CSsR Bangalore

 It is in history’s darkest moments that the human trait of kindness shines the brightest. In an unprecedented global pandemic humanity from every nook and cranny is speaking the global language of kindness.  Everyone is pitching in and contributing, big and small, for the mighty cause of fighting a tiny yet, deadly virus that has descended from an unsuspecting mammal. To single out an individual and crown him as the man of the moment would not be fair. Even so, digging deeper, a soul emerges beyond the vast majority, whose act of kindness in a grave situation, evokes a special mention. One such person was a humble priest, Don Giuseppe Berardelli, who had been serving as the Archpriest of Casnigo in the Diocese of Bergamo in Northern Italy which was hit hard by Covid-19.  He contracted the virus and fell ill. As Berardelli was already suffering from a respiratory condition for a while, his parishioners had purchased a respiratory apparatus exclusively for him.  But with the raising pandemic, breathing apparatus for victims of the virus fell short in number.  Berardelli, despite ill with the virus himself, chose to give his ventilator to someone else, perhaps younger than his 72-years self.  Sadly in doing so, the priest died though someone younger than himself and with more years of life ahead was saved by the ventilator.  Indeed “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends!” were the famous words of Jesus who laid His life for humanity. History repeats itself and heroes emerge to brighten up dark times. In our parish too there were many such heroes who labored hard to spread kindness during COVID 19. 

Holy Ghost Church Covid-19 Relief Works:

      Holy Ghost Parish together with its SCC leaders and volunteers garnered much resource in extending their help and support to the needy all through the lockdown period of COVID 19.  It is note-worthy that the help rendered in such challenging times were both in cash and kind. The beneficiaries included several families from the economically week strata of society residing in and around and many migrants from Jharkhand. The SCC leaders from Bagalur layout, Lingarajapurm and Venkateshpuram were instrumental in identifying the needy families that were to be reached out.  Essential groceries such as rice, dal, sugar and oil, were then procured, packed and distributed.  Around 3500 of such packets were given to those identified.  These rations were given to all people in need without any discrimination of their religious background.

      Many of our parishioners donated generously towards the COVID 19 relief works both in monetary and other non-monetary ways.  They extended their hand in the procurement, packing and distribution of the ration to the needy families.  Despite the fear of the contagion, they came with a charitable spirit and involved themselves wholeheartedly in the relief measures. The Parish Priest, Fr. Anthony Swamy together with his team express their gratitude and appreciation to all the SCC leaders and other volunteers who made the Parish COVID 19 relief works a grand and satisfying venture.  Special thanks to Mrs. Pramila Edwin, for coordinating to purchase food grains, Mrs. Andrea and Mr. Sagay for their efforts in procuring food packets and Mr. Jai Kumar with others for distributing cooked food in different areas of the Parish.

Live on Redemptorist Media Center, Bangalore YouTube Channel

From 1st May 2020 - Monday to Friday at 7.00 P.M.

http://youtube.com/c/RedemptoristMediaCenterBangalore

The students of St Alphonsus School, Bengaluru, the modest educational institution run by the Society of Sadasahaya Sangham in Richards Town, were in for a surprise even as Covid-19, the global pandemic, was in full swing. The school management at the initiative of its manager and correspondent Rev Dr John Mathew began a series of charity drive for the families of their students most of whom come under the low income group.

      With Covid-19 and the lockdown confining daily-wage earners indoors without any income, Dr John Mathew together with his governing body comprising of select members from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer realised that “hunger will kill the families of their students even before Covid-19 would.” Thus, they rose to the occasion and from the funds of the school trust they first distributed two kilograms of rice and a kilogram of dal each to all the parents of their 400-plus students. Following up with this initial drive, the school has also given a “10 item pack” termed as “the survival pack” consisting of 10 daily important groceries to keep the families surviving until the extension of the lockdown that ends on May 3. 

      Lakshmi Mary, a widow whose son is a Class 10 student at St Alphonsus School, testifies joyfully, “I was out of any provisions when the school distributed essential items to the families of their students. This help was very timely and brought much relief."

      The school has also waived the huge arrears of unpaid amount on the fees for this academic year and has decided to reduce the annual school fees structure for the next academic year by a whopping 50%. With the collaboration of Dream India, an NGO run in the city, the school has also been distributing about 1000 hot lunch packets to many slum dwellers surrounding the Cantonment Area of the city, including Bagalur Layout, DJ Halli, Pottery Road and Tannery Road.

