Dhruwadeepti : Religion //Journey of a Missionary Priest // Renewal Programmes, Diocesan and Regional // Fr. George Pallivathukal.

Dhruwadeepti : Religion //

Fr. George Pallivathukal.

Journey of a Missionary Priest // 

- Renewal Programmes, Diocesan and Regional -

Fr. George Pallivathukal.

1994, International Year of Family.

The United Nations declared 1994 as the International year of Families. We in our diocese took this as a golden oppertunity to renew our christen families. Bishop Theophane himself was the chief promoter of this programme. He wrote a pastoral letter explaining the importance of the family in the society, the need for renewal and what we should do during the year to renew our families. He made me the Diocesan Co-ordinator of the programme. I prepared a hand book containing resource materials to help parish teams to conduct programmes locally. We printed the booklet in English and Hindi and distributed it to the entire diocese. Bishop toured the whole diocese carrying the message of family renewal. I, along with Mr. B.K. John, an energetic lay person of Ranjhi Parish , visited all the eleven parishes of the city of Jabalpur animating, offering guidelines and conducting renewal progrmmes. The parish priests of Jabalpur Deanery co-operated whole heartedly with the programme. 

People suggested that our family renewal programme should not be stopped at the end of the family year 1004, but it should be continued even after. I suggested to them that we could meet every week and discuss about the Sacraments which is the source and summit of our christian life according to the Vatican 11 . People fully agreed to my suggestion immiediately I sat down to prepare a catechism book on sacraments for adults. I followed the content of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I simplified ,adapted and summareized the teaching of the Church and the book was ready in English. Mr.B.K. John translated the sacramental catechism into Hindi. Bishop Bore the printing expences and we distributed the books to the people at a very normal price. This programme was carried out in an intensive way in Ranjhi Parish as a follow-up of the family year. The programme's success in the parish was due to a few commited lay people. Most of them were in the parish council. 

I was very happy and excited to see the changes taking place in the parish. I went to the Eucharistic Lord and thanked him for sending His Spirit to effect a new Pentecost in the parish.People were very poor in their knowledge of the sacraments.Sacramental catechesis of the adults was a need in the Church. The Lord offered the opportunity by inspiring the people to ask for it. My parishioners assembled every week in their own areas for an hour to learn about the sacraments. I had taught the area leaders how to handle the book on the sacraments which I had prepared for them. Family prayers became regular along with the reading of a passage from the Bible. Our families were on the way to becoming "domestic churches". 

A new way of being the Church.

During the last decade of the 20th century the CBCI had adopted " the Samall Christian Communities (SCC) " for the Indien Church. The SCC was presented as " a new way of being the Church". Our diocese introduced the SCC in our parishes. I, as the dean of Jabalpur deanery, promoted SCC for the entire deanery. We had many programmes conducted by experts like Fr. Vijay Thomas and Bishop Bosco Penha of Bombay to get people a attuned to the SCC . Parish Priests in Jabalpur city tried to introduce the new movement in their on parishes. Succes depended on the conviction and enthusiasm of the parish priests. 

I myself trained area leaders. The people were convinced that in order to make our parish into a vibrant faith community we neededto adopt this method. We learned the Bible sharing techniques using the Lumko method of Bible sharing. Every area in the parish had weekly sessions of Bible sharing. This sharing helped people of the various areas to build themselves up into strong strong faithcommunities. They used to organize area celebrations and used to invite Bishop Theophane to Participate in their celebrations. Bishop would gladly accept their invitations, would go there, celebrate Mass for them and join in their agape. Bishop's presence boosted their spirit. //-

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