Santvana community boosts the laity’s missionary commitment
Archbishop Anil Couto officially recognised two new groups: the Santvana Missionary Brothers and Sisters. The first training seminars are underway, like those for the novitiate of men and women religious. Their primary task is to proclaim the Gospel among non-Christians. The Santvana community is also offering training and homeschooling in rural areas.
Delhi (AsiaNews) – Francis and Julia Prince, an Indian couple with four children, are members of the Santvana community and have dedicated their entire lives to proclaiming the Gospel among non-Christians.
They live in a parish in the Diocese of Gwalior, Uttar Pradesh, and work with the local pilgrimage centre. "Our intention is to live the mission in the spirit of the Gospel and raise our children in the missionary experience that we, as parents, have experienced firsthand,” said Francis Prince, speaking to AsiaNews.
Like other members of the Santvana (consolation) Community of Disciples, a private missionary association of lay people, the couple also serve in the dioceses of Delhi and Meerut.
“My wife and I have completed the four years of theological training before starting the mission,” Francis Prince said, “and we have dedicated our life exclusively to this purpose.”
Other families live permanently in Santana communities and mission parishes, but some members of the community alliance adhere rigorously to Gospel values and community principles whilst living a normal family life outside such communities of disciples and mission parishes.
The Santvana community is constantly growing. In light of this, Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi recognised two groups dedicated to evangelisation, the Santvana Missionary Brothers and the Santvana Missionary Sisters, established by Fr Dheeraj Sabu.
On 22 August, the prelate inaugurated an intensive discipleship programme, similar to the novitiate for men and women religious, for the first Santvana Missionary Sisters led by Sister Divya Thomas
The first men’s programme will start on 1 October under Fr Dheeraj in collaboration with Fr Denny George.
Fr. Dheeraj Sabu founded the missionary association in 1989 for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel to humanity, focusing his ministry on India.
Among its primary tasks is the proclamation of the Gospel, Eucharistic adoration and giving the faithful the necessary cultural and spiritual background to become missionaries one day.
Two components define the community, namely “community life" that includes families who live the association’s experience full time, and the “community alliance" of individuals and families who embrace the community’s path of love (Prem-Marg) outside of the community.
Perpetual worship and intercessory prayer for the mission are some of the most significant aspects of the life of the Santvana community. Members also take part in the "Rise India" campaign, which includes pilgrimages, educational courses, spiritual retreats and spiritual orientation programmes.
Restoring human dignity to the most unfortunate and marginalised people is one of the inspiring reasons for the mission, a hard task in a country of more than a billion people, still structured along caste lines and marked by profound inequalities.
More recently, the Santvana community has offered training, homeschooling and mission initiation courses for over 500 women and children in rural areas.
(Fr Dheeraj Sabu contributed to this article)
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11/08/2020 15:45
