Feast of the Mother of Compassion

 

Congratulations to Fr. Boban Elanjimattathil

 

Boban was born of Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Daisy Elanjimattathil on 11 December 1981 in Panathady, Kannur, Kerala. He joined the orientation program in Sudhirvana in the year 1997. There after he continued his Minor seminary studies in Ettumanoor. After one year of Novitiate in Sannidhi Mysore he made his First Religious Profession on 11.06. 2001. After completing his B.Ph. in Suvidya College Bangalore, he opted for our Chad – Cameroon Mission in Africa. He reached Yaounde in 2005 and had short period of regency in Bero, Chad. He completed his theological studies from “ Ecole Saint Cyprian” in Ngoya, Cameroon. He was ordained a priest on 30 July 2009 at St. Mary’s Church, Mudur in the diocese of Belthangady by His Lordship Mar Lawrence Mukkuzhy. Fr. Boban will return on 18 September to the mission and will do the pastoral initiation course in Doba, Chad from the month of October 2009.

 

Transfers and Appointments

1. Fr. Thomas Puthussery is appointed as the Superior of Jyothi Nilaya, Calicut with effect from 16 September 2009.

2. Fr. Josey Ponnambel is appointed to the community at Jyothi Nilaya as Director of counseling cum spiritual centre which we intend to start in Calicut.

3. Fr. Kurian Aranjaniyil is appointed as the Director of PSI Sevagram Kengeri with immediate effect. However he will continue to stay in Vinayalaya as long as necessary till the first floor of the house is ready.

4. Fr. Joseph Thoppil is appointed by His Lordship Henry D’Souza, the Bishop of Bellary as dean of the recently erected Koppal Deanery.

5. Fr. Arockiasamy is appointed to the MSFS House, Mysore and he has taken up his studies in MSW in St. Philomena’s College, Mysore.

 

Change of Address

1.       Fr.Sen Vellakada: Klosterneuburg, Austria, Europe
2.      Fr. Binu Edathumparambil is appointed as the Associate Pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Manchester, Missouri, in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He also has begun the PhD program in St. Louis University.
3.      Fr. Tomy Mullasseril, Wemding. Germany.

4.      Fr. Thomas Anchanickal. St. Mary’s Church, Somanthadka, Mundaje, D.K, Karnataka

5.      Fr. Joseph Vettukattil, Infant Jesus Town Church, Nilambur P.O, Malappuram Dt. Kerala

 

The Provincial Congress 2009

The Provincial Congress will start on Monday 05.10.2009 at 11.00 a.m with the concelebrated Eucharistic Celebration and will end with the Eucharistic Celebration on 09.10.2009 at 1.00 p.m. Please bring along your Everyday Prayer book or Breviary for use during the Congress.  Our constitution says “A Provincial Congress is composed of all the members who have active vote.” In case of any hindrance on your part to attend the Provincial Congress please get special permission from the Provincial.

 

Preparatory Meetings for Provincial Congress

The Communities, the Apostolic Communities and the various forums met at different times to prepare for the Provincial Congress. I would like to thank each and everyone of you for your cooperation and good will and we shall continue to implore God’s grace to make the Congress a spiritual experience for all of us.

 

Our Lady of Sacred Heart Church, City Homes, Molino

 

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Quasi Parish was declared a full fledged parish by the Bishop of Imus Most. Rev Luis Antonio G. Tagle on May 31, 2009. It was also the feast day of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.   It   was indeed a joyous occasion for the entire parishioners as well as for the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales. Fr George Morales the Parish Priest of Sto Nino de Molino Parish (mother Parish) read the letter of declaration. Fr Ginu Pathiykam was appointed by the Bishop as the parish priest of the newly declared parish.

 

The Meetings of the General with the Provincials of India

This meeting is scheduled to take place from 11.11.2009 to 14.11.2009 in MSFS Provincialate, Guwahati. I will be attending the meeting.

 

The Provincial Congress of Visakhapatnam

The provincial Congress is scheduled to take place from Tuesday 22nd September to Friday 25th September 2009. The Theme of the Congress is:  “Let us be true to our Fransalian Missionary Charism”. I will be attending the Congress. Let us pray for the success of the Congress.

 

St. Francis de Sales Church in Hebbagodi vandalized

On early morning of 10.09.2009 some miscreants vandalized our St. Francis de Sales Church at Hebbagodi. They desecrated and brought down two statues and attacked the Body of Jesus on the Cross. The right hand of it is hit repeatedly may be by some stick but because there is iron rod inside, it did not fall off. The statue of Blessed Virgin Mary is intact. These statues are part of the Calvary scene erected in front of the Church facing the highway.   They destroyed over 65 window panes of the Church and went away without anyone having noticed it. The windows at the side of the presbytery were not touched as probably the miscreants knew that the fathers were sleeping there. They attempted to set fire the Maruthi Omni used by the Fathers working in the parish but it failed to catch fire. The government is conducting a probe by the CoD into the attack on the Church.

