The District of India
The district of India was formed in the year of 1994. The first missionaries of SCJ came in the year 1950 but they could not do anything in India. Because it was time of plague in Bombay and so all the foreigners had to go back to their counties and so they could not land in India. So they had to go back. In the year 1994 two fathers came to the state of Kerala (the south of India). And they were Fr. Martin Van Ooij SCJ and Fr. Carlos SCJ
And they came to the diocese of Cochin and Bishop Joseph Kureethara cordially invited them to his diocese. And they were to reside in the parish of Our Lady of Health in Mattanchery. And in that year we got the first candidate from Cochin itself and it was a young man called Mathew and who is one of our priest in Rome Fr. Mathew Vadassery SCJ. And in the following year Fr. Martin had decided to take the formation program as the main agenda for the presence of SCJs in India. And in the coming year we had grown with the some six candidate for the congregation and now the problem of formation came up. How to accommodate the students in this small parish house? Here the answer of the Bishop was very consoling and he agreed that the candidate for the Religious formation for our congregation could stay in the minor seminary of the Diocese. And the seminary is called Mount Carmel Petit Seminary, which is in the same complex of Bishop’s house. And really now Fr. Martin see it as the work of the Holy Spirit.
And in the following year 9 other students also came to join with the congregation. Now the accommodation became another problem. Because the previous batch has finished successfully their initial course in the minor seminary and now where to accommodate them? And again the Bishop has widely opened his hands to embrace the congregation in his diocese. He gave one parish in Chandiroor and yet another parish house in Edacochi.
The members of other provinces also send their missionaries to India in helping the mission. And Bro. Aloysius and Fr. Thomas Garvey and Fr. Vincent are some of the examples of it. And now the present batch has to stay in the minor seminary of the diocese and the previous batch had to go for their elementary studies in the near by college and so things are settling for a time. But again the problem of a permanent house arose.
Now again the Bishop himself came forward to find a place for the congregation. And Bishop found the place in Kumbalanghy. A very naturally beautiful place. And the construction of the house started and so the desire of everyone grew with the house. And by the grace of God the first official house in India was inaugurated in the year 1997 March 18. And what joy it is to see the work of the Holy Spirit. And just we had to stand with the spirit to and the God worked really wonderfully.
And in the very next day there was yet another historical incident in the congregation in India. And that was to lay foundation stone for the Philosophy house in Aluva. But in the middle of it I have to invite your attention that we had already started our presence in the diocese of Varapully. The Archdiocese. And there we got a house from the Cochin Bishop and our brothers were staying there and going to attend philosophy classes in the Sacred Heart Philosophy College, which belong the congregation of OCD. And now the work for the house for the philosophy school was also started and so here too we had a nice beginning. And it was wonderful. And it is also near to the pontifical institute of philosophy and theology and so also many other religious –both men and women- houses are also there. And so the work started so soon and so the grace of God. And in the year of 1999 we could inaugurate our philosophy house. And we kept the name of our founder for the house. Dehon Bhavan (House of Dehon) was the name of our first house while the philosophy house got the name “Dehon Vidhya sandan, which means the study house of Dehon. So glorious was the work of the Lord that within a short time we gain two houses of our own in a new mission land. And now many students were coming to join with us that we had to find a house for elder vocation. And so the Arch Bishop gave us one convent and very beautiful place it was. A small island and so nice it was that we began our presence there successfully. And now the grace of God was so evident.
In all these things we started our presence in a “foreign land” yes we did it in a different place of India our presence and that what I would like to share with you in the following paragraphs.
Now in the year of 1998 Fr. Martin went for a week of charismatic retreat here near by a place. And there he came to meet with two priests from the diocese of Guntur. And they invited Fr. Martin to make a visit to the diocese of Guntur. And in the same year Fr. Martin made a small visit to the diocese of Guntur. And he came to meet with the Bishop and he invited the congregation to his diocese. And it was a beginning of our congregation from Kerala to the outside. And in the initial period the aim was to collect the students and begin our formation house here also. And for that first Fr. Adrian was sent to Andhra pradesh and in the minor seminary of the diocese he stayed and our students were with the diocesan students and they had the same formation, but Fr. Adrian would give them some talks and conferences about our congregation and formation and so on.
