Celebration and jubilation: Cherishing 170 years in India

Celebration and jubilation: Cherishing 170 years in India

Celebration and jubilation: Cherishing 170 years in India

Celebration and jubilation: Cherishing 170 years in India

Celebration and jubilation: Cherishing 170 years in India

Celebration and jubilation: Cherishing 170 years in India

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By Sr. Shalini Podimattam, India (Province of Southwest India)

 

In the presence of the Congregational Leadership Team, Sr. Shalini Podimattam spoke at an event on June, 10, 2024, celebrating and cherishing the presence of the Good Shepherd in India. Here, we share with you her words.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! The air is filled with celebration and jubilation. The ambiance here is, indeed, enchanting!

It is my pleasure and privilege to contextualize this celebration of 170 years of Good Shepherd presence in India. Remembering, cherishing, and celebrating the sacred past, the heritage and legacy, and the pioneering and fulfilling memory of compassionate service, with the conviction that ‘one person is of more value than a world.’ Enthusiastic, energetic, ever-creative ways of accompanying people, especially the wounded and humiliated; only the audacious could do such unseen work.

The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity, founded in France in 1641 by St. John Eudes for women in difficulties, was made international by the establishment of the Generalate in 1835 by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, with a new title, the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, which is commonly known worldwide as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Today, there are about 3,400 and thousands of partners-in-mission serving 68 countries in all continents.

At the invitation of Mgr. Etienne Charbonnaux, the Bishop of Mysore, St. Mary Euphrasia, sent five sisters to India, who arrived at St. Patrick’s Church Bangalore on August 15, 1854, the first congregation of women religious in Bangalore.

The period between 1871 to 1921 witnessed several demographic crises. Drought, famine, plagues, and the influenza pandemic killed millions of people in South India. Our sisters opened new convents, and many of them were the first religious houses in those towns. They plunged straight into caring for the destitute and homeless, feeding the hungry, sheltering the orphans, and educating the young. They received distressed women, babies, and any disadvantaged persons in their convents. I bow to our sisters who have succumbed to death while serving in high-risk situations.

In 1878, a community of the Contemplatives of the Good Shepherd was established in Bangalore.

Over the years, we have helped out in the birthing of new congregations in their formation and establishment, namely, the Sisters of St. Anne of Bangalore, Missionary Sisters of St Francis Xavier, now known as the Sisters of Our Lady of Fatima, Society of Sisters of St. Anne (SSAM), Society of St. Anne of Phirangipuram, and  Institute of Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (SMMI).

We have shared our land and properties with the Archdiocese of Bangalore, Dominican Sisters, Montfort Brothers, Sisters of St. John the Baptist, and Sisters of St. Anne of Vijayawada. We have transferred our educational institutions to the Loreto Sisters, Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, and Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel. Through our ministries in the fields of health care, social action, education, and residential care, we continue to support and network with other religious congregations.

From the 1960s onwards, many rural and city slum ministries developed in line with the Congregation’s directives to radically follow the Gospel and the Church’s ‘Option for the Poor.’ To our credit, in 1996, the Congregation was accredited with NGO Status under ECOSOC of the United Nations.

We thank our Shepherd God for the well-being of tens of thousands of our students, patients, women, children, and their families. We salute the partners-in-mission, co-workers, benefactors, consultants, and friends who shared our responsibilities. They are in thousands – together, we are the Good Shepherd People!

At this awesome moment, we loudly proclaim, ‘Together, we have done it.’ Thank you.”

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our global presence

Africa and Middle East

Kenya, Congo, South Sudan, Uganda

Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion

Senegal, Burkina Faso 

Europe

Belgium, France, Hungary, Netherlands

Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain

Latin America

Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Honduras

Brazil, Paraguay