MANOHARABAD: 17th February 2005 -- Sometimes confreres send in comments about their work or community, usually saying that they have been prompted to do so because they like reading about other people and places in the Salesian world as represented in the reports from austraLasia.  Certainly that is the view of the Sacred Heart Novitiate for the Hyderabad (and Chennai) province.

    The novitiate, our correspondent tells us, is isolated in that while there are two other novitiates of Sisters nearby, between the lot of them, they make up the only Catholics for miles around!

    The Sacred Heart novitiate has 12 novices, 5 of whom belong to Chennai province.  The oldest member is 83 (not a novice!) and the youngest 22.  There are four members of staff including the Rector/novice master Fr Sebastian KM (who is not the 83 year old either, in case you are wondering).

    So what do novices do for pastoral work when there are no Catholic children nearby? The same as they would do if there were Catholic children nearby!  They go amongst whomsoever they find.  Sundays sees them out in the Sunday oratories in 9 nearby villages. 

    Christmas saw a combined novitiates effort for local youngsters, and they brought together 700 of them, none of whom were Catholics but all of whom were keen to celebrate Christmas with their Religious hosts; an hour and a half of Christmas songs, skits and dances.  And every child received a small gift and a snack packet.

    Buoyed by their Christmas success, SH Novitiate decided to go all-out for Don Bosco's Feastday.  On the 30th they began by gathering village elders, school principals, and a range of staff from local government departments like electricity, post and telecommunications.  This was a dinner with entertainment (by the novices, of course).

    On the 31st they invited not just the nearby novitiates but two other novitiates from the archdiocese, and local Religious.  Mass, lunch for local Religious, then cultural programmes and dinner for the four novitiates.  This time all the other novitiates offered the entertainment.

    It sounds like this novitiate is quite some place, especially if being a vibrant part of the local neighbourhood is one criterion to go by, and it almost certainly is.

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