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Vol.42/16 Nepal Region News letter May/June

From the desk of the Regional Superior… I feel a sense of gratitude to God for all the opportunities that He gives us to serve and live life in its fullness in His vineyard. As we celebrate the month of Sacred Heart, we can feel the immense love flowing from His Sacred

Heart to each one of us. The new academic year is in full swing with renewed enthusiasm and love. This issue of the Himalayan Echo brings to you varieties of news such as celebration of World Environment day and C.J Principals’ meet. Though I feel sad at the sudden demises of our dear ones especially Riya of class 10 of Pokhara, God has been gracious to us in various ways. I wish you all a happy reading.

- Sr.Marilyn Murickal

World Environment Day -2016

St.Mary’s, Kathmandu:-JUSTICE, PEACE and INTEGRITY of creation is possible only when each one of us is willing to get out of our comfort zone and see the world through the telescope of love, charity and generosity. With this strong faith, the Environment, Friends of the Zoo and Social Service Clubs together organized a fund raising programme on the occasion of World Environment Day. Green gift items like, pottery, table clothes, pillow covers, handkerchiefs, pot holders, wind chimes, picture frames, pickles, ornaments, plants taken care by the students themselves and home-made food items were sold in a fete organized by them. Our students were seen as enthusiastic entrepreneurs and business women. The money raised Rs. 400000/- will be used for future charity work.

Some of the other highlights of the day were – prayer service on environment, a talk on the theme, “Fight against the Illegal Trade in Wildlife” by the Director of WWF, various competitions like drawing, essay writing, extempore, origami, photograph and so on. Some of our students also participated in the Green Walk organized by the National Zoo.

Sr.Jessy inaugurating the Environment Day Programme

The day ended with students repeating to themselves, “We persevere to preserve”.

Mary Ward School, Jhamsikhel:-We conducted various class and club wise competitions such as making of wall papers, slogans and posters on the environmental themes, extempore, hand craft out of waste materials, and writing of poems. A special prayer assembly was conducted and it was followed by a talk on wild life preservation.

St.Mary’s,Biratnagar:-The World Environmental Day was celebrated with the theme of the year “Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife Trade”. The various houses of our school organized prayer services, role plays and an exhibition to impart

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knowledge on wild life crime and its impact and also methods of prevention.

Dear man I give you myself… The play “My sorrow is your Sorrow” brought tears to the eyes of the students as it brought a powerful message about the Mother Earth’s pain of emptying herself for the greedy mankind. To mark the day all the teachers were dressed in green. Competitions such as drawing, painting, poem writing, quiz, extempore, and model making were the other attractions of the day.

-Sr.Jessy Puliyanthuruthel

JPIC Coordinator

C. J. Principals’ Meet - 2016. The Principals’ Meet of C.J. Nepal was held from 7th to 8th May 2016 at St.Mary’s Kathmandu with Fr.Sunny Jacob SJ, the Secretary of Jesuit Educational Association of South Asia as the facilitator. With a welcoming address by Sr. Marilyn the meeting was commenced. Fr. Sunny dealt on various topics such as Education and its importance in today’s context, role of the Principals as leaders, SMART Analysis, Informative Communication, Technology-ICT, Multiple Intelligence Theory, child abuse, and formation of Anti-Child Abuse commission. The input sessions were made effective by the use of the projector, clippings and handouts.

On the second day the afternoon sessions were taken by Sr. Marilyn, during which she discussed some of the important matters like raising of staff salary and maintenance of the files of supportive staff. A special thanks to Sr.Mariette and all the sisters at St.Mary’s for their hospitality during the two days. Thank you dear Sr.Marilyn for arranging the Principals’ Meet 2016. We hope to make the best use of the new knowledge acquired for the

betterment of our schools. May our teaching learning become more effective and enjoyable for both teachers and students!

