Meeting with Papal Nuncio

His Excellency Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, Papal Nuncio to India, visited the diocese of Poona at the start of December 2010 and we as members of the Teresian Association were invited to join him with the other religious for breakfast on the morning of Sunday 5th December.

The encounter was an enriching experience and Goretti and Savitha represented the Association.

Advent Recollection

We were all glad to spend the first Sunday of Advent in prayer at the Sanjeevan Ashram at Dhole Patil Road on November 28, 2010. Our extended Teresian family and friends were all there to spend time together thanking the Lord for having brought us together to share the deeper meaning of this season.

The day began with a prayer by Verenne where we contemplated the mystery of the incarnation, the anticipated birth of the child Jesus. This was followed by a powerpoint presentation by the Fr. Edison Fernandes s.d.b. Vice Rector at the Don Bosco Youth Centre. He highlighted how advances in technology were meant to save time and yet we only seem to have less of it. We don’t know how to spend time. Advent is a time where we should learn to submit ourselves to the flow of God’s time, learn the spirituality of waiting. He also likened Advent to the waiting of the birth of a child by the parents. There were innumerable lessons to be learnt at each stage of the child’s development within the mother’s womb until birth. Birth then begets a new form of waiting.

Advent is the coming anew of the one who is already with us. He comes to our mundane lives bringing His blessing. Let us welcome the Christ child with homes, arms and hearts wide open.

The session was followed by the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Eucharist and a hearty fellowship lunch.

Now we await the birth of the child.

-Savitha Pais

YEM and TAYMI Camp- Diwali 2010

Youth from the TAYMI animated by Agosh and YEM animated by Joanna came to celebrate Diwali in a camp themed, Shine Jesus Shine. The ACIT from Pune collaborated with the organizers.

Savitha Pais led the youth into a session on the Talent You Have Received. She exposed the background of the gospel parable of the talents and instigated the youth to think of the talents they have and how they use them. Later she got them to creatively represent this through clay on earthen glasses.

Reeves Rodrigues on the first day of the camp, led the youth into team building games and did a debrief thereafter helpinf the youth to find values such as communication, responsibility, equal opportunity and participation etc.

On the second day, the youth were introduced to the Poveda Foundation run by him and then spent an afternoon in the slum community the foundation works with. This experience, for many, their first was an eye opener and helped the youth become aware and more sensitive to the social realities that surround them. Later that evening they presented their learnings and interacted with the kids from Poveda through songs and dance.

On the last day of the camp, Reeves led another session of outdoor games.

The youth are not merely our future, they are our present and they need the discerning guidance and companionship of genuine adults

The year 2010

The ACIT sub group in Pune began its academic year with the Voto in May at Sanjeevan Ashram. A meaningful Rosary followed by a participative and unique Litany followed.

The Feast of Father Poveda was celebrated on 28th July with much gusto and spirituality. The youth led the choir during the Mass at Sacred Heart's church, Yerwada. After the Mass, a presentation on the life of Fr. Poveda and the importance of laity as foreseen by him was interspersed with Goretti, Savitha and Juliet sharing their own experiences of being laity and their vocation in the association. The youth also sang us a song composed by them.

Victoria Diez was remembered on her feast on the 12th of August. Multiple groups met at the TA house and participated in prayer and a powerpoint on her. Videos on her life too inspired everyone gathered.

A commemoration of the feast of St. Teresa of Avila after whom the association is named was celebrated on 15th October. A powerpoint on the life of St. Teresa was followed by prayer based on reflections on St. Teresa by Josefa Segovia.

All celebrations this year are organized in conjunction with the youth, ACIT and Core and each celebration is an opportunity to invite more people to 'Come and see.'

