Dear Confreres,
Fraternal greetings to you in the Risen Lord!
We are still in the thrill of the great feast of Easter where we experienced the fruit of our Christian life. From the state of total shock, fear, shame and sadness of crucifixion the Risen Christ experience transformed the Apostles into men of courage, faith and hope. It turned the mere fisherman like St. Peter into a compelling preacher of the truth. We too need to let go our past, inhibitions, irrelevant fears and make a new beginning that gives life and hope. We too need to believe that Risen Christ takes with him all who believe in Him. We are called, empowered and marked as Christ’s own forever and we are called to preach that Risen Christ.
We are also at the doorsteps of a new academic year. After a year of hard work in different fields we are going to enter yet a new year of commitment. Here I would like to bring to your attention a quotation from our founder, “Allow God to dispose of you, as He desires; do not seek to escape. Let Him place you in the work, which He wills, and in the charge, which He wills. Allow him to act and allow Him to provide you with the liberty to do His Holy will”. Our founder had a strong faith in God and that made him a very gentle and strong Oblate. At the beginning of this new academic year may these holy words of our Founder strengthen you to carry out your ministry in a manner pleasing to Him.
1. Appointments
After careful consideration upon the needs of the region and in consultation with respective confreres, the Advisory Board has decided to make the following transfers and appointments of the confreres. I greatly appreciate the readiness of the confreres in accepting these responsibilities and I wish them success and blessings of God in their ministry.
A. Salespuram
- Fr. Vincent is appointed as the Superior of Salespuram and in charge of Plus One and Plus Two students. Fr. Vincent will assume his responsibility as Superior from 1st June, 2008 onwards.
- Fr. Michael is assigned to Salespuram. He will be the treasurer of the community and in charge of the Orientation group. He will assume his responsibility in the first week of July after his internship in Bangalore.
- Fr. Mathew will continue to live in Salespuram maybe till end of June or beginning of July and help in the transitional process.
- Br. Thambi and Br. Dennis are assigned as regents in Salespuram during the next academic year.
B. Samarpanaram
- Fr. Josef will continue as superior of Samarpanaram and as master of philosophers. He will also be the in charge of second and third year BA students from the new academic year.
- Fr. Regi will remain as staff, and continue to teach in the school. He will continue as in charge of BA students until the end of this school year.
- At the earliest I (Fr. Mathew) will join the Samarpanaram community and will serve as treasurer of Samarpanaram and will be in charge for the 1st year BA students. I will also serve as the director of Brisson Bala Bhavan.
C. Bliss
- Fr. Alfred Smuda will continue as superior of the community for this year.
D. Other places
- Fr. Chandra Sekhar will continue his parish ministry in the diocese of Guntur.
- Fr. Balaswamy is released for a one year formators course. Until then he remains in charge of vocation promotion.
- Fr. Bruzily is also released for a one year formators course. At present he is assigned to Samarpanaram to help in the community and as director of Brisson Bala Bhavan until the course begins.
- Fr. Xavier Manchu is released of all his responsibilities in Samarpanaram and entrusted with exploring the possibilities of a new ministry in Andhra.
- Fr. Shaju is doing well in Rome. He has already begun his doctoral studies in psychology. He is also learning Italian but he finds it not as easy as eating a pizza.
- Fr. Baiju was in India for a short visit in the Easter week. He stayed with me three days in Salespuram and he shared with us his experiences as teacher in the United States. He is also considering of changing his teaching ministry to the Oblate school “Salesianum” in Wilmington. He is looking forward to return to India by July 2009.
- Fr. John Sankarathil is busy in completing his doctoral studies in Salesian Spirituality. He might be able to defend his thesis and complete his studies by October this year.
- The advisory Board and the General Council have unanimously approved Br. John George to receive Holy Orders. On 12th June 2008, at the chapel of St. Joseph Seminary, Mangalore, he will receive the Holy Order of Deaconate from the Bishop of Calicut. I thank God for the vocation of John George and I look forward to the celebration.
- Br. Bijesh completed his regency in Salespuram successfully. Now he will begin his theological studies at Vijnanilayam, Eluru. He has applied and should be accepted soon formally. He together with Br. Jayraj will be staying with the other seminarians and are entrusted fully to the formation team there.
- Two regents are assigned for Salespuram. The others will be sent with the MSFS to North East of India for their regency experience.
2. Annual Retreat 2008: Annual retreat is an important spiritual event. It is a time for renewing and reconnecting ourselves with God and with one another. This year we were very fortunate to have Fr. Ken Mckenna with us who, perfectly well prepared, reminded us that “the Oblate is essentially an interior man; a man of prayer, of mental prayer, living in the presence of God and for God.” The mark of an Oblate is that he lives an ‘interior life’. Usually a human being operates from his ordinary awareness (mental –egocentric consciousness). We are called to live and operate in the spiritual awareness. As Oblates our goal is to reach Divine Awareness where the divine indwelling is at the center of our Being. The faithful practice of the Spiritual Directory is our way towards this divine center. And one day we may be able to say with St. Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me”.
