Vol. 35 No.

5 Nepal Jesuits May 2020

FR. GENERAL APPOINTS REGION SUPERIOR APPOINTS
Fr. Jerome Stanislaus D’Souza SJ (KAR) New Fr. Victor Beck Administrator,
President of South Asia (POSA). St. Xavier’s College,
Maitighar
Fr. Sebastian Jeerakassery SJ (DEL) a new Assis- (w.e.f. 14 May, 2020)
tant to the General Treasurer.
REGION SUPERIOR’S PROGRAMME
Fr. Ajit Kumar Xess SJ (RAN) new Provincial of
Ranchi Province May 5, 2020 Skype Meet with Commission
4:00 p.m. Heads, Superiors and Directors
of Work

ST. XAVIER’S SCHOOL, JAWALAKHEL

S
anjay’s dear mother passed away on needy. George also distributed many packets
27th March after a few days in hospital. to the needy locals with the help of a VDC
He could not go but watched the funer- member. Now he is busy coordinating on-
al on video. R.I.P. The Holy Week services line classes for high school students with
were mostly in the community and some of the help of our high school staff. George was
us helped out in the nearby convents. Fr. consistent with tennis coaching classes for a
Boby came for his annual retreat from 4th month from Mathew and now has become a
April. Mathew could not move to HRD as good player. At the school side everything
planned so making use of the quiet atmo- was quiet this whole month and we are ea-
sphere he also made his annual retreat di- gerly waiting for the reopening and to have
rected by Fr. Etienne. the children back.
Anil was in Baniyatar all these days and A.V. Mathew
helped out with distribution of food for the

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

ST. XAVIER’S SCHOOL, GODAVARI

N
ature is sending us another wake-up call ram.
with the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside Tridum retreat based on COVID-19, was conduct-
Australian bushfires, broken heat records ed by Fr. Samuel for the community. All community
and the worst locust invasion in Kenya for 70 years. members were in physical and in spiritual quaran-
Our destruction of nature is hurting humanity. tine. After tridum Fr. Bill also made his own eight
While our immediate priority must be to protect days retreat.
people from COVID-19 and prevent its spread. Our The community mem-
long-term response through education must tackle bers Sch. Ashish, Frs.
climate change and biodiversity loss. To prevent fur- David, Samuel, Bill &
ther zoonotic disease outbreaks, the destruction of Lawrence M. were occu-
nature for farming, mining and housing must end pied with their own fla-
and given more importance. Pope Francis’ Laudato vor of chores and hobbies
si and Care for our common home (UAP). like, readings, gardening,
Lockdown has brought Godavari green, clean and sweeping indoors & out-
doors, , repairing works,
weeding and cutting the
grass, praying, being with
the nature and updating
the news of Covid-19
and its impacts. Easter was a unique experience and
we missed the Easter gathering.
Online ZOOM meetings were held for the teaching
staff to have better planning and helping the stu-
dents. Lockdown has brought new ways of thinking
and doing in the field of education. Concern remains
with deprived students, but the school management
is working on with the haves and the have nots.
In the crisis the school provided masks and dry ra-
calm. Sound of little creatures, animals and chirping tion kits to 10 families of Godavari Municipality.
of birds could be heard. Little faunas and butterfly Due to lockdown in the valley Sch. Pankaj is locked
moved around freely in the campus and in the Ash- up in Tipling. For Pankaj to visit Tipling was a

2
 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020
foot of the hill of
Ganesh Himal.
At dusk and at
dawn the view
of the snow-
capped moun-
tain all around
is so beautiful
and charming.
It simply trig-
gers heart and
mind to praise
God for beau-
tiful creation. I
dream which came true. He says, “I had often heard was very fortunate to have the experience of being
about Tipling and Jesuit mission over there. The talk in snow”.
about this mission always arose in me a kind of curi- The notice of
Corona virus,
its fatal impact
and its preven-
tive measures
were announced
every day from
the view point
of Jesuit Resi-
dence through
the help of big
speaker. This
was done for the
entire village to bring awareness of pandemic dis-
ease.
osity and desire to go and see the place. It is indeed a SXG Correspondent
unique Jesuit mission in high altitude situated at the

