29/08/2015
VISIT TO JOHN VIANNEY CLERGY HOME, SANDOR
- Fr.Reggie Tauro SJ
It was a wonderful Sunday morning of the 9th August 2015. There was a light rain earlier which made the weather cool and pleasant. Soon after the 8:15 a.m. Mass, the 12 of us gathered together in the parish office to carry our gifts for the Fathers at the Clergy Home, it being Vianney Sunday. We reached there around 10 am and were greeted by Msgr. Francis Correa. Soon after, Frs. Dominic Pereira and Vijay Crasto came in and joined us. They had just returned after concelebrating at the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Thomas Church, Sandor.
We firstly began by singing “Happy Feast Day” to the fathers while the lovely chocolate cake was cut by Frs. Dominic and Vijay. Fr. Reggie explained how and why the group organized the visit to the clergy home. Since the priests working in parishes are felicitated on Vianney Sunday, very few think about the priests in the Clergy Home. This proved to be very true since there were no other visitors to the clergy home that morning.
The fathers then gave us a short background of their lives. Fr. Dominic Pereira is all of 85 years old and will be completing 55 years of priesthood in Dec 2015. Fr. Vijay is 78 years old while Msgr. Francis Correa celebrated his 75th birthday on the 26th April 2015 and was ordained along with Fr. Vijay 48 years ago.
Msgr. Francis has authored two books, one on the history of the church in Mumbai and the other on Vasai Fort. He is the co-editor and former editor of Suvarta, a leading Catholic Marathi monthly. He was also on the committee which planned and built our church. He is still very active and is invited to many parishes to conduct religious talks and seminars. He is a resource person for our confirmation class and takes the topic on “The history of Christianity in Vasai”.
Fr. Dominic then made a thank you speech and said that we are all instruments in God’s hands. We should always allow the spirit to lead the way in our lives. It is the inspiration of the Spirit that has brought us to visit the clergy home. We then sang a hymn of praise and worship in Konkanni which all joined in. Then Astrid and Michael presented our simple gifts of bedsheets and towels. Msgr. Francis then took us to the chapel where he made a small prayer for us and gave us his blessings. He mentioned that the Clergy Home is open for recollections for small groups.
We left the place with a feeling of joy and lightness of being, thanking and praising God for the beautiful day and the wonderful experience we had at the Clergy Home.
The visit would not have been a success without the active support of the zonal leaders especially Michael Pinto, Margaret Pinto, Astrid D’Souza and Winnie Fernandes. May their tribe increase !
