My Pastoral Experiences at Catholic Church Varasada

Introduction

By way of definition, Pastoral Theology is the area of theology that deals with the pastor in relationship to his calling, character, and work in Church ministry. The work of the ministry has to do with doctrine, worship, discipline and public relationships within a particular parish territory. Pastoral Theology is also known as Practical Theology because of its nature and characteristics in terms of active ministry or application of the study of religion in the context of a regular Church ministry among the people of God. Pastoral Theology finds its scope for action and application of theology in the Scripture, traditions, General Councils, Church documents, doctrines, etc. that are promulgated by the Pope, the vicar of Christ on earth, assisted by the Magisterium. In other words, Pastoral or Practical Theology concerns itself with the self-actualization of the Church in history, both what it is and what it should be. It aims at the transformation of human beings under the umbrella of the Church of Christ. A theological understanding of mission or ministry is primarily concerned with salvation. In other words, the mission of the Church is saving souls, helping reconcile people to God, one another, and nature.

Pastoral Experience at Varasada Parish

Varasada, a big and vibrant village, is situated in the region which is popularly known as ‘Bhal’. It is from this term ‘Bhal’ that the locals of this region are known as ‘Bhaliyas’. The history of Catholic Church Varasada is not very old. It was a part of Khambhat Mission till early 1990s. Varasada was one among the nine villages of the Bhal Mission started by Fr. Jerome Aixala, SJ The Bhal Mission saw its first baptism in the Christmas of the year 1940. In the early years only primary schools were started in these villages. Quite interestingly, while educating the boys, their wives had also to be looked after. Khambhat was erected canonically by Bishop Edwin Pinto as an independent parish separating it from Petlad parish in 1963. Fr. Lopetegui, SJ was the first Parish Priest of Khambhat Parish. Varasada, being one of the biggest promising villages in Khambhat Parish, already had a reasonable number of the faithful. In 1995, Varasada saw its golden colours when it received the status of an independent parish separated from Khambhat Parish. The first Parish Priest of Varasada Catholic Church was Fr. Lopetegui, SJ.

The method of the missionary activities for this region has been to concentrate on education and place great emphasis on intensive Christian living. The Parish Priest focused his attention on a good primary school (1^st to 8^th std.) and the boarding. The early years were very hard. In the course of time, the little classrooms became a full-fledged Co-Ed Primary School with a modern building. Meanwhile, Sisters of the Little Daughters of St. Francis Xavier were invited to the mission who would take care of the girl students in the hostel in the premises of the Convent. Majority of the students, both girls and boys, hailed from the nearby and far away villages in and around Varasada. Those among the students who pass out after 8^th standard are sent to St. Xavier’s School Anand, St. Xavier’s School, Petlad, St. Xavier’s School Khambhat, St. Mary’s Nadiad, etc. and still further few of them go to Vallabh Vidya Nagar, Anand, Khambhat, etc. for College Studies. Quite many have completed their degree and vocational studies and have got even government jobs. Of late quite many young girls and boys have gone for Nursing Courses to cities outside Gujarat, such as, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Vizag, etc. Few of those who have done technical studies have got work in companies and factories in the nearby towns.

However, the work in the villages is not abandoned at all. In the early years, they say, Social Work was started by the Catholic Missionaries to respond to the poverty quite prevalent in the region. However, the majority have few pieces of land for cultivation. Thanks to the canals, they can cultivate two crops in a year. There are few families though, who have no piece of land, and run their household by working in others’ fields.

At present Fr. Nilesh Macwan, SJ is the Parish Priest. Fr. Eddie Fonseca, SJ and Fr. Jose Heredero, SJ are the two Assistant Parish Priests. The Parish compound has a modern, functional and devout Church Structure with a capacity for four to five hundred people. The Church is dedicated to St. John De Britto. There are around 350 students in the school including boys and girls, out of which 37 are Catholics. There are 15 villages with Catholic families, Khaksar, Valli, Indranaj, Galiyana, Golana, Gudel, Mahiyari, etc. to name a few. There is a monthly Holy Eucharist celebrated in these villages.

As a part of my theological formation and GVD curriculum I go to Varasada Parish for my weekend Pastoral Ministry along with a companion. As per the instructions given by the Parish Priest, I go to two villages, namely, Galiyana and Valli, on alternative weekends. There are 7 or 8 Catholic families out of 70 families in Galiyana village. Valli is relatively a smaller village. There are only 3 to 4 Catholic families out of 40 families in this village. There are around 200 Catholic families in Varasada Mohallo itself. It looks quite promising on the records though.

See, Judge, Act Process

The ‘See, Judge, Act’ Process is a simple method which helps us to stop, stand back from a situation and reflect on it before we jump in and take action. This process helps us to develop critical judgment about situations, events and structures. Often the three stages overlap and intermingle.

