1. NORTH EAST INDIA: Bomb Blasts Fail To Derail Province Peace Program: Even as the Northeast India capital town of Agartala was jolted by a series of bomb blasts, over 525 students from more than 20 ethnic communities and all states of the region gathered there October 2-5 for the 7th annual peace program organized by the Holy Cross Educational Foundation of the North East Province (NESNIM) for sessions and workshops on peace-building tactics and responsibilities. Some of the students traveled for five days to reach Holy Cross School Agartala, and all participated energetically despite the tragic events in the town. Only the Peace Rally, which usually attracts over 4000 for a march in Agartala itself and is traditionally one of the high-points of NESNIM, needed to be cancelled. “Despite the massive arrangements we had already made, we thought it too risky to expose so many children to the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty brought about by the blasts,” said Fr. Shaji Mandapathikunnel, the principal of Holy Cross School Agartala. Three people had lost their lives and over 100 were injured. Fr. Roy Thalackan, North East provincial, emphasized that where others choose violence NESNIM is a message to the world that “Peace and harmony is possible, no matter what our differences are.”
2. GHANA: Sisters Celebrate 25th Anniversary, Open New School: On September 21, at Star of the Sea Cathedral in Takoradi, the Sisters of the Holy Cross celebrated their 25th Anniversary of ministerial presence in Ghana. An invitation from the Holy Cross Brothers in Ghana, who have long desired the witness and service of the full Holy Cross family in that country, led to the arrival of the pioneers – Srs. Mary Coursey and Marian Therese Slattery on September 29, 1983. Welcomed by the Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi for service in his diocese, the Sisters have worked in the fields of catechetical training, religious education, health care, programs for the mentally ill, social work, pastoral ministry, and teaching. Vocation and formation work have been priorities from the beginning. Today there are three Ghanaian Sisters in final vows, five temporarily professed, and two candidates. On September 27, the Sisters formally opened Our Lady of Holy Cross School in Kasoa. Bishop Matthias Nketsia, auxiliary Bishop of Cape Coast, blessed the school and Sr. Esther Adwoa Entsiwa welcomed and thanked the many parents and visitors present, inviting them into a genuine collaboration in the education of their children. The new school began as an after-school program in a rented home in 2005. Following a survey of community needs and careful discernment, pre-school programs began in 2007 at the convent. The new building is comprised of an administration block and classrooms for nursery, kindergarten, and grades one and two. The plan is to add one classroom a year until high school level, and to collaborate with the Holy Cross Brothers to establish an education center in Kasoa.
3. PERU: Change of Leadership at Canto Grande’s Fe y Alegria School: The Fe y Alegria School in the Canto Grande section of Lima, Peru began in 1979 with a handful of students and four small classrooms in thatched huts. Today, it enrolls more than 2000 students with a campus of five two-story brick buildings. The man responsible for this development, and for the academic and technical training of thousands of children from the poor families of Lima’s slums, is Fr. Philip Devlin who, at the age of 78, has recently stepped down from administrative responsibilities, handing over direction of the school to new principal Br. Tom Giumenta. The school has always offered quality education. In 1992 however, realizing that more needed to be done to help graduates find meaningful employment in Lima’s struggling economy, Fr. Phil established a comprehensive trade school within Fe y Alegria called the Center for Occupational Training (CEO). Today the CEO enrolls over 1000 students in seventeen different trade shops and is considered one of the finest trade schools of its kind in Lima. In 1996, Fr. Phil responded to yet another need by initiating the school’s first kindergarten program with four spacious classrooms housed in a beautiful new facility. The strength of Fr. Phil’s vision, dedication and “can do” spirit has borne fruit in the excellence of the school he founded and developed. As one of his colleagues notes: “When it comes to hiring, many factories and businesses will give absolute preference to our graduates, for they have proven over time to be knowledgeable, highly skilled, and responsible on the job. All of which can be traced directly to Fr. Phil’s influence.”
4. INDIA: Veteran Missionary Completes Fifty Years of Service: Fr. Jean Charles Descary, 78, is being thanked and celebrated throughout Holy Cross in India for his fifty years of service to the community and church in that country. As part of his Golden Jubilee celebration Fr. Descary made a month long mission trip from the south, where he now serves as assistant novice director at Yercaud (Salem), to the northeast, and especially to Cachar and the Jaintia Hills where he had spent the early years of his priestly ministry. Having been forced by the political situation to leave that area more than thirty years ago, the people there were amazed that he can still fluently preach in Khasi and Bengali. Waves, the newsletter of Holy Cross in Northeast India reports that Fr. Descary’s move to South India significantly helped the growth of Holy Cross throughout the Indian subcontinent. He has influenced most Holy Cross members in India either as a co-worker, as a major superior, or as a formator. Known for his spiritual depth, his other-centered sociability, and his ascetic nature (his favorite mode of transport still is the bicycle!), he remains full of enthusiasm for mission. “If given an opportunity,” he says, “I would like to walk to the furthest villages of the parishes and spend time with the people, sharing my faith in Christ.”
