Milagres Parishioners Celebrate PP Fr Valerian D’souza’s 60th Birthday in Grandeur
Mangaluru: Every week, Father Valerian S D’Souza-the Parish Priest of Milagres Church-Mangaluru celebrates other people’s lives. From baptisms and weddings to funerals, he looks after families at important moments. But as he turned 60 on 22 March 2017, parishioners at Milagres Church were celebrating for him. A few hundred people gathered at the Church and also in the church hall for an evening of felicitations, cultural programme, music, and food. Since March 22 fell under Lent season, as they say, “Better Late Than Never”, Parishioner of Milagres Church-Mangaluru-John B Monteiro, the convener of the Jubilee, along with the Parish Clergy, members of Parish Pastoral Council helped organize this glamorous birthday party, on Sunday, 30 April 2017. Most of the guests were faithful churchgoers of Milagres – but some had come from much further afield, including Fr Valerian’s family members.
“The priesthood is the love of…..Jesus,” said John Vianney, the 19th-century French priest who is now the patron saint of Catholic clergy. This ideal to lovingly serve the faith community, is the central focus of the Church’s ordained ministry, according to the catechism. For Catholic Christians, priests are mentors, teachers, and friends who celebrate both the ordinary and special events in their lives. Therefore, it is important to find the right priest to share these moments with you – and for that matter, Fr Denzil Lobo is the right example.” The Son of Man comes not to be served, but to serve,” Jesus said, and, after washing their feet, told his disciples to do what he did. Serving people is what Jesus did, and doing what Jesus did is a privilege – and that’s what Fr Valerian D’Souza has been doing since his ordination.
If parish priests were simply program managers or Church care takers, this transition might be simple. But of course, they are not. A priest is a shepherd to the sheep, consolation to the grieving, beloved parent to a congregation’s children, theological instructor to the curious, liturgical leader, and pastor of the tight and holy community that is the parish. The departure of one Parish Priest is wrenching; installation of another is rejuvenating, and to go from the depth of one to the height of the other requires a process.
Transition, including its Search component, is an exciting and blessed process. It is an opportunity for the Spirit to be present in unique ways. It is an opportunity to see through new eyes, decide with a free mind, re-write the future without constraints. It is challenging and time-consuming, but it is an investment well worthwhile. It is frequently described as one of the most intensely gratifying ministries in the Church/Chapel., and I think the Bishop and the Mangaluru Catholic Diocese has picked the right person to be at the helm as various posts that Fr Valerian held- and he did show his capacities and governance of each post that he was assigned- like priest in charge at St Sebastian Church-Bendore; at St. Antony’s Ashram, Secretary to Bishop of Mangaluru, Administrator at Fr. Muller Hospital-Mangaluru, and Founder Director of St. Joseph Engineering College, Vamanjoor; and later he took over as the Parish Priest of Milagres Church,Mangaluru
Today the Catholic faithful expect their priest to be a dynamic preacher, impressive celebrant, effective healer, sensitive listener, able administrator, friendly person, dedicated caretaker of the Church/Chapel and institution, sounding board and even, sometimes a punching bag – Fr Valerian has all these abilities and has kept his promises to serve as a good, God-fearing priest. The clergy, the faithful, the well-wishers and the parishioners of Milagres Church, and other institutions that he served, should be very grateful to Fr Valerian for his loyalty to the institutions/churches, his wonderful gentleness and humor, his smile and friendliness and for the wonderful things he has done for the Catholic Community and so many people.
Fr Valerian is truly is an inspiration to many people, young and old, in his daily interaction with them. The inspiration one gets from a humble person’s declaration of humanness and frailty is taken from the Scripture’s words: ” Man does not live on bread alone but by the words of God.” Fr Valerian is a terrific man to know both personally and professionally. He never ceases to amaze anyone with his knowledge, but mostly his humility. His love for the Church and Holy Eucharist is evident by the way he reverently says Mass, and he is an intelligent priest who delivers excellent homilies. He’s very, very well-loved. He’s different. He’s got an openness and a natural way of talking to people.Born on 22 March 1957, At Aladangady, Belthangady Tq, he has done B.A, PGDCA. B.Th; and was ordained priest on 19 April 1983. His hobbies include-Reading, Visiting the sick, Motivating/counseling the Children, Youth, and Elders, to be available to the distressed; and his vision is to become a good human person and to share the goodness with others, to build a society of love, Peace and Joy.
As the common phrase goes,” Smile and the world will smile with you”, Fr Valerian’s smile lights up his face and all those around him. An intelligent man with great personality, Fr Valerian is also kind and gentle, cheerful and smiling, loving and caring; and he also represents humility and has a way of making his acquaintances feel equally important. People and students are attracted to him because he is kind, soft-spoken, gentle and friendly. He is calm, listens more-talks less. He’s an example to young people coming into the ministry and he sets an example to other people about how they should lead their lives. He lives a good life and he lives a life for others. He’s very self-effacing – he doesn’t garner the trappings of consumerism. He has a lot of energy and he doesn’t sit quite.
With the introduction of the Jubilee done by compere Lavina Monteiro, the programme began with a prayer song by the parish children led by Nancy Menezes. A welcome dance choreographed by Ms Doris Lobo mesmerized the audience, followed by welcome address by Jubilee convener John B Monteiro. To mark the 60th birthday of Fr Valerian D’Souza, a beautifully crafted cake was cut by the ‘Birthday-Boy” joined by other dignitaries on the dais namely- chief guest of the occasion-Albert D’Souza- Chairman, Aldel Education Trust, and Model Co-Op Bank-Mumbai; Fr Anil Lobo- asst. Parish Priest, Milagres Church; Fr Michael Santhumayor- Principal, Milagres College/Administrator; Fr Anil Alfred D’Souza, Fr Willaim Gonsalves, and Fr G W Vas- all three Resident Priests; Ivan D’Souza- Vice President-Parish Pastoral Council; John Monteiro- Convener of Jubilee celebration; Ivan Fernandes- Secretary, PPC; and Savil Mascarenhas-Jubilee Secretary.
