On the Christmas evening, we had a cultural program in the Parish premises. Many Parishioners including the Religious were present. Carols, skits, mimes, dances etc were the main items which enthralled the audience. Our Novices put up a Fusion Dance highlighting Ecological Crisis, Human Rights and Fundamentalism. The program concluded as all joined in singing Carols.
“Joy comes when we put Jesus first, others second and ourselves last in the priority list of our lives.” With lots of good wishes and gifts, we gathered together (Christmas Tree) as one family to celebrate Christmas and share the gifts/blessings with each other on the 25 'noon. The Novices shared their gifts with one another. ('Christmas Friend' was chosen by each one of them by picking up a lot at the beginning of the Advent Season; during Advent, each one prayed for their friends and their bond of companionship strengthened). Fr Frigidian Shenoy, in his inimitable style, gave the message. Santa Claus added moments of fun, joy and laughter.
Dear Friends,
We, the Jesuit community at
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
There was happiness and peace in everyone's heart on 20 December as the CRI Christmas Gathering was held at Mount St Joseph. 'Born to Heal' was the theme of the program. The hall sounded as if the angels were singing Gloria to the wounded world & broken humanity. 12 Communities participated in this program highlighting the current issues like Terrorism, Poverty, Corruption, Economic Recession, Floods in North Karnataka, Global Warming, Globalization, Fundamentalism etc. "The Babe of Bethlehem is born to bring peace on earth & joy to all people" was the message conveyed through plays, mimes, dances and carols. Fr Francis Serrao, the Provincial of the Karnataka Jesuits, was the honorable guest who added joy to the celebrations with a meaningful Christmas message. Finally, Fr William Sequeira, the President of CRI-Bannerghatta Zone, thanked everyone for their active participation. 
18 of December was the greatest day in the lives of all the Novices. It was a three-fold celebration. 
First of all, we celebrated the feast of our patron St Stanislaus Kostka. Secondly, 14 of our First Year brothers received their Cassocks. They have made a definite choice to be set apart to bear witness to Jesus. In a way, they have put on Christ. And thirdly, our brothers were conferred the ministries of Lector and Acolyte by Fr Francis Serrao, our Provincial. Congratulations dear First Year Novices!
Our life as a religious is like a grind-stone and all that we must do is to allow it to polish us. Our life is a song and to sing it well, we need to listen to the melody or the inner voice of God. On 13 December, Fr Francis Noronha made his promises to the Lord through his Final Vows in the Society of Jesus. And all of us at Mount St Joseph and the Parish joined him in his song of praise. 
St Ignatius puts the following criteria for men to be incorporated into the Society of Jesus.
(1) Men outstanding in following Christ Jesus (2) Men outstanding in virtue (3) Men who have sound judgement and prudence in action (4) Men who humbly accept corrections & strive to correct themselves (5) Men driven by love (6) Men who have complete availability, mobility for mission & ministries of the Society. Congratulations dear Fr Frankie!
One Novice: Hey, guys, just remember the conference we got yesterday, didn’t Fr master say that Jesuits are meant to be really dispersed all over the place? So what are we doing here standing in one place?Another Novice (Work In-charge): You are absolutely right. We should not stay together in one place. We should be dispersed so, I shall go to the guvava garden. You go to the butter fruit tree. Stany can go to the vineyard and Henry can see if the bananas are finally ripe....
Br Vadaparam: I think your scales are definitive. I sent a novice to get 5 Kg of ra
isins. You have sent only 4.5 Kg
Whenever I think of you , I feel proud.
I was an infant, and you cared of me.
You understood me well. You brought me up with care.
You built me up with love.
Your concerne for me was overwhelming.
You took paine to mould me and shape me.
You gave me solid spiritual nourishment.
In your embrace I grow old and strong.
Behind your portals I made many friendships.
You gave me the joy of companionship.
There were times when you gave me bitter pills.
to cure me of innumerable illnesses.
You were every thing to me- doctor and nurse.
Teacher and friend, tyrant and mother.
You took me under your wings and then let me go.
When the time came for me to leave you,
You bade me farewell with moist eyes.
