September 2009 Newsletter
by Admin - August 31st, 2009
Vol. 24 No. 8
Regional Superior’s Program
4-5: September: Visitation, HRDRC
6: September: Consult and Local Superiors’ Meeting
7-9: September: Visitation, St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel
24: Sept-5 October: Visit to Korea
AROUND THE REGION
St. Xavier’s, Jawalakhel
Fr. James J. Donnelly, fondly known as Fr. Jim, passed away on 17 August 2009. On August 5th, Jim had celebrated his 80th birthday along with his Jesuit companions including the visiting Chicago-Detroit Provincial, Tim. He was bright and cheerful then. He had been maintaining good health till Sunday, August 9th when we noticed that he was developing a minor fever. So we took him to Norvic Hospital, Kathmandu. On August 10th, Jim was put on a ventilator. On 17 August, Monday, at 3 am Jim joined his heavenly family.
Towards the end of July we had a community meeting. It was based on faith sharing; community felt that we are integrated in our mission. Sanjay joined our community when he was discharged from the hospital on 2 August and is recovering slowly from the injuries, external as well as internal. Raja, after his third year exams, has joined our community and teaches in the junior section of the school. The school celebrated Teej with the teachers and parents of the scholarship children on August 20th and 21st respectively. Augustine is busy preparing the students for the Senior School Parents’ Day to be held in the first week of September. Jiju was away for 10 days to attend a Life Integration Programme for young priests’ in Allahabad.
Marty Coyne reports: “In a few months the new building will/may be completed and all concerned will rejoice like school children being taken home by their parents…speaking of which, Marty Coyne finds three kinds of students waiting after school to be claimed. The first kind waits with their little faces up against the gate for a glimpse of any familiar vehicle (bicycle, motorbike, car, roller blades or skateboard) that will take them quickly into another world. The second kind of patient procrastinator sits the time out reading his/her story book or even doing some small bit of homework, bless their quiet little hearts. The third sub-species binds with fellow sufferers of all sorts to play a hybrid kind of scream-scream hide and seek, which provides a suitable penalty for tardy collectors who have to seek out their hiding charges.” — Irenius
St. Xavier’s, Godavari
During the novena days leading to the feast of St. Ignatius, before the class began in the morning, the Principal read out some portions from the life of St. Ignatius. On July 31, the celebrations began with the lighting of lamp by the Fathers and a prayer dance by the students. Principal spoke on the life of St. Ignatius and then each class presented a cultural dance, a song and a skit.
On August 6, Tim Kesicki, Chicago-Detroit Provincial along with Jim Boynton visited our school. Tim was fascinated with the Godavari hills. Amrit directed a recollection of the scholastics on 7 August and on the 13th he gave a one day recollection to the Assumption Church parishioners while Paul Chemparathy directed the Salesian priests in prayer.
On August 10, Amit Lakra joined our community. We heartily welcomed him. He is a full time teacher in the school now. We are working on our Community Mission Statement. E. C. Sebastian was invited to facilitate the community. We thank him for guiding us to reflect on and formulate the Mission Statement.
Classes 5 and 6 had their Parents’ Day on 25 July and Classes 3 and 4 had theirs on 15 August. The students entertained their parents with varied cultural dances, songs and English and Nepali drama. On August 12, two of our class 10 students participated in an elocution competition organized by Today’s Youth Asia. One of our class 10 students was selected to be the Master of the Ceremony of the day. On August 14, St. Xavier’s Godavari hosted the Joint Schools’ Principals’ meeting. Principal and Vice Principal of St. Xavier’s School Jawalakhel, Kathmandu University High School, Rosebud School and the host school were present in the meeting. We evaluated the past Joint Schools events and discussed on the future events.
