Outreach program of the community

On the 17th November 2019, the senior members of the community spent a couple of hours at the Bala Yesu Bhavan - Children's home and the Lourdes Home -Senior Citizens Home located within the premises of Alverna Bhavana, Kalena Agrahara, Bangalore. The community members enacted short skits, sang songs, and made the children and senior citizens happy. For more about these two homes which do so much good to society, please log on to www.balayesubhavanorphanagebgl.org [OV]

Novices' Patron Day

The feast of St Stanislaus Kostka, which falls on the 13th November was celebrated with much  fervour and fun.  The senior Jesuits of the MSJ community made the Novices happy with songs and skits and everyone had a hearty laugh. [OV]

Parish Celebrates the Mission Sunday

On 20th October 2019, the parish of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Kalena Agrahara celebrated the Mission Sunday. The Church Campus bore a spectacular look with people and stalls. This Third Sunday of October was devoted to raise the awareness that every baptized Christian is a missionary and everyone has a share in sharing the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

As part of the Mission Sunday, the parishners came together along with their parish priest Fr Arun Kumar SJ in raising money to the missions of the universal Catholic Church. A good amount of preparation was done in order to make this day as a parish day. From Catechism children to seniors in the parish took active part in day's program. Various games were played. Each ward of the parish had its own stall to raise money in a creative way. After each Sunday Mass auctioning was followed. 

A number of parishners took active part as volunteers and bringing things for auction. Mount St Joseph community too contributed from its farm home-grown chicken, ducks, bananas, nati koli eggs, etc. In order to attract children, house horse, Pulsi the labrador dog and a sheep with its little lamb took part in it. Children enjoyed either cuddling these pretty animals or by clicking photos with them. In sum, the days events and activities showed the unity of the wards in particular and as a parish in general. [OV]

Pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Servant of God Rajendra Swami

October being the Extraordinary Missionary Month we were privileged to commemorate the 300th death anniversary of the servant of God, Pujya Rajendra Swami. A zealous  missionary  of the Mysore Jesuit mission.

The whole of the Mount Saint Joseph community travelled to Chikkarasinakere to witness and be part of the celebration. It was a time of grace to pray for his beatification. The spiritual atmosphere was deepened by the presence of the Bishop of Mysore Dr. K. A. Willam.

On this auspicious day we gave thanks to God in the Eucharist. Many religious and faithful were present. Fr. Stanislaus  D’souza SJ  provincial of the Karnataka Province preached over the Eucharist. Indeed the milieu was grace filled talk given by Fr. Freddie D'Silva, SJ. This extraordinary celebrations was witnessed by many Jesuits from various communities.

We still continue to pray for the Beatification of Rajendra Swami and for his intercession.

On our way back we enjoyed the beauty of the Gagana Chukki falls. (Report by Nov. Prakash)

Pathways to God: Formation of the Constitution of the Society and Integration of Candidates in Letter and Spirit

MSJ, 12th September, 2019:  Fr Francis Pudhicherry, SJ, Editor of Ignis and Head of the Department & Director of Spirituality at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV) gave a talk on "Pathways to God: Formation of the Constitution of the Society and Integration of  its Candidates in Letter and Spirit" to the community.  The talk shed light on deliberations of the First Fathers (St Ignatius of Loyola and his companions) in Venice, Italy,  in 1539, which led to the formation of the Society of Jesus and later drafting of its constitution. 

