SCHOLASTIC GATHERING

Sporting in yellow and black colours, with the motto on their sportswear ‘On the wings of excellence - SPOC 2008’, all the scholastics of our province rallied together for a Twenty20 cricket match at Unai mission’s ground. Though on the paper the team headed by captain Vinay looked weak but turned into Shane Warne’s magic team. They won with a big margin. Well, it was not the only great attraction for Schoalstic Gathering at Unai. Fr. Lawerence Dharmaraj was welcomed as our new PCF, with a Bishop’s Cap manufactured by Kamlesh - Simon of Dharampur-Subir fabrics and a Shawl dedicated by the SPOC 2008. 

 

Besides coming together we had talks given by our Jesuits involved in Catechetical, Youth and Pastoral ministries.

 

Fr. Miguel Aizpun shared with us his experiences. He recounted the efforts made over the years in our province, starting of Pastoral Centre at Baroda Jeevan Darshan with a team of resource persons with the objectives of preparing the catechists and Sisters for the catechetical work. Frs. Mendonca, Devasia, Andrew Silvera, Ambrose Vedam, were the mentors of Pastoral Centre and did fantastic job during their tenure. Frs. John Khanna and Freddie took Marriage Courses. Jivan Jal series, some adaptation from African catechism, New and Old Testament Swadhyay, and Youvanna Zarnaa were written painstaking by Fr. Miguel and Fr. Isudas, keeping in mind the needs of our missions. Lay persons like, Joseph Lucas, Raymond Parmar, Simon Parmar and many others helped in this endeavor. Fr. Miguel felt though a lot is done in faith formation it is insufficient in today’s world. We need to take in account the available means of communication and utilize them for the faith formation.

 

Frs. Erwin Lazarado and Jothi Xavier briefed us on Youth Ministry. They shared with us how Ashadeep has opened their doors to the youth of central Gujarat and are also rendering their services to the missions of South Gujarat. Fr. Erwin explained about the commission ‘JYMSA’ and his experiences as its Secretary about the other Jesuit provinces involved in this ministry. He spoke to us about the ongoing preparation towards the World Youth Convention ‘MAGIS’ which would be held at Sydney Australia in July and the ‘Follow up Programmes’. Fr. Jothi shared with us his experiences as Youth Coordinator of the province and as ANKUR in-charge. He urged us to be innovative and creative in our dealings with the youth. Both of them stressed that Youth Ministry is cutting across all the ministries as youth are found everywhere, be it education, social, and pastoral ministry.      

 

As young parish priest, Fr. James Vas shared with us his personal experiences, challenges and responses. He stressed the importance of faith formation, relation with the people in our villages. 

 

Fr. Provincial’s Address

Fr. Keith spoke about the Review of ministries and GC35 in relation to Formation. He highlighted various points such as, Governance, Apostolic Community, our Rootedness in Ignatian Spirituality, Personal Affective Formation, Intellectual Formation, Formation for Transformation, our Attitude of Accompaniment towards Youth. 

 

On the last day of the Sammelan we went to Waghai Park and Tithal Sea-shore. The day was marked by a game of bottle cricket invented by Cyprian and Suresh. The indoor games revealed the tremendous capacity and talents of our younger generation. Sch. Sandesh who has recently returned from Nepal (JRS) Refugee Camp won the eating competition leaving behind the Subir express Simon. The present fourth year theologians Reji, Nagin and Alpesh were given farewell. We missed James Baby and Harry in this Sammelan. Along with Fr. Provincial and new PCF, we scholastic body express our gratitude to Fr. Ambrose Vedam for his guidance and accompaniment as a PCF.

 

KUDOS!!! to Sunil Macwan and Cyprian SPOC 2008. They really put in their hard work to make this gathering a memorable one. We thank Unai Community for their hospitality and especially Fr. John Kennedy who took care of our needs. Fr. Francis Macwan guided the scholastics in Annual Retreat from 26th May till 2nd of June.  

 

Reported by

Bro.Alpesh Macwan

 

Dear friends,

                    The much awaited name for the Gujarat jesuit scolastics' website is selected. There were 7 title suggestions from the scholatics.Fr.Provincial Keith was the one to see it for the first time and he liked it very much. Now you too can view it.  www.schogujsj08.synthasite.com     kindly send your assignments in a Microsoft word format through e-mail so that correction could be done and it is easy to send it through attachment files. Write your assignment within 4 pages( and not less than 2 pages) and if any part of the writing is taken from other sources kindly show the reference. Your article will remain for years to come. Moreover anybody can view it form any part of the world.So do your best. For a better presentation take help of the qualified persons in your community. May our Founder St.Ignatius help us to live our Magis in all aspects our lives as our loving service to the world and  to Jesus.

Yours in the Lord,

Fr.lawrence Dharmaraj s.j

(E-mai Id is  lawrenced6@gmail.com     )


1. A response from Chicago!

Lawrence... Thanks for your e -mail.  It was a joy to look at both websites.The scholastics are quite accomplished -- hooray for your good leadership! And, by the way, where did you get all that grey hair?    ( peace from your friends at Loyola in Chicago!  ... Larry  :-)

 

2. From Michael Raj.                                             

 Dear Father,

         I am Michael Raj. Arul & i are fine. I hope you too are keeping well. We have just finished our exams. We are going to Ajantha for our cultural trip. I have seen our websites. It is very good.Convey my regards to all our brothers there!

 

3. General counsellor for formation.

Oct 13 . 08

Dear Lawrence,

 

Great to hear from you!  I arrived safely in Rome after a long journey.  I also enjoyed our conversation on the bus.  Thanks for the good sharing.  I checked the page on the Ignatian assignments, a very good initiative.  As you say, let´s hope it motivates the other scholastics for the magis. 

 

Blessings and prayers,

Orlando

 
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