In creating this awareness in a Salesian and Oblate way, Fr. Ken has definitely found a place in each of our hearts. Thank you Fr. Ken for enriching us spiritually, and inflaming our interior life. Let me conclude with your favourite quotation from SFS, “people of ordinary goodness walk in God’s ways. The devout run in it and at length, they almost fly”. Fr. Ken you are devout, and at length, you will fly ……… Thank you.
3. Year of Father Brisson: During the centenary celebrations in Troyes Fr. General announced this year as “the year dedicated to our Founder.” I quote from his last news letter “I intend it to be a call for all of us to follow this year united to our founder, to pray for his beatification and canonization, and to deepen our knowledge of his teachings and to renew ourselves in our vocation and mission as Oblates.” Let us try to be faithful to the exhortation of our Fr. General. I also encourage you to pray the novena on the first Friday of each month in our communities together with the lay brothers and sisters. I also encourage you to read the newest Biography of Fr. Brisson by Fr. Dirk Koster. We have received the copies and are available at Samarpanaram.
4. Fourth Centenary of The Introduction to Devout Life and Salesian Semianr at IIS: This year also marks the Fourth Centenary of The Introduction to Devout Life, the meeting of two great spiritual souls, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. We all know that this spiritual classic is a great means to holiness for all walks of people. I join the whole Salesian family sharing my joy on this special occasion. I am happy that our confreres are attending a seminar which is centered on the Introduction to Devout Life at IIS, Bangalore.
5. Vocation Promotion: This is the time for us to welcome young and dynamic students. It is the responsibility of each of us to promote and encourage young men to join our congregation. I appeal to all the confreres to take seriously this ministry of vocation promotion and to extend your support and cooperation to our vocation promoters in fulfilling their ministry.
6. Degrees from De Sales University: 7th March 2008, is marked as a special day as six Oblate Scholastics from Samarpanaram received their graduation from De Sales University, Allentown. The President Fr. Bernard O’Connor, osfs, and the University staff honoured us through their presence in our community and later joined us for a liturgy of thanksgiving and dinner. I hope this relationship between the De Sales Oblates in the United States and in India continue to flourish in the future.
7. Renewal of Vows: On Friday 30th May, our scholastics will renew their vows. It will be a simple celebration. Please remember our young confreres in your prayers. I thank all young confreres for their commitment and perseverance.
8. General Meeting 2008: This year our General Meeting will take place from Saturday, 31st May to Sunday, 1st June 2008. I formally invite all of you especially all the perpetually professed members living in India to attend this meeting. Once again I request you to come forward with any proposals you wish to discuss in the General Meeting.
Finally I thank God for the gift of each confrere, for your vocation as an Oblate. I appreciate your hard work and unwavering commitment to make our Oblate presence in India, by being who we are to ourselves and to God. As many streams make an ocean, your small contributions make a big foundation for our Indian Mission.
9. Let me add here what has been discussed at our last advisory board meeting.
- We set 1st June as the date for assuming the responsibilities.
- We decided to begin a parish ministry in the state of Andhra Pradesh. We have been talking about this for many years now. Fr. Xavier is entrusted with meeting of Bishops in different dioceses to find a parish where we might work for a number of years.
- We unanimously approved Br. John George for the deaconate.
- We decided to send Br. Bijesh to Eluru for theological studies.
- Regarding the deaconate ministry for our theologians in Mangalore we decided that they shall follow the programme of St. Joseph’s College.
- We decided to celebrate Fr. Brisson’s year in the regional level on 21st of November.
- Fr. Josef agreed to be the archivist and will manage the website.
- Fr. Mathew will take care of the printing of a new prayer book- Brissonanjali.
- We discussed the change of signatories of KSES, decided that Fr. Mathew to be the President and Fr. Regi to be the secretary.
10. Please remember the following important dates
- April 26, 27, 28 : Advisory Board Meeting
- May 30th : Renewal of vows
- May 31st and June 1st: General Meeting
Thoughts from our Holy Founder
An Oblate…… is a man who, in all his actions,
in every moment of his day offers himself continually to God
and lives with Him. This is his motivator. He is, therefore to be in God’s hands
at each moment. Let all of us reaffirm ourselves in his will; let’s want what God wishes, and then we shall be acting in the spirit of the Oblates. ……
Our merit does not consists in what the others do or do not do,
but in what each of us does himself, in giving himself entirely to God
just as he is. No one wastes his time doing that.
Wishing every one of you my gratitude and sincere appreciation,
Fraternally,
Fr. Mathew Mukkath osfs