And the community grew. And we were in need of a house of our own in the diocese. And so this was not possible all of a sudden and so there were some proposals, but we rented a house and our students stayed in that house. And Fr. Teja was rector of the house and Bro. Leonard was also there, and Fr. Adrian too. And now this gave a way to think about the new house possibility and so now the construction of our minor seminary started there. Now the formation house was ready in the year of 2001.
And as I had mentioned early our novitiate house was the house of elder vocation. And in that house two batches did their novitiate under the guidance of Fr. Sebastian Pitz and so now the novitiate house was also on the process in Numbur and so now in the same day of the inauguration of the minor seminary was had the opening of our novitiate house also. First the novitiate house and then in the afternoon the minor seminary. Wow- it was wonderful experience.
And now by some eight years, the congregation had some four houses as its own.
By this time our contract with the Archbishop was over. The need to find another house for the elder vocation became very necessary and so we rented one house in Aluva. And the agreement was for three years, which we renewed recently for yet another three years. The rector was Fr. William from Holland. And it is in this house where I did my regency. And so nice all things that had happened for time being. Ok now that’s something about the district of India. And in between many provinces sent their missionaries to India. Fr. Angle from the province of Poland, Fr. Kus, Fr. Gunturo both from Indonesia Fr. Valerio, Fr. Beppe, both from Italy, Fr. Jose, Fr. Amaro both from Portugal. Fr. Stanley from England are some of the example to this. Fr. David (who did his regency in Ponnarimangalam From England) Fr. Heinz Lau (who was the novitiate master in the year of 2004-2005) Bro. Murphy From England. (Due to ill health) Bro. Sis from Indonesia, Fr. Andrew from Poland are some of the unfortunate examples of Indian government. Because of some problem with visa they could not reach back to India.
And the death of Fr. Thomas Garvey can be remembered with tears only. A man of holiness and outstanding prudence left us with lots of good and sweet memories. Then the departure of Bro. Al for Indonesia from our mission is also a sad history of our congregation. And the deepest felt sad incident of our congregation was also the departure of Fr. Garvey.
Now some of the happy news from the district is the priestly ordination our first local priests. Fr. Mariano and Fr. Placido on January 26, 2004 in Goa. And this wonderful day is specially remembered in the congregation. And the first final vows took place in the district on 1st of May 2003.
And there were also some members who came from the district of Philippines. And the four Indian candidate and the Philippines candidates had retreat together. And it was wonderful idea to have the final vows preparation together. And in the year 2003 May 7 we had the first vows of 13 candidates for the congregation. The first biggest batch for the congregation from India.
The theology house was also the same with the philosophy house in Aluva. And the theology students were staying in the philosophy house and were going to Carmel Giri for theological classes. Now the number of the temporary vowed were becoming more and more and now the house for theology became one of the biggest issue in the congregation. And since the agenda of the congregation was to move to north the theology also needed to be in the north. And the search for the theology college was going on. But none of the schools were ready to accept such a big number of the students at once. And so the destination came to Andhra predesh and so we found our theology college in Janampet. And so in the school year 2004 we started our theology house here in Andhra. And the house to stay was given by the Bishop of Eluru. And so the first batch started their theology in Eluru. The college is under the guidance of Capuchin fathers from Kottayam (Kerala). And in the following year we had 11 more brothers who did their novitiate and regency. So the community grew further more. And so we rented one house near by here. And now in the rented house there are 8 brothers and 1 father. The rest of them are in the bishop’s house. And so the Indian district is growing and growing more and more.
