Vol. 2/No.

Divya Kripa Church

Kasturi Villa, Plot No. 44A, Sector 20, Kharghar,
Navi Mumbai 410210

The Lovelessness Within

In recent years, the month of February in the Roman calendar has drawn such
heated debates, seething passion and murderous outrage with the desire to silence
personhood and consign it to the grave; and this largely in India—the land of deep
spirituality. Curious to know why? Because we expressly affirm LOVE. How absurd
and foolish that love should evoke such venom and hate! The protagonist would say,
“It’s only of the ‘Valentine’ kind.” Is love qualified? A rose by any other name is a rose.
Our personhood is defined by our ability to love and be loved in return. Love is the
normal trait of man. Is it abnormal to love? It appears so with the opposition to it. In
favour of the critics of ‘love’ we admit that mooching in public hurts propriety, overt
sexual actions hurts public decency and pub-culture of immodesty in dress hurts human
sensibilities. But attacking the very reality of love for what passes as love is like
throwing out the baby with the bath water. Moral and ethical policing of love in general
will send the wrong signal that all love is to be ousted or outlawed from human
relationships, which will sound the death knell of human society.
It is certain that we are not equating the gift of things, money, a handshake, a
card, a kiss with true love. Love demands not so much of giving something as the giving
of someone. Our love is authentic when we give ourselves, when our life is an act of
self-giving. May we capture this idea of love and disarm the love-haters. — Fr. Gerald
Fernandes, Priest-in-charge

Parish picnic, Rasayani on 6 February 2011

Moments like
these help
foster love and
togetherness
within a
community
transforming it
into one big
happy family
united in the
Lord.
Meeting and conversing Participating in team- Harmonising through
building games melody
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 How do you deal with conflicts in couple-relationships?
¬
We identify the problem and discuss it with each other clearly and calmly.
¬
We pay special attention to our tone of voice and the words we choose to express
our feelings.
¬
We listen to each other which further helps us to understand the situation.
¬
We take a break when the discussion gets heated and begins escalating towards
an argument. We walk away to cool off so that we can come back to the
discussion with calm and open minds.
¬
We reach a compromise together coming up with a solution decided collectively
upon as the best solution to the problem.
¬
Most importantly we put our solution into practice. Simply creating a solution
does not resolve the conflict.

Some tips to offer: There are often various facets to conflicts.

¬ Keep an open mind. Try to understand your partner's point of view.
¬ Be patient. Your loved one may not be ready to discuss the conflict yet. Give
them time to come around.
¬ Stay calm. This helps to ensure that the entire conflict resolution process will
remain calm as well.
¬ Don't rush it. If your feelings are still raw and hurt, you may not be able to
express yourself effectively. Wait before openly discussing the issue to
prevent this from happening.
¬ Keep place and time in mind when discussing the conflicts. A happy or festive
occasion is not the best time to air your differences.
¬ Use common sense. Avoid accusations. Accusatory phrases like "you always"
and "you never" can make people become defensive.
— Bruno and Priscilla Correa, Our Lady of the Mount Community

To Love and To Hold

Our love story does not have a fairy tale romance or the exhilaration of young
love. Ours was and still is a sober kind of love. We first encountered each other at a
prayer meeting, little realising we were destined to remain together for the rest of our
lives. In our commitment to the Lord through the prayer group, we became aware of
each other's goodness and strengths. How else would two extremes coming from
different backgrounds and having divergent food habits and sensibilities find
compatibility? We were aware of each other's shortcomings and imperfections but
firmly believed that through our mutual sharing we would make each other whole. Love
is meant to bring out the best in our partners, helping each other to be what God wants us
to be. Understanding, thoughtfulness, caring, acceptance and sacrifice have taken us
through all the conflicts and difficult situations that have come our way.

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 Through the years our simple actions of love, such as providing encouragement
in each other's endeavours, comforting each other when the going was tough, rejoicing
in each other's accomplishments and providing a buffer while facing the harsh realities
of life, have been the strength of our marriage. As we look forward to our Silver Jubilee
two years from now we feel we have circled back to the days of our youth when we had
found and rejoiced in our love for each other. We still cherish the mutual love and
support we shared that helped us find our place in the world. We still hold dear to heart
the vows we made to each other, to love and to hold all the days of our life. — Brian and
Janet Pinto, Christ the King Community

BRITTO UNDERTAKERS & SCULPTORS

Official Undertakers & funeral directors for all faiths. We
supply coffins, brand new hearse and ambulance, imported
lowering device, church truck (coffin stand), wooden cross,
gloves and socks, floral tributes, rosary beads, etc. Dispatch of
mortal remains within the country and abroad. We also
supply Portable Refrigerator Coffins, a very compact piece,
which can be kept at home using regular power-supply.

