MOTHER TERESA'S BIRTH CENTENARY COMMENCES SANS FANFARE

MOTHER’S BIRTH CENTENARY COMMENCES SANS FANFARE

CAMIL PARKHE
Friday, August 27, 2010 AT 11:10 AM (IST)
Tags: Pune, Mother Teresa, birth anniversary, Missionaries of Charity, Thomas Dabre, Camil Parkhe
The nuns belonging to the Missionaries of Charity congregation, founded by Mother Teresa, launched year-long birth centenary celebrations of their founder, sans any fanfare, here on Thursday.
It was business as usual at the three houses of Missionaries of Charity at Tadiwala Road, Chinchwad and Wakad, where the nuns continued their routine activities of caring for the aged, destitute and special children sheltered at these convents.
The only special feature marking the birth centenary of the Nobel Laureate was the prayers held at the three convents in the morning.
The nuns, commonly referred to as Mother Teresa sisters, also attended religious services at the nearby churches where special mass was offered for the early sainthood of their founder, who was referred to as a living saint during her lifetime.
Mother Teresa had visited the Missionaries of Charity convent at Tadiwala Road and St Patrick’s Cathedral during her visit to the city.
Pope John Paul II had declared the Macedonia-born nun as ‘Blessed’, a stage prior to declaring her as a saint.
As per the Church’s tradition, some more proved miracles are required for declaring the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata as a saint.
Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre had directed all churches in Pune diocese, comprising Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and nearby four districts, to offer special masses to seek expedition of the process for the Mother’s canonisation.

Be more sensitive to challenged persons

Be more sensitive to challenged persons
Sakaal Times
Friday, September 17, 2010 AT 07:33 PM (IST)
Tags: Disability, Physically challenged people
How sensitive are we to the problems faced by the disadvantaged and the physically or mentally challenged people? Most of us will consider ourselves to be 'fairly' sensitive. A couple of recent incidents has made me wonder if it is really the case.
Last week, I was waiting to get into a city bus as a group of rural folks struggled to alight from the rear door of the bus. A young woman was helping an elderly blind couple to get out and jostling with commuters impatient to get in. “Can't you people alight from the front door,” shouted one irate passenger at them. The woman, who had managed to lead the aged couple out, retorted, “Can't you educated people allow some leeway to the old and the blind?” The illiterate woman's remark left us dumb, too stunned to react.
An incident narrated by my teacher wife has lingered in my mind for long. She and some teachers were waiting for a physically challenged student to complete writing his answers during the SSC examination. All other students had left the examination hall after the expiry of the examination period. This student was given an extra half an hour in accordance with the rules of the secondary education board. The school teachers were not aware of the fact that physically challenged students are entitled to an extra half an hour during examination until the student had produced the board's letter to that effect.
As the boy hurriedly continued to draw graphs holding the scale in his deformed hand, the teachers waited impatiently. “Kay katkat ahe, nahi (What a nuisance)! By now, we would have left for home but for this boy...” one of the teachers said.After a few minutes, the boy finished his paper, looked quite apologetically at the teachers who had taught him for the past few years and said, “Miss, I would not seek extra time for the language and social science papers. It is only for science and geometry papers where I have to draw figures and for that I need extra time.”
My wife recounted that tears came to her eyes as she heard the boy's apologetic remark. “No beta , you take your own time, we won't mind,” she said. I, too, was moved greatly when I heard about the incident. Indeed, we surely need to willingly make an extra effort and be sensitive too all children, especially to the disadvantaged ones.

Comments
On 20/09/2010 12:20 prakash bhalerao said:
Simply moving. Much to learn from the medically challeged. sensitivity belongs to heart

On 19-09-2010 21:46:52 Vijay Shejwal said:
In this world of rat race and materilistic values, we have certainly lost sense to persons around us even our near and dear once I dont no way we are so indefferent to our fellow human beings?