      Together with the services of the Sisters of St Joseph’s of Tarbes and other volunteers, Dr John Mathew has been instrumental in getting the school management involved in these relief measures. The timely help has brightened up the lives of the  beneficiaries besides bringing joy to all those involved in helping out. As Arun, a businessman who helped buy the provisions and in its packing put it, “It was a deeply satisfying experience to do something during this crisis without the expectation of anything in return.”  

In the middle of the pandemic, kindness is indeed bringing smiles to people!

A beneficiary receiving provisions from Rev Dr John Mathew together with the other volunteers who helped in the drive.

       (Bengaluru, India)  On 24th March, the government announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown. The Redemptorists of Holy Redeemer Church and Sadupadesha Community together with the parishioners began an outreach program towards the needy in Bangalore. A positive side-effect of this lockdown is that the Redeemer seems to be directing our gaze to those aspects of our personal and ecclesial life that need most attending to. The Lord also seems to be leading us closer to the spiritual and material needs of the poor and the abandoned. As the Holy Week was nearing, Fr Rector, Louis Christopher invited us to have Adoration every evening during Holy Week. Discussion in our community meals often revolved around how we were going to respond to this situation.  Around the same time, a parishioner approached Fr. Christopher Ponnuswamy, the parish priest of Holy Redeemer Church, with a generous offer of Rs. 100,000/- to supply provisions to poor families within the parish limits. In discussion with this parishioner, it was decided to feed at least 100 poor families with a supply of basic provisions like 5kg rice, 2kg pulses, 1 litre of oil, soaps, detergent powder, salt, potatoes, etc.

      A Good Samaritan Team consisting of Parish Council members and other volunteers was formed to identify these families and distribute the provisions. Other generous benefactors from the parish soon came forward to support this project. Provisions were ordered via an online portal and soon the supplies arrived. Since no parishioners were allowed into our campus due to the lockdown, the entire Sadupadesha community was involved in packing the provisions neatly into large sacks for the distribution. That includes 16 seminarians at Sadupadesha who could not go out for their holidays before the lockdown. They played an important role in completing the packing in record time and in supplying it to the distribution desk at our gate. However, keeping in mind their safety, they were not involved in the actual distribution to the beneficiaries. The Parish clergy and the Good Samaritan team distributed the provisions to a hundred families on 7th April in the middle of Holy Week.

         However, on that very first day, we noticed many more poor rushing to our gate unannounced, including migrant workers. Our hearts broke to see the desperation on the faces of these abandoned people, yet we could not serve all of them on the first day. Thus, a fresh appeal was issued to the parishioners and further supplies were sought. Over the remainder of the Holy Week, approximately 250 families have been served with provisions. And in the coming days, as the poor continue to approach us for help, the target is to reach aid to at least another 100 migrant families. Towards this end, the Archdiocese of Bangalore arranged for 100 bags of provisions to distribute to the migrants. This would make the tally of the poor served irrespective of caste, creed or language to a total of 350 families up to now. As more supplies and yet more poor and migrants seem to be approaching us, this number may increase to 500. It was a very extraordinary Holy Week and Easter for all of us!

           We are all very grateful, that in this very sad moment of the global pandemic and of the nationwide lockdown. It appears that God has opened up a way for us Redemptorists of Holy Redeemer Church and Sadupadesha Community in Bangalore to proclaim the Good News of God’s Love in a new way to the poor and abandoned. Could it just be a coincidence that this happened during the Bicentennial Death Anniversary of St. Clement Hofbauer, our saintly confrere? Not likely! Through his intercession, may we Redemptorists all over the world experience a missionary reawakening even in the midst of this crisis. May new opportunities to evangelize the poor and abandoned open up to us while keeping the safety of all in mind. May we all become increasingly aware of the ways in which, as St. Clement used to remind us, we can exercise our apostolic zeal with “courage” because “God is still in charge”!

Fr. Sandeep Menezes, C.Ss.R.

The first-ever such Mission, reaching out to the Most Abandoned at a time of Global pandemic !

     The Global Pandemic – Covid 19 has brought the world to a standstill, with the deadly corona virus claiming already so many thousands of lives across the globe.  This has forced most parts of the world to shut down everything and ensure people stay safe within the confines of their home through a lockdown in order to prevent further spreading of the virus and loss of lives.

