PATNA ARCHDIOCESE

Archbishop’s Programme

July

1-4                   Jubilarians at Mokama

5                      Installation at Barh

                        SIGNIS, Patna

6                      Inauguration at Chakaram

12                    CRI at Gaya

16        AM      Carmel Jwala Mass

22-25               RBC Meeting at Ranchi

August

2          Fairfield Mass

4          Recollection and Vianney Feast

15        Independence Day

23-24   Msgr. Eugene Joseph Episcopal

 Ordination at Varanasi

25        Archdiocesan pastoral Council

26        Celebration of Consecrated Life

27        Archdiocesan Day, Jubilee

Archbishop’s Europe visit

Archbishop William D’Souza, S.J. landed in Rome on 25th May 2015. He was invited by the Superior General of the Josephites of Murialdo for the breakfast-chat on 26^th May. Then rushed to the office of the Propaganda Fide where he met the General Secretaries of the Holy Childhood, St. Peter the Apostle, and the Propagation of the Faith; and finally he also met Mons. Protasio Rwamba, the President of the Pontifical Mission Societies. In the afternoon he also visited the Peter Clever Sisters to thank them for their support in the past. Having had an invitation from Fr. Manuel Cortés, the Superior General of the Society of Mary (Marianists) for dinner on the same day, he spent few hours with the Superior General along with few of the Marianists who had worked in Patna Archdiocese. 

27^th May was a special day for our Archbishop as he met Pope Francis for the first time at the General Audience which takes place every Wednesday. As soon as the General Audience had ended, he went to the office of the Italian Bishops’ Conference where he had an appointment with Mrs. Lucia, the responsible person for the projects. In the afternoon, he visited the Jesuit organization Gruppo India and interacted with Mr. Marco Petrini, the Director, and Mrs. Liliana Norcia.

Archbishop began the morning of 28^th May with an immense joy of concelebrating the Holy Eucharist with Pope Francis in the chapel of St. Martha, and of spending few minutes sharing with him about Patna Archdiocese. It was a wonderful moment when the Pope sent his apostolic blessing to the people of Patna through our Archbishop. He, then also met H.E. Cardinal Filoni, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples at 12 pm., in his office near Spanish Steps. He  visited the Generalate community of the Sisters of the Notre Dame in the evening and dinned with them. He also visited the Superior General of the CJ Sisters and her Councilors on 29^th May, and had lunch with them. Finally before his departure for north Italy on 30^th morning, he met the Superior General of the Society of Jesus. In the evening, having had reached the parish of Caerano, near Padova, he celebrated the Holy Mass there. On 31^st morning visited Sr. Amelia who had been his great benefactor for many years. Then he left for Pavia to meet some of his personal friends and benefactors.

On 2^nd June, he flew from Milan to Madrid with his project proposals to Manos Unidas. The community of the Work of the Church were very generous to accommodate him in the house during his three days stay in Madrid and to accompany him on his pilgrimage to Avila (on 4^th June) on the occasion of the 5^th Birth Centenary of St. Teresa of Avila. He left Madrid for Zurich on 5^th in order to meet the Jesuit Missions Procurator. Ingenbohl, the place of the Generalate of the Holy Cross Sisters, being closer to Zurich, he could make a short visit there, and could meet the Superior General and her Councilors, one of whom is Sr. Elsit from Patna Province, and had lunch with them on 6^th June.

