June 7 : Each year seminarians are sent for social and parish ministry on Saturday afternoon and Sundays to attain pastoral practice by rendering their service at several parishes in Mangalore, Belthangady, Kannur and Calicut diocese and NGO/Social Service centres/orphanages/old age homes in and around Mangalore city. Seminarians profit a lot from these ministries and learn to participate in the Ministry of Christ and the Church.
Since the Pastoral Formation is one of the main areas of formation in the Seminar, Sunday ministry provides them a foretaste of their future ministry. But they are initiated every year before they are sent to their filed work, going through an Initiation program where they get inspiration and proper mindset for their ministry. Such an initiation was held at the Seminary on 6 June 2019. Mrs Corrine Rasquinha, Director, White Doves – Psychiatric Nursing and Destitute Home, Mangalore and Rev Fr Santhosh Rodrigues, Parish Priest, Holy Cross Church, Hospet were the resource persons of the Initiation Program. Rev Fr Ronald Serrao, Rector, Fr Maxim D’Souza and Fr Alex Kallarickal, In-Charge, Parish Ministry, Fr Boniface Pinto, In-charge, Social Ministry had organized the initiation program with great care.
At the Initiation program for Parish ministry, Rev Fr Rector, emphasized the importance and need of the same and motivated the seminarians to make complete use of the opportunity for self-growth and learning pastoral skills. Rev Fr Santhosh, the resource person for the Sunday parish ministry seminarians while speaking of his own struggle as a Seminarian in Bombay, elaborated on the dynamics of parish pastoral ministry and exhorted the seminarians to illumine Christ to others.
Participating at the Initiation program organized for those who would take up social ministry, Fr Rector stressed the duty of the seminarians to know and participate in the social service being the followers of Christ, who came to preach the Kingdom of God which is larger than the Church. Mrs Corrine, the resource person of the social ministry group, in her thought provoking speech, narrated her own life story and pointed out how one can be blessed and happy by being a Christian social work. She stressed on need to develop a deep spirituality as a prerequisite for a life of service.
Fr Maxim D’Souza and Fr Boniface Pinto issued guidelines to seminarians and the Program concluded with a hymn of thanksgiving.
Seminarians will begin the ministry from this Saturday, 8 June, 2019, and reach out to 50 parishes and 12 institutes of social welfare Centres in and around the city. .