Fr Francis highlighted the importance of quality of men to the Society which was the conscience decision of Ignatius and others in order to fulfil the apostolic effectiveness.  Therefore, Francis dealt extensively on the fourth chapter of the constitution which speaks of examen of the candidates to the Society.  Fr Olvin Veigas, SJ, moderated the session. This talk was part of community's ongoing intellectual and human formation.  [OV]

Fr Pedro Arrupe, SJ: Life and Legacy - Exhibition at MSJ

As part of the Diamond Jubilee of Mount St Joseph, 22 August 2019, an exhibition on the life and legacy of Fr Pedro Arrupe, SJ was held at the house Aula. Archbishop of Bangalore, Peter Machado along with Fr Stany D'Souza, Provincial of the Jesuits in Karnataka inaugurated the exhibition. Fr Arun Kumar, SJ gave a brief description at the beginning on the aims and objectives of the exhibition as well as a short note on Fr Pedro Arrupe. In the following brief video you will find all that we try to communicate on this great man of the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus, Fr Pedro Arrupe, whose cause is opened recently by declaring him the Servant of God. May he intercede for us in all our endeavours to propagate faith and promote justice of our Lord. [OV]

Diamond Jubilee of Mount St Joseph

On the 22nd August 2019, MSJ witnessed the celebration of Diamond Jubilee of its existence with a large number of Jesuits and non-Jesuits in attendance. Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore Archdiocese presided over the Mass and preached a homily. A sumptuous meal prepared by Mr Joachim Vaz, the dad of Fr Joyson was served to around 325 people.

A short program was organized after the Mass. On this occasion,

i. an exhibition on Fr Pedro Arrupe was held at the Aula;

ii. Shalom Jesuit Listening Centre marked the beginning;

iii. "My Soul Magnifies the Lord," souvenir of the jubilee was released;

iv. 7 of our co-workers who worked at Mount for more than 25 years were honored;

v. “Mount Melodies” a new hymnal saw its light;

vi. www.dhyanashrama.in website of the Dhyanashrama Retreat House inaugurated.

Every member of the community worked hard in one way or the other to make this occasion smooth, solemn and stupendous. [OV]

Novena to Our Lady

In view of the feast of the nativity of Our Lady, Mount St Joseph Community has started 9 days Novena. There is a lot of creativity each day while conducting the prayer for 20 minutes. As part of the tradition, flowers are offered to Mother Mary as a token of our devotion and filial love towards her. [OV]

THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION ON FR PEDRO ARRUPE, SJ

Those of you who have known or read or heard of Fr Pedro Arrupe would certainly remember that he was a holy man, obedient leader in the most turbulent times of the Catholic Church and especially within the Society of Jesus.  He has been declared already as a servant of God by Pope Francis, while many Jesuits have considered him as a saint in their hearts and have been praying through him.

On 22nd of August, 2019 on the diamond jubilee of Mount St Joseph, we the members of this community are delighted to showcase all his works, all his words and many captivating pictures and especially gripping photographs of this holy man who hailed from Basque country, the place of St Ignatius of Loyola. 

The Archbishop Peter Machado opened the diamond door ceremoniously for us to enter.  Thus the visitors could have glimpse of this great Jesuit, who visited this very Aula 53 years ago on 2nd January1966. [AK]

SHALOM Listening Centre at MSJ

As we celebrate 60 years of the existence of Mount St Joseph, the community members have come forward to help the faithful in listening to them.  The yearning to be heard, the need to be understood, sacred space to share the confidential matter, to reveal the struggles of faith, the worries of life and thereby be healed, to grow in one’s faith, maturity, integrity are some key features of this Listening Centre.

The essence of good listening is empathy and it helps relationships.  Through depth dialogue the deeper aspirations of life send their roots deep and spread their wings wide.  Spiritual conversation has become our way of proceeding in all our ministries and initiatives.  Besides, one of the Universal Apostolic Priority approved by Pope Francis and promulgated by the Superior General Arturo Sosa, is “to show the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment”.   The Listening Centre is a new venture to bring wellness, a discerning attitude and wholeness and ultimately peace and reconciliation among our target groups.  We are grateful to Anthony Joseph our Rector and the members of Mt St Joseph community for allotting rooms 14 & 15 at MSJ for this purpose. 

The listeners’ list as of now is five. 