The same night he left for Vienna where he was accommodated by the Jeusits for two nights. On 7^th June, he visited the Generalate of the Sisters of the Queen of the Apostles, and had lunch with them. On 8^th morning he met Dr. Othmar Kolar of MISSIO in Vienna and then went to meet Eva Wallensteiner of DKA regarding certain project proposals of the Archdiocese. At the request of the staff of MISSIO, he celebrated the Holy Eucharist for them in the evening at the MISSIO chapel. On 9^th June, he proceeded to Lambach where he had an appointment with MIVA, Austria organization which helps for purchasing of vehicles for pastoral needs. On the same day, he travelled to Landshut in Germany to stay with the family of Agnes and Reinhard Krisch who brought him to MISSIO Office in Munich on 10^th June. Having met Mrs. Branka Begic in MISSIO, he left for Nürnberg to meet the Jesuit Missions Procurator on 11^th June. On 13^th morning took train from Nürnberg in order to go to Waldniel, the place of Fr. George Panna who had arranged for his two days of accommodation there. Fr. Panna also accompanied Archbishop on 15^th June to meet various funding agencies in Aachen, namely Missio, Kindermissionswerk and Misereor. 16^th June being a free day, Fr. Panna brought Archbishop to Cologne for the sightseeing. Archbishop’s health was very fit to climb the 533 steps of the tower of Cathedral of Cologne. Again Fr. Panna accompanied Archbishop to Frankfurt on 17^th June to the Jesuit community there, where Fr. Bernd Günther, S.J., had organized a small meeting with some of parishioners of the Jesuit parish there. Then Dr. Claus brought Archbishop from Frankfurt to his place, Runkel, on 18^th June. He was a guest there till 21^st June. During his stay in Runkel, Archbishop also met the families of Dr. Christoph and Mr. Hans Escher. On 22^nd, Dr. Claus and his wife, Andrea, accompanied Archbishop to Königstein to meet Véronique Vogel, In-charge for Asia Desk at Aid to the Church in Need. Having met Mrs. Vogel, Dr. Claus was kind enough to bring Archbishop to Heuchlingen which was Archbishop’s final phase of Europe visit. During his 5 days of stay in Erika and Alois Waidmann’s family at Heuchlingen, he also visited the Mayor of Aalen town who had twice in the past partially supported two projects of Patna. Archbishop also met the Fr. Bernhard Weiss, the Parish Priest of Heuchlingen and concelebrated the Holy Eucharist with him. The ASHA group in Heuchlingen had organized a fund raising event on 24^th June on the occasion of Archbishop’s arrival. The relentless service of the volunteers of ASHA and their creative ways and efforts of raising funds for the support of our poor children in Patna Archdiocese are praiseworthy. On 26^th June, Archbishop visited Christine Pfisterer in her parish, Rechberg, where he concelebrated the Holy Eucharist with the Parish Priest, Fr. Stegmaier. Finally on 27^th June noon, Jutta and Thomas Klotz accompanied Archbishop to the Munich airport from where he left for India at 10.25 pm. On 28^th June, at 20.45 (IST), the Archbishop landed Jai Prakash International Airport, Patna. The Samachar expresses its gratitude Fr. Gyan Prakash, who accompanied the Archbishop all through the journey. Thanks to Rev. Dr. G. Panna for his hospitality. Big thanks to our Archbishop for making all the efforts to meet and request financial aid from the Benefactors, and Agencies.  

BRBC meeting at Archbishop’s House, Patna: The first meeting of Bihar Bishops and Regional Secretaries took place at Archbishops House, Patna on the 29^th April, 2015. The meeting was presided over by Archbishop William D Souza, S.J, the Chairman of Bihar Regional Bishops’ Council, and Bishop Sebastian Kallupura, the Secretary General of the BRBC. Since it was the first meeting of the Region, Bishop Sebastian Kallupura explained the meaning, roles and functioning of Ecclesiastical units in India. He called upon all the Regional Secretaries to be vibrant in their ministries. Later discussions were held on topics like; The Region response towards Earthquake victims in Nepal & India, Organization of Bihar Regional Secretariat, setting up of various Commissions at Diocesan levels, role of Navjyoti Niketan & Ravi Bharati, Regional PRO, restructuring of CCI at Regional Level and preparation for July & November meetings. The floor decided that each Diocese will mobilize its resources and collect it in the form of cash. And after pooling together all the resources send it through Caritas to its Nepal Unit. Archbishop William thanked all the participants for their active participation and called upon all to maintain the same spirit in the coming years.

