It has been a long-standing tradition at the Institute of Consecrated Life: Sanyasa (ICLS) to organize a national seminar at the Institute in Bengaluru every year, close on heels of the Feast of Consecration. In keeping with the invitation of Pope Francis in his address to the staff and students of Claretianum to take the Institute to the frontiers, even to the frontiers of knowledge, ICLS has launched a series of regional seminars on themes related to consecrated life.
Accordingly, the first regional seminar was held at Claretian Provincial House, Karukutty, in collaboration with the Province of St. Thomas, on February 18, 2023. To cater to the religious of Kerala, the seminar was held in Malayalam. The purpose of the seminar was to make familiar the content of the 2020 landmark document from DICLSAL, The Gift of Fidelity, the Joy of Perseverance, applying its insights to the regional context.
The seminar was inaugurated by Rev. Fr. Siby Njavally, superior of the province of St. Thomas. The day’s proceedings consisted of three input sessions, each of them focusing on each part of the Document. The first session, a surgical analysis of the struggles in fidelity and perseverance in consecrated life, was dealt with by Fr. Mathew Kakkattupallil, provincial superior of St. Joseph’s Province of the Vincentians. The second talk was delivered by Sr. Dr. Pradeepa, CMC, on how to nurture discernment and communal accompaniment to help members remain faithful and persevere in their commitment. In the third session, Fr. Dr. James Pampara, CMI, Director of the Center for Canonical Services, Puthuppally, dealt with the canonical regulations when a consecrated person defaults on fidelity and perseverance. In the afternoon, Fr. James led an enriching case clinic where actual cases and their canonical implications were analyzed threadbare. Finally, a panel consisting of Sr. Pradeepa, Fr. James, Dr. Kochurani Joseph (Retd. Professor of Economics and official spokesperson for the Syro Malabar Synod), and Fr. Paulson Veliyannoor, assistant director of ICLS, answered various questions and clarifications sought by the audience.
The seminar was a grand success as a capacity crowd of 100 religious men and women turned out for the event and expressed great satisfaction on the inputs received and the ideas and cases shared and discussed. One must acknowledge the painstaking effort by Fr. Noble Mannarath, the regional coordinator for the seminar, along with the members of the curia community who left no stone unturned to make this first-time event a success.
ICLS now will organize similar seminar on the same theme at Ranchi (April 22) and Kolkata (April 23) in collaboration with the North India Independent Delegation. In the coming years, ICLS hopes to hold such seminars in at least 6 locations in various corners of India.
