DIAMOND JUBILEE SYMPOSIUM

On the 15th and 16th October 2019, the Province of Guwahti under the leadership of Dr Fr. Biju Michael organised the Diamond Jubilee Symposium on the theme, “Evangelization and Catechesis” at Don Bosco Institute, Guwahati. 180 participants took part in this well conducted symposium.
The proceedings began with a brief inaugural function in which Rev. Fr Francesco Cereda SDB, Vicar of the Rector Major, inaugurated the Symposium and presented a Paper entitled: Evangelization and Catechesis: Perennial Mission of the Church. Prof. David Syiemlieh, a renowned historian, presented a brief history of the Salesian presence in North East India with special emphasis on the Salesian Province of Guwahati.
There was a panel discussion on the theme, Educating through Evangelization and Evangelization through Education, moderated by Rev. Fr Kuriala Chittattukalam, a veteran Salesian missionary and educationist. The panellists dwelt on themes such as the roles of schools, colleges, technical & non-formal schools and hostels. Wellorganized moral education, counselling and guidance were thought to be important aspects of evangelization and catechesis.
Basing on the Gospel of St Matthew, Fr Jose Varickasseril, an eminent scholar in Sacred Scriptures, stressed on the importance of progressive catechesis for anyone engaged in pastoral work. The second panel discussed on the theme of the role played by women religious belonging to the Salesian Family in the Salesian Evangelizing Mission in the North East and it was moderated by Mother Philomena Mathew, Mother General, MSMHC. The panellists dwelt on the roles played by the women religious belonging to the Salesian family in the evangelizing mission in the North East.
The second day of the deliberations began with a solemn Eucharistic celebration presided over by Most Rev. John Moolachira, Archbishop of Guwahati. In the first session of the day, Rev. Fr Philip Barjo, former Provincial of Guwahati, spoke about The Prominent Salesian Personalities who Shaped the Evangelizing Mission in the Province of Guwahati. Fr Francis Hembrom, Provincial Delegate for Mission of Guwahati Province, presented a paper on The Possibility of a Resurgent Catechesis in North East India. Later the members dispersed in groups for a discussion in order to identify priority areas for various regions of the province in the fields of evangelization and catechesis.
In the last panel discussion, moderated by Rev. Fr Charles Sangma, Provincial Councillor, the panellists presented the roles of past pupils, co-operators, catechists and lay teachers to the educative and evangelizing mission in the North East. In the last session of the symposium, Rev. Fr Thomas Chenginiyaden, a veteran missionary, talked on the role that money plays in the evangelizing mission and Fr Paul Kuttikadan, another veteran missionary, on the strategies the missionaries need to adopt for effectively carrying out evangelisation and catechesis in our parishes.
As a follow-up of the symposium on evangelization and catechesis, the participants resolved to carry forward some lines of action in order to revitalise the ministries of Evangelization and Catechesis in the various settings of the Province of Guwahati. It was decided that the various regions of the Province will take up whatever lines of action that are suited to them and work upon them in a time-bound manner in the coming years of preparation for the centenary of the arrival of Salesians in the North East. The Salesians of the Province of Guwahati working in various settings should together with other members of Salesian Family:
1) To appoint qualified catechists – men and women – with attractive honorarium and organize training programmes for them as well as for the touring religious Sisters in order to prepare them to undertake fruitful family visits which will lead to the catechising of the people and to the fostering of regular prayers in the families.
2) To take initiatives to educate and catechise the rural poor catholic children in our hostels/schools/parishes so that they can be prepared to become committed evangelizers and good leaders in the society.
3) To ease the strains of admissions of Catholic students to the schools run by the members of Salesian Family in the city of Guwahati by requesting the Catholic parents with the help of the Salesian Co-operators to admit their children to the nearest Catholic school.
4) To initiate steps to look after the faith formation of the migrant youth residing in Guwahati. The Salesian Co-operators are interested in putting in place a mechanism to achieve this goal. The other members of the Salesian Family need to encourage and support their initiatives.
5) To organize regular animation programmes such as retreats, seminars, Faith Fest and preparations for the reception of sacraments in order to impart catechesis to the adults. Annual sobhas must be made more catechetical.
6) To prepare catechism books in local languages for the use of rural children.
7) To prepare homilies based on the scriptures in simple language understandable to the people.
8) To find opportunities to become more informed and instructed in the liturgical norms and magisterium of the church.
9) To encourage and empower the young people for greater participation in the liturgical life of the Church through music, readings, leading prayers, serving mass, etc.
10) To form Small Christian Communities in all the villages of our parishes in order to encourage family prayer, to promote faith formation of the faithful, and to stimulate religious and priestly vocations among our young people.
11) To involve women religious in the decision-making processes in our parishes so their role is acknowledged and appreciated in all the pastoral activities.
12) To instil a sense of dignity upon every human being especially on drop-out young people by imparting to them skills that can afford them sustainable employment, which are home-based and dependent on local resources.
13) To revise the remuneration for the services that the religious women render in the parishes and collaboration schools.
14) To adopt well-prepared moral education, guidance and counselling in our Schools in order to carry out evangelization and catechesis. To this end, begin counselling cells in every school and train teachers to become counsellors.
15) To overcome the possibility of ostracism and other negative consequences that the people who become Catholics face in their respective villages in various parts of Assam by joining hands with other Christian denominations and face the adverse issues jointly.
16) To deal with the problems such as alcoholism, substance abuse and other social evils that are prevalent in our regions by working with the members of the civil society and conscientize among the young the evils of such habits.
17) To project Christianity as an Eastern religion and remove its western aspersions by highlighting the Palestine origin of Jesus and of the early Church through homilies, seminars, catechesis, distribution of pamphlets, etc.
18) To encourage lay people to organize outreach programmes in the villages of our parishes.
19) To display Bible quotes in prominent places in our settings.
Rev. Fr. Januarius S Sangma, Provincial expressed his thanks to Fr. Biju Michael for shouldering the responsibility to organising this wonderful seminar in preparation for the Diamond Jubilee of the province and in view the Centenary of the arrival of the Salesians to Northeast India. He also expressed his thanks and appreciation to Don Bosco Institute for hosting the symposium and making a it a memorable event for all the participants.