January 21 – February 22, 2005
On India:
The total population of India is
1.2 Billion. Of this, 85% are Hindus, 12% are Muslims and 3% are Christians.
There are 14 official languages in India but aside from that, there are still
many other languages. Each state has its own language. Hindi is the national
language and English is secondary. They have more than 3,000 dialects and over
2,000 denominations. The Republic Day of India is February 26.
Christian schools comprise 13% of the best schools in India. The schools begin classes at 10:00 AM up to 4:00 PM. They have one hour lunch break (1-2PM). There are seven subjects given per day. In the morning the classes are one hour each and, in the afternoon, each subject lasts 30 minutes only.
On the Vincentian Family:
As Vincentian Family, they have a common gathering every September 27 – Mass and meal. The SSVP takes care of financing a number of the programs of the DC. They also have a mobile van-clinic for going around the different villages to dispense medicines and do check-ups. The CM work in parishes of remote villages and tribes. Both the CM and DC have their Provincial Houses in Berhampur. Sr. Grace said that it would be possible for youth volunteers to work or do some service in the North Province but language could be a problem. They will welcome youth volunteers who are properly recommended because they do not want to have young people only interested in doing tourism rather than apostolate. The Vincentian Family branches present in the North Province are: DC, CM, Marian Youth Association and SSVP.
DC Province of North India – present in 4 states – with 30 houses:
o Bariathu
o Sundernagar
o Pumdumlong
o Aligonda
o Allada
o Berhampur – Provincial House
o Bhubaneswar
o Bodopoda
o Balasore
o Balgopalpur (Mitrapur)
o Barbil
o Cuttack (2) – Shanti Ashram and Daya Ashram
o Gopalpur (2) – Mary Villa and Sacred Heart Dispensary
o Gunupur (2) – hostel and hospital
o Hatigarh
o Kattingia
o Khurda Road
o Krisnachandrapur
o Parlakhemundi
o Raghunathpur
o Raikia
o Surada
o Adra
o Barasat
o Burupur
o Serampore (2) – Cheshire Home and St. Vincent’s Seminary
Note: The North Province will be opening a house in Delhi so they will then be present in 5 states.
On the Marian Youth Association (MYA):
The Association was established in
December 8, 1948 in Surada, Orissa through the efforts of Sr. Natividad Garcia,
DC. Their members are mostly teen-aged girls. They have 32 centers in Orissa
with 2,775 members. Their National Office is located within the compound of the
DC Provincial House in Berhampur. The DC give their full support to the youth
in the Province, having one of their Provincial Councilors take charge of the
coordination of the Association, Sr. Maria Goretti Senapati, DC.
Common problem faced by the Marian Youth Association (MYA) of North India is that when the young people go to college, get married or land a job, they leave the Association.
The MYA groups are linked to the parish and their usual tasks include taking care of the liturgy, singing in the choir and teaching catechism. MYA has a quarterly publication called “Rashmi”(Ray of light). The printing of this is sponsored by the CM. The magazine includes series of writings on the life of St. Vincent de Paul, some reflections, poem compositions on the Blessed Virgin Mary, inputs on Christian doctrine, formation materials, information on new units and some light stuff (jokes, funny stories).
Members of the MYA National Council:
1. Sunita Nayak - National President
2. Vijaya Ku Bastiray - National Secretary
3. Sr. Maria Goretti Senapati, DC - National Sister Advisor
4. Sr. Bondana Prodhan, DC - National Sister Advisor
5. Sr. Martha Prodhan, DC - National Sister Advisor
6. Fr. Robindra Aplinar Senapati, CM - National Priest Advisor
Publications of MYA India in Oriya language:
Note: Each member gets a copy of these publications.
Dioceses in Orissa where the MYA exists:
Badges according to section:
The visit began with the North Province and I arrived Calcutta on January 21. Sr. Maria Goretti Senapati, DC (National Sister Advisor) and Sr. Teresa Nayak, DC (Sister Servant of St. Vincent Health Center in Barasat) met me at the airport. Sr. Maria Goretti gave me a rundown of the program of my visit.
