Michael Mandala, S.J., the Pastor-in-charge of Hollywood Parish. We were also happy to host Fr. John Peter, CSJ from Aluva, Kerala who was on his visa mission to Kathmandu.— Fr. Paul
St. Xavier’s Social Service Center
Out of the four students who wrote SLC examination this year, three of them passed in first division and one failed in two subjects. The unsuccessful candidate is a wheel chair user and is busy preparing for re-examination.One more disabled child from Gorkha has been added to SXSSC family. He topped in his school at Hetauda and came to Kathmandu to seek better opportunities to pursue his education. The person who was picked up from the streets and did not know who he was has been named as Mr. Ramtel by his fellow inmates. He is put up at Gafney Bhawan. A Korean Christian group came to SXSSC on 24 July and entertained the children with lots of singing and dancing. –– Dilip Toppo
HRDRC
On 15 July, Kamal Niwas community moved to HRDRC, leaving Kamal Niwas for the use of the College. Fr. Sanjay with his wide experience in shifting hostels says it would take a year for us to put things in order. We would like to thank Fr. Paul Chemparathy for holding the fort in the interim. Collegians Ajit, Basant, and Narun have finished their internal send-up exams and Merlin his mid – semester exams. Amit and Raja are in the middle of their third year final exams. These days, Narun is busy saving lives in Teku Government Hospital as a part of his field work.
Fr. Sanjay was happy to get his land line, (1) 4365401, restored after much effort. We were glad to have Fr. Mathew Assarikudy with us for a couple of days. He taught us an easy way of remembering the names of the 12 Apostles. The method is patented and if anyone wants to know about it please write to Fr. Mathew at pokharasjs@wlink.com.np — Ajit
Jhapa
June ended with a great candidate roundup. Sch. Narun met the men from Chota Nagpur, and Fr. Roy delivered the three Tamil candidates to Deonia. Sch. Narun then led the group to Pokhara. Ashok Kerketta kindly brought one more man from Jhakhand to Deonia, and then on to Pokhara. Br. Hermon and his team provided great hospitality to the visitors, who shared hostel space with our boys. We look forward to again having the candidates with us for a village experience and trek.
June also ended with heavy rain which reminded us to improve the Maheshpur river diversion work. The rains then stopped and the dikes are repaired. We hope that blessings from the solar eclipse will bring more rain.
Fr. Roy prepared the L.T.S. students to make their solemn promise, and is now preparing to open more L.T.S. cells for the younger classes. Fr. Mathew Das is doing the same at Deonia. The Maheshpur Jesuits invite staff members, one at a time, to supper. Sch. Clarence and Ignatius continue to take care of school and community needs, and Fr. Sanctius is busy with typing and fee collection in the school office.
Fr. George is busy guiding the first St. Xavier’s graduating class through their final year. Despite strikes, the school buses can run so we have lost little teaching time. The parents of all the students have met in groups to share their desires with the staff. Last year Alan organized the Helping Hands club. The senior students in the club help with perfecting and chores around the school. They have passed the club file and whistle, an essential prefecting tool, on to the class nine students. Both schools had Guru Purnima programs. The students provided excellent entertainment for the school communities.
In early July, several sisters and Jesuits drove to Chakkarghatti to say “thank-you” to Fr. Varghese, S.M., who has handed the Principal’s responsibility to Brother Saju. Bishop Anthony blessed the sisters’ new convent. The Marianists and Sisters have done a wonderful job of developing the school and agriculture project.
There is still some union pressure on Moran Memorial School. On July 12 a group of about thirty people came to plead for a dismissed teacher. More parents quickly arrived, and challenged the visitors. The result was that Frs. Roy and Bill had to help the union people get safely off the school property!
We enjoyed visits from the Holy Cross sisters in Bhairawah and from Melinda Burke, who spent a few days teaching songs at both schools. As we take a break at the end of July, we look forward to more visitors for retreats, recollection, and finally Ignatius Day. — Bill
Pokhara
The big event here was the arrival of our new candidates accompanied by our own Sch. Narun. The house was well set up by regent Peter Chettri assisted by Sch. Tomson. Fr. Cap Miller and Peter stay at the candidates’ house with 12 young men (8 from Chattisgarh 3 from Tamil Nadu and 1 from Nepal). All of us are involved in teaching them different subjects. The candidates are busy mainly learning the basics of English and Nepali. They are doing well in football too.