On August 15, our Students Quality Circle (SQC) presented a case study at Budanilakantha School. On August 19 and 21, our students took part in Nepali Literary Contest and Joint School One Act Play respectively at St. Xavier’s School Jawalakhel. The Class 9 students went to Pashupati Old Age Home and Freedom Center for Community Service. They cleaned the temple vicinity and talked to the people to raise awareness. — Amrit Rai
St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar
On Sunday, 2nd August about 70 hooligans from a Government campus nearby barged into St. Xavier’s college premises forcefully and vandalized the college property around 1.30 p.m. Boby says that the total cost of the damages comes about Rs. 2 lakhs. They accused the college of being instrumental to the leakage of questions of an MBS Exam. They were proved wrong and so later a few leaders of the above mentioned group met with the Principal, Antony Samy and apologized for their misdeeds.
Samy and the co-administrators are busy admitting the new arrivals in seven different Bachelors level Faculties in the college. Meanwhile the Campion community found some breathing space to go for an outing to Pokhara on 22nd August. The journey back home was adventurous with landslides, road blocks and traffic jam. Seizing this opportunity Samy and Paul scaled the impressive Thankot Heights in record time from Nowbese.
The Campion community hosted a good number of guests from far and near in the month of August. Some of them were the Provincial of the newly erected Combined Jesuit Province of Chicago-Detroit, Tim Kesicki accompanied by Jim Boynton, Fr. Paul Jesuraj of Madurai, Mr.Daniel Chi from Korea.
In the midst of hectic college activities Boby culled some time out to prepare for his yet another Masters Level accolade. In a short while you will see him capping a few mastered degrees to his credit. Don’t feel jealous please. He means Business and a well earned Masters in Business Administration. — Fr. Paul
St. Xavier’s Social Service Centre
Tim, Provincial of Chicago- Detroit province and Jim, along with Lawrence and E.C. Sebastian visited SXSSC and had a brief interaction with the boys by singing and dancing. The First Year Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (BSW) students along with Arul and Mr. Himal visited SXSSC for the purpose of knowing the organization and its role in empowering the vulnerable groups in the society. Three Social Work students aspired to work at SXSSC and we welcomed them to be a part of SXSSC for a year. Similarly, two other BSW students joined the Freedom Centre for their field work.
Mr. Anil Budhathoki, the health worker of SXSSC went to Kolkota for Training on Disability Management. We aim to provide care to the differently-abled within their family and locality, if we find such persons in Kathmandu valley. Differently-abled persons from outside the valley are still accommodated in the centre. Mr. Hemraj Shahi, an ex inmate of the Centre is allowed to stay for one month at Gafney Bhawan while he prepares for his medical studies.
The newly built compound wall of Freedom Centre that was flattened to the ground by some unknown miscreants one night was rebuilt by the locals who had asked for the way along the Freedom Centre property. Allegedly, the demolition act was done by one of the builders who did not get a cut the first time. — Dilip Toppo
HRDRC
We bid farewell to Raja and Amit as they finished their final exams and joined Jawalakhel and Godavari communities, respectively. Ajit and Basant are preparing for their second year final exams which get postponed on a regular basis now. Merlin and Narun are preparing for their semester exams. Dilip held the fort while Jomon was out in Allahabad for the psycho-sexual-spiritual integration course for ten days.
The hopping rabbits in the HRDRC front lawn are the latest attraction for the passers-by, especially school children. Unfortunately, we did not notice that there were others who were also watching with excitement: the neighbour’s dog. The mutt, after watching the rabbits making merry for a week, could not control his instincts, jumped the wall, and killed one. — Ajit
Jhapa
“When it rains, it pours,” seems to be the Jhapa August theme. July ended with a rush of welcome visitors, first E.C. and his friend Mike Mandala (CFN) who had a weekend tour of the schools and the Goldhap Refugee Camp. Then three CJ Sisters spent three days at Deonia in recollection. Fr. Binod arrived from Pokhara and went off to the Darjeeling Diocese for several months of pastoral ministry in Nepali. He is preparing for work with his Pilar brothers in Pokhara.