K.A.S. HOMES, SURVEY NO. 0495,

SHOP NO. 3, JUHU VILLAGE,
SECTOR 11, BESIDES CISF QUARTERS
VASHI, NAVI MUMBAI
Owner: Mr Bellar Britto: 9867064000
Mr. Ludgar Britto: 9870483583
Mrs. Anita Britto: 9867164000
Mr. Kailash Gutale: 9867641470

Results of Crib Competition

1st Prize- Joe D’souza 2nd Prize- Jofy Baby 3rd Prize- Priya D’souza
Divine Mercy Community St. Faustina’s Communtiy St. Faustina’s Communtiy

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 How do working couples handle the responsibilities at home after work
hours?
Since the beginning of time the woman in the family was considered the
homemaker. She was the centre of the family taking care of hearth and home while the man
went away hunting in the forests or cultivating a farm to support his family. In most recent
times owing to recession and other factors both the spouses are now working in order to
make ends meet and to contribute to the resources for the family. The phenomenon of
working couples has brought in its wake many new pressures on family life. Cooking,
washing, cleaning, checking the homework of the children, etc. is a reality every couple
has to wake up to everyday. Parenting today is more than supervision. The time required to
supervise children and be involved in their educational pursuits often collides with their
work schedules. Working parents striving to fulfill both their work and family
commitments feel stressed out and emotionally drained.
It's very easy for one of the spouses to claim that they had a hard day at the office
and shirk responsibilities. This does nothing but add to the pressure already on the other
spouse. And the only way to overcome it is to share responsibilities. In some families the
husband takes care of the shopping, cleaning, bathing and checking the homework of the
children whereas the wife takes care of the cooking, washing, drying etc. For some it could
be an entire role reversal of the scenarios given above. Only through compromise and
mutual understanding can they ensure that there are no loose ends which will create
problems for the entire family at some point of time.
Just as it is said about how a family that prays together stays together the same
applies for a family that works separately but makes time to be together at least during
prayers. Every working member of the family has his/ her own formula for keeping the
mechanism working. It all broils down to how well you communicate with each other to
overcome the hurdles that come your way. — Kiran and Carol D'souza, Blessed Mother
Teresa Community

Faith Formation Programme held for the Catechism students

On 13 February we, the catechism students of STD.s 7th and 8th, accompanied by our
catechist, Mrs. Jamema, attended a Faith Formation programme organised for the
deanery of Navi Mumbai at Mathru Milan church, Nerul. The topics discussed included
housing, child labour, poverty, pollution among others. We presented a skit on the theme
of poverty portraying various ways to overcome it. We ended our presentation with the
song 'Heal the world' and answered the questions put forward to us by the congregation.
Similarly, the children from the other parishes too presented their themes. This was
followed by a Bible quiz and a Eucharistic celebration. Fr. Johnson thanked each one of
us for our contribution towards making the programme a success. I would like to thank
my catechism teacher Mrs. Jamema for the help and support she gave us and for
encouraging us to do our best. — Andrea Fernandes, St. Claudine’s Communtiy

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 Community Happenings
Christmas celebrations at Jeevan Jyoti Ashram
The Christmas celebration for the residents of Jeevan Jyoti Ashram organised
by the parishioners was held on 2 January 2011. The programme began with the
performance of a skit enacted by Mr. Joe, his daughter and Mr. Bruno. The theme
selected was “Save our trees, save our environment”. They highlighted the need to
refrain from cutting trees for it has many uses while it stands tall. This was followed by
a joyous and melodious round of enthusiastic carol singing by the lovely ladies of the
parish accompanied by the sound of sweet chords streaming from the guitar. With the
music still resounding in our ears we joined together in uproars of laughter as Mr. Joe
and some residents of the Ashram joined the podium to share some hilarious jokes with
us. Amidst the celebrations, a sumptuous cake was cut by the Brothers of Jeevan Jyoti
Ashram and distributed to the residents and parishioners. The programme concluded
with a vote of thanks given by Brother and one of the residents, who thanked us for
making the celebration a fun- filled occasion and shared the hope of having many more
get-togethers like this. — Bruno Correa, Our Lady of the Mount Community

