Alive MARIANIST CULTURE, FAITH AND ... - The Marianists

Marianist Father
Pragasam Thathappa,
district superior of
India and executive
director of REDS
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of society by classes is one tradition that
is beginning to change among the middle
class and more educated. But among the
poor this attitude is still strong. Marianist
Father Joe Lackner, who serves the U.S.
Province as assistant for developing
regions, believes that one of the greatest
gifts the Marianists give the poor is the
gift of dignity.
“Respect and care for people as human
beings, these are some of the greatest gifts
we could ever give another person,” says
Father Joe. This is demonstrated in a
number of ways: A simple handshake,
sharing a meal, teaching a
skill and providing an education,
he says.
THE PROGRAMS
REDS was started in 1979 in
Bangalore, a city in southern India,
by an inter-religious group of lay
people. In 1984, the Arch diocese
of Bangalore took over operations
of the ministry and invited the
Marianists in the early 1990s to
oversee administrative responsibility
for its programs.
REDS grew from a Bangalore-based
outreach program to include a sister program
in Ranchi, a city in northeastern
India, in 1997. REDS also developed
the Deepahalli Skills Training Centre on
the outskirts of Bangalore, a program
designed to get ragpicking boys off the
streets and offer them a safe haven in
which they could learn a trade or skill
(see story on page 19).
Today REDS has several outreach
ministries. “REDS started as a program
for children who were ragpickers,” says
Father Pragasam, “but now we are doing
more preventive work by offering support
to families, primarily women in the
slums and migrant workers.”
The REDS programs in Bangalore and
Ranchi — and an outlying slum called
Hosur southeast of Bangalore — provide
care and education to more than 2,000
children and training and support to more
than 1,300 women.
Bangalore, which just changed its
official name to “Bangalooru,” is a city
of six million people and growing rapidly
because of its emerging Internet technology
and outsourcing businesses. While a
portion of the city’s population is enjoying
unprecedented wealth, a vast number —
as many as 40 percent according to some
experts — are living in the slums or on
the streets.
The Marianists work in seven slums
in Bangalore, but most of their programs
are concentrated in a slum called
Koramangala-L.R. Nagar — a community
of nearly 100,000 people. It is a half hour’s
walking distance from the REDS headquarters
and the Chaminade Nilaya Marianist
community where seven Marianists
live, most of whom work directly for
REDS. Thirty-two lay staff also work for
REDS-Bangalore as social workers, field
workers and administrators.
“We are focusing our work in
Koramangala-L.R. Nagar by providing
play care centers, day care, study and
tutoring centers, night shelters, tailoring
units and women’s self-help groups,” says
Marianist Brother Xavier Raj, assistant
for religious life and a coordinator of
REDS-Bangalore.
In Ranchi, beside play schools, day care
and study centers, the Marianists have
concentrated their efforts on developing
programs for women. In addition to self-
Women from a Marianist
REDS Tailoring Center
in Hosur, India