Ignatius Day blessings poured on us. About forty priests and religious gathered at Maheshpur to celebrate Mass together. Varkey led the celebration. Roy played the music and conducted the singing. He also introduced the Eucharist with a slide show on Ignatius’ life. Clarence and his team served a delicious meal. We then met with Pastor Anesh from Dhulabari for a reflection on evangelization in the New Nepal. David organized the whole program, providing tasteful decorations. He called students who provided three dances, and one lively song. That evening the JRS Jesuits and Sisters served us supper at Damak.
Ignatius and Mathew opened themselves to spiritual blessings during their annual retreats. Ignatius stayed at the parish in Damak while Mathew was a guest of a Baptist congregation near Khichakbad, near the confluence of the Deonia and Mechi Rivers. Bill enjoyed daily bicycle rides there for spiritual talks with Mathew. The first term break allowed Hermon to visit Kathmandu and help the ladies at the SCN training program prepare for their graduation celebration. Sanctius visited relatives in West Bengal. George and Roy enjoyed the blessing the Allahabad meeting poured on them. They then visited Kathmandu for a quick Directors of Works meeting. Sanctius and Mathew generously and creatively guided the schools while the Principals wandered. Bill and Ignatius enjoyed birthday blessings and parties.
The St. Xavier’s students and staff “poured” young trees into the local community forest. On Janai Purnima, about 90 students and teachers prepared holes for the trees, and the following Sunday the whole school planted about two thousand trees. We grew the seedlings in the school garden. The hostel boys and maintenance staff did a lot of tedious work to bring up the young trees. Our students had chances to join sports programs. Little Flower school students visited and played football with our boys. Later our boys and girls from both schools went to Damak to enjoy a friendly football and basketball one day tournament.
The rain blessings on the night of August 19-20 were greater than we needed. At about 2:00 A.M. the rivers started to flood houses and by 6:00 A.M. the damage was done. All the wooden bridges along the Deonia River are gone. Many parishioners in Sadakabari and Simalbari had to temporarily leave their homes, and many of those houses will need rebuilding. Some of the students from both schools are now without homes. Ignatius assessed the damage at Sadakbari and Mathew did the same at Simalbari. David is organizing help for our people. At Deonia, Alan, Mathew, and the hostel boys got busy to help salvage belongings from a family’s collapsed house. The three children of the family study at St. Xavier’s. Neighbours have given them a couple of rooms. They were all back at school on Friday, cleaned up and in borrowed uniforms. It was consoling to see how quickly and efficiently the neighbours organized food and shelter for the homeless.
We fitted in a final blessing with a community overnight outing to Ilam. Five of us drove to Ilam on the afternoon of the 23rd, after morning ministry. We celebrated Mass and enjoyed supper with Paul Upadhaya and family. On Sunday, after a comfortable night in a lodge, we again joined the family for Mass and lunch. We now look forward to four weeks of abundant academic blessings as we teach as much as we can before the Dasain vacation.– Bill
Pokhara
Before Cap left for his home visit to the U.S. at the end of July, we had a half-day community outing to Baglung to visit the city and an old boy of SXJ., Brigadier General Binoj Basnet. For most of us it was our first visit to that hilly region. On the feast day of our Holy Founder we invited the Pokhara religious for supper. Someone commented at the end, “This is the first time that we had a get-together here on St. Ignatius’ day.” To celebrate the occasion, the candidates played a football match against the parishioners and won.
Maryknoll father Adam Gudalesky (from Hong Kong) and Sr. Conception I.C.M. (from Varanasi) gave a week’s training at our centre for those working with mentally challenged children. Besides our staff, some sisters and staff from Bhairahwa and some from local schools also participated. On an average, we had 35 people everyday.
Arul with a few of our other young priests went to Allahabad for a renewal course in psycho-sexual-spiritual integration. Norbert feels that he should take some classes from Arul. Norbert and Mathew helped the M.C. sisters (active and contemplative) with triduum as preparation for their big feast on 22nd. A local CRN meeting was held at the active M.C.’s place combined with the feast day celebrations with lunch for all the religious. Mathew helped the group with some sharing and discussion. Peter Chettri is happy that the candidates are making steady progress in their language skills, both in Nepali and in English. — Mathew A.