And now my hearts singes your praise.
And words of gratitude well up on my lips.
I hymn to your selfless service in love.
Mount my mother, events might have passed by
But memories will never fade.
(This Poem appeared in the Silver Jubilee Edition of the Navataranga…)
TO MOUNT WITH LOVE
My heart is full of green memories and sweet melodies
Pried fills my being and thrill is all that I feel
As I think of you O mount, my mother my friend.
For, I came to you a boy and you made me a man.
A heart for love not just for law you taught me to have
To know my strength and also may flaws you enabled me
To be rich in warm emotions while not being their slave,
To heed the cry of the poor and stretch a helping hand,
Through I myself be steeped in pain, you trained me to do.
Tell me, isn’t it natural that I feel so warm and grateful?
Tell me, where else will I get your peace and beauty my friend?
Wasn’t it in your embrace that I grew and matured
And learnt to walk the way of the man from
Indeed my friend, my mother, mount my mount, my gem,
Your glories.
(This Poem appeared in the Silver Jubilee Edition of the Navataranga…)
Fr William Sequeira
GOLDEN NOVICE MASTER
01. “What a strange name!” I wondered on the second day of my arrival at 02. It was 4.30 am. Fr. Viegas got up and opened the door of his room upon hearing a few loud knocks. There was Br. Vadapuram standing at the door. Looking at Fr. Viegas in his pajamas Br. Vadapuram said with a profoundly apologetic tone - “Sooory Father, I thoooought it was toooilet.”
03. In those days Novices were sent out of the conference room quite seldom; but walkouts on the part of Fr. Master were quite frequent! “Was I angry?” he would ask on the next day. We did not know that they were rhetorical questions, not to be answered. We struggled to tell the truth…but he would answer his own question – “No! I was not angry; I was sad.”
04. Catching the thief in Mount was a 'revelatory event.' When he was finally caught we found that the main reason for several of his thefts was that his bare needs were not met. Upon catching him we found he had come to steal wearing only the stolen ‘essentials’ of one of our companions!
05. Our Beadle had a very weak memory. One day he got up at 5.30 am; rang the bell; applied tooth paste to his brush; came to the common washing place; left his brush on the sink; went into a toilet. A mischievous companion washed his brush thoroughly and kept it were it was. The absent minded beadle came out of the toilet and went straight to the sink. Upon finding his tooth brush without any paste on it, went back to the room, fully convinced that he had already brushed his teeth!
06. The absolute silence during the Long Retreat had made a Novice bottle up all his laughter. One day he saw his companion dosing in the chapel at 2.30 in the afternoon and could not control his laughter. Then many saw him running on the corridor towards toilets holding a hand on his mouth. Once inside the toilet, he burst out in laughter, only to spew out his dentures into the commode! I still wonder how he managed the rest of the retreat without opening his mouth in public!
Contributed by Fr Jossie Lobo
Our time in the Novitiate was indeed exciting and fun filled. Occasionally to break the monotony we used to go on group picnics. On one such occasion the four of us went out into the countryside some distance away, laden with bread, butter, fruits and other goodies in abundance. When it was finally time to return to Mount we found that we had eaten our fill and were full to the brim, our belts groaning with heroic efforts to keep us in one piece and still there was much food left over. One from our group got a bright idea! Why not give it to the poor women who were gathering firewood in the vicinity? All of us agreed, with our hearts burning with generosity and compassion. We were always ready to sacrifice the leftovers once we ourselves were fully satiated. So we called the poor ladies and the Novice who had called them reached out into the bag and unwittingly instead of bringing out the bread loaf, brought out a big knife with his hand. Before he realized his mistake we saw the women literally fly towards their village nearby. I quickly gathered my wits, realized the danger. We were in, once the women reached their village and told their men folk what had happened in the forest. I told my companions that the only Ignatian thing to do is flee from the enemy. So we started sprinting towards the safety and security of MSJ without looking back even once, running right up to the statue of
One of the frequently asked questions about the new Novitiate was why it was called
Way back in the 1990’s there was a plan to have a Senior Jesuits Home at Mount St. Joseph but this did not find favour with a few Jesuits who thought that this place was not suited because the facilities for a good hospital were not available. With this view in mind, Pratiksha was built. Given the setup itself, the conveniences provided at Pratiksha were insufficient. There was no place for the Seniors to move around for their walks. Besides it was not very ideal for them to be placed amid all the noise in the heart of the city. The new roof at 
The Senior Jesuits Home was inaugurated on 17 Aug 2008 by Fr. Simon Furtado and blessed by Fr. Vijay Kumar Prabhu, the then Provincial of Karnataka. Fr. Frigidian Shenoy was the first to occupy the new facility. In June 2009, Senior Jesuits from Pratiksha, Fr. Hilary Pereira and Br. Scaria Vadaparam moved to
An Ignatian Spirituality Centre in 
has provided abundant opportunities for this house to be used as a training centre for Lay Collaborators in Ignatian pedagogy. Fr Lisbert D’Souza inaugurated this house on 17 October 2007 and since then it has always been made use of by Jesuits and other religious alike for 30-day retreats, Ignatian Spirituality courses together with spiritual training and leadership.
