BIHAR REGION
Bihar as a separate Ecclesiastical Region was announced in the year 2014. With the Regional Council meeting in the month of November SCCs of BIJHAN was divided into Bihar and Jharkhand- Andaman Regions.
The Bishops of Bihar elected Rt. Rev Sebastian Kallupura, Bishop of Buxar, as the first Chairman of BCC/SCC Bihar, and Fr. Alex Kurisumootil of Muzaffarpur diocese, till now Secretary of BCC/SCC BIJHAN, was asked to continue as Secretary of BCC/SCC Bihar.
Regional Chairman: Most Rev. Sebastian Kallupura (Administrator)
Bishop of Buxar, Bishops House, Nayi Bazar
Buxar P.O. & Dt., – 802 101, Bihar
Mobile No: 7739300936
Email : [email protected] / [email protected]
Regional secretary: Fr. Peter Singarayan (Part time)
Archbishop’s House, Bankipur, Patna – 800004 Bihar
Mobile No: 9934002586
Email : [email protected]
| SL No | Diocese | Name of Secretary | Address | Mobile/Email | Full Time/ Part Time/
Contact Person |
| 1 | Patna | Fr. Peter Singarayan | Archbishop’s House, Bankipur, Patna – 800004 Bihar | 9934002586 | Part time |
| 2 | Muzaffarpur | Fr. Subhash Michael | Bishop’s House
Kalambagh Road Chakkar Chowk Muzaffarpur – 8421001 Bihar
|
7992479085 | Part time |
| 3 | Purnea | Fr. Anil Lugun | Catholic Church
Purnea (P.O. & D.T.) Bihar 854301
|
9430582091 | Part time |
| 4 | Buxar | Sr. Celina Kerketta, SSpS | Sewa Dham/ Bishop’s House Nai Bazar, Buxar P.O. 802101 Bihar
|
9938236328
|
Part time |
| 5 | Bettiah | Fr. Norbert Kujur | Bishop’s House
Bettiah (P.O.) 845438 West Champaran (D.T.) Bihar |
6205921062
|
Part time |
| 6 | Bhagalpur | Sebastian Murmu | CDTC Gunghafa
Poreyahat, Godda (D.T.) 814153 Jharkhand
|
9955911272
|
Part time |
PRESENT STATUS OF SCC IN THE REGION
| Name of the dioceses | No. of parishes | Numer of parishes with SCCs | Number of SCCs | name of the Diocesan Coordinator | Name of the Bishops |
| Bhagalpur | 60 | 43 | 437 | Fr. Masih Tudu | Most Rev. Kurien Valiyakandathil |
| Patna | 30 | 9 | 33 | Fr. Mariamlal | Most Rev. William D’Souza |
| Buxur | 15 | 12 | 27 | Fr. Bhaskar | Most Rev. Sebastian Kallupura |
| Muzaffarpur | 13 | 4 | 19 | Fr. Alex Krisumootil | Most Rev. Cajetan Osta |
| Bettiah | 12 | 2 | 5 | Fr. C.A Moses | Rev. Fr. Lawrence Paschal, SJ |
| Purnea | 14 | – | – | – | Most Rev. Angelus Kujur, SJ |
GOSPEL SHARING DURING ANIMATORS TRAINING PROGRAMME
A Message from Rt. Rev Sebastian Kallupura
Small Christian Communities: The Real Church
To me, Small Christian Communities (SCC) is a clear example of a Eucharistic Community or a tangible Eucharistic Presence/ Trinitarian Presence. As in the case of the Eucharist, the whole process of transformation and finalization is based and rooted in the word of God. It is the word of God that effects a group of people to be transformed into a Trinitarian Presence or Eucharistic Community through reconciliation and acceptance. Again, as in the case of the Eucharist, there is a gift-sharing. Your portion of gift, that is your generosity, becomes the Gift to others. The moment I become a Gift to the other, there is no negative memory of anyone in me. My memory is transformed into love and acceptance. Thus a community is being formed which becomes a sign and agent of a reconciled- life, making sacrifice for the other a way of life.
Since all of us live with a busy time -schedule, and scattered enormously, just as in the case of a Eucharistic celebration that helps us to be focused people, the SCC brings us back to our original humanness to live in our relatedness to all and to be in harmony with all. So the SCC atmosphere becomes a fine situation for its members to take solid decisions in life, to find a way forward in one’s life and mission in a communitarian way.
One thing that is to be kept in mind always for any member of the SCC/ Eucharistic community is that it is not at a ready-made reality. It is a process; it is a process of being the Church or Christian life. There is a pause at times; there is a reflection, discernment, dignity, a rhythm and interiorization and growth at every level.
