Malligemane, Bishop's House, Shimoga: 30 August 2023: Meeting of the Directors of the Pastoral Commissioners:
The meeting of the Directors/Secretaries of various Pastoral Commissions of the Diocese was held at the Bishop's House, Shimoga on 30 August 2023 from 9.30 am under the Chairmanship of Most Rev Dr Francis Serrao SJ, the Bishop of Shimoga. The Commission Directors and the Deans were present and actively participated in the meeting.
The meeting was held as part of review and presentation of the report and action plan and to take stock on how the Commissions are functioning in the diocese. The Coordinator of the Pastoral Commissions, Fr Duming Dias, briefed the members about the agenda and requested the directors to present the report objective-wise.
The Directors of Basic Ecclesial Communities, Bible, Catechetics, Ecumenism, Environment, Family, Inter-Religious Dialogue, Justice and Peace, Laity, Health, Pastoral Care of Differently Abled, Social Communication, Social Concerns and Development, Vocation and Formation, Youth, Women and Prison Ministry were present for the meeting. The Vicar General, Rev Felix Joseph Noronha, the Deans of Vianney, Carmel and Holy Family - Fr Ronald Veigas, Fr Stany D'Souza and Fr Richard Anil D'Souza respectively- were also present. The Directors presented their commissions report. After each presentation, there was fruitful discussion on the report presented.
In his concluding remarks the Bishop thanked the directors for their yeoman service to the diocese in spite of their busy schedule/responsibilities in the parishes and institutions. He added saying that the activities must go on and due to paucity of funds no activities should be cut down. He admonished them to present the report as per the objectives of their commissions enshrined in Mission-2025 of the diocese; to attend the Regional and National Meetings of the Commissions and send a copy of the report presented in such fora to the Diocesan Coordinator of the Pastoral Commissions of the Diocese; to network with other commissions; to make their Commissions vibrant; to send report of an activity that was conducted with some photos to him for the website and send at least two circulars in a year to parish priests, mission directors and religious houses.
The Coordinator briefed the directors about the files they need to maintain as part of their responsibility, their roles and responsibilities, the Centre's programmes for the animation of the Parish Pastoral Plan at two stages- Diocesan and Parish, the Deanery Commission Committee Members' Meeting on 23 October 2023 at Sannidhi, and Meeting for the Evaluation-Report-Year Plan for 2024 for the Commission Directors on 17 November 2023 at the Bishop's House, Malligemane, Shimoga.
Earlier, the meeting began with an invocation by Fr Ronald D'Cunha. Fr Duming Dias, Coordinator of the Pastoral Commissions, welcomed the gathering and a special welcome was accorded to the new Directors-Frs Steevan D'Sa, Nelson Pinto OCD, Regi SDB, George Vincent Lobo, Santhosh D'Almeida while Fr Ronald Veigas proposed the vote of thanks. The meeting concluded with the Angelus by Fr Stany D'Souza.