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE, MAITIGHAR

O
nline classes have begun for all the bachelors A Levels examination has been cancelled. As a re-
and masters students who have not com- sult, the A Level department is busy preparing the
pleted their academic year. It has become internal grades following the criteria given by Cam-
a learning opportunity for the staff and students as bridge. Plus Two department is working on various
they now have to move away from traditional face- permutations and combinations to implement the
to-face teaching-learning to online teaching-learn- proposed changes in the class 11 syllabus while the
ing. The Principal has regular online meetings and uncertainty of starting classes still looms.
discussions with the Heads of Departments and The community keeps itself busy during the lock-
others in the administration to facilitate the online down with reading, preparing for classes, cooking
teaching-learning as well as planning for the new and cleaning and other constructive activities.
academic year. May-June series of the Cambridge Campion House Jesuits

MORAN MEMORIAL, MAHESHPUR

P
alm Sunday, Holy week service and Easter Cooking Oil to both the ward numbers 6 and 7.
Vigil Mass celebration took place at com- Sr. Maria Vianney, FC, passed away on April 22nd.
munity level. Fr. Sanctius presided over the She had high blood sugar and high pressure. We
liturgy. Catechists and local leaders conducted the had funeral ceremony. Her grave is in the Sister’s
prayers and the liturgical services during the Holy community compound.
and Easter Sunday. Deepk Jans is still held up in Gayaganga. Every
During the lockdown period, we tried to show our community member attended the online retreat or-
solidarity in our neighborhood and some parts of ganized by JCSA and everyone was enriched by the
our service areas in small ways. We distributed pro- retreat.
visions to about 90 families. We also contributed Boniface Tigga
400 Kgs of rice and 125 Kgs of Lentils, 100 liters of

HRDRC, SANEPA

T
he community members are all keeping fine in the midst of pandemic lockdown. During the morn-
ing hours all three Curia Fathers – Regional Superior, Treasurer and Socius are seen working in
their respective offices. Every afternoon the community members are involved in some sort of phys-
ical activities – cleaning up the bamboo grooves, trimming the branches of avocado tree, preparing kitchen
garden for new plantation and for sowing seeds, preparing new dishes for evening tea. Beside all these
works Fr. Boby is seen painting and coating the main gate, cemented railing at the entrance and wire fence
with enamel. Fr. Dilip has been staying in St. Xavier’s Social Service Centre during lockdown but joins the
community for Friday suppers. We had meaningful but low key Easter vigil mass in the community. We
celebrated Fr. Tek Bahadur Paudel’s birthday on 18 April only with community members.
Juel Kispotta

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

ST. XAVIER’S SCHOOL, DEONIA

garden, Buttabari, Telgani and Dulabari. We are
also in touch with the local government and the
Municipality of Birthamode to find ways to help
the poor and afflicted people in the locality at this
time of lockdown. SXD brought some happiness
and cheers on the face of our parents and students
by publishing the annual results through SMS for
the first time. We also began online classes for
the students and were able to reach many of our
students in order to keep them engage in studies
through Google Classroom. The technology has
really helped us to reach to maximum number of

W
e were fortunate enough to conduct
the Annual exams before the lockdown
was announced including the BLE. Due
to lockdown, all other activities of the school got
postponed. So much so, the class 12 farewell also
got cancelled for time being. The community and
the FC sisters had eight-day retreat guided by Fr.
Daniel Bara during the Holy week. It was a mo-
ment of grace to pray for the entire people of God
in this time of Covid-19. It got over on Saturday,
with the Easter Vigil Mass. This time we had Easter
Sunday Mass among ourselves. Being a mass cen-
ter, all the community members were able to reach

students and brought some rays of hope to many

parents who were panicked and worried at this
time of pandemic. In a simple and meaningful way,
we celebrated birthdays of Fr. Dennis and Sch.Wil-
son respectively in this month. Besides our spiritual
activities, and preparation for online classes, we are
engaged in organic farming and gardening.
Wilson Kandulna

out to many of our faithful by phone calls and ask-

ing them to pray together during this time of pan-
demic by being at home with their family members.
The grace of daily Eucharistic Adoration contin-
ues in the community and praying for the suffer-
ing humanity and accompanying them spiritually.
We distributed some ration to our Catholics of tea

