ANNUAL GATHERING OF TEMPORARY PROFESSED SISTERS

Anita Braganza ibvm

On the 27th December 07 the temporary professed from various corners of India gathered in Loreto, Bowbazar. It was a joyous experience of meeting one another. After a delicious lunch, we set out on our journey by bus to Bandel. We arrived at 3 pm. After tea, we began our sessions with Fr. Franklin Menezes. His topic was “The Letters of St Paul”. Some of the main points that touched us were that justification came by faith and not by the works of law. We were inspired by St Paul’s great love for Jesus which has put deep desires in our hearts to be zealous missionaries. Fr Franklin not only imparted his knowledge in a simple way but shared his life experiences which made it very meaningful.

Since Josephine and Flora were leaving on the 1st January for Bhopal, we had a special farewell and thanksgiving Mass for Sr. Anita. During it the group shared what she had meant to them while giving her ‘small hearts’ with a message for her. It was a very moving Mass. After dinner, Sr. Anita was the chief guest at a concert, which ended with the song “You Raise Me Up” and a gift was presented to Sister as a gesture of love and gratitude from all in the group. 

On the evening of 31st Dec 2007, we began our classes on Feminine Spirituality with Sr. Jane scn. We learned the theological background for gender equality, the situation of women in bondage, empowerment, feminine images of God in the Old Testament. All of this helped us to understand ourselves as women, our feminine nature and qualities and to become aware of the plight of women in the church and society so as to become more sensitive and understanding and work for the empowerment of women. Sr. Jane’s course also helped us to broaden our vision and perspective and to become more alive and inclusive like Jesus. So it inspired us to strive to live as empowered women.

Fr. P. Jacob sj from the Kolkata province gave us four days on “Discernment”. He began with a question “Am I in touch with my feelings, how have we moved and how have they affected me?

Feelings are an important tool for the process of discernment. Fr. Pierre also made us realize that our lives should not be based on feelings but on commitment. He asked many thought provoking questions like “Am I in love with the feelings or am I in love with the one who awakens the feelings in me?” He gave us very important ways on how to understand consolation and desolation and how to help ourselves at these different moments.

Being in Bandel itself was a blessing as many of us rosary procession to the Shrine and prayed for our personal and Institute needs. We watched several good films after supper, which were in keeping with the theme of the courses. A farewell for Josephine and Flora with prayer and special recreation was also appreciated.

We are grateful to all our Sisters who supported us by doing our work while we were away, by prayers and giving us ‘tuck’ to share with our companions. We are grateful to Fr. P.V.Thomas and the Salesian community for taking good care of us.

The 9th January was a sad day as we had to bid many good byes after a lovely Chinese dinner in Bowbazar. The good part was that we could look forward to the next gathering, after having been richly nourished by all we received, shared and experienced together.

News from Darjeeling

For us the biggest drawback for a number of days was no electricity in the Loreto Convent area. Because of the strike no ‘linesman’ was available. However, we eventually found a ‘linesman’ who was willing to help and now we have light but no sugar, no vegetables, no eggs…! The good news is everyone is cheerful about it – as it is Lent and we do not need to have a community meeting to settle “Lenten Penance”!

Sr. Stephanie Miketinac leaves us on 2nd March for Shimla. We will miss her presence greatly. Apart from accounts and the many other contributions to community she was always ‘home’ to welcome us and listen with keen interest when we returned from any mission or course.

COURSE FOR “LOOK BACK DO FRONT” ACCOUNTANTS

Moira Cunning ibvm

A new clerk with very little knowledge of how to write up the books of accounts was advised by his boss to “look back do front”, which interpreted meant “look back at what your predecessor did and proceed in the same way. To be honest most of us belong to the “Look Back Do Front School of Accountancy” and we learnt accounts in this way. For good measure we added our own mistakes which our successors in their turn copied and perpetuated! However our saving grace was that we knew what we didn’t know and so when this course came up, sixteen of us, young and old, together with 3 lay staff, trooped to Seva Kendra for the course in accountancy.

The course was billed as a “Foundation Course in Accountancy requiring no previous knowledge in accounts”. Encouraged by that description we signed up and were further encouraged when most of the participants admitted to a limited knowledge in this specialized field. We learnt about the various books of accounts and how to ‘enter transactions’ in the cash book and ‘post them to the ledger’ and, very important, to use the correct terminology in doing so. We learnt how to make journal entries and contra entries and about “donations in kind” and how to enter them in the books of accounts and how to manage assets. We were made aware of the importance of keeping supporting documents and maintaining subsidiary books of accounts. Perhaps best of all, we can now make sense of the intricacies of the balance sheet and auditor’s report. And the good news is that we no longer have to go searching for that elusive 5 paise, which is the bane of every accountant’s life, because all vouchers can now be rounded off to the nearest rupee. So it’s goodbye to paise.