     As a result of this lockdown and period of quarantine, Redemptorists were obliged to cancel all their Lenten missionsacross India. We had to think out of the box to see how as Redemptorists of the Province of Bangalore, we could still reach out to those deprived of Church services at this moment of global crisis and uncertainty, and so bring the message of hope and comfort to where people are. 

     Thanks to the Redemptorist Media Center, Bangalore and the initiative of Fr. Charles Vijay andhis team, Fr. Juventius Andrade and Fr. Joe Royan were roped in to serve in this first-ever venture of an Online Mission. Within 3 days, the team planned the week-long Mission from 29 March to 4 April 2020 with relevant themes and appropriate content in order to respond urgently to a situation of crisis with the message of redemptive grace. The program comprised of a daily Eucharist at 7 am with a reflection on the day’s reading. The Prayer of Spiritual Communion composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori was prayed at each of the Masses that were webcast. The evening service consisted of a period of prayer, a kerygmatic proclamation of God’s Word and concluded with Benediction.

     The response has been overwhelming from across the globe. There were over 4000+ homes that were plugged in through their mobile phones, TV and Computers, and several thousand continued to view it after the live sessions were over. We were flooded with messages and pictures each day about how grateful they were to the Redemptorists for bringing God’s Word of comfort and hope at a time when the Churches were closed and the daily Eucharist which was a source of strength for so many was not possible.

     Despite the overnight lockdown, the Media Centre organised this at such short notice with a shoe string budget, basic equipment, and limited personnel (not more than 4 persons)on account of social distancing. But that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the team of Frs. Juventius Andrade, Charles Vijay and Joe Royan. Their passion for God’s Word and the prayerful support of the confreres made the dictum of St. Clement Hofbauer, take flesh: Preach the Gospel ever anew. This was true, in more ways than one, and a venture that not only has borne fruit but also holds great promise for the future.

In Tenali Parish of Andhra Pradesh, the celebrations for the Feast of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer started at 9 a.m. and went on till around 1.30 p.m. on 15th March 2020.

There was Holy Adoration from 9 a.m. to 10.45 a.m. conducted by Fr. Sagar and deacon Vijay, followed by Holy Mass which was presided by the Bishop of Guntur, Dr. Bhagyaiah. He preached the homily about St. Clement. During the Euchrist we prayed for the victims of Coronavirus.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration we gave a brief about the life of St. Clement and thereafter distributed the souvenirs to the people. Around 1500 people participated in the celebration.

We are four community members:- Fr. David, Fr. Martin Cushnan, Fr. Vijayanand (Parish Priest) and Fr. Sagar. Deacon Vijay also was part of the orginising team. 

The festivity ended with a common meal with all the people. We thank the Almighty for this wonderful time of communion with the brothers and sisters of the parish.

Fr. Paul, a confrere of the Province of Bangalore, presently the Mission Superior of Kenya Mission, presents to us the “Pulpit Stories”.

Jesus communicated parables to the secular people around him and he used stories that were very relevant to their lives, and he was taking heaven’s truth and packaging it in an earthly context. Fr. Paul always found that stories enrich talks and sermons. So, for a long time, he had been collecting stories and recreating them in his own style.

Every week Fr. Paul writes a story for a Catholic magazine in Kerala, “Jeevanaadam”. Almost four hundred stories have been published so far. These stories are now brought out in book form. Already nine volumes of these stories are published in Malayalam, the vernacular of Kerala, under the title, “Paulachan Paranja Kathakal”. Some of these are also translated to English and Kannada and gone through a number of editions. In English, it is published under the title “Pulpit Stories”. Three volumes of “Pulpit Stories” are published so far.

A renowned columnist, Ms Dorothy Victor writes: Fr. Paul has taken some common themes, charming storylines and oft-read subjects and weaved them into an appealing collection of short stories. The simplicity of the text, the profoundness of the message and depth of the topics covered have all been deliberately chosen and mindfully put together for a wide range of readers. Whether school-going or a youngster on the threshold of adulthood or whether a middle-aged person facing a mid-life crisis or a senior citizen in the sun-set years, this volume will give a quick respite from life’s many cares and sound answers to life’s pertinent questions and enduring doubts.

Fr. Paul has for the last two decades brought out short stories on endearing themes as honesty, friendship, courage, peace, holiness, innocence, empathy, kindness and more.

