Manifesto June 2015
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F E N I S T A O M ST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH MANKHURD, MUMBAI-400 088. VOL. VII /NO. 15 (For Private Circulation Only) JUNE 2015 ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA – OUR PATRON SAINT Fr. Rui Comelo On 13th June 1231, St. Anthony breathed his last breath. He joyfully surrendered his soul to the maker. Though he was only 36 when he died, yet his impact and influence is felt even today. Thousands of people intercede to St. Anthony of Padua for spiritual and temporal favors. We are lucky to be the proud parishioners of the church dedicated to him. The greatness of St. Anthony lies in the fact that he always praised and gave credit to God. He was aware that he was only an instrument of God. His sanctity was unquestionable and the innumerable miracles was the reason of his being canonized a year later by Pope Gregory IX in 1232. Of the many qualities of St. Anthony, I would like to highlight his humility. The saint worked in the kitchen in the hermitage of Mount Paul, a little solitary convent near Bologna. It was at the insistence of his guardian that St. Anthony spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to the Dominicans and Franciscan friars at Forli. He was only 26 years old but filled with the Holy Spirit. He spoke the Word of God without fear and God blessed him by not corrupting his tongue. As a parish, let us ask St. Anthony to intercede for unity, strength and growth in spirituality; that we are protected from the snares of the enemy and the evil one; that we are blessed by spiritual favors to proclaim Jesus to the world without fear of anyone; and above all to do all this in simple humility without seeking any reward. On behalf of Fr. Michael and self, I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy feast of St. Anthony. May the new academic year fill us with zeal to learn and teach the good news to our brethren in humility. A Ray(berts) of Inspiration – Sprint Queen Olivia Raberts by Aditya Muckaden At a time when India celebrates the achievements of Indian women in the world of sports, with Saina Nehwal becoming the World No. 1 Badminton player and Sania Mirza also bagging the No. 1 spot in Tennis Women’s Doubles, we have our own local hero, who has fought the odds to make a name for herself in the track and field event in Athletics. Olivia Alice Raberts, a mother of two, residing at Mandala, works in Tata Memorial Hospital in the Gastro-Intestine OPD. Her love for social service makes her enjoy her job, and she barely has time to breathe due to the workload. Yet, besides her job and taking care of her family, there is one passion which she has above all else – Athletics! At the age of 42, she participated in her First National Mercantile/Corporate Masters Meet 2015 in the track and field event and won 5 gold medals – 100m (14.22 secs), 200m (30.5 secs), 400m (70.08 secs), 800m (2 min 55.39 secs) and 4x100 Relay (62.08 secs) – quite an extraordinary achievement. Though for her, the journey wasn’t always a bed of roses. Since childhood, Olivia always loved to run and compete in athletics. It was her dream to represent her country in a track and field event. She won district level championships and got selected for Nationals, however, her family did not support her in this endeavour. After her 12th standard, she moved to Bombay to further her education. From 1992 to 2006, with college, studies, work, and a secretarial course, she had no time to run and train herself. When she got married, her husband was in Pune, and so up-down trips to Pune also drained her out. But she always had a ‘never give-up’ attitude. After delivering her second child, in 2006, as an employee of Tata Memorial Hospital, Olivia decided to take part in the Inter-DAE meet. The DAE had their fixed set of girls and they rarely ever selected anyone new to participate. She fought with the PRO to give her a chance and went alone to Indore to represent her team. There she won 2 gold and 1 silver medal in her first event. There was no looking back after that. Since then, Olivia has participated in a number of events and has a showcase full of medals and trophies to show for it. Today, when she steps onto the field, her presence is intimidating, even for girls half her age. Though Olivia has never had a professional coach, she trains herself every day from 7pm to 8:30pm, after which she must come