See

What is happening?

There are only a few Catholic families in these two villages. There is a monthly Holy Eucharist in these two villages in the evening hours. Every first Sunday of the month is set aside for a half day seminar for women of all the Catholic villages of the parish. There is a kind of Parish Council which comprises of village leaders, Sister in-charge, headed by the Parish Priest. The Parish Council meets occasionally to discuss several matters with regard to Parish, School and Boarding as well as certain issues that occur in the villages. Sunday Holy Eucharist is celebrated on regular basis. The choir at the Sunday Eucharist is taken care of by the Girls and Boys Boardings alternatively. Altar service including alms collection is carried out by the boys and girls at their appointed turns.

Catechism classes are regularly organized on Sundays after the Holy Mass. For me, taking catechism class for non-Catholic children is, some sort of a thrilling experience. Whenever I am engaged in teaching them prayers or in telling them bible stories, I suppose I am not getting engaged in converting them into Christianity. One of the most striking features on Sundays is that after the Eucharist is over, the faithful greet the Priests, Sisters, Brothers, and one another saying ‘Isuno Jay’ or ‘Jay Isu’. Priests and Sisters visit the families in Varasada occasionally. The Parish Priest is making good efforts to raise funds for the deserving and poorer students of the parish to ensure that no one is left behind in terms of education, along with learning human and religious values, due to lack of facilities. We, the students of theology, who go there for weekend ministry, do make it a point to visit few families in the Mohallo after the Sunday Eucharist and Catechism Classes. People in families, be it a Catholic or non-Christian families, are very much welcoming and hospitable. One of the main jobs assigned to us is to meet the youth of the village on a regular basis. It is really heartening to hear from the youth about their struggles and successes in relation to their studies, daily occupations, job opportunities and several issues pertaining to career making. We do not stop at that, rather, we discuss with them certain issues pertaining to the society they live in. All these interactions also include issues happening in the society in terms of dirty social customs in marriage, dowry system, love affairs, etc. The long interactions with other people on various social, economic, educational, and religious issues over a series of cups of tea are the major highlights of these visits.

Who are the people involved?

Varasada Parish has got quite a reasonable number of Catholics, around 200 families. However, the Sunday Eucharist witnesses only a counted few attendees, around 25-30 faithful. There are a couple of youth, boys and girls, beside some women and men, who are quite regular for Sunday Eucharist. Practically half of the Church is occupied by the boys and girls of both the Boardings. During the family visits we come across old men and women, middle aged ladies and gents, young couples, youth, and kids. However, our main purpose of family visits is to meet as many youth as possible in the locality and bring them into the light of becoming aware about several issues pertaining to education, job opportunities, coping with youth related issues, social awareness, mainly in terms of the urgent need of reformation of certain old traditional rules and regulations, which are a heavy burden to the parents as well as children, according to the demands of the present times and circumstances – for a better tomorrow.

Who gains/loses from this situation?

The persons who benefit from all these activities or situations are, myself, to begin with, and the people including children, youth, women and men faithful of the Parish. I say I gain from all this is simply because I get to learn a lot from such occurrence in the villages and Parish, sessions taken and interactions with the faithful while family visits. I get to learn things in terms of healthy ways of dealing with women, men and children irrespective of their religious and social status. I feel encouraged to be with and accompany them in their social and religious rituals and practice of faith in my capacity. Children, of course, learn by seeing the elders and all the more learn by doing things by themselves. The youth are another set of people who benefit from the active interactions that take place on several burning issues of the society. On the other hand, another beneficiary is the people themselves. By way of participating in such social and religious activities they grow more in union of minds and hearts with the Lord and with others in the society.

What is the situation doing to people?

Through these activities people become more and more aware of themselves in terms of their relationship with one another, with God, and with the world around. By participating in the Holy Eucharist the faithful come closer to the Lord and their spiritual life is strengthened. A sense of belonging to the Church of God grows in them. Meanwhile they learn to care about the Christian community at the village and parish level. Children are the biggest assets to the Church. They observe the elders not only in the Church but in the society and the world in general, and learn all social and religious values from them. They learn values such as piety, service, mercy, love, compassion, peace, harmony and contribute in their own little ways in building up a better community. The youth are growing in awareness about the present educational, social, economic, religious, and political scenario in today’s human society.

Why is it happening?

However, not all that happens or is present in their societal and religious life. In the course of acquiring positive moral and religious values, they face some challenges too in the society. Having become Church goers, more often than not they are treated by other people as those who have fallen away from their original way of life. They are misunderstood as though they have been preyed upon by the Christian missionaries. One of the biggest problems that they face is the bride crunch for their eligible bachelor sons. They need to offer a heavy price in order to bring a bride for their son. In most cases, they are forced to sell their land or take huge loans to settle a match. Besides, having paid for their sons’ marriages, they tend to demand a high price for their daughters’ marriages. This looks really serious and worthy of reformation that only the present young boys and girls can take up. In terms of education, both secular and religious, parents as well as children in the school do not have much hesitation. The catechism and faith formation sessions continue to inspire the young minds and hearts with slow yet steady pace.