According to Fr. Paul though some of these stories are known at a different occasion what he has done is to bring out the Christian and humane values in them for the use of preachers and teachers. Fr. Paul continues to write because of the appreciation and encouragement of so many friends and well-wishers. Fr. Paul further says, “The greatest satisfaction for any writer is derived when the book becomes useful for the purpose for which it is written. I am content with the fact that these stories are used by a number of people.”

Rev. Dr. Bernard Moras, the former Archbishop of Bengaluru has written in his Forward to Vol II: The author of this book, Fr. Paul Pazhangattu, C.Ss.R., with his erudite experience and pastoral zeal has beautifully woven together a garland of anecdotes and personal reflections that are contextual and provide for sufficient material for homilies…

When homilies become contextual reflecting on the humdrum of daily life concentrate on new and changing realities and when we respond to the sufferings people go through, inner changes take place in the listener making Christian life more wholesome. The Word of God is always alive and can be applied and understood in context. The author convincingly makes us believe in translating this awesome power of the Word of God into concrete action. 

We wish Fr. Paul God’s abundant blessing and success in all his works as he continues to educate and inspire people through these stories.

     25th January 2020 witnessed a historical moment in Bangalore when the Internet Radio Studio - Holy Redeemer Radio, first of its kind in C.Ss.R India, was Inaugurated and Blessed By the Provincial Superior of the Bangalore Province - Fr. Edward Joseph.
     The inspiration of spreading the word of God through the internet radio was conceived by Fr. Charles Vijay Kumar, C.Ss.R. the Director of Redemptorist Media Center. He left no stone unturned in realizing this dream.
     This is truly the work of God as many years ago Fr. Rajan, C.SS.R who pursued a Media course had also felt the desire to start a radio station.
     The inauguration was graced by the presence of the confreres. The guest of honour was the Founder and owner of "Amma's Pastries" - Mrs. & Mr. Anthony. 
     The Holy Redeemer Radio App was launched on 26th January 2020, the Feast of Mother of Perpetual Help at Holy Ghost Church, Bangalore by  the Provincial Superior of the Bangalore Province - Fr. Edward Joseph.
At present the radio has been launched in Kannada and will soon be followed by English and other languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
     May the Lord bless the good works of the Redemptorist priests and continue to inspire them in 'Preaching the Gospel Ever Anew' in extraordinary ways. 

“Holy Redeemer Radio” App is available on Google play store and soon be on Apple App Store as well. Happy listening. 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.holyredeemerradio

Holy Redeemer Radio

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIV9EV2ID2Q_qrBRX5PjOiA?view_as=subscriber

English at 5.45 a.m.

Tamil - 6.45 a.m.
Kannada - 8.15 a.m.

English - 9.30 a.m.

Tamil at 10.45 a.m.

Kannada - 7 p.m.

Media Workshop by Fr. Charles Vijay, C.Ss.R.

Centuries down the line people have always communicated with one another through different means. Today the world has changed rapidly and along with the world, the mode of communication has also changed drastically. Where once upon a time people used to send letters and handmade postcards, today with electronic communication and media the message is reached instantly with a click of a button. We can communicate with one another in seconds.

This is why it is very important and helpful to be up-to-date with the modern means of media and communication. We as newly ordained Redemptorists, to know our people and understand their way of life, it is important to understand the modern media. It is only when the Church understands the intricacies of the digital age, can it guide its flock. 

This is the reason Fr. Charles Vijay, C.Ss.R. conducted a five days workshop on media and online communication. I must admit it was really an interesting class to know how much influence can the media have on our lives today. The main aim of the workshop was not to learn everything in a short period, rather it was more of an exposure given to us about modern media. It was more to stimulate our minds to think and venture into the possibilities of modern media. We were introduced to a lot of new software and programs which can be of great help in our ministry and for our priestly life. In our sessions, we learned film making, video editing, production, podcast, how to use google drive and tools like google docs, sites and forms. We learned a bit of graphic designing through a website called Canva.com, and others. Along with this, we had sessions on social media etiquette and the importance of managing online privacy and security.

We as pastoral year fathers on behalf of Fr. Xavier Sanjeevi would like to thank Fr. Charles Vijay and his team for coordinating with us and giving us this informative and interesting workshop. My God bless all his endeavors.

Fr. Juvance Serrao C.Ss.R.