Archbishop William D’Souza of Patna has presented a set of five principles or panchsheel to priests and Religious working in Andaman, Bihar and Jharkhand to help them better their life and work.

The Jesuit prelate, chairperson of the regional bishops’ council, was addressing the Nov. 23-26 joint meeting of region’s bishops, priests’ council and the Religious superiors.

He urged the 41 participants, including 11 bishops, to become “like the stars shinning in the sky.” He also asked them to reflect on what it means to be a “servant leader in today’s broken world.”

The meeting in Patna addressed the theme “Let Our Light Shine” with sub themes on priestly call, vocations and missions.

Archbishop D’Souza’s keynote address presented five basic principles a missioner should believe. First, God’s love for a person is greater than the love one has for self; second, the basic goodness of people.

The third principle asks a person to trust that one can overcome evil by good; fourth, to change stumbling blocks into stepping stones and finally, realize that life is short, so try to do good.

Priests in the region organized this year’s meeting following Pope Benedict XVI’s call to observe the Year for Priest. Several talks focused on the priestly vocation.

The sub-theme “our priestly call” is not confined to mere ministerial priesthood but “we are all priests, a priestly nation,” the archbishop said.

Jesuit Fathers Pius Thekemury and Abraham Puthumana, two resource persons, clearly highlighted these themes in their talks, said Father Cajetan Francis, president of regional diocesan priests’ council.

Father Thekemury urged the gathering to start a “Word Bank Account” and “invest in the Word day by day which will give you interest in and out of season.”

He said every incident in life responded in accordance with the Word “will eventually prepare something within your soul,” he said stressing that Word need not come from Bible always.

”All learning is self learning. All teaching is self teaching. Hence, if we do not want, no one can teach us anything,” Father Thekemury said.

Jesuit Father Joy Karayampuram, president of the regional CRI, said the joint meeting brought in “general feeling that we can work together and look for solutions as a group.”

Bishop Alex Dias of Port Blair was felicitated on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his Episcopal ordination.

Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo of Ranchi and three Bishops could not participate in the meeting.

Source: UCAN report By Malini Manjaly

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