Besides these basic accounting skills we acquired knowledge of banking laws and practice, income tax laws, the foreign contribution act and its application, as well as the formation and management of charitable societies and the laws governing them. 

This may sound like a very ‘taxing’ programme to be covered in six days and we have to admit that it was, but Father Trevor D’Souza (OFM), who conducted the course, has such a sparkling sense of humour that the heady stuff was mixed with a great deal of laughter which energized us and kept us valiantly plodding on even when the going was tough.

Father Trevor is a born teacher and in providing this course he is doing a great service to the Church and to Religious Congregations. Finance is at the heart of all ministries and whether we like it or not everyone must be knowledgeable in this area. The rules and regulations governing finances are so numerous and becoming more intricate every day that no one can afford to be ignorant of them. Negligence or transgression of the rules on the part of one member will put the whole Educational Society in jeopardy, so we have an obligation to be well informed. It is incumbent on us to take our duty of stewardship seriously and make the best use of the funds entrusted to us because accountability and transparency are of the essence of good stewardship.

If you have not had the opportunity of attending this course and learning the obvious fact that “two and two make five” as Father kept stressing, you can attend it in Bangalore. Or, failing that, you can borrow the course book from one of the participants and acquire some of the basics. However the accountancy skills are not covered in the book. Alternately one of the new “experts” might be willing to spare some time to share their expertise with you and enable you to look intelligent when the ‘real experts’ – the officers of the Income Tax Department - spout accountancy terms at you and when they ask for the Cash Book you won’t hand them the Journal or the Ledger! And of course when they speak about TDS you will know immediately they are referring to Trevor D’Souza.

SR PAULINE REGO RIP:

 On 20th February we bade good bye to our dear Sr. Pauline. Pauline was in her 95th year and lived life to the full until 6th February when she fell as she made her way to read the notices on the board. She was taken to hospital where she had her first ever operation. She seemed to recover and was keen to get back to Loreto House on 20th February. Yes, she managed to get ‘home’ early afternoon but it was evident that her hour was near. She left us that evening, dying as she had lived, gently, quietly and lovingly.

Pauline was a great correspondent and kept in touch with many past pupils. She was always interested in Institute news and contributed to it. At one point she sent me an account of the evacuation from Entally to Shimla in 1942. Her article given below shows the spirited and selfless woman she was right from her early days in the Institute.

GOING DOWN MEMORY LANE – 1942
Sr. Pauline Rego ibvm

War, death and destruction were the main topics of all News in the first quarter of 1942. At Entally life was quite normal though war sirens occasionally would hurry us to the shelters. Suddenly one day our peaceful life was disturbed with the announcement of evacuation to Shimla. Loreto Convent, Entally was requisioned by the Government for the Army. In Easter week, the Chinese were advancing on the east via Burma so we packed whatever belongings we could and prepared to leave for Shimla. One can imagine what planning was involved in transporting about 300 orphans and poor children to an unknown destination.

M. Xaveria Serrao (Superior) left a couple of days before the 300 contingent, and stayed in Loreto Convent, Shimla directing affairs by remote control. Our first batch of 150 children, big and small, left on Easter Monday with Srs. Gabrielle, Zita, Juliana, Perpetua, Raphael, and Rosario O’Reilly and settled in Wynstay Lodge, Shimla. The weather was cold and the children used to the heat of Bengal lost some of their lively exuberance – but just for a short while!

The second batch of 150 children with Srs Attracta, Columba Boyle, Loreto Serrao, Marie Therese, Victorine and myself followed a day later. Each child had to carry her own dressing box, a plate, spoon and fork for meals. As the long line of children moved along the railway platform in Sealdah, first a tin plate fell out of a bag, further on a tin mug went rolling along the cement …

What a sigh of relief we, Sisters, breathed as we sat down in our third class compartments, to begin our three day long journey to Shimla. Though the train journey was a novel experience for our orphans, not so for us, but despite our discomforts, the journey was a happy one. Trains with the military were given preference so every now and again we were put on the siding for a few hours. At Tundla (U.P.) my sister, Irene, who was teaching in the Railway School there, had requested her confreres to meet the train and bring refreshments for the party, en route to Simla. They contributed generously and just before the train was scheduled to leave, our children entertained them with songs and dance on the platform! Our meals consisted of salted beef, sliced very fine and put between two thick slices of bread, which all ate with relish. 