From the Diaspora
Vijay writes from Vidyayoti, Delhi: We are still battling with the heat and humidity even though there are light showers now and then. Classes are in full swing, in another three weeks we get, set, go for the first term exams and then for the annual cultural tour. Anil is into platform ministry this year and I continue to minister to the inmates in Tihar jail and also help out on Sundays in JESA undertaking for domestic working girls.”
Birthdays in September
04 Rufino Coutinho
04 Jomon Jose
09 Peter Lepcha
10 Dalu Panjiparayil
17 Paul Chemparathy
23 Jiju Kevillil
“You received without payment; give without payment!” (Mt. 10:8)
Fr. James J. Donnelly, S.J.
(5 August 1929 – 17 August 2009)
When asked what passage from the Bible he would like as a reading for his Golden Sacerdotal Jubilee on 14 June 2009, Jim said, “the passage in Mathew’s gospel where it is written ‘give freely, what you have received freely’.” This verse from Matthew, in fact, aptly reflects what Jim was throughout his life, a passionate giver who never counted the cost.
Born on 05 August 1929, Jim voiced his desire to give himself totally to God and His people as early as a third Grader when he expressed his aspiration to go to the then “Patna Missions” in India. Even though he entered the Society of Jesus on 21 August 1947, his desire to give himself totally to the missions was realized only two years after his priestly ordination on 14 June 1959 in USA.
When Jim arrived in Nepal in 1961, the door was opened to him to give freely what he was and had in bountiful measures. He plunged almost immediately into his teaching duties at St. Xavier’s School, Godavari. The classroom was his first love but his boundless energy and enthusiasm carried over into many other activities. He directed dramas, coached various sports, refereed athletic events at the local and national level. He was famous for choosing a team each year that had come in last place in the previous year’s competitions and spurring it on to come out first the following year. Jim also served the community as a hard-working Minister.
Jim was the Principal of the school from 1980 to 1990, known as the Donnelly Decade. The Donnelly Decade saw great progress in bringing broader collaboration of the lay staff into the school. Fr. Jim was a born educator, a gifted English teacher, inspired by his conviction that to be a second “father” to the boys was his practical way of showing to God his love of Him and his consecration to Him as one of His priests. Over 3000 former students taught by Jim are testimonies of his self giving in the classroom. Jim’s contributions as an educator did not go unnoticed as the country recognized his efforts in education by bestowing upon him the Gorkha Dakshin Bahu, the highest token of appreciation given to a foreign national by the then King Gyanendra in 2004; a moment cherished deeply by Fr. Jim.
During those years Jim also pursued one of his great interests, the Himalayas, as an intrepid trekker and a mine of information about the mountains and mountaineering expeditions. He tremendously enjoyed sharing his trekking experiences during slide show evenings with the Jesuit Juniors and Candidates as a part of his English language training to them.
Fr. Jim gave himself freely not only as an Educator but also as a pastor. His pastoral gifts were evident at all times. He especially exercised them with fruitful results during the years he served as Chaplain to the British Gurkhas at their camp in East Nepal, where he visited monthly. His effect on the people to whom he ministered was one of renewed hope since he himself always communicated a spirit of optimism and trust in God. His ability to remember names, dates and significant events in the lives of his students and innumerable friends was another asset he brought to his priestly ministry.
In order to give freely, Jim was not ashamed to beg for financial support from his family, friends and acquaintances. His fundraising abilities are legendary and many educational and church institutions are eloquent witnesses to this, not least of them are the Donnelly Hall of St. Xavier’s School Jawalakhel and the Jesuit Residence in Jawalakhel.
Even in his late years when he was confined to a wheel chair, he continued to give himself to the many people who visited him almost daily in his room at the Jesuit Residence in Jawalakhel. While the five or so years in a wheel chair was hard for his independent spirit, this ultimate giving of himself to God and His people, was a true realization of the prayer that was always dear to Jim: “Take and receive, O Lord, my liberty, memory, my understanding and my entire will…All that I have, and possess…!”
May Jim’s Soul Rest in Peace!