January 21 - arrival into Calcutta
January 22 - Serampore
January 23-26 - Berhampur and Gopalpur
January 27 - Cuttack
January 28-30 - Krisnachandrapur and Raghunathpur
January 31 - Hatigarh
February 1 - Balasore and Balgopalpur (Mitrapur)
February 2 - Berhampur
February 3 - Bodopoda
February 4-6 - Surada
February 7 - Gunupur and Allada
February 8 - Aligonda and Kattingia
February 9 - Raikia
February 10 - Jubaguda
February 11 - Dantolingi
February 12 - Calcutta – visit some places of interest such as the Mother House of the
Missionaries of Charity where Blessed Teresa is buried.
Since there are three dioceses in
North India where the Marian Youth Association MYA) is present, there were three
seminars were organized for their officers and members. The activities for each
seminar were:
a) Eucharistic Celebration
b) Getting to know – name and symbol
c) Reflection and Group Sharing on the story “The Leaking Water Container”
d) Talk on the Origin and History of JMV
e) Workshop on Living out the Marian and Vincentian charism of the JMV – presentations were done through song, dance, role-paly
f) Talk on the JMV Today
g) Testimony on my personal experience as a Child of Mary
h) Workshop on Leadership and Sharing to the Big Group by some participants
i) Talk on the Spiritual Values and Skills for JMV Leaders
j) Input on St. Catherine Laboure: The Saint of Silence
k) Unit Reporting
l) Unit Presentations – dance/song/drama
m) Praying of the Rosary
The first of these three seminars was for the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Diocese and it was held at the DC Provincial House in Berhampur on January 24-25. Fr. Ignatius Nayak, CM, Fr. Robindra Aplinar Senapati, CM and Fr. Robi Sabhasundar took turns in translating for me during the whole seminar. The Sister Advisors present in the Seminar were:
The Priest Advisors present in the Seminar were:
Total participants: 26 office-bearers, 3 Priests, 5 Sisters
Diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar: President – Kamal Kanta D. Sena
Secretary – Pradip Kumar Kujur
The second seminar was for the Diocese of Balasore held at St. Mary’s School in Krisnachandrapur on January 29-30, with Sr. Maria Goretti translating for me. The following Sisters took part in the seminar:
Attendance: 31 office-bearers – 14 boys/17 girls: Krisnachandrapur – 14
Balgopalpur – 5
Hatigarh – 3
Barbil – 3
Balasore - 6
10 Sisters
Total MYA membership in the Diocese of Balasore:
1. Balasore - 20
2. Hatigarh - 40
3. Krisnachandrapur - 150
4. Barbil - 101
5. Balgopalpur (Mitrapur) - 21
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Balasore Diocesan Council Office-bearers:
President: Sanjita Marandi (Krisnachandrapur)
Vice-President: Lubin Besra (Hatigarh)
Secretary: Mary Murmu (Balgopalpur-Mitrapur)
Assistant Secretary: Royston Ross (Barbil)
Treasurer: Juli Rani Singh (Balasore)
The third seminar was for the
Diocese of Berhampur which was held at St. Joseph’s House in Surada on February
4-6. Thomas Nayak, a teacher at the CM Technical High School there, translated
for me. Sunita Nayak (MYA National President) also came for the seminar. She
is not participating in the 2nd JMV General Assembly in Paris this
August because she plans to get married. Attendance in this seminar totalled
121 persons, coming from these places:
Diocese of Berhampur: President – Susant Prasad Nayak
Secretary – Deepanjali Bastaray
Series of meetings and activities held during my visit:
A. January 26 (Republic Day of India) - meeting with the MYA National Council, with the following agenda:
1. National Statutes
With me in the meeting were:
They will send 3 participants to the 2nd JMV General Assembly (Paris) and WYD (Cologne):
B. January 27 – meeting with the MYA group of Cuttack. They have 20 members. Other persons in the meeting aside from me were: Sr. Elizabeth, Sr. Josephine, Sr. Maria Goretti and Fr. Xavier (Assistant Parish Priest). The program for that meeting was:
a) Welcome Speech
b) Welcome Song
c) Prayer Dance
d) Odessi Prayer Dance
e) Input – Ana – message and challenge of Rue du Bac
f) Input – Sr. Maria Goretti
g) Group Dance – tribal
h) Input – Fr. Xavier
i) Vote of Thanks
j)
Final Hymn
We had snacks together after the meeting and after we prayed the Office of the Reading of the Marian Youth Prayer.
