PROVINCIAL CIRCULAR 01 August 2018 DEAR CONFRERES, Cordial greetings from Don Bosco Provincial House Tiruchy! Month of August is full of celebrations, jubilations and a month of thanksgiving. In this month we have the province foundation day. On 15th August we celebrate the independence of our country and the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother. On 16th August we celebrate the birthday of our Father and founder St. John Bosco. This month isfull of celebrations to thank the Lord for various blessings. It is a meaningfultradition and a devotional practice that all our communities dedicate one full month from 16th July to 15thAugust to our Blessed Mother, fondly naming it ‘Marian Month.’ This is not just a practice or custom but a reminder to all of us, the great devotion that St. John Bosco had on our Blessed mother,dedicating his entire life to her and attributing everything to her with a repeated saying, ‘She did it all.’ We honour our Blessed mother in this month and this is an invitation for all of us to be devoted to her and spread her devotion. We need to express our love and devotion to her by faithfully following the simple but meaningful Salesian traditions like ‘the three Hail Mary, 24th Devotion, petitions to our mother, daily rosary, decorating her statue etc. These are gentle and pure signs, expressing our love and our filial trustonher, which would always pave way for our own and for the salvation of the young. Let us entrust the whole province to her, especially at this moment of the chapter preparations that she be with us along the way with her maternal presence and protection. PROVINCE FOUNDATION DAY We joyfully celebrate the Province Foundation day on 05th August 2018. The province is completing 19 years and entering into 20th year. I thank you dear confreres, each and every one of you, for your active involvement in the mission of the province and for your brotherly support. We as a province make a difference in the society by empowering the young and the marginalised. Let us thank God for all our successes and growth. At this point of time let us also bring to our minds our negligence and our limitations, the times we have failed to give our best to the Province. As we celebrate our Province, let us entrust ourselves to the Lord, imploring His Spirit and grace upon all of us that we may always strive to give our best to uplift the poor and bring those in the periphery to the centre. Salesian Province of Tiruchy – INT Provincial Circular 1 (pd22/2018) PROVINCIAL VISITATION I have completed the initial visit to our communities. It was a fast round to ensure a good planning and a good start. Now that I will make my second round to our communities for the canonical visitation. It is an occasion to spend time with individual confreres, the Salesian family members and our beneficiaries to listen to them and to know more about the life and mission of the community. The Provincial Economer and the Vice Provincial will be visiting the houses before the visitation at their convenience in consultation with the leaders. I will be coming with the provincial secretary for the visitation. Kindly prepare all the documents and files as per the direction given by the Provincial Secretary for the visitation. I urge you to go through the recommendations given to the community and the observations of the Ecomoner regarding the financial administration during the previous visitation to check whether they are implemented. This time we shall focus our attention on vision and mission of our apostolate and also how we can make the EPC and EPCC effectively function in all our houses. Hence you need to give the opinionof the community on the vision and mission of the community and the way EPC and EPCC are functioning. RETREAT FOR THE LEADERS AND THE LEADERS MEETING The retreat for the Leaders of our communities was held from 08th August to13th August 2018 at the Retreat, Yercaud. On behalf of the province I extend our sincere thanks to Fr. Maria Charles who preached the retreat. He dealt his talks on the “Spirituality of Leadership.” Thanks to Fr.Vice Provincial and the Rector and community of Yercaud for the hospitality and for the arrangement. Following the spiritual retreat, the Leaders meet was held on 14th August 2018. It was a moment of togetherness, discussions and sharing. Fr. Noel Maddichetty presented the activities of Bosco Net and Fund raising and Fr. Maria Charles on DBYA structure and its functioning and the Economer and the Cauvery Exe. Director presented the project and financial situation of the province. The Meeting was coordinated by the Vice Provincial. I thank all the leaders who actively participated in the meeting and for contributing your valuable suggestion for the growth of the province. APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATORS: FOR PALAYAMKOTTAI AND TIRUCHIRAPALLI On behalf of the