Judge

How do you feel about the Situation?

According to me, the present situation does not look so promising. I do not mean to say also that the parish is religiously poor. What looks promising is the few regular Church goers. Though a mere countable in number, they are regularly faithful to their religious duties. This regular practice helps them not only in terms of their personal growth, but also in social relations with others in the Church-fold and also with the followers of other faiths. Besides, it would be beneficial for the leader of the local Church, the parish priest, in running the parish. The faithful in the far away Catholic villages do participate in the Holy Eucharistic Celebrations on regular occasions as and when the priests visit these villages. The effect of such monthly religious practice does have a positive impact on the villagers. They seem to have grown in love, compassion, care and harmonious living with all other families in the surroundings. Not only the Catholic faithful, followers of other faiths also join in the Catholic celebrations in the villages and annually in Christmas and Easter in the parish too.

What does your faith say about it?

While visiting the families after the Holy Eucharist and catechism classes, I come across a variety of people in the village. There are a few who seem to be very faithful to their Catholic faith by way of their attractive demeanor. There are those also who are very enthusiastic about practices of faith and rituals, etc. but they seem to be bragging about it just to impress me. I come across certain families who practice Catholicism, but keep the idols of Durga Mata, Lord Hanuman, or some other Matas, etc. along with the Pictures of Jesus and Mother Mary. This puts me in a confusing situation at times. In such a set up it is quite difficult to ask them to stick to One and Only God. However, we should be mindful of the fact that first generation of converted Catholics requires more time to settle down with the spirit of Catholicism.

What does our Christian Tradition say about it?

Being a pastor, parish priest or assistant parish priest, the religious leaders are entrusted to the spiritual, economic and human care of the people in the locality. As Church leaders they need to make great efforts in terms of faith formation, fellowship and service so as to build a true Christian community.

Act

What can we do to bridge the gap between what is happening (the reality) and what should be happening (the ideal/what our faith says)?

Fr. Nilesh Macwan, SJ, the Parish Priest and his assistants, Fr. Heredero and Fr. Eddie, visit and celebrate the Holy Eucharist in these villages regularly. The Parish Priest has made it sure for himself that even if there is just a single catholic family in a village he would celebrate the Holy Eucharist in that village. He would be readily obliged to the demands of the villagers even if there is no single catholic family. However, he takes at most care not to go ahead with misguided eagerness. For all these pastoral works LD Sisters are always very helpful. They cooperate well with the Priests in terms of taking lead in the Holy Eucharist, pastoral visits, catechism classes, and meetings. Besides, our weekend pastoral visits to the parish and those four villages do make a little difference in the lives of the faithful. As a student of theology I need to engage myself in such pastoral activities so as to prepare myself for an effective priestly ministry in the future.

What action are we going to take?

However, since there is only once or at the most twice a month Eucharistic Celebration in villages, the gap seems a bit longer. The kind of connection or relation we would like to build with the faithful in the villages seems to suffer a little due to such long interval between two Eucharistic Celebrations. Therefore, we need to reschedule ourselves as well as our pastoral activities in such a way that such long gaps could be mended for a better and effective ministry. One possibility could be to increase the number of Holy Eucharistic Celebration in villages. Another way could be to train and equip the village leaders so that they would take active initiative to organize the village faithful for a prayer session in the weeks without Holy Eucharist. There could be more and regular catechism classes for the children. Besides, some sort of competitions and workshops based on catechism and other religious matters could be organized for the children. As a weekly visitor I need to gather the faithful for some sort of shared prayer session with the help of village leaders in the respective villages. 

Who can we involve in our action?

Village leaders, youth, children, and women along with their leaders, are some responsible faithful who can be effectively involved in the actions and activities undertaken in the name of pastoral ministry among the faithful. Beside the Parish Priest and his assistants and Sisters, it is these lay faithful who can motivate the rest of the faithful to lead a life worthy of a true Christian through their own exemplary Christian life.

Conclusion

Having undergone such pastoral experience within a short period of time, I have learnt a lot in the ministry place. One of the most important aspects that I have learnt is the significance of contextual approach to the Church ministry in a parish setup. The context and situational analysis of pastoral activities is an important aspect in Church ministry. In this context, the community of the faithful takes over individuals. Another thing is that our major concern should be to equip the community of the faithful with the knowledge and wisdom of God that is based on love, peace, compassion, service, and solidarity. In short, as ministers of Christ and His mission, we need to take care of the Kerygma, Leiturgia, Diakonia, and Koinonia in order to see the pastoral ministry flourishing among the people of God.