INCONVENIENCE IS REGRETTED

HE WHO SUFFERS FOR OTHERS, SUFFERS FOR ME

The news of Fr. Thomas Philip of Bhopal is removed due to some reason - FR. Anand

INCONVENIENCE IS REGRETTED

Please click April-2010 for news below Bhumel Time Zone

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Palm Sunday Celebration

This is the film of Palm Sunday celebration at a village of Gujarat. People get together to share the joy of welcoming Jesus Christ. You can share this film to as many people as you can.



- Vijay Macwan (Bhumel)

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WELL KNOWN GUJARATI WRITER JOSEPH MACWAN PASSES AWAY

Anand (SAR News) –

National Sahitya Academy Award 1989 winner for his novel “Angaliyat” (Step Child) as the best novel of the year, Mr. Joseph Macwan died on March 28 at Kidney Hospital, Nadiad, Gujarat.

Many newspapers, television channels and All India Radio, Ahmedabad reported on March 27 & 28 the news of the hospitalization of Mr. Macwan due to kidney failure and he was put on ventilator. There was some improvement in his health situation on March 28th morning. But he died while undergoing dialysis.

The funeral Holy Mass was concelebrated in St. Xavier’s Church at Anand. Bishop Thomas Macwan of Ahmedabad led the Mass with 27 concelebrants while the Church was packed and overflowing with about 1000 relatives, friends, well wishers and admirers of Joseph.

His brother-in-law Fr. William Macwan, SJ preached the homily highlighting Joseph’s services to Gujarat as a literary writer and social activist. Earlier at the introduction Bishop Thomas Macwan appreciated Joseph for his courageous stand as a Christian and a defender of Dalit causes and human rights.

Mr. Macwan has written about 40 books including 14 novels and 9 character sketches. A few of his books like “Angaliyat” (Step Child) and “Vyathana Vitak” (Agony of Suffering) has been translated into several Indian languages. Some of his literary works have been serialized by television.

Mr. Macwan has held many responsible positions as a member or an office-bearer in various societies, boards the literary organizations. He was the President of Gujarati Dalit Sahitya Academy, Gandhinagar; and Gujarati Christians Press Council (GCPC).

By profession Mr. Macwan was a Hindi teacher in St. Xavier’s High School, Anand and he received St. Xavier’s Gold Medal 1981 for his long years of outstanding services as a teacher and guide to students.

Mr. Macwan has attended many national and international meetings and conferences in India and abroad.

Gujarati literary world has showered on Mr. Joseph Macwan with many awards and medals. A writer Mr. Yashwant Shukla wrote about Joseph that “the advent of Joseph Macwan in the literary world of Gujarat is really phenomenal.”

Mr. Macwan was a source of inspiration, encouragement and support to young and upcoming writers. He would write Prefaces to their books and give them critical feed backs.

This writer is happy to recall that Mr. Macwan presided and released his first book in Gujarati in a public function held in the hall of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Ahmedabad in 1990. Mr. Macwan also introduced this reporter to his publishers, R. R. Sheth & Co. Mumbai-Ahmedabad who have published 16 books in Gujarati by Fr. Varghese Paul, SJ.

A well known short story writer, Mr.Gulabdas Broker has hailed Mr. Joseph Macwan for bringing first time to light the neglected Dalit society through his literary writings. “Mr. Joseph Macwan is a house-hold name in Gujarat,” Mr. Broker said.

Mr. Macwan was born in a small village called Tranol near Kunjarav in Anand district on October 9, 1935. His father was a Catechist. Joseph Macwan leaves behind his wife Reginaben and his four daughters and four sons and their families at Sneh Nilay (his house) in Anand.

News by Fr. Varghese Paul, S.J. (Gujarat)

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Late Josephbhai Macwan (The Lost Pearl)

Dear all,

Our Society has lost the precious pearl Late Josephbhai Macwan the Gujarati author.

