Catholic Sabha Udupi Diocese holds Annual Think Tank Residential Conference
Udupi: “Every member of the Catholic Sabha must be aware of the needs of the society. They should plan out their activities in such a way that everyone who is in need of help, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, must be provided with it. The Catholic Sabha’s goal is the total well-being of the society,” said Elroy Kiran Crasto, Founding President of Catholic Sabha Udupi Pradesh (CSUP).
Crasto was speaking after inaugurating a two-day residential think-tank workshop of the Catholic Sabha at Manasa Rehabilitation and Training Centre in Pamboor recently. President of CSUP Alwyn Quadros presided over the inauguration. Valerian R Fernandes, former President; Jacintha Colaco, former secretary; Maxim D’souza, present secretary; Henry Menezes, President of Manasa; Jerald Rodrigues, Treasurer and Fr Clifford Fernandes were present on the occasion.
The first session was spiritual preparation conducted by Fr Clifford Fernandes of St Joseph’s Seminary Mangalore. He stressed the need to change our mindset in order to serve better. “Service done without selfishness is a true gift to God. When we are healthy and fit, we should go forward to help our needy brethren. There can be no joy without sacrifice,” he said. The session was followed by the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament.
The second session of the day was conducted by Walter Cyril Pinto, former president of Catholic Sabha Mangalore Pradesh. He conducted an evaluation of five years of work conducted by CSUP and elaborated on its vision and mission statement while motivating the participants to meet priorities at the earliest.
On the second day, the Holy Mass was celebrated at Holy Cross Church, Pamboor by Fr. Herold Periera. The first session dealt with keeping important records and documents by Elroy Kiran Crasto, while the second session was on how to deal with socio-political challenges by Thomas Quadros. In the third session, Alwyn Quadros spoke on the vision and action plan for 2018-19. In the fourth session, a panel discussion was held on the working of four commissions. They were represented by Laity Commission by Fr Ferdinand Gonsalves, Justice and Peace by Sharlet Furtado, and Inter-religious Dialogue by Fr Louis D’Sa. The session was conducted by Alphonse D’Costa.
In the next session, Pritish D’Sa, a Charted Accountant by profession, spoke on the maintaining proper accounts and financial records, followed by a talk on various government facilities and the procedure of availing them by Dr Gerald Pinto.
Gerald Fernandes spoke on the work of ‘Grama Sevak, and Wilfred Lobo, Editor of Amcho Sandesh, gave information on the present situation of the paper. He asked the participants to strengthen Amcho Sandesh by submitting articles and collecting subscriptions.
In the afternoon, Valerian R. Fernandes conducted a group discussion and presentation on the targets for 2018-19. Later this was summed up by the President and Secretary of CSUP.
In the end, an executive committee meeting was held. Valerian R Fernandes handed over the charge of the President to Alwyn Quadros and Jacintha Colaco handed over the post of Secretary to Maxim D’Souza.
In their speech, both Valerian and Jacintha thanked all members for their full co-operation during the last 2 years and assured their support in the years to come. Later, different committees were formed for the year 2018-19 and the list of Co-Opted members was approved in the meeting.
The programme and sessions were compeered by Flyvan D’Souza and Mary D’Souza. Steevan Prakash Lewis and Rosy Quadros expressed their opinions on the programme and expressed their satisfaction for this well organised a Think-Rank programme. Alwyn Quadros thanked everyone for their support. In total, the two-day programme was a successful event to re-energise the Catholic Sabha Udupi Pradesh.