Seminar on BCC

A three day seminar on Basic Christian Communities (BCC) was organised at St John's Regional Seminary, Kondadaba from July 18, 2011. Fr Dusi Devaraj, the director of Jyotirmai Society, and his team comprising of Mr Rayappa Reddy, Mr Christopher, Mr Deva Kumar, Mr Lourduraj and Mr Mariadas, were the chief animators of this seminar.
Tracing the origin of the BCCs to the lived experience of the early New Testament itself, the animators, stressed on fraternal love as the foundation stone for this grouping. With its motto of self-rule, self-nourishment and self-development, the need and importance of BCCs was highlighted in the initial two days. A brief historical review of the emergence and need of the Catechetical wing of the Andhra Pradesh Bishop's Conference (APBC), the Jyotirmai Society, too formed part of the input sessions.
The other practical sessions were coordinated by the team from Jyotirmai Society. They helped the Brothers understand and imbibe the seven step prayer of Lectio-Divina. To make this tangible, gospel sharing sessions too were organised. Through these sharings the Brothers were helped to train themselves and others for a deeper and enriching study of the Bible and our Catholic tradition. The team also screened a couple of movies to highlight the impact of the BCCs on faith formation and community building.

The liturgy of these three days too was animated by the team in line with the main theme of the seminar. Though consisting of long sessions, the participants found the seminar very enriching for their personal and pastoral lives.