5. INTERNATIONAL CSC: Conference Recommends Renewing Fire for Mission Forty-two religious representing all areas of Holy Cross service throughout the world gathered at Moreau Seminary, Notre Dame, Indiana USA from August 4-7 for a conference on the future of Holy Cross cross-cultural and international mission. Significant pre-conference consultation had resulted in position papers on four proposals of importance for conference consideration: a. A mission that crosses cultural, national, and linguistic borders is an essential dimension of our Holy Cross charism; b. Restructuring in Holy Cross needs to give focused attention to what will encourage, plan and implement a collaborative response to future calls to international and cross-cultural mission; c. The call to international and cross-cultural mission should have a prominent place in every Holy Cross vocation recruitment and formation program; d. An increased exchange of personnel across province/vicariate/district boundaries will promote understanding and global awareness among us, will enrich our mission everywhere with a broader perspective, and will be a sign to others of community that embraces diversity. The conference, which included participant-observers from the three congregations of Holy Cross Sisters and from lay colleagues in mission, was a rich experience of Holy Cross internationality and zeal for mission. Designed from the beginning to produce concrete recommendations for consideration at the chapters of 2009 and 2010, the conference concluded with consensus around 11 such recommendations on structures needed to support cross-cultural and international mission in Holy Cross, on vocation promotion and formation for that mission, and on international exchange and collaboration for that mission. The participants expressed the hope that “each chapter of the Congregation will reaffirm our commitment to cross-cultural and international mission as an essential dimension of our identity as Holy Cross.”
6. NEWS BRIEFS: Haiti, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, USA-East Africa, Peru:
* Fr. Vernet Luxana, Directeur General of College Notre-Dame in Cap Haitien, has been appointed acting provincial in Province Notre Dame du Perpetuel Secours, Haiti. He replaces Fr. Rodolphe Arty who resigned for health reasons after many years of leadership in Haiti as both district superior and provincial.
* Brazil: The capitulants of the District Chapter in Brazil (SW) have elected Br. Nilto Neres Oliveira as superior. He replaces Br. Sergio Stolf who has completed the maximum nine years in leadership there as district superior. Br. Nilto has for many years served as both steward and vocations coordinator for the district.
* India: The International Institute of Education and Management has recognized Holy Cross School in Champhai, Mizoram, for its outstanding achievements in the field of education. On behalf of the Vicariate of Holy Cross Brothers in India and their school in Champhai, Br. David Kerketta received the prestigious Rashtriya Vidya Saraswati Puraskar Award in Delhi on August 19.
* India: The concluding celebrations for the twin Jubilees of Holy Cross in South India – Golden Jubilee of the arrival of Holy Cross in South India and Silver Jubilee of the Province of South India – were held in Bangalore October 19-21. The provincial chapter there convened the next day, October 22 and concluded on October 26.
* Bangladesh: On June 6 at a special convocation organized by the Department of World Religions of the University of Dhaka, Br. Jarlath D’Souza was awarded a plaque and certificate for his long-time service in the cause of inter-faith harmony in Bangladesh. Since 1983 Br. Jarlath has been coordinating an inter-faith organization in Dhaka, the Bangladesh Inter-Religious Council for Peace and Justice (BICPAJ). Most of the members of BICPAJ, which meets monthly, are Muslims, but there are also Hindus, Buddhists, Adivasi Tribals, Catholics and Protestants.
* USA-East Africa: Br. Jesus Alonso (SW), a doctoral candidate in micro-biology and immunology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, has become a link between San Antonio’s Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research and health officials in Uganda in the effort to develop a test that will rapidly diagnose Ebola and Marburg, deadly hemorrhagic viruses that have killed thousands in central Africa. With the Holy Cross commitment in East Africa as a base, he hopes to continue this research and teach at Uganda Martyrs University at Nkozi, Uganda in the future.
* Peru: Two new health initiatives are underway at Brother Andre Clinic at Lord of Hope Parish in Canto Grande (Lima). A major outreach campaign to counter a growing tuberculosis problem has begun which will address everything from prevention to early detection to changing the cultural outlook on the disease, so often hidden by those afflicted. The clinic has also initiated a program to address children’s health issues, especially targeting illnesses caused by parasitic organisms which, according to a recent survey, infect up to 90% of the children of the area.