THREE LAKH ATTEND HAREGAON’S MATMAULI YATRA

THREE LAKH ATTEND HAREGAON’S MATMAULI YATRA

Correspondent
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 AT 10:42 AM (IST)
Tags: Ahmednagar, Haregaon, Christians, Matmauli yatra, church, yatra
Over three lakh Christians from different parts of the State participated in the two-day Matmauli yatra, which concluded at Haregaon in Shrirampur taluka of Ahmednagar district on Sunday.
The Matmauli yatra is celebrated at the St Teresa Church every year on the Saturday and Sunday after September 8, the feast of Mother Mary's birthday.
The high mass at the yatra was celebrated by Amravati Bishop Lourdes Daniel on September 11 evening in the presence of over hundred priests from Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad districts.
This was the 62ndyear of the Matmauli yatra launched by a German Jesuit Gerhard Baadar in 1948 for the poor faithfuls, who could not afford to attend Mount Mary feast at Bandra in Mumbai.
The golden jubilee anniversary celebrations of the yatra was held two years ago.
Over the years, the number of faithfuls attending the yatra has swelled to a few lakhs, creating tremendous pressures on the government administration and the church. For the last few years, the Church authorities have been appealing to the devouts to leave the Church premises soon after attending the religious services.
Church authorities on Saturday cancelled the procession of the statue of Mother Mary in view of large assembly of pilgrims and narrow village roads, thus giving much relief to the police.
The week-long annual feast of Mount Mary held at Bandra in Mumbai for a week, starting on the Sunday after September 8, is the largest congregation of the Christian community in the State.
The Haregaon yatra, on the other hand, is the largest assembly of Christians in western Maharashtra and Marathwada. Haregaon pilgrim centre is therefore, often described as the Pandharpur of the Marathi-speaking Christians.

Church stir for SC status to Dalit Christians, Muslims

Church stir on Aug 10 for SC status to Dalit Christians, Muslims


http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100809/5021517943918479316.htm


CAMIL PARKHE
Monday, August 09, 2010 AT 12:28 PM (IST)
Tags: Pune, Church, Christian, Muslim, CBCI, scheduled caste, Camil Parkhe
PUNE: Christians in the city will participate in a nationwide agitation on August 10 to demand Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Dalits belonging to Christian and Muslim religions.
The call for observing a nationwide black day on Tuesday has been given by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country.
The black day will be observed to demand deletion of the paragraph 3 of the Presidential order on Constitution (Scheduled Caste) which said that ‘No person who professes a religion different from Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste’.
August 10 has been chosen the day for the stir as the Presidential order was issued on August 10, 1950. The Church has undertaken a signature drive to demand inclusion of the Dalit Christians and Muslims in the SC category. Signatures of the community members were collected during the masses at all the churches in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad on Saturday and Sunday.
The Church has planned to submit a memorandum to Pune district collector on Tuesday. Fr George D’Souza, vicar general of Pune diocese, has issued a letter to all churches in Pune diocese to seek mobilisation of support for the agitation. Fr D’Souza has asked all parish priests to send a two-member team from each church to meet the collector.
The nationwide agitation has been led by CBCI’s Commission for SC/ST and Backward Classes. Commission chairperson and Hyderabad Archbishop Marampudi Joji has addressed a letter to the church hierarchy in the country, soliciting their support for August 10 agitation.
The archbishop’s letter has said that in 1956 and 1990, Dalit Sikhs and Buddhists were included in the SC category and has argued that denial of this status to Dalit Christians and Muslims is discriminatory.

BLACK DAY
The CBCI has called for hoisting black flags on all churches and church institutions to condemn denial of the SC status to Dalit Christians and Muslims.

1200-page Marathi Bible sold out in just 20 days

1200-page Marathi Bible sold out in just 20 days

CAMIL PARKHE
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 AT 10:08 PM (IST)
Tags: Bible, Francis D'Britto, Rajhans Prakashan, Marathi
Subodh Bible, a 1200-page Marathi edition of the Bible translated by Fr Francis D'Britto and published by Rajhans Prakashan, has been sold out within 20 days after publication, setting a new record in the 200-year-history of Marathi edition of the scripture.
The Marathi Bible, priced at Rs 1,200, was made available at a discounted rate of Rs 750.
Anand Hardikar, editor of Rajhans Prakashan, said that the new translation of the Marathi Bible was released in Vasai in Thane district on June 20 and 2,000 copies have already been sold in different parts of the state.
The publishing house has decided to print a second edition of the translation and advertisements seeking booking for the copies would be released this Sunday, he said.
The exact number of the copies of the next edition would be decided on the basis of the response of readers, Hardikar said.
Rev William Carey had first published a part of the Bible in Marathi in West Bengal in 1807. This book was one of the first printed in this language.
Hardikar said that although some of Rajhans Prakashan's books have been sold in a record period of less than a 10 days, this overwhelming response for Bible's edition was not expected. The publishing house had not sought pre-publication booking of the edition, he said, and added that the copies were sold at various centres of the publishing house in Pune, Mumbai and elsewhere.
The overwhelming response to the new Bible edition is attributed to the popular writing style of the translator, Fr D'Britto, whose other books in Marathi have won readers' acclaim.
Incidentally, this is the first Marathi edition of the Bible released by a non-religious publishing house. It is the only second edition translated by a single individual. Pandita Ramabai had single handedly translated the entire Bible in Marathi 90 years ago.

