School Construction at Dindigul, Tamil Nadu
The School is name after Chevalier (Chevalier Academy) it has three grades, LKG, UKG and 1st standard. Altogether we have 73 students at present. There is only one source for the school: Mission office, Australia. So far we have spent approximately 2,000,000 rupees. We are still in the initial level. Fr. Tijo tells me that by the end of June, we will have seven classrooms, an office and a staff room. The Union hopes to get some funds from the Irish Province. This year, according to Fr. Tijo, we would need approximately 5,000,000 rupees for the building as planned. I would not know what the situation is going to be next year or how much money we would need next year.
2. What is Dindigul, Tamilnadu like? Climate? % of Christians? Languages spoken? Do residents have access to good roads, health care, education, etc.?
Dindigul is a small town in the southern part of Tamilnadu (which is a state). The climate is normally hot, above 95 f. Well, the Christian Population is not great (I can’t be accurate). The language spoken is Tamil and no other. The residents have roads. Chevalier Academy is situated in the main road. Our MSC parish is in a village which is about 2 or 3 miles from the School. From the Dindigul town, the school would be about 8 miles approximately with good road facility. There are hospitals run by the religious nuns situated in Dindigul. Dindigul has the Jesuit the Provincialate and the Bishop’s house. The Jesuits have a very good Higher Secondary School so as different religious who run schools. The Salesians have a job-oriented program for adults and dropouts.
3. Why did the MSC decide to build a school in Tamilnadu? Why is the school an important mission of the MSC in India? How does it reflect the MSC charism/goals?
First Fr. Malcolm went in search of parish ministry in different dioceses of Tamilnadu. The nearest was Salem – Dharmapuri diocese (Now it is split into two). We were not eager to take up the parishes that were shown to us. Since we have a sort of a rich parish in Bangalore (In the state of Karnataka) we were in search of a poorer parish so that we can develop it. After a few months of searching, we decided meet Trichy Bishop. At that time, Dindigul was part of Trichy diocese. Trichy and Madurai are two important cities in the middle of the state. Bishop Devotta gave us permission to see rural parishes. Kombayanpatty (that is where we have our base in Dindigul) was a small village with a very old and badly damaged small chapel. Fr. Malcolm encouraged Fr. Baskar (who was a deacon then) to work there as a pastor since Fr. Baskar showed a lot of commitment and interest in working in rural areas. This mission is so important to us since our Charism invites us to work for the poor and share life with them. As promised to people by Fr. Malcolm, we built a decent church for them in the presence of Fr. Julius Kumar (an MSC pastor of that time). It is from here, our idea originated to build a school for the poor people who have to travel a great distance in search of a good English Medium school. Fr. Dennis said, “Education in India is not a luxury but the best way of fighting poverty.” Since, we want to help others to reach us; we bought the land in the main road (Periayakottai Junction). Fr. John C, an MSC who took over as Pastor after Fr. Julius took a lot of interest in completing the presbytery and giving shape to the new school with teachers, furniture, classrooms and garden. Fr. Mariadoss Nattamai is the present pastor.
4. What subjects are taught in the school? How does the school help its students and/or the local community?
The school is the blessing to the people around the area. It has students from more than 8 different nearby villages. These people are very poor and belong to different castes and classes. We offer all the basic courses that other schools offer in LKG, UKG and 1st standard. The books are purchased from private sectors which are of good quality. We teach Tamil language, English language, basic Mathematics and Science that are needed for the students of that age. The teachers have degrees from Teacher Training Institutes. We have also arranged transport facility for the students. The fee is so low that we want the poor to benefit from it.
5. What are the students like? Are they all Catholic? ( I know it is open to people of all faiths, but are students of different faiths enrolled?) What are some of the challenges faced by the students and/or their families?
As I mentioned earlier, the people are very poor. They work as coolies in different farms. They know that our fee is very low and they love to send their children to us, but still they want us to help them financially by reducing the fees. Transport is going to be a big problem as we don’t have any bus facility. We have an old van at the moment and that is not enough. As the number increases we need to build classroom and toilets for the kids.
6. What is the neighborhood where Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish is located like? What are some of the challenges faced by the local community?
OLSH Parish is a rich parish. It is surrounded by very many apartments where all the rich people live. The land value of the area is international in price. According the Pastor Fr. Jos Rajesh MSC, we have nearly 400 families in the parish. The pastor thinks that since the parish is a mixture of rural and urban area it brings in two extremes. The biggest challenge is the language issues. We have masses in three different languages: English, Kannada (Language of the State of Karnataka), Tamil (Language of the state of Tamilnadu). He also believes that there is a little problem of people coming from Syro-Malabar rites in the area of administration.
7. What kind of programs does the parish offer/how does it help meet the needs of its parishioners/the local community? Is the parish still growing? (Last I knew it had 350 families).
Fr. Jos Rajesh is a gifted planner. His administration and skills of systematic executions are noticed by many. He has different committees working for different needs of the parish. Vincent De Paul society in the parish helps many poor children with their education. They have youth program, program for children and other pious associations in the parish. We have six Sunday masses. Since the parish is in the MSC House, other priests also involve in helping Fr. Jos Rajesh in meeting the spiritual needs of the people. It is a growing parish.
8. Are there special Christmas traditions in India that are perhaps different from some of the traditions here in the US? Is the parish decorated a certain way? Are gifts exchanged on December 25?
Bangalore is so westernized in many ways. Whatever we find in US, we find in the churches of India: Christmas decorations, Crib, etc.
Christmas Carols to all the families is done seriously. The choir and the seminarians with the pastor go to Christian houses personally and sing and pray for Christmas.
Gift exchanges are done in small gathering of associations. It is done in our seminaries and communities, but not a parish as a whole.
Midnight mass is a must in India. People love to go to the Midnight masses. The whole church will be lit by serial sets and bright and colorful lights. The whole street will have lights leading the people to the church.
MSC INDIAN UNION 