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

ST. XAVIER’S SCHOOL, SADAKBARI

A
pril month is a lockdown month for the en- Holy week and Easter was very peaceful. We along
tire nation. Due to the lockdown entire ac- with Sisters celebrated the holy week very meaning-
ademic year will be affected. SXS could not fully. Fr. Peter guided three Sisters into an eight day

complete 2 days of exams for classes 1-4 one subject spiritual journey and we joined JCSA’s online retreat.
and class 6 two subjects. Whatever exams were held Fr. Peter managed to sneak in to say mass for the Si-
papers were corrected before the lockdown was im- malbari sisters during Holy week and on Easter day.
plemented. Results are ready but we have not pub- On 26th Frs. Peter and Vijay went to Rural Munici-
lished yet. Many of our parents do not use internet pality Office to handover the relief food package to
or smart phones. We do plan to publish the result the President for hundred families. This food pack-
online on school website www.sxs.edu.np and school age was for a week. Meanwhile Frs. were also busy
facebook page. Posting at the school notice board is getting ready with a project that will be carried out
an issue because it will invite a crowd, unless one of after the lockdown is lifted. We had lockdown birth-
us in duty and tell people to maintain social distance. day celebration of Fr. Peter on 16th.
We are caught up now as lockdown is extended, how During this lockdown period we lost two of our
do we proceed? We could go online but everybody lady parishioners,
does not have access to online system. We are work- one from Fulgach-
ing upon a methodology, by which all students and hi, who was sick for
pretty long time and
the other, is a Parent
of class 6 boy Man-
gali Hembrom and
also mother of our
coworker. May God
reward them eternal
rest and consola-
tion to the bereaved
family members.
Vijay Toppo

parents can be reached out and teaching learning

can continue even remaining at home.

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

ST. XAVIER’S SOCIAL SERVICE CENTRE

A
ll the children of St. Xavier’s Social Service pose of supplying vegetables. The remaining mem-
Center were handed over to local guardians bers of Aruna Bhawan and Gafney Bhawan are busy
after the completion of final examinations in sowing seeds and planting. St. Xavier’s Social Ser-
due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the vice Center has solemn Easter celebration at Aru-
world. Currently two students na Bhawan. We had organized
are staying at boy’s home, five lunch for all the members and
members at Aruna Bhawan staff present. Two fattened
and all the members at Gaf- local chickens from boys’
ney Bhawan. There are 20 home were killed and de-
members including Fr. voured by our two dogs
Dilip K. Toppo who when we had gone
is also residing at to Aruna Bhawan.
St. Xavier’s Social It looks as if they
Service Center. were looking for
All of the mem- the chance to
bers are strictly eat the chick-
prohibited to go ens in our ab-
out un- less sence.

there Any-
is an emergency. Fr. Dilip’s way, after all they are doing
scooty was under police custo- good guarding the house during this
dy for one day after being caught while going for lockdown and perhaps they deserve it.
purchasing daily commodities. Now he is permitted
by district office to use the scooty only for the pur- Dilip K. Toppo

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

SHISHU BIKIAS KENDRA, POKHARA

S
hishu Bikas Kendra (SBK) remains locked- cancelled his visit to his university and other plans
down due to ongoing Covid- 19. Occasional- due to lockdown. Fr. Amit got a pass for a day amid
ly SBK phone rings and some kind of inquiry Covid -19 to visit sick family and dared to visit all
sounds of our students could be heard at the other the Sisters’ houses in the city even in the rain and
end of the phone. Covid- 19 has completely para- had Mass for them.

