Farewell for the final year students

Today was a significant day because of two events. The first one is the visit of Fr Vice-Provincial of the Salesian Province of Hyderabad, Fr Thathireddy Bhaskar. He came around 10.30 a.m. He visited Lakkavarapu Kota where he once extended his pastoral ministry earlier. In the evening, he addressed the brothers. 

The day was also significant because of the farewell party to the third years by the first and second years. In view of that, there were tournaments and moments of togetherness to spend the time as a community. 

After lunch the first and second years organised games matches and had a fun-filled antakshri and all possible fun and dialogue delivery round for tea time.  After bath, and the meeting with the Vice-Provincial, we had Mass followed by a well prepared get-together.  

The third years presented the community with a brand new computer as a parting gift and token of their appreciation.  A sumptuous meal concluded the gathering. 

Bp Prasad's official visit

Today was an auspicious day because of the sudden visit of Rt. Rev. Gallela Prasad, the vice-delegate for the major seminaries under the preview of the Andhra Pradesh Bishops' Conference. He arrived in the house at about 8.00 a.m. in the morning. At 9.00 a.m. he began the staff meeting with a short conference and then asked the staff to share the general running of the seminary especially formation of the brothers. 

At 10.00 a.m. he gave a conference to the brothers on the theme, “Faith and Formation”. He celebrated Holy Eucharist for the community at about 11.00 a.m. In the sermon, he stressed that years of formation offer a beautiful opportunity to develop friendship with Jesus Christ to grow deep in faith. After the Eucharist an address was read thanking him for his kind visit.

Wedding bells

Today was the wedding celebrations of two of our staff members: N. Edulamma who worked in the kitchen for 8 long years was married to Mr Raju.  In another marriage ceremony, Paidamma, another of our kitchen staff, was happy to marry off her daughter (in the pic beneath) in the nearby Gollalapalem village.  

Br Castilino, Fr T.V. Jose and Br Anil represented the community for the marriage functions of daughter of the Paidamma and the marriage of Edurlamma. They were very happy to see us and were delighted with our presence. 

Earlier in the month, Edurlamma was given a small farewell in the commuity, with Brothers expressing their gratitude for her yeomen services for the community over the last 8 years.  The Brothers also offered her a gift as a parting token of remembrance. After the marriage, the newly married couple was invited for a meal with the community and especially to introduce Edurlamma's better half, Raju (seen below, cutting the cake together). 

Recollection before Lent

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lent. The community gathered yet once again before the lent for a spiritual renewal through monthly recollection on the day prior to Ash Wednesday. It was beautifully animated by Fr T.V. Thomas sdb. 

In his talk, he invited everybody to become mystics in the spirit, prophets of fraternity and servants of people of God. Fr P.C Thomas and Br Arullappa, from Navajeevan, Sabbavaram joined the community for the recollection. Before supper, we had an informal gathering to celebrate 25 years (Silver Jubilee) of priesthood of Fr T.V. Thomas.  A shawl and a book were given him as a gift. 

On Wednesday, the Holy Eucharist was beautifully animated by Fr Wilson. In his sermon, he summarized the message of the Holy Father for the Lent. The day was observed as a day of fasting and abstinence by all the members of the community.

Youth Retreat

The annual Youth Retreat for the year was animated by Fr Ch. Rajkumar, the principal of the D.Ed. course in Vizag on February 10, 2013, Sunday. There were about 50 catholic youngsters. It began with a talk by Fr Rajkumar in which he stressed the need and importance of God and prayer in the life of a human being. He defined prayer as Mutual communication with God and Mutual Listening to God. 

In the afternoon, there was a well animated adoration cum reconciliation service in which youngsters approached the sacrament of confession with utmost sincerity and love. The wonderful spiritual day came to an end with a beautiful Eucharistic celebration. All the youngsters left the house affirming, “What a Spiritual Experience!”

Jubilee Seminar on the Vatican II

On 30th January, a one day workshop on the Topic  ‘Revisiting the Pastoral in Vatican II: Trajectories for the Future’ was organized at St. John’s Regional Seminary, Kondadaba, Kothavalasa, Vizianagaram Dt. Andhra Pradesh, as part of its Silver Jubilee Celebrations. The Resource Persons were Fr. Thomas Pallithanam, Director, People’s Action for Rural Awakening (PARA) and Fr. Dr. Thumma Anthoniraj, Deputy Secretary, APBC, Social Activist and Contextual Theologian.

The inaugural address was delivered by the chief guest Prof. Dr A.V. Prasad Rao, Rector, Andhra University, Waltair. He had enriched the participants with profound, reflective and weighty insights on the Vatican II through the prism of The Holy Scripture.  The First session titled, “The World as Teacher and the Church as Learner: Towards Praxis – Audit of the Pastoral Visions of Vatican 11” was handled by Dr. Thumma Anthoniraj.  It was ably moderated by Dr. N.R Jeevan Babu, Head, Department of French, St. Joseph’s College, Waltair. He mapped his talk from pre-Vatican to Vatican II. He exposed in gist all the 16 documents of the Vatican II from the perspective of their relevance today through a systematic audit. Therefore, Church as a Learner must be always humble enough to learn from the world.

The second session: “Another World is Possible: Thirst for Human Rights as the Beatitude of Pastoral Praxis” was taken by Fr. Thomas Pallithanam and was moderated by Sr Dr Tresa Cherian SAP, former Principal, St Theresa’s College, Eluru.  Fr Thomas gave a Clarion call to all the participants in as much as he stressed to move from need based education to right-based education, from convenience to convictions.

The Valedictory address was delivered by Dr. Pothini Krishna Prasad, Prof. of Political Science and Public Administration, Andhra University. He truly challenged every participant to become a sign of the time relevant to the present day contemporary society through his thoughtful yet challenging concluding address. Rev. Fr Dr Jose Maliekal SDB, the Rector welcomed the gathering and Rev. Fr Dr Jose Wilson sdb, proposed the vote of thanks.