On may 10th of 2005 we had the second priestly ordination of our two brothers, Brother Mathew and McQueen, were ordained by the Archbishop of Varapully in Carmel Giri. It was a very special grace for both of them to be ordained in their own college. And by the archbishop. And I think there was also a very special thing to mention about it. I think that this was the first ordination after Benedict XVI had taken his position in the church as the follower of John Paul II.
So many people came to India to make a very special visit to us. We can never forget first time when we saw our general superior Virginio Bressenelli in the Cochin Bishop house. And in that evening he talked to us. First time going to the room of a Bishop. What a feeling it was. And later we came met him for the inauguration of our first house in kumbalanghy. A very holy man. First time I saw him shivering during the Holy Eucharist because of his holiness he had that fear and love for the Eucharist.
The district of India was formed in the year of 1994. The first missionaries of SCJ came in the year 1950 but they could not do anything in India. Because it was time of plague in Bombay and so all the foreigners had to go back to their counties and so they could not land in India. So they had to go back. In the year 1994 two fathers came to the state of Kerala (the south of India). And they were Fr. Martin Van Ooij SCJ and Fr. Carlos SCJ
And they came to the diocese of Cochin and Bishop Joseph Kureethara cordially invited them to his diocese. And they were to reside in the parish of Our Lady of Health in Mattanchery. And in that year we got the first candidate from Cochin itself and it was a young man called Mathew and who is one of our priest in Rome Fr. Mathew Vadassery SCJ. And in the following year Fr. Martin had decided to take the formation program as the main agenda for the presence of SCJs in India. And in the coming year we had grown with the some six candidate for the congregation and now the problem of formation came up. How to accommodate the students in this small parish house? Here the answer of the Bishop was very consoling and he agreed that the candidate for the Religious formation for our congregation could stay in the minor seminary of the Diocese. And the seminary is called Mount Carmel Petit Seminary, which is in the same complex of Bishop’s house. And really now Fr. Martin see it as the work of the Holy Spirit.
And in the following year 9 other students also came to join with the congregation. Now the accommodation became another problem. Because the previous batch has finished successfully their initial course in the minor seminary and now where to accommodate them? And again the Bishop has widely opened his hands to embrace the congregation in his diocese. He gave one parish in Chandiroor and yet another parish house in Edacochi.
The members of other provinces also send their missionaries to India in helping the mission. And Bro. Aloysius and Fr. Thomas Garvey and Fr. Vincent are some of the examples of it. And now the present batch has to stay in the minor seminary of the diocese and the previous batch had to go for their elementary studies in the near by college and so things are settling for a time. But again the problem of a permanent house arose.
Now again the Bishop himself came forward to find a place for the congregation. And Bishop found the place in Kumbalanghy. A very naturally beautiful place. And the construction of the house started and so the desire of everyone grew with the house. And by the grace of God the first official house in India was inaugurated in the year 1997 March 18. And what joy it is to see the work of the Holy Spirit. And just we had to stand with the spirit to and the God worked really wonderfully.
And in the very next day there was yet another historical incident in the congregation in India. And that was to lay foundation stone for the Philosophy house in Aluva. But in the middle of it I have to invite your attention that we had already started our presence in the diocese of Varapully. The Archdiocese. And there we got a house from the Cochin Bishop and our brothers were staying there and going to attend philosophy classes in the Sacred Heart Philosophy College, which belong the congregation of OCD. And now the work for the house for the philosophy school was also started and so here too we had a nice beginning. And it was wonderful. And it is also near to the pontifical institute of philosophy and theology and so also many other religious –both men and women- houses are also there. And so the work started so soon and so the grace of God. And in the year of 1999 we could inaugurate our philosophy house. And we kept the name of our founder for the house. Dehon Bhavan (House of Dehon) was the name of our first house while the philosophy house got the name “Dehon Vidhya sandan, which means the study house of Dehon. So glorious was the work of the Lord that within a short time we gain two houses of our own in a new mission land. And now many students were coming to join with us that we had to find a house for elder vocation. And so the Arch Bishop gave us one convent and very beautiful place it was. A small island and so nice it was that we began our presence there successfully. And now the grace of God was so evident.