lyzed the entire tourist city, Pokhara. Police are on Our St. Ann’s Catholic Church remains closed yet
duty whole day and night to save the lives of peo- drew the attention of the police. Police visited our
ple. The frontliners- army, police and health work- church three times and had an inquiry with Fr. Amit
ers who are in the thick of the battle with covid -19 and told him strictly to have no gatherings until the
are only seen in the deserted streets. There has been lockdown is lifted up or becomes normal. Fr. Amit
much cooperation from the people’s side and all are went through the records of SBK and came across
safe. some old and gold photos of its founder
This year the Easter celebration was Late Fr. Akijiro Ooki which become
contained within the families itself a great source for web documenta-
but certainly a lot of supports, tion. During the lockdown SBK
prayers and Mass services were entrance yard has been kept
attended online by the faithful. clean and beautified and has
They remained untied with a mesmerizing bird eye view.
the Lord’s passion, death and SCC sisters made the best use
resurrection. Since the church of the time by clearing and
remained closed people could planting vegetables and Tapi-
not come to celebrate Easter yokas in the garden, thanks for
as a group of believers but had their selfless service. The Nepali
meaningful celebration at homes. New Year 2077 B.S. celebrations
Few people did come for the Palm were observed on the house tops,
Sunday and Easter Sunday Masses. Now parents and children singing and danc-
some of them attend the online Masses on Sat- ing. All the people are optimistic and eagerly
urdays as well as on weekdays. Fr. Paul made Pas- waiting for the lockdown to be lifted. “Stay home &
chal Triduum at M.C. contemplative and later af- stay safe” believing in “Jaan Hai to Jahaan Hai”.
ter Easter he made his retreat at St. Mary’s convent Amit Lakra
attending to their spiritual needs. Fr. Jomon has

8
 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

GOOD SHEPHERD, TIPLING

O
ur pastoral lives have been more or less crops and caused flooding. Our solar system was
monastic, thanks to the lockdown. Our damaged but has since been repaired. The good
Palm Sunday procession had three people: news is flooding forced the Rural Municipality to
Fr. Mike, Fr. Ayar and Sch. Pankaj, only, as did all hire a dozer to create drainage along our new road.
our Easter celebrations. The Tipling church bell We expect an influx of Tipling migrants from Kath-
calling to worship remains silent. We are reminded mandu returning to their refuge in Tipling for the
of the silent bell of Lhasa. Our Jesuits community duration of the lockdown. The local municipality

here did celebrate Divine Marcy Sunday with the has arranged transport to Dundre the end of the
diocese, in spirit and in the newly renovated Jesuit road. Both chairmen Ruby valley 1 and Ruby valley
community chapel. (As a result of renovation we 2 use our location above the village and our loud-
now have two extra guest rooms). Our head pas- speaker to update the village on the virus and lock-
tor is busy updating our parish registers and taking down.
parishioner requests for prayers. These requests are The highlight of the lockdown has been Fr. Ayar’s
met daily in our Jesuit community mass. Fr. Mike Birthday and a continuous follow of Birthday pres-
is busy with his little project making a mini Tipling ents in the form of Saag and potatoes from villagers.
Tamang dictionary. He was happy to hear his visa Nature also contributed this flower which bloomed
application date has been extended. Pankaj, besides outside Ayar’s window.
voluminous reading is busy learning the art of Ti- Tipling Jesuits Sources
pling kitchen cuisine. Our cook is on lockdown in
the village with pay.
Heavy winds, rain and hail have damaged some

9
 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

DIASPORA
ASHA KIRAN, MANGALORE
O
n 3rd - 11th of April we had our annual retreat. We were privileged to have Fr. Melwin Pinto,
the Superior of Kerela Juniorate. He gave us retreat which helped us to deepen our relationships
with God. At the same time, we celebrated Easter in our Community. These days on each Sunday
we have begun benediction, praying specially for covid - 19 patients. Due to lockdown we are engaged in
various activities such as skill development in Computer, Music as well as Novel readings. Now we have
also started appointment of Beadle, Sub-Beadle and new offices for the new academic year.
Ruben and Niroj