Lenten Recollection 2010

The Teresian Association in Pune had its Lenten Recollection on Sunday, 14th March at Asha Kiran. 26 youth and adults participated in this day of reflection and prayer.
The parable of the Prodigal Son, which was the gospel for the day, was a guide through the day. The morning began with half an hour of meditative prayer led by Patsy Nazareth. Following this Reeves Rodrigues introduced his session with a contemporary video depicting the son and the father in the story and then spoke on the Prodigal Son. Savitha Pais and Juliet Fernandes later shared who in the parable they identified with and their challenges with the story. The rest of the morning was spent in personal silence and reflection on the questions:
What does this story mean to me? Who do I identify with in the story?
What are situations in my life that I may now turn away from and return back to my father?

Priests were also available for the sacrament of Reconciliation.Fr. Simon Almeida then celebrated Mass for the participants. A solidarity collection was made during the Mass towards the earthquake victims of Haiti and the amount of Rs. 4000/- collected was passed on to InterRed an international NGO of the TA.

Post lunch, the attendants in groups discussed the letter of the President of the TA- Loreto Ballester for Lent, this discussion ended with the participants consenting to have an attitude of openness, awareness and sensitivity in this time of Lent and to act in the areas of human dignity and justice.

The participants then reflected on the seven sorrows of Mary in groups and in the prayer of the seven sorrows that concluded the day, each group shared their thoughts, making the sorrows relevant to our times.

Women's Day Celebration

On 8th March, we celebrated International Women’s day. There were more than 500 women participants. There were three moments, first a speech competition on the topic “The role of women in society and family.” Then a short stage program with two talks given by Bramakumari and a Judge (from the court of Honnavar) and there were two representatives from the women and children development office. The third moment was a short cultural program. 27 women participated in the speech competition. The whole program lasted for three hours.

Nancy Fernandes

Women's program

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Women's Program

Women’s program
On the 29th of January 2010, we had a program for women, celebrating Shankranti (a Hindu festival) with women representing 12 villages. There was a Rangoli and singing competition. Clodagh from Dublin was our chief Guest and along with another woman Vidhya were the Judges for this competition. About 200 women were present.

Nancy Fernandes

School Mobile Library

On 30th January 2010, we had organized a quiz competition for 15 government school where our School Mobile Library offers its services. Earlier we had conducted a quiz in all of these 15 schools. Each school had sent 4 children to participate, so there were about 60 children with their headmasters and teachers. It was great to see all responding in a very positive way. Four teachers were given the responsibility to conduct the quiz by Brazil. Clodagh was invited to give prizes to these children. Thanks to Clodagh for the donation that she collected for the books for the Mobile Libray. The children from these 15 schools enjoyed a lot and it was like an outing for them, coming out from the interior villages.
Nancy Fernandes

Youth Day- Honnavar

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Youth Day- Honnavar

On the 7th of February we had a youth program for youth from five parishes from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm. 35 youth- 6 from San Salvador Church, Honnavar, 7 from St Sebastian’s Church, Matadakeri, 1 from St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Chandavar, 9 from Infant Jesus Church, Prabhat Nagar and 12 from St. Pedro Poveda Church, Shantinagar participated.

This session was planned and prepared by Ines, Elizabeth, Nancy, Benna, Vanita and Supriya. We began by registration which was followed by a short welcome and warming up games. A serious session on the topic “Choices in Life” was conducted by Ines with the help of Benna and Elizabeth for translation and for readings. After the session there was a group discussion and then sharing. We then moved to the chapel for a short prayer prepared by Vanita, Supriya and Nancy.

At 2 pm we had lunch together which was prepared by Angeline and Remendin aunty. Over lunch Elizabeth explained to the youth about the Teresian Assocation and introduced the Core and ACIT, Benna and Clodagh were present from ACIT.

After lunch we had a fancy dress competition using one’s own creativity with only newspaper and pins. It was excellent and the youth enjoyed. We ended the session with an action song taught by Elizabeth and a quick evaluation and suggestions. At 4 pm we gathered for tea, celebrating the birthdays of two of the youth present. All the groups suggested to extend to more parishes and to have more sessions like this especially during the holidays. We also mentioned to them about the youth camp in May 2010.

Nancy Fernandes

Christmas Celebration of the TA in Honnavar

Christmas Celebration of the TA in Honnavar

Christmas Celebration of the TA in Honnavar