Golden Jubilarian

Rev. Fr. Pulickal Joseph, son of P.D. Joseph and E. J. Aleyamma was born on 12-02-1933 at Muttar, Kerala. He hails from St. George’s Parish, Muttar, Changanacherry archdiocese. He was baptized on 19-02-1933 and received the sacrament of Confirmation on 21-10-1940. He had his primary education and high school education at St. George`s Primary School, Muttar, T.M.T. School, Thalavady and St. Aloysius High School, Edathua respectively. With the desire of becoming a missionary priest he joined St. Joseph’s Mission Home, Kanjikuzhy, in 1950. He studied philosophy at Sacred Heart Seminary, Poonamallee from 1952 to 1955 and came to Bastora, Goa for his one year of Novitiate and made his first commitment on 27-05-1956. In Papal Athenaeum, Poona he studied Theology where he made his final commitment on 27-05-1959 and was ordained priest on 01-06-1959. After his ordination he was sent to St. Berchman’s College, Changanacherry  to do B.Sc. and in 1963 he did B.Ed from St. Joseph’s Training College, Mannanam. After his B.Ed. he was appointed to St. Aloysius High School as teacher and in 1965 took up the charge as principal of the school, which he held till 1978. In 1978 he was appointed at S.F.S. School, Seethammadhara as Principal and correspondent. In 1980 he rendered his service as rector of our minor seminary at Ettumanoor for one year. In 1981 he was back to S.F.S. School, Seethammadhara as Principal. In 1986 he became the principal of S.F.S. School, Shathinagar, Secunderabad. He rendered his service to the Vizag diocese as the parish priest and chaplain of St. Joseph’s Church, Waltair from 1988 to 1994 and also was involved in preaching ministry. He did formator’s course from NVSC, Pune in 1984 and served our philosophical institution Suvidya College, Bangalore as Spiritual Director and Professor from 1994 to 1998. From 1998 to 2004 and 2004 to 2005 he rendered his service as correspondent to our Educational Institution at S.F.S. School, Seethammadhara and St. Aloysius High School respectively. At present he is residing at Ross Hill, Vizag and fully involved in preaching ministry counseling, spiritual direction, going about preaching recollection, retreats and conventions. He also served our province as provincial councillor and provincial admonitor. He was also an elected delegate for the General Chapter that was held at Geneva and was elected as General Councillor. Fr. Joseph Pulickal is a jovial person, very sociable and his presence brings joy and laughter to all. He makes himself available to all and ready to help anyone who seeks his help.

Silver Jubilarians

Rev. Fr. Mathew Panthanmackel was born on 03-05-1952 at Vallakadavu, Kattapana, Kerala to Joseph and Aly. He hails from St. Anthony’s parish, Vallakadavu, Kanjirappally diocese. He joined the S.F.S. minor seminary, Ettumanoor in 1969 and studied philosophy and B.A. at St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur and then came to St. Aloysius High School for his one year of regency in 1976. In May 1977 he entered novitiate at Salesianum, Vizag and on 10th June 1978 he made his First Religious Profession. He was sent to do B.Ed from St. Joseph’s Training College, Mannanam in 1979. He then joined St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur in 1981 to study theology. He made his final profession on 05-06-1982 and received the order of Diaconate on 03-12-1982. and was ordained priest on 09-04-1984 at St. Anthony’s Church, Vallakadavu by Most Rev. Joseph Powathil. In his first year as priest he was appointed as professor at Fransalian Vidya Jyothi, Nidadavole. In 1985 he was appointed to the Palasa Mission. From 1986 to 1988 he worked at St. Aloysius High School, Vizag as Vice-Principal. Later at our mission in Anantapur he rendered his service as parish priest, teacher in the L.R.G. School and procurator of the house till 1995. After this he joined Adyatmika Vidya Peetha, Karmelaram for spirituality course for one year. In 1996 he was appointed as Principal of S.F.S. School, Tanuku and assistant to the parish priest of the mission in Tanuku. In 1998 he was appointed as principal and correspondent of S.F.S. School, Gajuwaka. And from 2005 he is serving as the principal of L.RG. School, Anantapur. Fr. P.J. Mathew is an able administrator and is very good at organizing and managing affairs entrusted to him. He has the good will and sense of commitment and capable of handling even the most difficult problems. He was also the convener of the Fransalian Education Forum.

