Sept. 1 – 10, 2011
A course on “On-Going formation of Catechists and Catechetical Sisters” in Hindi was begun in Nav Sadhana, Varanasi on Sept. 1, 2011.
The first part of the course is titled “Proclamation in North Indian Context” conducted with audio-visual aid by Fr. Rudolf Rodrigues, Priest of Bareilly Diocese from Sept. 1 to 4, 2011. He inculcated in them the love for the Word of God and to proclaim it without fear. A true servant of God suffers as the apostles in the hands of worldly people. But this is the hour of witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke on various topics such as Gospel proclamation, prayer, visible and invisible faith, meditation, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, sacrifice, etc.
The participants expressed in their informal conversation that the course gave them courage, confidence and conviction to proclaim the Gospel without fear and increased their knowledge of the Bible. They were quite happy about the course and expressed gratitude to God and to the organizers.
The second part of the course was on “LEADERSHIP FORMATION AND INNER HEALING” conducted by Fr.Raju Mathew, priest of Jhabua Diocese and Director of Jeevan Jyoti Society for Evangelization with his team from Sept. 5 to 10, 2011. There were 74 participants attending it from Chhatisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. There were many nuns along with the catechists and one priest. This course was popularly known as Joshua course, which stresses on leadership and winning attitude of Joshua and which is the need of hour for the catechists, who face adverse situation for the evangelization and proclamation of message of the Lord Jesus Christ. The winning attitude comes from awareness of the Lord Jesus Christ being with them always to assist them and with a positive attitude. Hence, it is said: Entire water of a sea can’t sink a ship, unless it gets inside the ship; similarly negativity of the whole world can’t put you down, unless you allow it to get inside you. The participants were very happy about the accommodation facility and dynamic presentation of the course. This course helped them all to renew their zeal and zest, verve and vitality to continue the mission of Christ entrusted to them. Thanks be to God and thanks to the resource persons.