C. January 29 – meeting with the members of the MYA group of St. Mary’s School in Krisnachandrapur. I shared to them on the virtues of our Blessed Mother.
D. January 31 - meeting with the MYA unit of Hatigarh. I shared to them again about the virtues. The group also shared about their activities as a unit. After dinner, the girls had prepared a program with song and dance presentations.
E. February 1 - meeting with the MYA unit at Christ the King Cathedral in Balasore. The parish priest is Fr. Roy and the assistant parish priest is Fr. Jojo. Within the compound is also the Bishop’s House – the bishop is Fr. Thomas Tiuruthalil, D.D., CM, but I did not get the chance to meet him because he was not around at the time. The program for the meeting was:
a) Prayer Song – “Arati” to Our Lady
b) Welcome Speech – Rita Soren (Unit President)
c) Personal Introduction – Fr. Roy
d) Report on unit activities – Rita Soren
o The unit has 20 members and they meet once a month. They pick a theme to discuss in each meeting.
o Apostolate consists in visiting the sick and praying with them. They also help out in cleaning and decorating the church; they take charge of a Mass (readers, offertory, choir).
o They have monthly Triduum and Novena to the corresponding Marian feast. Every Saturday, they join in the morning Mass and at 5PM they have their group prayer.
o In the month October, they conduct house-to-house praying of the Rosary. In May, the Rosary is prayed in the parish and they also have flower offering to our Blessed Mother (similar to our “Flores de Mayo” activity in the Philippines). They teach catechism to little children.
o The amount of 3 rupees is collected every month from each member.
o The members are encouraged to go to confession before the celebration of important church feasts.
o The parish priest greatly appreciates the help of the MYA members, referring to them as “his right and left hands”.
e) Input – Ana – message and challenge of the Rue du Bac
f) Presentation – 2 action songs
g) Vote of Thanks – Silu Saha
h) Closing Song
F. February 3 - meeting with the local unit of Bodopada. There were 150 members out of the total 342 who attended this meeting. There are 40 villages that form part of the parish and the MYA is present in 34 villages. The members gather once a year for a 3-day seminar. Their Parish Priest is very supportive of the MYA, being concerned for the welfare of the group and encouraging them in their activities. The program of the meeting was:
a) Opening Song
b) Introduction – Sr. Bernadette Behera, DC (Local Sister Advisor)
c) Speech – Fr. Jose
d) Candle Lighting – Ana
e) Message - one of the members
f) Input – Ana – “Virtues of Mary”
g) Input – Sr. Bondana Prodhan, DC
h) Closing Remarks and Vote of Thanks
Parish Priest: Fr. Jose Kallarakal, CM
Assistant Parish Priests: Fr. Susanto Digal, CM
Fr. Joseph Nayak, CM
G. February 4 - courtesy call to Fr. John Ranasingh, CM, parish priest of Sacred Heart Parish (Christ the King) in Surada. Fr. John was the former Provincial.