Our diocese is comparatively a new entity all together. It takes time for us to be a “people”. But placing all our trust in the Lord, we commit ourselves, as a diocese, to forming Eucharistic communities / SCCs.
BIHAR REGIONAL SERVICE TEAM
Fr. Alex Kurisummoottil
REGIONAL AND DIOCESAN COORDINATOR
Muzaffarpur
Fr. Moses Sahayaraj
SCC COORDINATOR
Bettiah Diocese
Sr. Sudha SND,
SCC COORDINATOR
Buxur Diocese
Sr. Christin NST member responsible for Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Media desk came for a short visit so SCCs in the diocese. Bishop Sbastian Kallpura welcomed her warmly and made arrangements with the diocesan Coordinator of the diocese to accompany her to wherever she wanted to go.
Present SCC situation in Buxur Diocese
| Name of the Diocese | No. of Parish | No. of parish with SCC | Total no. of SCC units | Gospel Sharing groups |
| Buxur | 15 | 12 | 27 | 4 |
Most of the SCCs in the diocese started in the year 2010.
SCC IN MASAURHA VILLAGE
Masaurha is a village, 15km away from Durgawati parish of Buxur diocese. 5 years ago, when SCC was started in the parish, there were only five Christian families there. There was a strong feeling of caste and untouchability. When these five families came together for any prayer or meeting, people belonging to other castes made fun of them. But the people kept coming together to listen to the Word of God and for sharing with one another their faith experience. In their meetings, they read the Word of God, reflect on it and then discuss what could be done in the light of the Word of God they heard. As a result the Lord added to their number and they have 18 Christian families now. The untouchability is wiped out. People who never even took water from them now share common meals with them. The whole village, irrespective of caste and creed, shares their joys and sorrows like birth of a new born, death, marriage, success etc. They come together to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.
These were people who wanted the parish or the priest to do everything for them. But now, with the new understanding of ‘shared responsibility’, there is a marked difference in people’s attitude. One of the ladies, called Kumari Kuwar, gave half a khatta (2 and 1/2 decimal) of her land to build a center for the common good of the village. The SCC members contributed money and built a small center where all catholic families gather everyday in the evening for praying together. They sing Kirthans, thank God for the gifts received during the day, read the Bible and share their faith and pray.
Sr. Christin, along with Fr. Bhaskar, went to visit the SCC in Mausarha. Usually the people in the village go to sleep at 8.30 pm. The team was supposed to meet them at 5pm. Due to some unavoidable reasons on the way they reached at 7.45pm with no hope of meeting anyone. But to the surprise of the team, the people (men, Women, youth and children) waited more than two and a half hours singing kirtans and reading the Word of God. The people greeted the team with great joy and love without a word of complaint or demanding to know the reason for their late arrival. The team members were touched by the patience, love and welcome they received in spite of being so late to reach them.
The members of SCCs shared:
“We now can share a common meal sitting together without a sense of caste and creed unlike in earlier times”
“We now come together every day for prayer”
“Church is a community and this community is here where we live”.
“The Word of God guides us”
“Our priests now come here oftener; it was not so before”.
“We are growing in faith”
Bible Procession during the Animators’ training Programme
Fr. Sebastian K, teaching the Animators of SCC how to prepare use low cost media for effective animation
Animators learn to prepare Puppets
Learning to draw Bible stories for animating illiterate SCC members in the villages
Bihar SCC regional council meeting at NavJyoti Niketan, Patna
SCC regional council meeting was held at NavJyoti, Patna from 5th to 7th December 2016. Regional council started by Bible enthronement followed by Holy Eucharist Celebration by the SCC chairman of Bihar region, Rt. Rev Sebastain Kallapura.
After the Eucharistic celebration we had inauguration session by lighting of the lamp & inspiring message given by the chairman. Total 28 participants from 5 dioceses (Muzaffarpur, Patna, Buxar, Bhagalpur & Bettiah) attended the program. We were blessed to have the SCC regional secretary of Madhya Pradesh region, Fr. Thomas Lal Pathil from Sagar diocese as the resource person for this program. He encouraged the participants to have a committed relationship with the Almighty & towards the formation of new SCC groups in the region.
On Second day the main celebrant of Holy Eucharist was Archbishop of Patna, Bihar Rt. Rev. William D’souza. During his message he encouraged the participants his support for the growth of SCC & he thrust the need of SCC in Bihar.
On the final day the main celebrant of Holy Eucharist was Rev. Fr. Mathew Orathel, Vicar General of Muzaffarpur diocese.