Health Programme organised by the Women's Cell

Nothing should dampen your spirit or ruin your holidays health-wise or
wealth-wise. If you are well equipped then you can tackle any problem. So the
Women's Cell of the Divya Kripa Parish organised a workshop on “Knee- related
problems” on 16 January 2011 conducted by Dr. Grace Elanjikal, a well known
physiotherapist and an active member of the parish. The “Do's” and “Don'ts” were
explained very well with a demonstration of the exercises. The workshop was indeed
very informative and effective, and benefitted all. It was a blessing in disguise for those
with knee-related problems. Thank you Dr. Grace for your service. We look forward to
attending some more beneficial workshops like this in the future. We wish you success
in all your endeavours. — Joyce D'souza, St. Ignatius of Loyola Community

Animators' Get-together
Our animators' get-together on 23rd January began with Mr. Clifford D'souza
sharing his happy thoughts of how the Small Christian Communities of Divya Kripa
Parish had grown from one single community to 13 communities distributed within
four zones. Mr. D'souza spoke passionately about the activities of an animator. He
disclosed his own experience as an active animator. He was very happy about the
progress achieved so far and urged us to share more of our time with the communities.
Mr. D'souza also shared a case study about a leading person in the community who
when faced with calamities was helped by the people of the community, deeply
impacting his life. It encouraged the community members to further group the
community into four zones enabling us to reach out to more parishioners. Following
the enlightening talk, Reshma and Mr. D'souza organised a list of games that kept all of

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 us entertained and thinking, it was indeed fun to work as team in our attempts to come up
with answers. Fr. Gerry later shared his reflection on the role played by an animator and
how he truly appreciates the work that is being done. He encouraged us to approach him
whenever we encounter difficulties during our interactions with the community. We
concluded the get-together with a prayer of thanksgiving and invocation, and parted
ways to catch up with the balance of the weekend action. — Francis D'souza, Divine
Mercy Community

Infant Jesus Community Mass

The Infant Jesus Community assembled together on the 2 February at the Community
centre, Nimisha Hospital, Sector 12 to celebrate the feast of 'The Presentation of Our
Lord.' This was preceded by a 7-day novena which was organised by the animators at
the homes of 7 families in our community. These 7 days of prayer and intercession
helped strengthen the bonds between the community members. The community get-
together was attended by 60 members. The theme of the celebration was 'Jesus the light
of the world.' The feast mass began with the blessing and lighting of candles and Fr.
Gerry spoke about the significance of this day in the Catholic Church. Fr. Gerry then
gave a short sermon on need to stay united and rooted in Christ in a community. Games
such as housie, bombing the city were played after mass so that everyone could mingle
and get to know each other better. A few spot prizes were also given away. The
entertainment programme was followed by dinner. Everyone left with a smile on their
faces. We are thankful to all those who contributed towards making this feast a great
success. — Bryna D'cunha, Infant Jesus Community

St .Claudine Thevenet Cluster Celebration

On 3 February we celebrated the feast of our patron saint—St. Claudine. We began the
celebration with a brief introduction on the life of St. Claudine. The altar was beautifully
decorated by the RJM sisters with the background poster depicting the life and works of
St. Claudine. During the mass meaningful offerings of rock, sweets, youth group, human
chain and violet were offered. Fr. Gerry in his sermon explained in detail the meaning of
the novena prayer said in honor of St. Claudine and also spoke about her works and how
she specially worked for the less fortunate. The choir under the guidance of Sr. Cresence
was very melodious. At the end of the mass cake and coffee was served. Following this a
short programme was held for the community members which included some games.
Miss Angelica sang a beautiful song in honor of St Claudine which was appreciated by
everyone. Following a recap of the community activities, Fr. Gerry graced the gathering
at the meal time and prayed over all. Every family of the community brought a dish
prepared at home to the dinner adding great variety. All the members joined in fellowship
making the evening a great success. — Andrea Fernandes, St. Claudine's Community

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Sourced and adapted from: Sr. Iglesias, et al, The Promise-An Introduction to the Old Testament
(Word and life Publications Philippines 1996) pp.5- 6

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For private circulation only. Published by Divya Kripa Church, Kharghar