Fr Clarence D’Souza -Spirituality & Scripture 

 Fr Jossy Rodrigues -Psychology & Spirituality 

 Fr John Pradeep -Spirituality & Psychology 

 Fr Olvin Veigas -Theology & Scripture & Research 

Fr Arun Kumar - Counseling & Pastoral concerns 

The Beneficiaries of this listening centre are; Parishioners, Schools and College staff members, parents and students. [AK]

A New Website for Dhyanashrama - Jesuit Retreat House in Bangalore

Dhyanashrama is the only Ignatian retreat house in Bangalore run by the Jesuits in Karnataka.  The new website of the house was inaugurated on the 22nd of August 2019 when Mount St Joseph celebrated its Diamond Jubilee of its existence. The URL of the website: https://dhyanashrama.in  [OV]

New addition: Kempi Horse

Perhaps as a coincidence, MSJ farm has a new horse in this Diamond Jubilee Year of the house (1959-2019). It was baptized recently with a name, Kempi, reminding us the memory of our beloved Italian Jesuit Fr Faustine Corti (1856-1926), who also owned a horse in his travels in South Canara  with a name Kempi.  As the oil prices are skyrocketing, the farm manager thought that only way to cut down the cost of travel is by owning a horse.  This is also in view of the caring for our common home.  We, as MSJ community will be helping the Mother Earth in reducing the carbon footprint. At least a good beginning!  A small step but a precious idea, indeed. [OV]

Jesuit Mission parishners - Siddis - come to the City Jesuit Parish

16 Siddis from Mainahalli, Mundgod, where Jesuits of Karnataka Province run a mission visited our parish "Immaculate Heart of Mary" in Bangalore on 4th of August 2019.  They were accompanied by their priest in-charge Jesuit Fr Sujay Daniel. They were here to raise funds for the construction of their new church building in Mainahalli.  The Siddi parishners participated in three Sunday Masses, doing the traditional entrance dance as well as lending their melodious voices for the Masses.  

Siddis also performed some of their traditional cultural dances for the parishners in the church premises.  The parishners of our parish were very generous and contributed digging deep into their pockets for another Jesuit Mission, which needs a lot of financial help from outside.  Jesuit Fr Arun Kumar, the parish priest, who is also the Co-ordinator of Province Pastoral Work and Secretary of  JEPASA planned this inter-parish level collaboration. 

Siddis are originally from Africa. They were brought into India by the Portuguese and British as slaves.  They worked mainly in Goa in the 16th century. Later on most of them entered the territory of Karnataka and made jungles/forests of Uttara Kannada district as their home.  Since 1980, with Fr Mathew Lewis, Jesuits of Karnataka Province started the Siddi Mission with great dedication and zeal.  Today there are two substations attached to the Mundgod parish. The two substations are Mainahalli and Ugginakeri. These two substations are made of up of Siddis exclusively.  Jesuit Fr Lawrence Pinto started a school for them in Mundgod in 1991.  Today, this Loyola School is a sprawling institution with various additions and Siddis are getting their education. They are also helped with various welfare schemes and Christian faith formation programs.  [OV]

Inigo Dominus and Basketball Matches among the Jesuits of Bangalore Communities

As part of the celebration of the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, our founder various competitions were held for students and teachers in our Jesuit educational institutions across the Karnataka province.  To add the excitement among the Jesuits, Inigo Basketball Tournament and Dominus championships were held at the indoor stadium of St. Joseph's College of Arts and Science at Museum Road, Bangalore on 28th July 2019.  Five Jesuit Communities participated in this exciting event. 

Mount St Joseph Community had its own Basketball team consisting of both Fathers and Novices.  MSJ team went up to finals and played a wonderful game.  However, Jesuit Nivas team won the title. Our team ended up bringing home runners up trophy.

Our Duo, Frs Francis D'Almeida and Godwin Serrao clinched the champions trophy in Dominus defeating the Dronacharya of the Dominus game of our province, Fr Richard Sequiera and team. [OV]