Sr. Lilian C. J

Educational Coordinator

Mary Ward,Jhamsikhel Srs. Asha and Marina visited the general ward of National Cancer Hospital, Kathmandu. The time spent in prayer and casual conversation with the inmates left a deep mark in our hearts. It motivated us to pray for all those who suffer fatal illnesses.

Our neighbouring British School is an international school, which has initiated outreaching programmes with the aim of helping neighbouring poor schools and we are one of the beneficiaries. Our students of class V use their playground for sports activities on Tuesdays. Students of class V and a few teachers attended their Eco-fair with free coupons. The prestigious school has donated firefighting equipment, First-Aid kits and emergency water supply to our students.

Sr.Asha with members of ASMAN ASMAN, the Association of St.Mary’s Alumni Nepal under the presidency of Mrs. Soni Joshi has been registered as an NGO. The sponsored students hosted a short cultural programme at Jhamsikhel to mark this milestone in the annals of its 25 years of long existence.

After a year of valuable service to Mary Ward school Sr.Clemens bade farewell to us. We thank you Sr.Clemens for your care and love for us.

Much to our pride and joy DEO of Lalitpur District, Mr. Dilnath Puri was the chief guest for Parents’ Day 2016. Appreciating our service to the poor he promised to help the school in any need. The parents were thrilled seeing their little children acting on the stage with great confidence.

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The Happy Parents… –Sr.Asha Singh

Snehanjali, Godavari All of us along with the faithful recited rosary in the parish as part of Marian devotion in the month of May. We also took keen interest in going for zonal rosary on Saturdays which was appreciated by the members of our zone. We welcomed Sr.Agnella to our community on 6th May. She is involved in the training of the aspiring candidates into our way of life with her endearing personality. On the day of Pentecost, Deepa Tudu received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Rt. Rev. Paul Simick at Godawari Parish.

We feel extremely sad to hear the death of Fr. Jose Peechatt, the brother of Sr.Edwina. She was fortunate to be with him in his last hours. The funeral was held on 14th June.

With the repairs and painting, Snehanjali looks dazzling in the sunlight of summer days.

Sr.Edwina Peechatt

St.Mary’s, Pokhara With the arrival of May, we had the joy of visiting a few families for reciting rosaries. The ‘Workers Day’ was celebrated in appreciation of all our co-workers with a prayer and delicious lunch. Mrs.Ujali a co-worker was given a fitting farewell appreciating her long service of 27 years to St.Mary’s, Pokhara.

In order to make the Jubilee year of Mercy a tangible one, we have the ‘Ark of Mercy’ journeying from community to community in our parish. It was indeed a time of grace and mercy, when it was in our house for a week. The Ark of Mercy has been reached to St.Mary’s Gorkha.

One of our students, Riya Tendukar, waiting for the SLC result passed away suddenly due to an advanced tumor which burst in her brain.Riya was

the single child of her parents and her mother was one among the first batch of St.Mary’s, Pokhara.

We miss you dear Riya so dearly….

All our students as well as teachers were on their toes preparing for the parents’ day which was a great success of this academic year. The Environment Day was celebrated with a prayer assembly and an exhibition of recycled things, such as pencil pouch, pen stand, waste basket, flower vase, wall hangers, garlands and many other decorative items. These were on sale and it went like hot cakes!

–Sr. Nancy Edamanasseril

St. Mary’s, Gorkha We were happy to welcome Frs. Miller and Etienne S.J who came to visit the historic Gorkha palace. Fr. Boniface, S.J. too showed up on his way to inspect the schools in Sawarpani. We were indeed graced to have Rev. Bishop Paul Simick for a Eucharist in our chapel. Visitors are a happy welcome to Gorkha which is otherwise a lonely place without much social life.