In the concluding session the regional coordinator thanked everybody for their active participation & their efforts to bring SCC in the region.
Fr. Alex
SCC Bihar Regional Coordinator
BIHAR REGIONAL RST MEETING
29th March 2017
Bishop’s House, Buxur
Bihar region RST for SCC held its meeting was held on 29th March 2017, in Archbishop House, Buxur. Ten members from 3 dioceses of Bihar Region along with the regional SCC chairman Bishop Sebastian Kallupura attended the meeting. It was their first official meeting. The NST representative for Bihar Region Sr. Christin, Holy Cross was also present in the meeting.
The meeting started with enthronement of the Bible and with Gospel sharing. The SCC Regional Chairman Bishop Sebastian Kallupura presided over the meeting. Father Alex the SCC Regional Coordinator welcomed everyone. After this every one present presented the report of SCC from their respective dioceses and parishes.
The reports say
– that in general SCC situation has improved in the region. There is no opposition in the region from the priests now though not much involvement from the priests.
– SCCs are run mostly as prayer groups.
– Some people take SCC as another association
– Many training programmes are conducted in the region.
– Transfers of interested priests has affected the SCCs growth in the Region.
Challenges faced:
– Lack of time
– Find reconciliation between members in the families and between families in the neighborhood difficult.
– Lack of interest in the Parish priest
– Lack of clear understanding of SCC in the clergy, religious and laity
Success stories:
Bishop Sebastian Kallupura said, “for our people to come together and sit together to share their faith itself is big success story.”
Dharbanga Parish of Muzaffarpur Diocese: Accompanying a family in deep trouble:
A new Christian family that migrated from another place came to Dharbanga Parish of Muzaffarpur diocese a. This family lived in a rented house in Dilwarpur 2 Kilometers away from the parish. The daughter of the family committed suicide. As the family was in deep sorrow and as they were new in a place they were lost not knowing what to do. The house owner too was upset with the incident. The SCC in Dilwarpur took initiative in getting things done like postmortem, legal proceedings, funeral arrangements, settling the matter with the house owner etc.
The SCC in Dilwarpur proved to be a good neigbhour standing by the family in their deep trouble and sorrow in an unknown place.
Buxur Diocese: Itarhi parish
People living close to the parish, had gone away from the parish and have now come back to the Church. Giving was very difficult and was a problem for the people of the Parish. They always wanted to be at the receiving end. In the year of Mercy they took a decision that during the year every SCC family would feed at least one poorest family in the neighborhood irrespective of their faith and cast. It became a movement in the parish. As they themselves were poor, some found it difficult to feed one family. So they fed one person. This giving gave them lots of joy and satisfaction. Now this giving attitude is catching on.
In Durgwati parish one man gave five decimal of his land to build a community center. The community here is a mixed community of different casts, baptized Christians and devotees of Christ who are not baptized. With the contributions and help received they have constructed a community hall for their gathering.
Decisions taken:
1. To form Regional RRT with members from every diocese by June 2017
2. The first training to be conducted for RRT in the month of June 2017 at Navjyoti, Patna.
3. This Team (RRT of Bihar Region) will conduct an SCC training in every diocese by end of October.
4. The name of the RRT member from every diocese will be send to Regional Coordinator within a month.
5. Next meeting of RST will be before BRBC meeting in November 2017
The meeting concluded with a prayer and closing of the Bible. Father Alex the Regional Coordinator thanked everyone present.
Muzaffarpur Diocese
With the view to rejuvenate SCCs in the Diocese conducted a thre day programme for SCC Animators of the diocese. 30 Animators participated in the program. “DIIPA Introductory workshop book” was used for the purpose. Topics like ” why we need SCCs?” ” Four Marks of SCCs” and “Seven step Gospel Sharing” “How to nurture and accompany SCCs” and experience sharing were the main topics of the programme. Sr. Christin was the main resource person. The participants were full of enthusiasm and requested Sr. Christin to visit all the SCCs in the diocese.
TINCONMA PARISH, MUZAFFARPUR DIOCESE
A 2 day SCC programme was conducted to reawaken SCC in the Tinconma parish. 72 participants took part in the programme. Sr. Teresa CSST and Mr. Marcel Baski were the main resource persons. May 14 to 15, 2017
Ararghat Parish
As the follow up of the Diocesan programme conducted 17th and 18th May, 2017, a seminar was conducted revive SCCs in Ararghat Parish. 38 people took part in the programme. Sr. Tresa CSST and Mr. Marcel Baski were the resource persons.