H. February 7 - meeting with the MYA members of Gunupur held at Marillac Niketan. Total number of members in Gunupur is 60. The program of the meeting was:
a) Welcome song – with giving of flowers
b) Tribal dance
c) Comical skit/drama – little boys
d) Song number – the singer was a lame boy but with such a beautiful voice!
e) Dance number – modern dance – boys from the parish
f) Comical skit – 2 little boys
g) Dance number – boys
h) Dance number – girls
i) Input – Ana – “Virtues of Mary”
j) Vote of Thanks – presentation of token
I. February 7 - meeting with the MYA members of Allada. As usual, I shared to them about the virtues of our Blessed Mother. Fr. Joseph, CM translated for me and is very interested in the Association. We need to send him the book “Opening the door of the third millennium” and the booklet “Role and functions of advisors in the JMV”. After supper, there were some presentations – all beautiful and different from the others I’ve seen. India and Orissa, in particular, is very rich culturally.
J. February 6 – meeting with the MYA members of Aligonda.
K. February 8 – meeting with the MYA members of Kattingia.
L. February 9 – at 10:30 AM we
passed by the parish of Chadakia where Fr. Robi Sabhasundar and his MYA members
and parishioners had been waiting for us since 7:00 AM. Many of them had come
walking quite a long way from their villages just to meet me. I felt so
strangely blessed and honoured by these kind people who were eagerly waiting to
say a few words to me. I gave them a short message just there outside the
church with Fr. Robi translating and then we ate some snacks – their
customary
tea and biscuits. We continued on our way to Raikia after. We had the Way of
the Cross inside the DC compound at 4:00 PM. We cannot use the parish church
across because last year, in August, a group of Hindus, around 500 of them,
broke into it and destroyed the altar, all the statues, windows, etc. The
church has not been used since that time. After the Way of the Cross, we had
the meeting with the members of the MYA from outside the hostel but it was only
a short one so I gave them a brief message of encouragement. The Sisters do not
want to call the attention of the people in the village especially that of the
Hindus ever since the church was broken into forcefully. After that meeting, I
joined the Sisters at the chapel for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. What
followed was the meeting for the MYA members from inside the hostel. I talked
to them about the virtues of our Blessed Mother. I immediately noted the good
quality of education given by the DC in this school because the members were
very attentive and participative. After the talk, we had an open forum and
their questions were all very relevant and related to the Association. Some
questions revolved on how to recruit new members, the possibility of having
members from other religions (in this part the Baptists have a lot of
followers), even regarding the meaning of the colors for the different ribbons
in each stage (need to check if there’s a reason for this and inform Sr. Mary).
Then we had supper followed by the usual cultural presentation, which was very
nice and wonderfully prepared.
M. February 10 – we passed by Kotogarh at 8:00 AM and stopped because the CM have a hostel there for boys – 50 of them. Fr. Paul Kunnathoor, CM runs the place called De Paul Hostel at Nova Djoti. I was asked to give a short talk to them and after that we visited the girls’ hostel a few minutes away, where I also shared again with them. There are also 50 girls there and both children study in the public school nearby. The Sisters who run the girls’ hostel are from another congregation – Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood. At 9:15 AM we continued on our way to Jubaguda. This is the parish where Fr. Aplinar is assigned but he was not around. He had gone to Calcutta in preparation for his trip to France in the coming weeks for Vincentian studies. However, another CM was around – Fr. Jaya Prakash Behera, CM. We had the meeting when the children came home from school and it was also participated in by some girls who had come from a faraway village which forms part of the parish.
I. February 11 - Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and there is a shrine in Dantolingi. Thousands of people go there each year on pilgrimage. Every three years they celebrate the jubilee year but even if this year is not a jubilee year there were still so many people. Sr. Grace and Sr. Teresita met us there as Sr. Bondana and I would be returning to Berhampur. Since I would be leaving that afternoon for Calcutta thus ending my visit to the North Province, we dropped by the CM Provincial House to say goodbye to Fr. Matthew.