Major Seminarians’ Get-together:  The Patna Archdiocese Major Seminarians’ get-together was held in St. Mary’s Minor Seminary, Chakaram from 24^th to 26^th May, 2015. Fr. Prem Prakash, the Vicar General with Fr. Satya Prakash and Br. Jayakumar and Sanjay had organized the get-together. The get-together began with an ice-breaking session in which the brothers were divided into four groups. Rev. Fr. Devasia T. Chirayil, the golden Jubilarian, mentioned that we have to accept, accommodate and face the world. On the second day, Fr. Peter Ladis spoke on the legal matters. Second session was taken by Fr. Anup Pius, the Principal of St. Joseph’s School, Nawada. On 26^th May, all the brothers along with Frs. Prem, Satya and Kuldeep had gone to Rajgir, Nalanda and Harnaut Parish for a day of outing. Thanks to Fr. Jose Edavazhy, the Parish Priest of Harnaut for providing a delicious lunch. A special thanks to Fr. Prem for organizing the get-together for Patna major Seminarians.   

Pilgrimage to Vailankanni Shrine from Gaya Parish: together with Frs. Andrews Thambi and Andrews Raja, a group of 80 pilgrims from Gaya parish started their journey to Vailankanni via Chennai from Patna Junction on 4^th June, 2015. In Chennai, Fr. Andrews Raja had arranged buses for pilgrims to visit St. Thomas Mount, Little Mount and St. Thomas Cathedral.  From Chennai the group reached to Vailankanni and stayed there for two days to have Dharshan of Vailankanni Mata, spending time in prayers, attending Masses, participating in rosary procession and devotedly praying to Mother of Jesus. The pilgrims started their journey back to Patna on 8, June and reached to Gaya safely on 12 June, 2015. Congratulations to Fr. Andrews Thambi for his leadership and interest for motivating so many people.

FSAG Sister at Basauni: Basauni Parish welcomed the Sisters of St. Aloysius de Gonzaga from Puducherry. Two Gonzaga Sisters arrived Patna on 20^th June to work in the Vineyard of Lord at Basauni, and two more will join the community at the end of this month. On 21^st June, Rev. Fr. Prem Prakash the Vicar General of Patna Archdiocese accompanied them along with Sr.  L.C. Maria, the former Superior General of the Congregation, and Fr. Christuraj. Rev. Fr. Jose Chirackal had made all the arrangements for the Sisters. They were welcomed by the people of Basauni with traditional dance and custom. The Sisters were led in a procession on the Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga for the Eucharistic Celebration. Rev. Fr. Prem presided over the Eucharistic Celebration. Fr. Christuraj gave message based on the Gospel. Frs. Augustine and Kuldeep were present. Congratulations to Fr. Jose, the Parish Priest for making all the necessary arrangement for their stay and welcoming the Sisters. We wish the Sisters a fruitful ministry and render our prayers and support.

Bihar AICUF Women Commission Camp: Patna Youth Commission organized a four days of Bihar AICUF Women Commission Camp for the College going girls on the theme “Women a mere word or more” from 26-29^th June, 2015, at youth center Chakkaram. College girls from Patna Women's College, St. Xavier College, Barh and other parishes of Patna as well as from Muzaffarpur and Purnea dioceses took part in the camp. There were 80 participants. Rev. Fr. Prem Prakash, the Vicar General offered the inaugural Mass and also was the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony. Different topic like social analysis on women, women empowerment, women and their rights, women and media, women and health were taken by the expert resource persons. Fr. Jose Vadassery S.J the provincial was the chief guest for the concluding programme. He distributed the certificates to all the participants. Congratulations to Fr. Sabu, the Youth Director, Fr. Asit Lakra and team members.

Golden Jubilee: The Archbishop enters into to the 50^th golden year of his religious life. He along with six batch mates from Patna and Delhi Provinces met in Mokama from 1-4^th of July. They spent in fruitful sharing, prayer and reflection. The communities at Jyoti Bhavan and Catholic Church Mokama extended warm hospitality. The Jubilarions are extremely grateful to Frs. Thomas Olikathotty, Andrews Raja, Anselem and Bro. Sanjay.