province we wish Arch. Bishop Anthony Pappusamy DD who has been assigned additional responsibility as Apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Palayamkottai by the Holy Father and Bishop Devadoss Ambrose who has been assigned additional responsibility as Apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Tiruchirapalli by the Holy father. We wish them God’s Blessings and our prayerful support for their pastoral ministry in these Dioceses. We also thank Bishop Jude Paulraj and Bishop Anthony Devotta for their dedicated pastoral ministry in the past years. May God bless them with good health and continue to shower His blessing on them. DIRECTION REGARDING APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL OF STAFF In the recent past we have been experiencing lots of court cases filed by the staff who have been working with us for many years. We need to carefully follow the directions given by the Economer’s office regarding PF, Gratuity and pay scale and be vigilant to legally settle issues when a particular staff leaves the institute in order to avoid such problems. The legal cell of the province along with the Economer will assist us in this regard. The Economer along with the Provincial Circular Salesian Province of Tiruchy – INT 2 (pd22/2018) legal cell had many discussions and meetings and has already done some uniformity in payscale for the staff of the academic sector. I have asked him to do the same for the staff of all the other sectors too. I recommend all the communities to cooperate with him and follow his direction in this regard. From now on please do not appoint or remove any academic or domestic staff in any sector of our apostolate without properly going through the formal procedure at the local level and submitting the relevant documents to the Provincial Economer and gettinga written permission of the Provincial Economer to go ahead (cf. Provincial Directory 248 – PC 2004). We have to strictly follow the legal procedures once a staff leaves the house otherwise we stand to land into troubles. FIRST PROFESSION AND STARTING OF NOVITIATE IN SRI LANKA: ARAMBEGAMA On 16th July two of them, Cl. Arockiasamy Kingston for priesthood and Cl. Michael Amuthan for Salesian Brotherhood, made their first profession in Sri Lanka. Three of our prenovicesVarghees Angel Wilfred, SagayarajMariyaYovan and Ajith Bruno Nithin have left for Sri Lanka and they will begin the novitiate on 10th August, 2018. We thank the provincial of the vice province Fr. Joe Almeida and the novice master Fr. Emmanuel Joseph and the staff of the novitiate for their dedicated service in forming the novices. BON VOYAGE Fr. Thommai Antonyrajan will be going to the vice province of Sri Lanka to begin his pastoral ministry in the Civil Engineering College at Metiyagane where he will be teaching Applied Psychology and do the counselling to the students. We thank him for his availability and wish him all the best in his pastoral ministry. Forthcoming Events… 04, 05 Sat, Sun Young Salesians Meet (2012-2016) - Pallithammam 05 Sun Foundation Day 07 Tue Department Heads Meet@ Manikandam 08 Wed Provincial Council 10, 11 Fri, Sat Priests and Salesian Brothers Meet (2000 - 2007) 31 – Sep03 Fri – Mon SPCSA Council & Council of Major Superiors meet @Shillong -Siloam During this month, we organise the trimonthly recollection in our communities and the House Councils carry out the quarterly assessment of the young Salesians. Upcoming Salesian Feast… 02 Blessed Augustus Czartoryski 16 Birthday of St. John Bosco 25 Blessed Maria Troncatti 26 Blessed CeferinoNamuncura Salesian Province of Tiruchy – INT Provincial Circular 3 (pd22/2018) Recalling Events… Youth ministry team was held at the retreat Yercaud on 16 and 17 July. We thank the Vice Provincial and the Rector of the community for making all the arrangements for the meeting. Annual retreat V was held at Don Bosco Manikandam, from 23 to 28 July 2018. We thank Fr. Marcel Lincoln who willingly accepted to preach the retreat for our confreres. We extend our sincere thanks to the Rector and the community of DB Manikandam for their arrangements and hospitality. CONDOLENCES On behalf of the province I express my sincere condolences to Fr. John Dharmanathan, at the death of his beloved mother Mrs. Bernadetammal (92) on 04 July 2018. May her soul rest in peace. I express my sincere condolences to the Provicial and the confreres of Mumbai Province at the sad demise of Fr.Jude D’Mellosdb(51) on 18 July 2018. May the good Lord grant him eternal rest. COMMUNITY REFLECTION: The Pre-Synodal document of Instrumentumlaboris (Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment) is an inspiration and a tool of significant engagement for reflecting the nuclei, ‘the priority of the Salesian mission among today’s young people.’ The theme and its reflection for the General Chapter 28 attract the attention of everyone immediately.