The land registration process is still going on, though slow. Fr. Norbert is busy visiting slums with the Korean sisters. Recently he had a registered parcel from India and he could not hide the excitement when he said, “I have passed with distinction”. (We thought it was the SLC as the results were just out). Norbert got 83% in the Certificate Course in Development Management that he attended at XIDAS Jabalpur. Congratulations, Norbert!
During the school’s summer holidays in early July Fr. Mathew went to Tansen Capitanio School for a seminar for the staff and parents. Fr. Arul Selvam keeps busy with parish work. Besides giving singing practice to the candidates and parishioners, he visits homes in the evenings. Fr. Cap has been cycling around exploring Pokhara and surroundings, sometimes with the candidates. At the end of July he will go for a home visit to the U.S. Bon Voyage Cap! — Mathew A.
From the Diaspora
Sch. Samuel Simick reports from Regional Theology Centre (RTC) in Patna: After a week of orientation into various aspects of life in RTC, Tomson and I are busy with our classes. Tomson is a kitchen committee member and is already at home here. There are 17 of us in the RTC now, 10 in the first year and 7 in the second year. My sister Cecelia visited us on 18th July, while she was in Patna for a meeting.”
Sch. Tej writes from DNC, Pune: We have just finished our first credit and from 24 July we begin our second credit. On 22nd of July, we had a very fruitful seminar on “Comparative Philosophy and the Future of Inter religious Learning” by Fr. Francis Clooney an American Jesuit.
Prayers
For the departed:
- Fr. Joaquim Mascarenhas (BOM) 69/51 who died on 05 July 2009 at Holy Spirit Hospital, Andheri
- Br. Mathew Mampra, (PAT) 75/49 who died in Holy Family Hospital, Kurji, Patna on 13 July 2009.
For the sick and the suffering:
- Fr. Sanjay who is recovering from a physical assault. Fr. Sanjay was attacked in his room in Loyola Hostel, Baniatar, by a group of 10 boys on 27 August 2009 at 8 pm. The group was led by a boy who was dismissed from the hostel a couple of days earlier. Sanjay was rushed to Kathmandu Teaching Hospital and treated. He suffered a deep cut on his left hand, a minor cut on his head, and 4 cuts on the hips and backside, one of them deep. He had to undergo an operation on his hand to patch up the tendons that were cut and to stitch together other cuts. He is recovering well.
Birthdays in August
5 Jim Donnelly
10 Bill Robins
13 Tomson Amakkatt
15 Amrit Rai, Boniface Tigga
16 Ignatius Hemrom
17 Manu Piravomkunnel
23 Ajit Tirkey
25 Raja Bilavendran
Apostleship of Prayer Intentions for August:
- Refugees. That the world may become aware of the plight of the millions of displaced persons and find solutions to their tragic conditions.
- Persecuted Christians. That Christians who suffer persecution and discrimination may be granted human rights, equality, and freedom to live their faith.
FASCI Report:
With a letter addressed to all the major superiors on the 8th of July Fr. General forwarded the report of FASCI for the year 2008. He noted that “FASCI is an expression of the spirit of solidarity and concern for others which are very much present in the Society.” In 2008 €1,655,742.00 were distributed to projects in various parts of the world. Among these 24 projects were related to the intellectual apostolate and education, and 21 projects were belonged to the pastoral, parochial and spiritual sector. Asian Assistancy received the highest amount. General expressed his concern over the fact that, the contributions that normally come to Rome have diminished. At the same time, requests for assistance have increased because of the impoverishment of some Provinces. General was hopeful that the “Provinces which find themselves in a more positive financial situation will increase their contribution to FACSI so that it will be possible for me to respond to requests more liberally.”
ISN’T ENGLISH A FUNNY LANGUAGE ?
There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple…
Is cheese the plural of choose?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
People recite at a play, and play at a recital?
Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
Quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
W writers write, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham.
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese? The weather is hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on.
When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
When I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it!