Fr Valerian was felicitated by the Bishop, and also on the occasion, Fr William D’Souza was felicitated for his enormous service to the Catholic church. Addressing the gathering chief guest Albert D’Souza- a close friend d of Fr Valerian spoke a few good words of wisdom where he said, ” Fr Valerian out of his 60 years, has sacrificed nearly 35 years towards the catholic community through his various services. All his priesthood life, he has dedicated to others. He is a very calm and simple person, he listens more but replies less, is a quick learner, ever smiling and always gives respect to others. He looks like a man of 30, with 30 years of rich experience in various fields. He is a man whom other young priests should follow in his footsteps, in serving the Lord and the Catholic community”.
Bishop Rev Fr Aloysius D’Souza addressing the gathering said, ” Throughout his priesthood life Fr Valerian has dedicated his life for others. Wherever he served as parish priest or held other designations, he has done his job right and has pleased everyone. Whatever good you do, you should do it better than others who have done it- and for that matter, Fr Valerian has gone beyond his limits in doing great things for the Catholic community and the faithful. It’s indeed nice of the parishioners to arrange a felicitation and celebrations to mark Fr Valerian’s 60th birthday. Look back and thank God. Look forward and trust God. He closes doors no one can open and He opens doors no one can close.”
In response to all the good words spoken about him, Fr Valerian responded by expressing his heartfelt thanks to his family members, the clergy, his well-wishers, parishioners, PPC members, relatives and friends for this a great day for him, and hes aid that he always believed in Mother Mary and all his success in life was due to his strong belief in Mother Mary, and continues to trust in her. The release of the souvenir was done by the Bishop, while the vote of thanks was proposed by Ivan Fernandes. Ivan D’souza read the citation of Fr Valerian prior to the felicitation. Fr Anil Lobo said the grace before meals, and the formal function ended with a baila medley by Jude and Sylvia- and music by Savil, Joel and Team.
“It’s your faith that will make you to stay strong but it’s your birthdays that make you old. So on this 60th birthday of yours, We pray that your faith in God will grow even stronger, happy birthday, Fr Valerian D’souza- Best wishes from Team Mangalorean
Fr. Valerian Shines at Shashti Poorthi
by Fr G W Vas- Resident Priest, Milagres Church
It is often said that life begins at sixty years. The reason being a person who understands what life is, lives to the fullest extent exploiting one’s latent talents to enrich oneself and others and gaining sufficient knowledge and experience of men and matters to live a better life for the rest of one’s life. This could be applied to Fr. Valerian D’Souza, the Pastor, Milagres Church who completed his precious sixty years on 22nd March 2017. This time being the Lenten season, the members of Parish Pastoral Parishad and the Parishioners of Milagres Church along with the Clergy and Religious, decided to celebrate this memorable event in a befitting manner on 30th April 2017 to greet him on his Diamond Birthday.
Born in a God-fearing and humble catholic family, he grew up with sound Spiritual and moral values under the guidance of his devout parents and other family members. On completion of his High School Education, he responded to the call of God to be a priest of God, to spend his entire life, which he considered a gift of God to be spent for God and humanity. He began his priestly ministry with love and joy. surrendering himself in the hands of Jesus, his Master. From the beginning, he resolved to be committed to the mission of building community. Though a weak human instrument as he was, he became an effective and shining instrument in the hands of God, for His glory and the service of the people. Therefore we could say, that Fr. Valerian is shining at age of sixty years in Vineyard of the Lord.
He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Mangaluru on 19.04.1983 and has already completed thirty-four years of fruitful ministry. During this tenure of priestly ministry, he has occupied a number of posts in the diocese, some of them are of great importance such as Founder Director of St. Joseph Engineering College and the Parish priest of Milagres Church. To whatever office he was assigned, he fulfilled his responsibilities and duties faithfully and fruitfully. While performing his priestly ministry, either administrative in an Institution or Pastoral in a Parish, he lived a servant spirituality of his Master Jesus, always available to people, under his care. Therefore he is appreciated by people who benefited from his services.
Father Valerian is a man for others, especially the poor. His Pastoral charity is very much focused towards the miserable, flight of poor, needy and sick. He is of the mind of Pope Francis who says “if all people are God given gifts to us, then the poor are special gifts”. Throughout of his priestly ministry, he was compassionate towards the poor and the needy by being kind, sympathetic and generous towards them in their needs. The sick were his beneficiaries. Whenever he found the little time he visited them in their houses or in the hospital, consoled them and met their spiritual and material needs.
Fr. Valerian D’Souza is a ‘Pastor Bonus’ to Milagres Parishioners. He considers himself as the member of Parish family. There is a close and humane relationship between the Parish Priest and Parishioners. Working for their spiritual and social well being is his joy and happiness. To this end various activities are organized to build the Parish into a spirit filled community after the model of early Christians who were of one mind and one heart.
Therefore, let us come together to thank God for the person of Fr. Valerian the Pastor of Milagres Church and greet him on his Diamond Birthday. Let us pray that God may grant him good health and peace of mind for the rest of his life and Our Lady of Miracles intercede for him and keep him under her maternal mantle. “ Ad Multos Annos”.