Please find the below given film of Late Josephbhai Macwan (The Lost Pearl). This film contains a few video clips of his last journey to God

Would request you to forward this video to all our fellow brothers and sisters. Thank you very much.

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Passed Away

Dear All,

I have just got the news that Mr. Josephbhai Macwan (author) who was admitted in Kidney hospital, Nadiad, has passed away today.

The funeral will be today at 6:30 p.m. at Anand in Gujarat, India.


News by Fr. Vinayak S.J.

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Earth Hour

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.

Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time), and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up,to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet. Let’s make 2010 the biggest Earth Hour yet! It’s Showtime! Show the world what can be done.



Courtesy:WWF
News given by Nitin Pathak
HR Manager (Ahemadabad, Gujarat)

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Mr.Joseph Macwan admitted

Dear All,

This is to share a sad news of Mr.Joseph Macwan from Anand. He is sick and in a very critical situation. He is admitted in Kidney Hospital in Nadiad in Gujarat, India.


Mr. Joseph Macwan is the author of the book 'Angaliyat',which won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1988.

Would request you all to pray for his recovery.

Will keep you updated about his health. Stay tuned.

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Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador

This is the article of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was brutally assassinated by right wing Military death squads of his country exactly thirty years ago,
on 24th March 1980..

Today world over Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador is regarded as A Prophet, a Saint and a true Shepherd of his flock. Ready to lay down his life (something which all Priests and Bishops need to emulate.. A new book by Scott Wright entitled "Oscar Romero and the Communion of Saints: a biography ".It is reviewed in THE TABLET (March, 13th 2010), which says, “Oscar Romero was steeped in the social teaching of the Church, as well as in the Scriptures and the lives of the poor. He prepared his homilies meticulously. As archbishop; he would meet weekly with advisers to explore what to say. He would often spend the time from 10 p.m. on Saturday evening until 4 a.m. on Sunday preparing what he would say, sleep for a couple of hours and then arrive at the cathedral at 8 a.m. to prepare to celebrate Mass. “The glory of God”, he would say, “is the living,poor person.”

He fully appreciated that his life was drawing to a close: the end came as he lifted the chalice at the offertory during an evening Mass in the hospital chapel where he lived. Just a few days before he was murdered, he offered these words of faith and affirmation:“My life has been threatened many times. I have to confess that as a Christian, I don’t believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadorian people.”

Romero died loving his enemies. “You can tell people, if they succeed in killing me that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully they will realize that they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will go on.” Although a short book, all sources and comment are meticulously catalogued and it is graced with many pictures, some quite brutal, which help to give shape and meaning to the biography itself. The story draws us into the politics of the country, but also into the politics of the Church in El Salvador, as well as the United States and the Vatican.

But above all, Wright’s book is a passionate, accessible, well-researched meditation on the life of Oscar Romero. This reflection on conversion, profound faith and courage is also an invitation to every reader to ponder the same questions that faced Monsenor." Yes there is truly much we need to learn from Archbishop Romero...Let his words challenge us all today.... We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us......

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between ‘master’ builder and the worker. We are the workers, not the master builder; the ministers, not the messiah. We are the prophets of a future that is not our own.

-Courtesy: Fr.Prakash S.J.(Gujarat)

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Why not Charity Begin at Home? (Part IV)

The concept of mission comes from the Great Commission of Lord Jesus to his disciples to make disciples from all nations.(St. Matthew 28:19-20). The material supports initiated by the apostles and the missionaries were originally aimed at helping the lesser privileged people and to demonstrate the great love of God through their spiritual and material growth. Thus, Church continued to collect funds from different places and send to growing missions in the world. The Indian Church too imbibed and executed it in the same Sprite until 1970s when it adopted the resolution to expand its mission concentrating on education besides health and other social welfare activities.