PREMAL JYOTI, AHMEDABAD

C
ovid -19 pandemic has shaken the entire May. But we are busy with online tests, assignments
world with quick spread. All human de- and module exams. Besides these we are helping in
velopment and rapid change of technology the kitchen and learning something for life because
have failed to find any solution except self-isolation. teaching does not take only in classrooms. This
Everywhere people are affected with this poisonous year’s Easter celebration was a unique experience
virus; mostly daily bread earners and people who due to social distance. Most of us attended Easter
have migrated to cities in order to earn money. vigil though online.
Also, it has shaken the world economy because all On 18th of April onwards we, the collegians began
educational institutions, industries and other ser- our annul retreat. It was the time to lockdown our-
vice sectors are shutdown. selves with the Lord and pray for world because he
As the situation is becoming worse day after day is healer of all sickness. On 29th of April onwards
in Ahmedabad keeping that in mind St. Xavier’s we had workshop on Ignatian Spirituality.
College has declared summer vacation till 16th of Bipin Bara

ST. PETER’S GAYAGANGA

B
eing quarantined everyone has got the opportunity to better their relationships with self, each other
and with God. Fr. Peter Bhujel and Sch. Deepak (NEP) are staying with the community due to lock-
down. Four members (Frs. Cherian Maliekal, Peter Pappu, Simon, Nabor) of the community made
their retreat in these quiet days. Daily Eucharist and adoration is helping us assimilate the repercussions
of the ongoing pandemic.
The holy week celebration was held in the parish sans the parishioners. Homilies and reflections were
painstakingly prepared and sent to families via social media. Parish has been providing food materials to
impoverished families as notified by the village leaders. So far about 60 families received the assistance.
At the High School, the mid-day meal items (5 kg of rice and 5 Kg of potatoes each) were distributed in
two phases to 860 students as per the official directions.
As a precautionary measure, some of the house-workers were sent on leave. During that time, the com-
munity members helped the minister to keep the house and surroundings neat and clean. Br. Robert is
making use of the time to do farming. Augustus and Deepak are assisting Fr. Peter to digitalize the Parish
registers. Frs. Gabriel Tirkey and Arul Das(DUM) have been admitted in Navjeevan Hospital. The com-
munity is constantly assisting them materially and spiritually.
Fr Nicholas and Fr Nabor participated in leadership training programme in Delhi. We are blessed to have
a new member in the community in the person of Fr Roshan Minj
David Donald

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

ATENEO, PHILIPPINES

T
he COVID 19 pandemic has brought the big com- and enjoy it. I also join the marketing team to purchase
munity of Ateneo Jesuit Residence to relive the the essentials for the community meanwhile Augustine
formation days in many levels. With more than takes his turn to cook Indian dish for the community.
On the apostolic side, some of us volunteer in packing
food packages for the people in the villages. Jesuits here
using all their networks and existing social service or-
ganisations of the Society managed to reach out with
food packages to more than 50,000 families by now. The
lockdown in Manila is extended till 15 May. The univer-
sity hopes to resume the academic courses in September.

15 working staff absent, each member in the community

sees daily cleaning and running of the community. This
include even the Jesuits who are in their 80s. This week,
we also spent an afternoon sharing about our experience
of consolations and desolations during this time of Pan-
demic. The after-dinner adoration hour was another op-
portunity for us to come together to pray for the world
which was live streamed in the Facebook for anyone to Augustine is waiting for a conducive day for him to re-
join the prayer, virtually. Some of us initiated a vegetable turn to Nepal for good meanwhile, I am waiting to know
garden in the backyard, and I with my acquired farm- the fate of my course.
ing skills at home, contributing to this endeavour greatly Tej Kalyan