Due to the earthquakes the water source has changed its course and the scarcity of water has become a big challenge to us. In the new academic year we even had to reduce the number of hostellers due to the severe shortage of water. We await the monsoon to take its full force and bless us with pure running water. Much to the relief of Sr.Jyoti, Sr. Shobha has come back after spending a few refreshing days at home. Sr.Neena rushed home as she got the sad news of her father’s death. Her father, Mr. Agusthy had long months of suffering due to kidney failure. May he rest in peace.

We had a mild tremor in mid-May and the panicked students ran out of the class rooms. It reminded us

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of the importance of preparedness in times of earthquakes. –Sr.ShobhaUllattu

Mary Ward, Lubhu We had a few competitions like making creative class time table and house charts and elocutions. Frs.T L Joseph and Savio SDB were two of the judges who appreciated the students’ talents, creativity and memory power. Mother’s Day was celebrated in school with a special prayer assembly encouraging the students to prepare a ‘thank you’card and present it to their mothers.

Srs.Rgina and Lilian with winners Sr.Clemens is a familiar face to Lubhu as she was our former member and she was happily welcomed once again by a prayer assembly. We appreciate her vibrant enthusiasm and love in our mission here. We like to thank Sr. Antoinette for her loving service for the past six years in Lubhu. Sister was seen in and around our neighbourhood on her feet visiting families.

We were happy to have Sr. Marilyn for two days with us during her official visitation. Srs. Clemens and Martina had a jovial ride to Pokhara and Gorkha with Sr.Marilyn.

-Sr.Lilian Chiramal

St.Mary’s, Kathmandu In the month of May, all the sisters were active in visiting families of our zone and praying the rosary. Family visits are one of the action plans of the Jubilee year of Mercy. The community had a day of outing to Kakani with our co-workers. Spending time together cooking, dancing and singing brought a lot of joy as it broke the humdrum of daily life.

One fine afternoon all of us were shocked, when a bull dozer from the Public Road Organization knocked down a part of our boundary wall and that

of our neighbours. This was a warning given to all the residents of our locality to be prepared for the impending road expansion.

Being together is fun! Srs. Jessy and Marisa rushed to the CDO’s office seeking permission to make an overhead bridge across our primary and senior section road. The government officials have promised to help us in every way possible but we see no help coming in the near future. Our boundary wall facing the primary section is now being demolished and a new wall is being built. Thus, soon we will have ‘main highways’ surrounding the whole property of St.Mary’s!

The school is in the midst of hustle and bustle of activities such as investiture and award ceremonies, competitions, and parents-teachers interaction programmes. This year’s PTIs are marked by a talk programme of lay teachers who speak boldly of Mary Ward and the lives of C.J.Sisters to the parents.

A rare Moment!

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We were graced to have his Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio Rt. Rev. Salvatore Pinnaccio, Monsignore Rev. Thomas and Rev. Bishop Paul Simick for lunch on June 12th, 2016 with us. The Apostolic Nuncio was on a state visit to Nepal. -Sr.DivyaKalamparambil

St. Mary’s, Biratnagar The investiture ceremony was held on 6th May and the office bearers of the year took the oath of dedication promising to fly the flag of St.Mary’s ever high. All the captains went to Dharan for a leadership training organized by the Salesian Fathers for the Catholic schools of Purvanchal.

Sr.Karuna joined the parishioners to attend the Ordination of Fr. Johnash at Damak. Sr. Rufina, our Golden Jubilarian has gone to Bangalore for a spiritual renewal programme.

Sr.Karuna with the Holy Communicants On the feast of the Corpus Christi we had the joy of having two of our Catholic girls receive the Holy Communion. Congratulations dear Sr. Karuna for spiritually preparing them.

–Sr.Deepa Olikunnel

Mary Ward, Sirsia The hard work and professionalism of Sr.Catherine in planting and taking care of wheat and corn produced plentiful crop this year. All of us in Sirsia think of Sr.Catherine with gratitude as we enjoy the fruits of her hard work.

