official - Jamshedpur Jesuits

happened to the tribal Intelligentsia and what steps need to be taken to bring the tribal
youth so that they can become capable and competent in order to take their places in our
premier institutions like XLRI. XIDAS, XIMB and St. Xavier‟s College.
The dynamics of the Convention were spelt out by Fr. George Pattery where he asked
us to gather our thoughts by observing a couple of minutes of prayerful silence. It was a
delight to see how we freely spoke out the kind of expectations we wanted to come from
our deliberations and the “take aways” that would serve as a platform for further
implementation. keeping in mind the concerns of the Assistancy, Central Zone and
Provinces, and the reflections from GC35.
The first day was devoted to listening to a panel of speakers: Fr. Tom Kavalakatt from
Dumka on GC 35 on Mission, Fr. Alex Ekka from Ranchi on Environment and
Displacement, Fr. Xavier Soreng from Ranchi on Religious Fundamentalism and Fr.
James Toppo from Ranchi on Education. There was time allotted for interactions with
the panelists before we broke up into six groups of 15 in a group to respond to preprepared
set of questions touching the topics taken up in the Panel Discussion. After 45
minutes we returned to the main body to present our reports.
On the evening of the first day, all the 5 Provincials were given an opportunity to
felicitate Fr. Beni Ekka, S.J. the first Vice Chancellor of Kolhan University with
bouquets. Fr. Mike explained that they all had been waiting for the right moment to
welcome Fr. Beni to Jamshedpur. What better occasion than this when we had the 5
Provincials of the Central Zone, the Vicar General of the Diocese and a hundred or more
Jesuits and diocesan clergy present. Since Jamshedpur Province has had a history where
there‟s been good chemistry going on between the Jesuits and the Diocese of
Jamshedpur, Fr. C. R. Prabhu, was also invited to garland Fr. Beni on behalf of the
Diocese. It was a proud moment for all of us to have one of ours to be given this unique
responsibility. Fr. Beni‟s appointment can lead to a point where one can expect expansion
as well as inclusion while moving towards excellence.
The next day was given to “gathering the fruit” to use the words of our facilitator, Fr.
George Pattery. After spending sufficient time on this, we moved to another panel of
speakers: Fr. Shailendra Bara from Ranchi on Jesuit Identity and Initial Formation in
Central Zone by Fr. Jerry Cutinha from Jamshedpur. Interaction with the panelists was
followed by group discussions and reports from the groups. October 17 being Diwali, we
could not have conceived of a better evening than a special laser show in Jubilee Park
followed by a supper out surrounded by a city lit up for the festival of lights.
The third and final day was spent in listening to other unresolved issues like the
Mahasabha, Tarang Bharati, What XLRI can do for us, and what more could be done in
Orissa, especially man power.
Frs. James Toppo, Bob Slattery, Tom Kavalakatt had the unenviable task of
formulating the Statement at the end of 3 days of deliberation. With Fr. George Pattery
skillfully negotiating this session and with unprecedented interventions from the floor, we