DHYAN ASHRAM, KOLKATA

W
e, the Juniors, sat out last semester examina- with solemn procession.
tions from 1st to 4th of April with full en- Fr. Sunny, the Rector, cel-
thusiasm. On 5th, the day of Palm Sunday, ebrated the Holy Eucha-
we as one community partook in the celebration and rist. On Easter Sunday, to-
prayed for the people when the whole world had been gether as one community
facing the dangerous pandemic covid-19. Moreover, we shared the joy of the risen
were privileged to have a few Sisters who had come for Lord, with the Eucharistic
their retreat, joined us in the celebration. Six scholastics celebration by Fr. Pierre.
of Calcutta province -3 theologians and 3 philosophers On 18th and the following
- joined us in the celebration to make it more meaning- day, we presented debates on “Religious are more ser-
ful and memorable. Together with the Mother Church, vice minded than the laity” and “Religion is outdated”.
we offered every Christian, the nation and the victims This exercise taught us many new things as; note taking,
of Coronavirus to the King of Jews. This celebration presence of mind sets and in addition to making us one
brought in us a unique experience of the Palm Sunday of the fluent future speakers. We also began the intense
than that of the past. On the same day the juniors, as the preparation for Academic program of 2020 to make our
part of our public speaking began to deliver Ted talks to ten months stay in this Juniorate evergreen. Together
the community with great alacrity. On 9th, we meaning- with many programs, we enacted the one and a half hour
fully participated in the Maundy Thursday celebration an abridged tragedy play ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare on the
and praying for the priests. We began the Easter Tridum long awaiting day of the academic year, April 27th. On
followed by the holy hour till the next day. This intense 28th we had the evaluation of the academy year of the
preparation made us one Juniorate. The next day we began our annual retreat un-
with the suffering Lord. der the guidance of Fr. Sunny George SJ.
On Good Friday we be- Let us not lose our hope and faith in the Risen Lord and
gan the Way of the Cross keep praying for the victims of Corona virus as well as
at 2.00 pm followed by the for each other. Kindly keep us in your prayers as we be-
services. On the eve of the gin our retreat.
Easter, we began the Eas- Lawrence Kerketta
ter observances at 9.30 pm

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 Sagarmatha Samachar Nepal Jesuits May 2020

GESÙ, ROME

A
s we still continue to live through the
pandemic, we make up our classes
through Zoom. Life in the communi-
ty proceeds with the
great hope that ev-
erything will even- May 05 Sch. Bipin Bara
tually fall in place. May 10 Fr. Dilip Kumar Toppo
Amidst many faith- May 14 Fr. Sanjay Boniface Ekka
ful who longed to May26 Sch. Moris Anthony Martin
have daily Eucharist
to nourish them-
selves spiritually,
but not able to have
it, we are fortunate
In company
enough to have our with
daily Eucharistic
celebration by fol-
CHRIST
lowing the social
distance. We were
one of those priv-
ileged communities to have the Holy Week
and Easter celebration at the Church of Gesu. *Fr. Adam B. Gudalefsky, Maryknoll 91 and 60 yrs.
At the same time a priest passed away on 24 April, 2020 in New York,
we had our monthly USA. He was one of first Maryknoll missionaries in
recollection and the Nepal and a collaborator of Jesuits in Nepal.
third year theologians
made their eight days * FR. JOSE JAVIER AIZPUN SJ (GUJ/Trans ARG),
retreat as part of their 90/72 passed away on 10th April, 2020 in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
Diaconate prepara-
tion. We also had *FR. VALENTINE DE SOUZA SJ (GUJ) 92/74,
South Asian Cultur- passed away on 6th April, 2020 in Vadodara, Gujarat
al mass. During the
Mass some of the
scholastics presented Those who served in Nepal
themselves in their 07/05/2017 Mark Robson
cultural dress. The 16/05/1999 Michael P. Quinn
hymns and prayers 24/05/1982 Bertrand Soubolle
were in different lan-
guages. We continue to pray for the sick and
the suffering that they might be touched by REGION DAY
the healing power of God in the days to come. Scheduled Region Day, May
Devadhas
16-17, 2020 is suspended
until further notice.

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