Ideal Khap Panchayat

Ideal Khap Panchayat

CAMIL PARKHE
Friday, July 23, 2010 AT 09:25 PM (IST)
Tags: Khap Panchayat, Gawaki, Camil Parkhe
What is wrong in having khap panchayats or other bodies to set norms for members of a particular community? Some recent events in north India have brought a bad name for such "extra-constitutional" bodies. Jati or jamat panchayats have been a characteristic of ancient Indian society and they have served their purpose well. The genre of the khap panchayat itself should not be condemned per se.
I recently read a souvenir, commemorating the 50th anniversary of a "gawaki" (a sort of a khap panchayat, shall we say?) in the Vasai taluka of Thane district. I was pleasantly surprised to know that a body framing rules for its community members can also play positive roles. The Pali Wadwali Christian Samaj "gawaki" of three villages -- Wadwali, Gorodi and Karijbhat -- established in 1959 has framed rules for its members to come to the aid of those in mourning following a death in the family, to felicitate successful students and to honour senior citizens on reaching age milestones like 60, 75 or 80 years.
The "gawaki" is empowered to impose a penalty in the form of fines on persons who fail to abide by its rules. To this date, its authority has not been challenged by any of the members.
Incidentally, people who follow the diktats of the "gawaki" are no illiterate persons. The community is generally called East Indians and claims to be the original inhabitants of Mumbai and Thane. Most of them are financially sound and many of them travel to Mumbai daily to earn their bread.
One of the gawaki rules is that at least one male member in each family must rush to the house of a bereaved family in the village within half an hour of the death and also attend the funeral whenever it is held. The "gawaki" offers incentives to those who contact community members on the demise of a member, may be Rs100 as petrol expenses.
Those who fail to turn up at the house of the deceased and for the funeral have to pay a fine of Rs50. The members of the bereaved family are thus saved the trouble of running around to secure the death certificate and make all the arrangement for the final rites at the church and the cemetery. The survival of the "gawaki" for 50 years speaks volumes for its utility. There are more "gawakis" functioning in other villages in the Vasai taluka. I wish the tribe of such "gawakis" may increase elsewhere too in the new avatar of housing societies, and associations of employees or communities.

SISTER REKHA IS FIRST WOMAN PROFESSOR IN CHURCH IN INDIA

SISTER REKHA IS FIRST WOMAN PROFESSOR IN CHURCH IN INDIA

CAMIL PARKHE
Thursday, July 22, 2010 AT 11:57 AM (IST)
Tags: Rekha Chennattu, Church, women professor, JDV, Christanity, India
Sister Rekha Chennattu, a nun belonging to the Religious of Assumption congregation, has earned the distinction of being the first woman professor in the male-dominated Catholic Church in the country.
Sister Chennattu, who has been teaching Bible to the priests-in-formation at the Jnana Deep Vidyapeeth (JDV) located on the Nagar Road in the city was recently promoted to the rank of a full-time professor with the approval of the Vatican.
Speaking to Sakàl Times, Sister Rekha said that it was indeed an honour to be elevated to the rank of professor at the JDV, an institute where would-be priests from across the country and from abroad take lessons in theology.
Sister Chennattu said that there are only a handful of Catholic women professors teaching Bible in Rome and elsewhere in the world. “It is heartening to note this number has been on the rise in the recent past,” she said.
Sister Chennattu, who hails from Kerala had worked for a year among tribals in Nashik district. She had joined the JDV teaching faculty as a lecturer on scripture in 1996. She has a licentiate of the Rome-based Pontifical Biblical Institute and also holds a doctorate in Biblical studies of the Catholic University of America, Washington DC.
Father Malcolm Sequeira, spokesperson for the Pune diocese, said that it is an honour for Sister Chennattu to be the first woman professor on Bible at the prestigious Jnana Deep Vidyapeeth.