In all these things we started our presence in a “foreign land” yes we did it in a different place of India our presence and that what I would like to share with you in the following paragraphs.
Now in the year of 1998 Fr. Martin went for a week of charismatic retreat here near by a place. And there he came to meet with two priests from the diocese of Guntur. And they invited Fr. Martin to make a visit to the diocese of Guntur. And in the same year Fr. Martin made a small visit to the diocese of Guntur. And he came to meet with the Bishop and he invited the congregation to his diocese. And it was a beginning of our congregation from Kerala to the outside. And in the initial period the aim was to collect the students and begin our formation house here also. And for that first Fr. Adrian was sent to Andhra pradesh and in the minor seminary of the diocese he stayed and our students were with the diocesan students and they had the same formation, but Fr. Adrian would give them some talks and conferences about our congregation and formation and so on.
And the community grew. And we were in need of a house of our own in the diocese. And so this was not possible all of a sudden and so there were some proposals, but we rented a house and our students stayed in that house. And Fr. Teja was rector of the house and Bro. Leonard was also there, and Fr. Adrian too. And now this gave a way to think about the new house possibility and so now the construction of our minor seminary started there. Now the formation house was ready in the year of 2001.
And as I had mentioned early our novitiate house was the house of elder vocation. And in that house two batches did their novitiate under the guidance of Fr. Sebastian Pitz and so now the novitiate house was also on the process in Numbur and so now in the same day of the inauguration of the minor seminary was had the opening of our novitiate house also. First the novitiate house and then in the afternoon the minor seminary. Wow- it was wonderful experience.
And now by some eight years, the congregation had some four houses as its own.
By this time our contract with the Archbishop was over. The need to find another house for the elder vocation became very necessary and so we rented one house in Aluva. And the agreement was for three years, which we renewed recently for yet another three years. The rector was Fr. William from Holland. And it is in this house where I did my regency. And so nice all things that had happened for time being. Ok now that’s something about the district of India. And in between many provinces sent their missionaries to India. Fr. Angle from the province of Poland, Fr. Kus, Fr. Gunturo both from Indonesia Fr. Valerio, Fr. Beppe, both from Italy, Fr. Jose, Fr. Amaro both from Portugal. Fr. Stanley from England are some of the example to this. Fr. David (who did his regency in Ponnarimangalam From England) Fr. Heinz Lau (who was the novitiate master in the year of 2004-2005) Bro. Murphy From England. (Due to ill health) Bro. Sis from Indonesia, Fr. Andrew from Poland are some of the unfortunate examples of Indian government. Because of some problem with visa they could not reach back to India.
And the death of Fr. Thomas Garvey can be remembered with tears only. A man of holiness and outstanding prudence left us with lots of good and sweet memories. Then the departure of Bro. Al for Indonesia from our mission is also a sad history of our congregation. And the deepest felt sad incident of our congregation was also the departure of Fr. Garvey.
Now some of the happy news from the district is the priestly ordination our first local priests. Fr. Mariano and Fr. Placido on January 26, 2004 in Goa. And this wonderful day is specially remembered in the congregation. And the first final vows took place in the district on 1st of May 2003.
And there were also some members who came from the district of Philippines. And the four Indian candidate and the Philippines candidates had retreat together. And it was wonderful idea to have the final vows preparation together. And in the year 2003 May 7 we had the first vows of 13 candidates for the congregation. The first biggest batch for the congregation from India.