home to watch her favourite serials. If she doesn’t go for her evening run, she feels incomplete. As she says, she is ‘addicted’ to running. She also prefers practicing with the boys to increase her speed. Ever since winning the Masters Nationals meet, she has had coaches approach her, and now she has a fixed workout plan for the week. Her husband, Leonard, being her biggest supporter and fan, has trained her in the technical aspects of running, like starting, etc. To make sure she remains injury-free and fit, Olivia has a good diet plan – no oily and spicy foods, lots of fruit and fibre and protein foods like grams and chicken. Olivia has also run in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2015 where she finished the 21km race in 2 hours and 3 mins. However, she doesn’t plan to pursue long distance running because she believes that it will change her style of running and will have a negative impact on her favourite track and field events, namely, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and long jump. The next step for Olivia is an All-Asia Masters meet in Sri Lanka in August followed by a World Masters meet in Australia in October – places where she will be able to live her dream of representing her country – again, an amazing feat. Besides congratulating her on her achievements, we must all be inspired by her attitude and passion for the game. Yes she was born with a talent, but she had to fight many odds to make sure she becomes successful. Let that be a lesson to all of us that God blesses each one of us with some talents and it is our duty to make the most of it. Who knows, we may see such inspiring and amazing stories of one of you readers in the future editions of the Manifesto. But for now, let us celebrate this wonderful achievement, this wonderful lady, who surely has become a source of inspiration to us all. PARISH CLOCK Compiled by Irene Fernandes Baptism: 1. 12 April,2015: Michelle George, daughter of Jaymon and Marilyn George. Funerals: 1. 15 March,2015. Mr. Pravin Prabhakar of – Our Lady of Perpetual Community, Panjrapole, aged 30 years. 2. 21 March,2015: Mrs. Elizabeth Harry Francis of - Our Lady of Good Health Community, Mankhurd, aged 54 years. 3. 23 March,2015: Mrs. Joyce Kuttikal, of Kopar Khairane , Navi Mumbai, aged 51 years. 4. 25 March, 2015: Mr. Sebastian Anthony of – Mahatma Phule Nagar, Mankhurd, aged 67 years. 5. 02 May,2015: Mrs. Jane Joseph D’Souza of - Our Lady of Rosary, Community, Trombay, aged 73 years. Marriage: 1. May 10, 2015: Prabhu Dass and Pauline Arokiaswamy. Aditya Muckaden will be leaving for U.S.A. to pursue his M.S. in engineering in early August. His departure is going to leave a huge gap in the editorial board of Manifesto – mainly as Aditya has been such an active participant and contributor to all the issues of our parish magazine. We are really sorry to see Aditya leave. However, we at Manifesto, take this opportunity to wish him all the best in his studies and for the future. ACTIVITIES OF ST. THOMAS COMMUNITY ( D.M.C.) VISIT TO NIRMAY NIKETAN. On the 15th of March, around 10 members of the St. Thomas Community (DMC) visited the Nirmay Niketan home for Leprosy and AIDS patients. We went there after Mass at 10 a.m. The Sisters who are in charge of the place, showed us around. We got to visit only the AIDS patients as those with leprosy were having their breakfast at the time. Men and women were kept in separate wards. As we were taking rounds, the people there greeted us cheerfully. The Sisters also showed us their chapel, which was a very small one, yet quite beautiful. We then gave them our love offerings. Most importantly, Sr. Theresa spoke to us about how crucial it is to spread awareness regarding AIDS. She then served us hot tea and biscuits. We also had a look at the rabbits which they had kept near the home. It was indeed a heart-warming experience and it made us all appreciate the splendid work the Sisters are doing here. Riolia Mascarenhas ST THOMAS COMMUNITY MASS. During the month of May recitation of the rosary took place in the community at the residence of each family. On 28th of May, we had a community Mass in the presence of Fr. Rui Comelo and Fr. Michael D’Costa in Deonar Municipal Colony near Hanuman Mandir. All 18 families were present along with several ex-members. We heard a very thought-provoking sermon by Fr. Michael and empowering words by Fr. Rui. It was also our privilege to have the Corporator (Nagarsevak) Mr.