Rev. Fr. Paul Theneth was born on 07-09-1954 to Paily and Rosamma at Mulakulam, Ernakulam, Kerala. He hails from Mulakulam parish of Palai diocese. After his high school studies at St. Joseph’s High School, he joined the minor seminary at Ettumanoor in 1972. He was sent to St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur for his philosophy and B.A. In May 1978 he entered the novitiate at Salesianum, Vizag and made his first religious commitment on 10th June 1979. At S.F.S. Minor Seminary, Ettumanoor he did his one year of Regency after which he was sent to St. Joseph`s Training College, Mannanam to do B.Ed. He studied theology at Papal Seminary, Pune and made his final commitment on 5th June 1983 and was ordained deacon on 3rd January 1984. He was ordained priest at St. Mary’s Church, Mullakulam on 5th May 1984 by Most. Rev. George M. Anathil. He received his first appointment as assistant parish priest of Catholic Church, Nandalur of Cuddapah Diocese. In 1985 he was appointed as warden and teacher at St. Aloysius High School. In 1985 he was appointed as the Principal and Correspondent of S.F.S. School, Palasa. From 1994 to 1999 he rendered his service as Principal of S.F.S. School, Seethammadhara. It was during his tenure as Principal S.F.S. School, Seethammadhara received the Best School Award in Andhra Pradesh from the former Chief Minister Sri. Chandrababu Naidu on 15th August 1996. For one year in 1999 he served St. Aloysius High School as Correspondent and Rector. In the year 2000 he was appointed as the principal of S.F.S. School, Tanuku. From 2005 till date he has been shouldering the responsibility of Principal and Correspondent of S.F.S. School, Gajuwaka. For his dedicated service in the field of Education, the Andhra Pradesh Government honoured him with the Best Teacher Award in the year 1997. Fr. Paul Theneth is a talented priest and committed to the responsibility entrusted to him. Wherever he was appointed he made maximum effort to bring up the institution he served and very much involved in pastoral work besides his other responsibilities.

Dear Fr. Joseph, Fr. P.J. Mathew and Fr. Paul Theneth we are proud of you and we thank you for what you are and what you have done for the congregation and the Church. In the name of the whole province I congratulate you and pray that the Lord may continue to use you for His service and glory.

Khammam Incident

On 20th February night and again on 25th night some fake naxlites entered our house in Khammam and threatened our confreres and demanded money. It was a horrible experience for our confreres. We hope and pray that such incidents will not happen again.

As already informed earlier our annual retreat begins on 27th April (Sunday) in the evening at Ross Hill and concludes on 2nd May evening (Friday) with supper. I request all our confreres to participate in the very important and obligatory event without fail. If for a serious reason one is not able to join for the retreat you are expected to get permission. Also check your Mass diary before you come for the retreat to find out if you have celebrated the Masses faithfully including for our departed confreres.

There will be a meeting of all the superiors in our province at Ross Hill on 27th April at 3.00 p.m. It is obligatory for all the superiors to attend this meeting.

Fr. Ganji Bala Joji, the convener of pastoral forum will be organizing a meeting of all our confreres working in the parishes at Ross Hill. He will communicate the details to you. Please attend this meeting without fail.

As given in the previous Circular (No. 39) our Deacons were ordained priests in their respective places. In the name of province once again I congratulate them and wish them a fruitful and meaningful ministry. Dn. Anthony Samy Michael Prasad will be ordained on 16th April in the Cathedral of Thanjavur diocese.

The archbishop of Melbourne has nominated Fr. M. Shanthaiah to be a member in his Council of priests for two years from 1st of April 2008.

With the provision given in our New Constitutions, the General Chapter May 2007 had elected Rev. Fr. Thomas Cherukatt as the assistant Superior General (cf. Nos. 208-212). Superior General has delegated certain powers to the assistant General. He will be holding the office of the Procurator General to the Holy See in course of time. We thank Fr. Kurian Aranjaniyil who was holding this post for the last few years. We wish Fr. Thomas Cherukat God’ blessing and promise our support.

Here below I give once again the names of our confreres died since 1st Jan 2007. Please check your Mass Diary and verify if you have celebrated Mass for them.

Fr. Joseph Deurest, 9th Febrauray 2007, Bonliue, Fribourg

Fr. Bernard Jaquet, 11th May 2007, Florimont, Geneva

Fr. Archiebald Fernandes, 13th May 2007, Pune

Bro. Marius Avrillon, 29th October 2007, Switzerland

Bro. Nedungatt Anthony, 25th January 2008, Kerala

Fr. P. Dominic Savio is appointed as the coordinator of the pre-novitiate programme, which begins in the first week of May at Fransalian Vidyajyothi, Nidadavole.

The archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad has appointed Fr. P. Karun Kumar as the parish priest of the parishes of Holy Cross, Princes Town and St. Vincent Ferrer in Moruga and Fr. Bhaskar Jayaseelan as assistant parish priest to these parishes.

We wish them fruitful and enriching ministry.  

In order to promote vocation for our province Fr. Velangani Rao, our vocation promoter is organizing a Vocation Camp at Fransalian Vidya Jyothi, Nidadavole on 11th, 12th and 13th of April 2008. I request all our confreres especially those in pastoral ministry to send the prospective candidates to the Vocation Camp.

“It is extremely rare that an author brings about radical changes in humans and society through his book. Still rarer it is that its momentum continues for centuries and never ceases. Such is the author St. Francis de Sales and his book Introduction to the Devout Life. Nearly 350 years before Lumen Gentium (of the Second Vatican Council) spoke about the Universal Call to Holiness, St. Francis de Sales wrote: “It is an error, or rather, a heresy, to try to exclude the devout life (holiness) from the soldiers regiment, the workman’s shop, the court of rulers or the home of the married.”

Mrs. Thresia Jacob, sister of Bro. Sebastian Kanjirathingal died on 4th Jan, 2008. She was 70 years old.

Mr. Chacko, father of Fr. Joseph Nellimalamattam, died on 15th Feb, 2008. He was 96 years old.

May the Lord give them a share in His eternal life.

Yours Fraternally in Christ

Rev. Fr. Thomas Perumalil MSFS