News: Sr Benigna Menezes
Daijiworld Media Network-Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Jan 12: The year of the consecrated life brought together over a 1,000 faithful and about 300 religious men and women at St Paul’s Cathedral to attend the opening of the official declaration of the year which was formally launched on November 30, 2014 in Rome and to celebrate the solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord on January 11 at Vijayawada.

The Cathedral campus was abuzz with hectic activity on Sunday morning as nuns and priests were engaged in ordering the procession while the entire campus was awash with colorful banners depicting the titles and charisms of the eighty three different religious orders that serve the diocese.

The celebration began with the procession led by Franciscan Missionary Brother Joseph followed by nuns, priests and brothers of different orders each carrying their own sacred symbols, banners, placards, or objects and followed by twenty priests who concelebrated the solemn pontifical mass presided by the Apostolic Administrator, bishop Govindu Joji and bishop emeritus, Matthew Cheriannkunnel, PIME .

Each congregation stood before the assembled faithful with their banners and was introduced to the people. The bishops sprinkled holy water on the gathering and purified them and made them fit for the solemn worship.

Rector of Andhra Loyola College, Fr Ravi Shekhar, introducing the theme of the day explained how Pope Francis has brought the consecrated life to the attention of the church’s prayer to help the religious deepen both their commitment and service to those on the peripheries of our societies, especially the poorest . “The Catholic Church celebrates the Year for Consecrated Life to remember the mission and presence of more than 700,000 religious members in the world and over thousand religious in the diocese of Vijayawada”, he stated.

“The religious men and women are called to plan a deeper study of their own charisms, study the founders and their own constitutions and study the documents of the Church in this year”, added rector.

Calling the year as a wonderful gift of the church to the religious, he invited them to be grateful and appreciate the blessings of prayers and graces through the multiple events celebrated in the year and attract more and more people to the religious life.

Apostolic administrator, bishop Govindu Joji officially declared open the year in the diocese at the homily and bishop emeritus, Matthew Cheriankunnel detailed the historic growth and service of the religious communities in the Church.

“Making a grateful memory of this journey will help the religious to live according the mind of the Church and be fruitful in their ministries to the world”, he declared.

The missionary bishop quoting Pope Francis spoke of the importance of having a consecrated heart that reflects the mercy, compassion and joy of the Gospel which expresses concretely the baptismal commitment through tangible services grounded in solidarity and respect for the human life.

At the offertory, each congregation as planned by the LCRI offered to the Church various gifts in cash and kind and surrendered their life at the foot of the altar asking the Holy God to renew their consecration and empower them to work whole heartedly for the glory of God in loyalty to the Mother Church.

“The common celebration is to collectively witness to the marvels that God has wrought in the frail humanity of those who are called (VC20) and manifest anew our common witness to Jesus”, said Sr Jessylin, SAL , the vice-president of the LCRI.

“We pray that our good works this year will be inspired by the Holy Spirit to call forth new members to join our ranks as brothers and priests committed to poverty, chastity, and obedience in the example of Jesus himself”, said Benedictine monk, Fr Showraiah.

He also explained the concept of the Plenary Indulgence attached to the year and read out the places and Churches designated by the apostolic administrator for obtaining the indulgence in the diocese.

The LCRI president thanked the bishops and priests who helped to organize such a solemn event for the benefit of the diocese and requested prayers from the assembly. She urged the people to send their children to the religious orders to serve the Church in the world.

Sweets and prayer cards of the year of the consecrated life printed in Telugu were distributed to the faithful as the three hour long celebration ended filling the participants with grace and joy of the gospel.