On February 13, I left Calcutta
for Bangalore thus beginning my one-week visit to the South Province. The next
day, I shared to the postulants
on the “Origin and History of JMV” as well as my
own personal experience. Later, Sr. Mary Kunnappally,DC (Visitatrix) arrived
and we had a short meeting. She explained that the South Province is very much
different from the North Province with regards to the MYA. In the South, there
are many Catholics and Marian organizations whereas in the North the CM were the
first to evangelize and MYA was a part of their missionary activity. In the
South there is a good presence of other congregations – Jesuits, Salesians,
Redemptorists – and so they have organized their own youth groups in the
parishes. It is not easy to add another group because you have to ask permission
from the bishop and it is not granted if there are already other Marian groups
formed. The DC here do not have hostels unlike in the North because education
is accessible to many hence children live with their parents or relatives.
Although the majority of the people are Hindus, they are however a very religious and devout people. In Bangalore, you can find many Hindus frequenting Catholic churches and praying there, too. They believe in one God even if not our God yet they look at Jesus Christ as a prophet and even study the Gospels.
DC South Province of India – present in 6 states – with 20 communities
- Hemachandrapuram
- Shatinagar
- Thangellamundi
2. Gujarat (2)
- Bachasan
- Khempur
3. Karnataka (5)
- Banagalore (2) – PH and Seminary
- Chitradurga
- Mangalore
- Mysore
4. Kerala (3)
- Keralapuram
- Madathil
- Vellanchira
5. Maharastra (3)
- Manmad
- Mumbai
- Raghunathnagar
6. Tamil Nadu (3)
- Kallal
- Kariyambadi
- Oragadom
Sr. Mary and I left for Trivandrum on February 15 by train and got there the next day. Fr. George Machukujzhy, CM was our host and we stayed in the parish where he works – Immaculate Conception Parish.
On February 17, we met with the Bishop of Neyyatinkara Diocese – Rt. Rev. Dr. Vincent Samuel. We told him what the JMV is all about and gave him a copy of the conference “JMV Today”. He is very keen on getting the DC to work in his diocese. That afternoon, we had a Eucharistic Celebration in the parish and Fr. George asked me to give a brief message.
On February 18, we visited the Kannayakumari District in Tamil Nadu State. This is the southernmost tip of India and was also hit by the tsunami last December. In the afternoon, we visited two parishes where I was asked to share on the “message of the miraculous medal”. These parishes were:
a) St. Matthew’s Church, Pozhiyor, South Kollemcode, Trivandrum, Kerala
Parish Priest¨ Fr. Rodrig Kutty
b) St. Nicholas Church, Neerody, Kollemcode, Kannayakumari, Tamil Nadu
Parish Priest: Fr. Stanilaus Theesmas
There are already Marian organizations in those parishes: Legion of Mary anf Sodality (its new name is Christian Living Communities). Fr. George is beginning to organize the AMM in these parishes and needs to follow them up. I have asked him to make the youth section into JMV since they work actively with young people and children.
On February 19, we visited the Our
Lady of Good Voyage Church in Kottapuram, Vizhinjan. We met witht the Parish
Priest as well as with the Assistant Parish Priest. The Parish is very Marian.
Everyday the Legion of Mary meets after the Mass. Since it was a Saturday,
there was a big meeting – different groups were gathered around the statue of
our Blessed Mother to pray and discuss their activities. After that, we
proceeded to Holy Family Parish in Mulluvila where Fr. Nelson Thirunilath is the
parish priest. I was asked to give a short input to the parishioners. Our next
stop was at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Poovar. Here, we had the meeting with
the animators of the MYA and AMM. After the 5:00 PM, we had the reception of
the new members of the MYA in the Pieta shrine in front of the church where I
gave an input.
On February 20, we went to Keralapuram which belongs to the Diocese of Quilon. The CM have a parish there called Mary Rani Church – Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. I met with the future Sister Advisors of the MYA and I shared to them all about the Association.
On February 21, I returned to Calcutta for a brief meeting with Fr. Aplinar and Sr. Maria Goretti and the next day I flew home to Cebu.
It has been a blessed experience and I thank God for all the learning and warmth I found in India. God bless all those who work for the good of the people there.
Ana Maria P. Escaño
JMV International Council