New Parish Priest at Barh: on 5^th July, Fr. Andrews Thambi was installed as the Parish Priest of Barh, by Archbishop William D’souza, S.J., in the presence of Jesuits Golden Jubilarians Priests, Sisters and faithful. Earlier he was given a warm farewell by the faithful of Gaya, who reached him to Barh. On his arrival, he was led in a procession o the Church by the School Band. The Samachar wishes Fr. Andrews Thambi a fruitful ministry.

Meanwhile Fr. Mariam Lal, has taken charge of Gandharmatt. On 12^th July, Fr. Anthony Osta will be installed as parish priest of Gaya. Wishes to all the pastors, may the Good Shepherd help us to care for the faithful.

Reminder Please:

A Day of Recollection: On the occasion of the Feast of John Mary Vianney, the Patron Saint of the Priests, a day of Recollection for all the Archdiocesan clergy, and parish priests is organized on 4^th August, 2015, at Archbishop’s House, Bankpur, Patna. You are requested to celebrate the Feast of St. John Mary Vianney on 2^nd August, 2015 (Sunday), in your respective Parishes with the faithful, and the Sunday Collection to be sent to the Priests’ Fund.

Patna Archdiocesan Pastoral Council: The Patna Archdiocesan Pastoral Council Meeting will take place at Novjyoti Niketan, Patna, on 25^th and 26^th August, 2015. Detailed information will be sent by Rev. Fr. Andrews Thambi, the Secretary of Patna Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

Archdiocesan days: The ‘Archdiocesan days’ will be held at Novjyoti Niketan, Patna on 27 August, 2015, soon after the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council Meeting. May I request you to send your agenda and suggestions to Rev. Fr. Jose Edavazhy, the President of CDPI (Patna) by 15^th August, 2015. On the same day there will be Sacerdotal Silver Jubilee celebration of Frs. Anup Pius, Rakesh Roshan and Joachim Thakur. Silver Jubilee celebration will begin with Thanksgiving Mass at St. Joseph’s Pro-Cathedral, Bankipur, Patna, at 5 pm.

Archdiocesan Clergy Annual Retreat: This year the annual retreat for the clergy of Patna Archdiocese is scheduled to be held in Sewa Dham, Buxar from 20^th September to 25^th September, 2015. Please contact Fr. Vicar General at the earliest for travel arrangement.

Recollection for the Brothers in Regency: The Recollection for the Regents will eb held at Minor Seminary Chakaram om 28-29^th August, 2015. The Regents are expected to attend Brothers those who are doing Regency, for them recollection is scheduled to be held on 28^th -29^th August, 2015, at Minor seminary, Chakaram, Patna. Kindly send them for recollection on time.

Patna Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, Mokama: Three months training for men Catechists will be held at Patna Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, Jyoti Bhawan, Mokama from 1^st August to 30^th October, 2015. Registration fee Rs. 700.00 and for board and lodge for three months Rs. 1800.00.Total amount can be paid  on the day of arrival. For more information you can contact Rev. Fr. Thomas Olikathotty on mob: 09431056086, the Director of Patna Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, Jyoti Bhawan, Mokama.  

RIP:

Sr. Mala, SND, died on 15^th June, 2015. Fr. Prem Prakash, the Vicar General presided over the funeral Mass at Notre Dame Chapel, Patliputra on 16^th June at 9 am, and her mortal remains were laid to rest in Notre Dame Cemetery, Patliputra.

Sr. Ann Roberta, SCN, died on 27^th June, 2015, at Mokama. Bishop Sebastian Kallupura, Bishop of Buxar Diocese presided over the funeral Mass at Mokama on 28^th June at 3pm and the funeral service was done by Fr. Prem Prakash (V.G.). She was laid to rest at the Mokama Parish Cemetery.