On the third day we arrived at the mini station in Shimla and walked about a mile to our bungalow on the other side of the hill – St. Bernard’s - as the house was called, As our luggage, consisting of mattresses, trunks and other necessities could not fit into the rooms, six of us took turns at night to keep guard over the packages piled up on the verandahs outside. We had three shifts of two each, and Sr Victorine and myself were partners for the second shift. To keep ourselves awake, with blankets around us, we tried to talk for some time and then said the rosary. We continued like this until we were relieved by the next two ‘guards’.

We were at least two miles away from the other half of our family, residing in Winstay Lodge, and they had to come daily for meals with us, so they walked over and back till our residence was ready. Our cooking was done in large cauldrons on the grounds of St. Bernard’s House. A channel was dug for the wood to burn and the huge cauldron balanced on the sides. All went well till rain came down in torrents and we looked on in silent wonder, imagining all was lost. But the Good Shepherd was watching over His flock and believe it or not, the rain flowed down in two distinct channels beside the burning logs, and the food was ready on time. I happened to be the dispenser, so you can imagine my relief when 300 children could have their meal on time.

At night we slept on the ground and left the three wooden beds for our three senior citizens, Srs. Perpetua, Juliana and Zita. As we did not want to open up all the bedding, rolled up in mattresses and roped together, we shared the few blankets and a tug-of-war went on the whole night.

After a few days we shifted to our new abode just above Chelsea Convent. The Bishop of Simla, stayed next to the convent and became a true friend of Entally, as did the Christian Brothers. M. Xaveria and some of the nuns stayed in Earlsfield while the other half resided in Woodlands, just below us, a five minute walk away.

Days passed and months flew, while classes were carried on regularly in the open air and in the rooms which served as dormitories at night. At meal times some senior girls were deputed to keep the monkeys at bay. Alas, sometimes their sticks were more of a protection for themselves, while the hungry creatures managed to snatch a bread roll or a plate of rice and dhal from some small unfortunate child. Our beloved Bishop came now and again to visit us, and often came with a tin plate to be served like the children. He shared all our inconveniences in his own way.

Two very sad incidents took place soon after our arrival. One of our nursery helpers, Kathleen Laythorpe, was out with the little ones for an evening stroll, and ate some bright red berries, not aware of their poisonous nature. It was not long before the poison began to work and late at night she was taken to Ripon hospital where she passed away a few hours later. The shock of this was not yet over when another child picked up some germ and had to be taken to the same hospital. Both these girls, Kathleen Laythorpe and Eunice Vitriano were orphans and had nobody in this world. They were laid to rest in Snowdon Cemetery. A year later Sr. Margaret Mary Nelson lost her niece, Valerie Crinall. All these sorrows cast a deep gloom over us in our exile in Shimla.

So life went on till the happy day when we were told that the war was over and our beloved school at Entally had been vacated by the army. I leave my readers to imagine the warm and loving welcome we received on our return and our own immense joy to be back home in our beloved City of Joy – Calcutta.

“JOY” in Name and in Nature

Teresa McGlinchey ibvm

On 15th February after Mass in the Cathedral Joy Omer Wilkins was laid torest in the Loreto Convent cemetery.

Joy, a little boy, of about two years of age, was found in the jungle at Sukna, on the way to Darjeeling about nine months ago. Someone passing through the jungle heard a baby whimper, looked and found him. He was taken to the police who brought him to Edith Wilkins’ Home for street children. Edith named him “Joy”, an apt name for a little boy who in a short time won all our hearts. Joy was handicapped, and this is probably why he was left to die. He was undernourished too but he had a fighting spirit and from the day he arrived in Darjeeling he was lavished with love and care and in due course began to smile and talk.

He was seriously ill on a number of occasions but managed to recover. On 14th February he was taken to hospital. Three of us had gone to see him twice that day. He was surrounded by people who cared for him – at one point I counted 12. Edith had had an operation and could not walk. I was with Edith when the news came that Joy had died and it did not seem right to bring him home to a house of children so we offered to bring him to the convent. On 14th evening he was laid out in the convent chapel, On 15th morning Srs. Stephanie Miketinac (aged 88), Elizabeth and Stephanie Rodrigues lined the little coffin with blue and white satin, while Rina, Adline and Sharmila prepared the altar for Mass. The Church was full of children and friends and he got a wonderful ‘send-off’. If he was alone at birth, he sure was not when he left this world.