33rd Sumedha Sadhana Commences

The 33rd edition of the 9-week-long Sumedha Sadhana commenced on September 28. It will conclude on November 29.

There are 16 participants, including three from Thailand and one from Mauritius.

Sumedha Sadhana is an inner journey in quest of greater healing and wholeness. Participants begin from where they are, looking at what is happening on their spiritual journey. They then move on to explore the psychological dynamics that affect their spirituality and integrate them in healthier ways to create more satisfying life patterns and make their ministry/professional work more fulfilling and fruitful.

EDUCATING WITH THE HEART!

Director of Sumedha Centre, Dr. Jose Parappully, facilitated a two-day workshop for teachers of Holy Cross Convent School and Junior College at Kalyan, Maharashtra on September 20-21, 2016.

The first day’s workshop was for the teachers of the High School and the Junior College. There were 63 participants.

The second day’s workshop was for the teachers of the primary and the pre-primary schools. There were 32 participants.

The title of the workshop was “Educating with the Heart.”

Parappully, former Vice Principal at Don Bosco School, Calcutta, and a  Clinical Psychologist, used insights from Self-Determination and Self-Psychology theories to emphasize the importance of creating in the school and the classrooms an environment which fosters the fulfilment of basic emotional needs such as for relatedness, competence and recognition and for teachers to be mirroring and idealizable selfobject figures in the lives of students, displaying and modelling character and competence, and capable of healing narcissistic wounding through empathic responsiveness.

Parappully used short films and songs to illustrate the insights from the psychological theories and provided the participants opportunities to reflect on their experiences as teachers and share insights with one another in small and large groups.

Participants of both days reported great satisfaction with the workshop. They found it enriching and inspiring. They were able to introspect on the ways they were relating to their students, recognize their failure to be sensitive to their emotional needs, and inspired to pay greater attention to and respond with greater sensitivity to the needs of the students.

Participants felt that the insights gained through the Workshop will help them not just to teach better but to “educate with the heart” through greater emotional sensitivity and empathic responsiveness.

SUMEDHA OUTREACH PROGRAMME- HELPERS OF MARY

The Director of Sumedha Centre, Jose Parappully, facilitated a four-day Workshop for the Sisters of the Society of the Helpers of Mary at Atmasadhana, the Generalate of the Society at Andheri West, Mumbai from 14-17, September 2016. 

There were 60 sisters participating including current and former Provincial Superiors.

The title of this interactive workshop was “Midlife Dynamics and the spiritual Journey.”

The topics covered during the workshop included Midlife Dynamics, Psychosexual and Celibate Integration, Love and Friendship on the Celibate Journey, Midlife and God’s Second all, and a Spirituality for the Post-Midlife Years.

Participants reported that they found the workshop immensely useful. The workshop provided much useful information, provided answers to their many questions and helped them understand their experiences. It helped them  accept themselves and their experiences and re-orient their priorities for the post-midlife years.

A common opinion expressed by participants was that had this workshop been offered them a few years earlier it would have helped them even more. They could have understood what was happening to them when it was happening and helped avoid confusion and needless anxiety and distress.

At the same having gone through these experiences they were able to better understand what was presented.

The topics that were found more helpful by most participants were Celibacy and Chastity, Celibate Friendships and Spirituality for the Post-Midlife Years.

SUMEDHA OUTREACH PROGRAMME- HELPERS OF MARY

The Director of Sumedha Centre, Jose Parappully, facilitated a four-day Workshop for the Sisters of the Society of the Helpers of Mary at Atmasadhana, the Generalate of the Society at Andheri West, Mumbai from 14-17, September 2016. 

There were 60 sisters participating including current and former Provincial Superiors.

The title of this interactive workshop was “Midlife Dynamics and the spiritual Journey.”

The topics covered during the workshop included Midlife Dynamics, Psychosexual and Celibate Integration, Love and Friendship on the Celibate Journey, Midlife and God’s Second all, and a Spirituality for the Post-Midlife Years.

Participants reported that they found the workshop immensely useful. The workshop provided much useful information, provided answers to their many questions and helped them understand their experiences. It helped them  accept themselves and their experiences and re-orient their priorities for the post-midlife years.

A common opinion expressed by participants was that had this workshop been offered them a few years earlier it would have helped them even more. They could have understood what was happening to them when it was happening and helped avoid confusion and needless anxiety and distress.

At the same having gone through these experiences they were able to better understand what was presented.

The topics that were found more helpful by most participants were Celibacy and Chastity, Celibate Friendships and Spirituality for the Post-Midlife Years.

Sumedha Facilitates Rectors and Leaders’ Meet

Sumedha Centre was invited to facilitate the annual Rectors and Leaders’ Meeting at the Salesian Provincial House, New Delhi on 7-9, September 2016. There were 29 participants.

Johnny Dominic, the Assistant Director of Sumedha Centre facilitated sessions on “Spiritual Accompaniment.” He provided an understanding of spiritual accompaniment” emphasising especially the mystical dimension of spirituality. He also explained the recent document from the Councillor General for Formation on “Personal Accompaniment of Salesians.”

Jose Parappully, the Director of Sumedha Centre, presented the revised “Periodic Assessment of Salesians in Formation (PASIF). Parappully had been involved in the construction, testing and revision of this evaluation instrument from its inception. He described the evolution of the PASIF, explained how it is to be administered and scored and conducted a practice session.

There were also sessions by other Resource Persons. K. C. John, the Economer of the Province presented a letter from the Economer General on the spirituality of stewardship. He also presented the financial status of the Province.

A. M. Jose, Director of Don Bosco Tech, presented the activities of the Organization and the possibilities that are opening up for collaboration with the government and corporates in the area of skills development.

There were report from the chairpersons of the various Provincial Commissions an also an Open Session led by the Provincial, Jose Mathew, where the participants had the opportunities to discuss various issues related to the Province.

The three day meeting ended with the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Priestly Ordination of two members of the Province – Hilarius Kullu and James Pazhayajpallil and that of the Religious Profession of two – Thankachan Kollapallil and Mukul Kujur.