The Loyola PU College was started on 11 June 2008. It was inaugurated by Shri Puttana, MLC and blessed by Fr.Vijay Kumar Prabhu S.J, the then Provincial of Karnataka. This college started with 58 Arts students and HEBA as their specialization. They had only five lecturers.
At present there are 205 students in four batches. They are CEBA - 67 students HEBA - 73 students PCMB - 13 students PCMC - 8 students. These are the I year batches.
In the year there is only one batch i.e. HEBA - 48 students.
The Loyola ITI began in June 1993 with both formal and non-formal courses. Apart from this, the ITI introduced programmes like Driving light motor vehicles and a Service Station with 15 students. This ITI was started for the development of the poor deserving students to bring out their skills and talents and to give them a future.
It started with only two courses of two years duration. Electronic Mechanic, Fitter Mechanic
Short term courses for six months were started sometime later; Two-Wheeler Mechanic course ,Electrician Course. Loyola ITI began with a 3-month tailoring course for village girls until March 1994. 40 girls were trained in 3 batches.At present there are 128 students and 15 staff members.
COURSES AVAILABLE AT PRESENT: Formal courses: Electronic Mechanic; Fitter; Motor vehicle Mechanic.Non-Formal courses: Auto Electrician, Driving, Computer Application, Computer Hardware, Plumbing, Electrical Wiring, Welding, Fitter, Automobile Mechanic (diesel, petrol), Mobile phone Service, Radio/ T.V Servicing.
In 1990: V Std was added with 61 students
In 1991: VI Std was added with 58 students
In 1992: A full higher primary was completed with VII Std and a total number of 59 students.
The Loyola Higher Primary started in the
In 1994, the school was shifted to the new building. The foundation 
stone was laid on 21 June 1991 by Fr Anand Prabhu. It was inaugurated on 28 January 1994 by the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri M Veerappa Moily. This building was blessed by Fr Terence Farias, the then Provincial of Karnataka.
At present the High School has 433 students and with 11 teaching and 8 non-teaching staff.
They were a mixed class, most of them Tigalas who spoke Tamil and Telugu. Their church language however was Kannada. Fr Aloysius Farias provided the primary needs to the people like the construction of a road to the village, portable drinking water etc. Fr Denis
Alveres SJ, the next to follow, had a problem in getting children to attend school. Parents being illiterate sent their children to look after the cattle. They had only a primary school and needed Rs. 200 to run it then. The missionary had to sacrifice his personal needs to meet the needs of the mission. Extreme poverty made it difficult to preach about spiritual things for it was like flogging a dead horse. However, sometime later, there were hopeful signs where people gradually began imbibing the true Christian spirit.
Chikkakammanahalli is now a full-fledged Parish. It has a government-aided school with classes up to the higher primary section. With a generous helping hand of the Sisters of Charity, the school is doing quite well. What is encouraging is that Chikkakammanahalli mission station by which it was once known has now completed 50 years of fruitful labour with love.