God works miracles in the lives of patients through the hands of Sr.Neelu. One of our poor neighbours Mrs.Manakya Rishidev’s leg was burnt severely and her bones were exposed. A local doctor had treated her for quite long with heavy fees. After two months of free service and care by Sr.Neelu, the woman was healed completely. A small girl was

brought with heavy bleeding and a little part of the finger hanging. With Sr.Neelu’s healing touch the finger was completely healed.

The healing hands! Sr.Smitha had the privilege of accompanying her parents to Holy Land. They joined a group of 97 pilgrims from Chennai. After a graceful time at home she is back to planting seedlings and teaching Catechism in Sirsia.

Sr.Smitha with her parents!

We are glad to have 23 Catholic girls in our hostel. Sr.Veena keeps herself busy in teaching and correcting notebooks!

–Sr. Smitha Muthu

From the pilgrims… After months-long preparation for the journey across the seas we were very happy to step on the soil of Rome. We were fortunate to have the Holy Audience and our joy was boundless when Holy Father Pope Francis appeared at the window of St.Peter’s Basilica. The whole crowd cheered and we could hear our own heart beats as he passed through the crowd blessing us.

During a weeklong stay in Rome, we visited many churches and a castle which belonged to noble Kaetanic family which gave birth to Pope Boniface

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and two renowned cardinals for mother Church. Special thanks to you dear Srs. Prisca, Christina, Maria, Angela and Anusha for being with us and caring for us during our stay in Rome.

We were in England for three days and we consider it as our great privilege to make pilgrimages to the places connected to Mother Mary Ward. Sr.Francis Orchard the provincial of English Province took us around the street of Yorkshire and especially to the shrine of Margaret Clitherow. Sr.Patricia Harris showed us the exhibition of Mary Ward in Bar Convent - the oldest surviving convent in England. While taking the pilgrims around the Bar convent Sr.Anne narrated the short history of each building. We thank you dear sisters for guiding us and enlightening us.

Pilgrims with the Loretos and C.Js in Rome We thank our Mother General Sr.Jane Livesey and her team who made it possible for ten of us to make this unforgettable pilgrimage in our life. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Sr.Pratima, the provincial of Delhi who did all the work to obtain visas for us. The sisters at Delhi Provincial House deserve a big thank you for their hospitality! We are grateful to Sr.Marilyn and all the sisters of Nepal Region for praying for us during our journeys.

-Srs. Antoinette and Neelu.

In the words of Sr.Catherine… Overcoming a few hurdles in obtaining the U.K visa, I was very excited to join the five sisters from Indian Provinces to reach the land of our foundress to study the C.J.Constitutions. Under the wise guidance of Sr. Patricia HarrisC.J., we plunged ourselves into studying and reflecting on our Constitutions. Sr. Patricia’s explanations and insights and the group sharing among ourselves

helped us understand the deeper meaning of our Constitutions and thus within ten days we learnt to love, live and pray on our Constitutions.

It was a very tangible and valuable experience for me to walk through the places where Mary Ward lived, walked, worked and prayed. The exhibition on Mary Ward in the Bar Convent is something very unique and I feel that it is an excellent way of making Mary Ward known to the people who have some interest in the history of the existence of religious life in England. Recently one of the newspapers in England reported that the Bar Convent museum attracted more people within six months than any other museums in England.

In spite of being engaged in different ministries, the warmth and hospitality by our sisters at Bar Convent is commendable. Their radiating cheerfulness was edifying and the assurance of their prayers for us here in Nepal and India was very encouraging and consoling.

The students of C.J Constitution I remember with gratitude our Mother General Jane Livesey, Srs. Francis Orchard, Patricia Harris, Anne, Marilyn, Roshni, Pratima and all the sisters in Nepal Region who made it possible for me to have this life time experience. May Mary Ward intercede for us that we be faithful to our Master and our Constitutions.

–Sr.Catherine Ezhakunnel

“I need nothing but God,

And to lose myself

In the heart of Jesus”

Thank You!