However, as the timed passed, the original concept of service oriented education had turned to money
oriented ignoring the Church’s concern for the lesser privileged. Now, with emphasis on the English medium school culture, the Church schools seem to have given a royal snub even to the chance of the poor and downtrodden getting the option for education in reputed Church schools. The dedicated and trained manpower of the Church including priests, nuns and brothers involved in the mission has no doubt succeeded in creating an image of good educators. Nevertheless, this in most cases may not translate into the purpose for which they have been ordained for or vowed to dedicate their lives to build and strengthen the Catholic Church.

As a result, they have not only failed to get themselves connected to the people for whom the Church stands for due to their institutionalized life. This has also led to a grant burial of the Church’s motto of social enlistment of the poor and the needy through ministry of education. Now tokenism takes the central stage of the Church’s education system that those involved in it make sure that they organise a few programmes every year to make people (poor) believe that they are concerned about them. With the result,the gap between the Church’s concern (poor people) and its institutions and those managing them are widening.

A sort of disappointment mixed with anger is growing among the lesser privileged Christians living in the mission areas. One side the Church is spending massive amount of rupees to build convents, institutions and Churches and on the other side is the stark reality of unemployed lesser privileged Christians and their struggle for existence. The Church institutions try to project themselves beyond caste and creed by preferring non-Christians against Christians for the jobs into Christian institutions on the plea, “Christians are educationally qualified but not competitive”.

The divide between the officials of the Church and its poor lots are also steadily on the rise. I wish to narrate a case among many in which a religious order has made a huge school spending more than two crores of rupees and a convent a bit away from it spending much more than the school. Nearly two kilometres away from there, around fourteen Catholic families live on penury near a rail track almost like in shanties. A woman from this place is still running from pillar to post requesting to accommodate her in the job of a peon in the school but there is no one to listen to her.The only reason for denial of job to her, as I understand is nothing but the crime of being a Catholic. Whenever there are attacks from the fundamental groups or problems arise against these institutions and the dedicated persons serving in them no one (laity) seems not bothered leaving them to their fate, barring a couple of exceptions.

We might think that if there are more institutions then more employment can be generated. It is true but the members of the community do not find place in them. In the name of maintaining quality, they do not get place in our institutions. A leading school in a city with nearly one lakh Christian population have two Christian teachers among over hundred teaching staffers. Christians working in the Christian institutions for many years do not become principle, director, managers or assistants and in some cases they do not get even due promotions. Against this background I wish to ask everyone involved in the Church’s mission of empowering the poor and needy , can we have a policy to accommodate the lesser privileged Christians in our schools?. If we intend to strengthen the local church and empower them then we must have a policy in appointments, promotion, and educating their children. We must remember that the future of the local Church is in their hands. Probably, it is time to undo the past sins by accommodating the aspirations of these poor who constitute the vast chunk of Christianity in the country, “CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME”.





By Fr. Anand Muttungal (Madhaya Pradesh, India)


Making "CHURCH" participatory, "Of the people, by the people,for the people"

-Vijay Macwan(Bhumel)

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"It was then that I carried you."

A friend and Jesus, talking with each other

Jesus said, "One night you had a dream. You dreamed you were walking along the beach with Me. Across the sky flashed scenes from your life. For each scene, you noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to you, and the other to Me. When the last scene of your life flashed before you, you looked back at the footprints in the sand. You noticed that many times along the path of your life there was only one set of footprints. You also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in your life. This bothered you, and you questioned Me about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." I replied, "My precious, precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."


- Well known story, published for Easter preparation.

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Religious Fair at Anklav

The Anklav church was built by a Jesuit priest Late Fr. Suriya S.J. He was a priest but was also elected as the sarpanch of the village. It is a great achievement of the Society of Jesus and of all Christians as he was from Spain and ruled the village. Every year all Christians of Gujarat flock at Anklav to say 'Way Of The Cross' as the church has the relic of the Holy Cross.









Please find the below given Anklav Religious Fair video




- Vijay Macwan (Bhumel)

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