Preparatory Meeting For SCC National Convention With DST Members

DOMINIC & SYBIL AZAVEDO

Kolkata: In reference to the proposed SCC National Convention, Archbishop Thomas D ’ S o u z a h a s w i l l i n g l y expressed his consent to hold the Convention in Kolkata in 2019. A Meeting was held on 16th April, 2018 together with Dr. Fr. Thomas Vijay, SAC, Secretary, NST for SCCs (CBCI), Sr. Christin, HC, NST Member and Sr. Gr a c ema r y, NST Member. Archbishop Thomas, the Chief Host, formulated and h e a d e d t h e L o c a l C o - ordinating Team for the SCC National Convention. Fr. Dominic Gomes, Vicar General and SCC Coordinator for the Kolkata Archdiocese, informed the 22 Diocesan Service Team (DST) members during the meeting on 28 April at Archbishop’s House, Kolkata that a big National SCC Convention will be held in Kolkata from October 24 to 27, 2019. The theme is: “The Prophetic Role of SCC Today”. About 3000 people are expected to take part from other Dioceses. They will stay in the houses of the people of Kolkata to interact with them and form a wider S C C C o m m u n i t y a n d Fellowship. Transport will also have to be arranged for them to move around.

Already a preliminary Core Group meeting was held on 16th April, 2018 , with Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Kolkata in the Chair. Fr. Vijay T h o m a s , N a t i o n a l S C C Coordinator and Sr. Christin, H. C., National Service Team member were also present. The following Committees were formed at that meeting: Local Coordinator: Fr. Dominic Gomes; Registration: Fr. Robert Johnson; Youth: Allan Kujur and Rocky Gomes; Finance: Fr. Moloy D'Costa and Joseph Chacko; Reception: Sandhya Vincent, Lidwina Alphonso and I. N. Raju; Accommodation: Anand Kujur; Liturgy: Sr. Meena, Fr. Gregory and Sr. G r a c e m a r y ; C u l t u r a l committee: Cheryl Rodrigues; Exposure: Fr. G. Peppin and Sr. G u l a b ; Tr a n s p o rt a t i o n : Dominic and Sybil Azavedo; Catering: 1st and 3rd day Lunch and Tea: Eugene Gonsalves and Alexander Anthony; Health: Dr. Mary D'Cruz and Dr. Sapna; Sound Arrangement: (at the Convention Centre) Clement Gomes and Felix Thakur; Ushers: Fr. Michael Biswas and Anancia Fernandes; Media: Farrell Shah; and Security: Denis Lakra. The Groups with many bishops, religious and laity will arrive on 24th of October 2019. The programme will be from 25th - 27th October.

Immediately, Fr. Dominic said that all the Parishes will have to have training programmes and the passive animators will also have to be awakened as it was a huge task to be done and it has to be done in a team spirit with every Parish having Training Programmes because on 26th October, 2019, the delegates will be taken to the different Churches in Kolkata where they will also witness Gospel Sharing and inter-act with the Parishioners forming a big SCC family. For this reason, the DST members were happy that Parishes, where SCCs are not active at present, will be activated and so representatives also came for the DST meeting like Sontu Mondal - Auxilium,; Sunita Mallick - Fatima and Leonard Ryan and Tony Rego - Infant Jesus, Behala. Now the other dominant Parishes will be contacted again by Fr. Dominic.

Immediately, a meeting is fixed for May 26, 2018 in Archbishop’s House where the DST members will have to bring more members to form a team in the various Committees especially for accommodation and transport. As usual, Veneration of the Bible, Aarti and Scripture reading was done in the beginning of the DST meeting. Reports were read from the active Parishes. A very success story came from Our Lady Queen of Peace, Tollygunge. Mrs. Juliet Karak told that a Parishioner, Mr. Anthony Rata had a very bad motor-cycle accident in October, 2017. His treatment in the PG Hospital was not satisfactory as he was almost semi-paralyzed and he had no money. Immediately, Mrs. Sankari Mondal, SCC Coordinator for the Parish, contacted all the SCC units and also the Parishioners and got Rs . 7 0 0 0 . She then contacted the local MLA and got Mr. Rata readmitted in the hospital for an operation. According to Fr. Piter Pradhan, Parish Priest, whom we met on 27th April, Mr. Rata is now better and on the way for complete recovery. In order to make the SCC self-reliant, Mrs. Sybil Azavedo with the help of Fr. Rudolf D’Souza, Minister in Archbishop’s House; and from the Picnic Garden SCC, namely Mrs. Juana Bramblebee, Mrs. Daisy Samuel, Mrs. Roselyn Miles, Mr. Sumit Singh and Mr. Gavin Rozario arranged and brought a good breakfast and lunch with the DST members making some contributions.