After a very joyful and fruitful encounter with the Risen Lord at the Easter celebration in the community and in total fidelity to the message of the angel to the women of the Gospel,  the community of Mumbai felt it only fitting that the Easter experience and its message be taken beyond its walls. The destination chosen was not the Galilee of Jesus’ time but the lake side of Hussain Sagar, the lake that unites the twin cities of Secunderabad and Hyderabad, cities known for their history, culture, religiosity, commerce and IT companies.

The two day trip began with a short pilgrimage  to  the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, Secunderabad, followed by the Eucharistic celebration in the community chapel of the Daughters of St Paul. After sharing the Easter message symbolically with a piece of cake and rose wine prepared by the sisters,  we set out for our first day destination Ramoji Film city, the world’s largest integrated film studio complex. Spread over 1600 acres of land studded with hills and lakes, it is India’s filmmakers’ first choice when it comes to making their films. Every facility a filmmaker could ever want can already be found there: 50 studio floors, high-tech laboratories, outdoor locations, greenery, and the wonderful hills and landscapes. Such are its resources that, at any given time, twenty international films and forty Indian films can be made simultaneously in it. The sites tourists can visit include a Japanese garden, an airport terminal, artificial lakes and waterfalls, churches, mosques and temples, palace interiors, and a winding highway, among others.

On the second day, the Divine Mercy Sunday, we celebrated the Eucharist with the  faithful of St Mary’s Basilica. The day was set aside for a city tour which covered the Charminar, Museum, Golgonda Fort, Necklace road and concluded with a boat ride in the Hussain Sagar lake. The grand finale of our Easter celebration outside our community walls was the friendly get-together-cum-dinner organized by our host Mr Gerard Patrick who had also invited some of his non-Christian friends to join us. The two day community event was concluded on  a note of profound joy and peace by intoning Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia. Indeed it was an unforgettable Easter experience for all of us and whose lovely memories will certainly last for years to come. Yes, The Lord has truly Risen. Alleluia!

One of the responsibilities of the Department of Human Resource (HR) in the Province is the study of the half-yearly Performance Appraisal of all our permanent Professional and Technical Staff prepared by the Directors of our apostolic departments, book centres, and educational institutions.

The purpose of a performance appraisal is to facilitate a very personal interaction between the Director and the Staff of a particular department during which the Director rates/evaluates the performance of the staff during the preceding six months in the various aspects of his/her services such as punctuality, loyalty to the Institute and commitment to the given responsibility, team spirit and creativity, communication and organizational skills, personal integrity and accountability, etc. On the other hand, the staff is asked to give his/her rating of the work environment and the job satisfaction that we provide in our campus. Generally we do the appraisals in the months of March and October. The appraisal forms duly filled and signed by both the Director and the Staff are sent to the office of the HR.

After an initial scrutiny of the forms by the department of HR, the forms are presented at a meeting of the Appraisal Evaluation Committee (AEC) consisting of the DGA, Financial Administrator and HR. The committee will carefully study the ratings done by the Director and the Staff, the suggestions and recommendations regarding salary increment and special incentives for deserving cases, reminders/warnings, if and when needed, to be issued to staff for their poor performance.

In the light of such a study appropriate and relevant decisions will be taken and the same will be communicated to the Directors concerned for immediate implementation. The Department of Human resource has just completed the March appraisals of our staff from our apostolic departments, book centres and educational institutions on 31^st March 2024.

Our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, often exhorted the members of the Pauline Family to be ever sensitive to the ‘signs of the times’ and be relevant and effective in our ministry, no matter what specific form of apostolate we carry out. One of the areas which continues to witness epochal changes is the area of human resources.

The swindling numbers of new vocations and the ageing of our own members continue to place before us new challenges on the path of growth and development of our apostolic activities. Such a situation makes it indispensable that we welcome, insert and integrate lay staff into our apostolic and community structures.

 In the recent times, we have seen increasing numbers of staff joining us in our various activities in the province.  This brings on us a lot of new demands such as a change of mentality and mindset towards our staff, adaptation of our own lifestyle to make the maximum of their services, to select judiciously form and train our staff adequately for our apostolate and communities.

As of today, our staff in the Province  can be broadly categorized into three different groups depending on the nature of the services they render to the apostolate and communities: Professional, Technical and Domestic. The total No. of our staff as on 1^st April 2024 is 233 (167 professional, 20 Technical  and 46 Domestic). This includes 17 professional  and technical staff from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The current figures reveal that we have become heavily dependent on our staff, something which we would never have  imagined 10 or 20 years ago.

The Annual Convocation Ceremony at St Pauls Institute of Communication Education For Women celebrated the achievements of its graduating batch of Third Year Bachelor in Multimedia and Mass Communication (TYBAMMC) and Third Year Bachelor in Vocation in Graphic and Multimedia (TYBVOC) of the Academic Year 2022-23 on Saturday 13 April 2024.

Mr Willibrod George, the Chairman & CEO of St Willibrod group of School, was the chief guest at the event. Fr Alexander Anandam SSP graced the occasion and distributed the degree certificates to the students. The toppers from TYBAMMC and TYBVOC  batches of 2022-23 were given special certificates and awards.

While the esteemed guests and faculty members inspired and guided the next generation leaders, the event culminated in a heartfelt farewell and a call to continue striving for excellence and to make positive impact on life.

ST PAULS MEDIA EDUCATION (SPME), an apostolic initiative of the Society of St Paul in the field of media education, launched its new website and released its programme brochure on 4 April, 2024, on the occasion of the 140^th birthday of Blessed James Alberione.

The event was presided over by Fr Joby Mathew, Provincial Superior, in the presence of a large gathering of Paulines and the staff of Bandra campus. The programmes offered by SPME aim at empowering and equipping people with the essential media knowledge and skills to navigate the media world competently and responsibly.

“I am sure that the new website and brochure will make our activities more visible and easily accessible to the general public,” said Fr (Dr) Sajith Cyriac, Director of SPME, in his introductory words.

Fr Saju George, DGA appreciated the innovative efforts of the department. The new website is quite dynamic and user-friendly and provides detailed information about SPME and its programmes. One can access the new website at the following link: https://stpaulsmediaeducation.com/. The brochure is available to download from the same site.

In compliance with the call of CBCI for a “National Day of Fasting and Prayer for the nation and the Church” on 22 March 2024, the Ranchi St Paul’s community organized nine days of Novena prayers integrated with Holy Mass before the day of the event. The actual day began with the traditional practice of reciting the morning prayer of the Church at 6:00 in the morning followed by the Holy Mass.

Soon after the celebration of the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament was solemnly exposed to the public for the whole day of adoration. Many people came forward in different groups and prayed earnestly for a spiritual discernment of the people to elect a good leader for our country.

The day-long adoration was concluded at 6:00 in the evening with a Way of the Cross and Holy Mass presided over by Fr Francis Dalmet. In his homily, he urged the people, “You are the agent of change.  Your vote has the potential to make a significant difference. You can vote for a better and new government if you are displeased with the current one. If people do not vote, the same party will be in power for another five years. The responsibility lies on every individual. Therefore, let us continue to pray that God’s will may be done.”