The theology house was also the same with the philosophy house in Aluva. And the theology students were staying in the philosophy house and were going to Carmel Giri for theological classes. Now the number of the temporary vowed were becoming more and more and now the house for theology became one of the biggest issue in the congregation. And since the agenda of the congregation was to move to north the theology also needed to be in the north. And the search for the theology college was going on. But none of the schools were ready to accept such a big number of the students at once. And so the destination came to Andhra predesh and so we found our theology college in Janampet. And so in the school year 2004 we started our theology house here in Andhra. And the house to stay was given by the Bishop of Eluru. And so the first batch started their theology in Eluru. The college is under the guidance of Capuchin fathers from Kottayam (Kerala). And in the following year we had 11 more brothers who did their novitiate and regency. So the community grew further more. And so we rented one house near by here. And now in the rented house there are 8 brothers and 1 father. The rest of them are in the bishop’s house. And so the Indian district is growing and growing more and more.
On may 10th of 2005 we had the second priestly ordination of our two brothers, Brother Mathew and McQueen, were ordained by the Archbishop of Varapully in Carmel Giri. It was a very special grace for both of them to be ordained in their own college. And by the archbishop. And I think there was also a very special thing to mention about it. I think that this was the first ordination after Benedict XVI had taken his position in the church as the follower of John Paul II.
So many people came to India to make a very special visit to us. We can never forget first time when we saw our general superior Virginio Bressenelli in the Cochin Bishop house. And in that evening he talked to us. First time going to the room of a Bishop. What a feeling it was. And later we came met him for the inauguration of our first house in kumbalanghy. A very holy man. First time I saw him shivering during the Holy Eucharist because of his holiness he had that fear and love for the Eucharist.
Later many people came from Holland. As I can remember the family members of Fr. Martin came in the year of 1998. His brothers came to visit him in Kumbalnghy. Sharing with us their joys and some pictures, videos, their expectations about the mission in India, their joy of seeing their own brother being a missionary in a foreign land, and so much they all had to share with us. On a Sunday they took all the brothers to a nearby textile and asked us that we can take any one thing that we all like. So I think that each one selected a shirt or T-shirt or pants or something like that. So nice that we all had a lively gift of our own choice.
The cousin of Fr. Adrian visited us once. And as I can remember about her is very little. Only one thing I have as her memory is a picture. She and Fr. Adrian with some of our brothers stood with her and took a photo. These brothers were interested in learning how to use flout. And also since she had brought with her some block flout it was also easy to deal with it. And as I can remember they all got one each flout. How far they all improved in playing flout is an individual question and so I will not interrupt into it.
Once more the family members of Fr. Martin came to visit us as far as I can think they all were more in a picnic mood and they were many. That some were even living in the room of Fr. Martin. I think that they all enjoyed a different life in India than that of life in Holland. But I think that some one of them said some thing in our chapel about their experience after the receiving of the Holy Communion. If I am not wrong it was his brother. And exactly I do not remember what he said. Just a fade memory of that shot saying in the chapel that is only.
The visit of some fathers from Indonesia is also is a sweet memory as far as I can remember. Just the Provincial Superior Fr. Sugino SCJ and also the present Provincial Superior Fr. Alexander SCJ I remember. And also some of the other fathers who came to visit us. Of course Fr. Vergito who was representing Asia in Roman curia cannot be forgotten here. He was just a usual visitor to us. Having with us sometimes personal talks and reporting them was his usual thing to do. And in the recent time Fr. Madio SCJ who took the place of Fr. Vergito also has visited us and I hope to see him soon visiting India for the District council meeting.
Yet another visit was that of Fr. Zolilo of South Africa. He was representing Africa in the roman curia and he visited a shot visit to the District of India.
The visit of the Ecnom of our previous Administration from Rome and visited us. And just I do not get his name in my memory.
And then also I remember the visit of Fr. Westendorff from Germany. And he was the first visitor from Germany to us. He was having a fund collection and he was generous enough to come to India in the initial time of our presence here in India. And as far as I can remember he visited us twice. And then also I think that our present district superior- Fr. Martin has got good connection with him still. Just I have no mean for connecting with him.
WILL BE CONTINUED.......
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