 

Senior police officials, local leaders, politicians and church authorities visited the site and promised us all support and security. So many confreres from the Province and outside of the Province and many other Priests, Religious and friends called up and expressed their sentiments of sympathy and solidarity.  Let us hope and pray that the authorities will be able to book the culprits, so that such attacks are not repeated.

 

Koppal Deanery

Our Koppal parish is raised to the Status of a Deanery and Fr. Joseph Thoppil is appointed as the Dean of Koppal by His Lordship Henry D’Souza, the Bishop of Bellary. Kushtagi, Munirabad, Gangavathi, Kuknoor and Koppal are the parishes belonging to the new Deanery.

 

Gift of Fr. S.L. Paul

Fr. S.L. Paul has made a substantial gift to our Kerala Mission. The centre that comes up any where in Kerala can be dedicated to his name as an expression of our thankfulness to him. He lives his retired life in a home for the aged, but not all is well with him. We are thankful to Fr. S.L. Paul for this generous gesture towards our mission in Kerala.  Please offer special prayers for him and if possible celebrate a mass for his intentions and good health.

 

Fr. Leo Tanner and the Chapel in Tejas

Fr. Leo Tanner a friend of Richie Febres Landauro and Fr. James Manjackal opted to build a Chapel in the Tejas Campus for the use of the seminarians. Ever since the Tejas campus was shifted to our land in Kumbalgud we have been cherishing the idea of building a chapel there. As a gift from heaven this good news came to us. We are thankful to Fr. Leo and his friends for this generous gesture.

 

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

This is the year of the Priests. Fr. James Manjackal has come forward to sponsor a ticket for all confreres who will be priests for 15 years or more in this year of Priests to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This is a personal gift to the confreres which he would like to give them through the Provincial. The trip that we want to join is being organized by Sathyadeepam in collaboration with Galilee Travels. The trip is from 19.10.2009- 28.10.2009.  Fr. Manjackal has been supporting the Province by finding sponsors for our seminarians and by organizing Mass intentions. He has been instrumental in building our Mermier Bhavan House, our college in Hebbagodi and in purchasing the land at Kattapana.  His timely help has always kept the Province going.

 

In this priestly year he would like that the money he earns through his preaching ministry be used for making it possible to some of his confreres to visit the place where Jesus our Lord and Master lived and fulfilled the Mission of His Father. I am very grateful to Fr. James for all the help and support he gives me and the province. In his letters and telephone calls he is very much concerned and caring about the welfare of our Province. He often tells me that it is not enough to have structures built for various ministries but to build the province on the spiritual edifice of faith and love. He wishes very much that our Province with all its members gets spiritually rooted, deriving our strength from our intimacy with our Lord and Master. He has only one request to the confreres who are availing themselves of this opportunity to go to the Holy Land and that is that they celebrate a mass for him and his work of evangelization all over the world.  His health is not that good but he feels himself impelled to continue this great work of evangelization. That is why he needs your continued support through your prayers.

 

Thanks to Manos Unidas

Thanks for the generous gift of Manos Unidas we are able to build a first floor in the existing De Sales Technical Training Centre in Kolar to accommodate some trainees there and to expand our facilities for the two trades we are already implementing like paper craft and computer education. We intend in the near future also to construct facilities to start a Printing Technology and Fashion Technology unit.

 

Let us pray for the departed:

• Fr. Freddie Monteiro, 89 years old belonging to Nagpur Province died on 19 July 2009. He was ordained a priest on 29 September 1948 at Nagpur. From 1949 to 1971 he served the province as a teacher in different schools. From 1971 to 2003 he was in USA. From 2003 onwards he remained as the member of St John’s Community.

• Mrs. Annamma, 72 years Mother of Fr. Josph Thoppil, died on 1 August 2009

• Mrs. Annamma, 84 years, Mother of Fr. Chacko Ottalankal, died on 7 August 2009.

• Mr. Joseph, 75 years, Father of Fr. Georgekutty Puthiyidom died on8 September 2009

• Mr. Devasia, 88 years, Father of Fr. Josey Ponnambel died on 09 September 2009.

On holidays

The following confreres are on holidays:  Frs. Joy Vazhapillil, Georgekutty Puthiyidom, Sibichan Kochuveedu and Y.Mathias. Hearty welcome and I wish for them a pleasant stay with the confreres, their relatives and friends.

 

Your Brother in Christ

 

Fr. Mathew Kozhuppakalam MSFS

Provincial

e-mail: frmathewmsfs@gmail.com