The Parish of Our Lady & St Philip Neri, Gateshead and the Parish of Sacred Heart, Byermoor

Month: October 2012

  • Fr. Jeff’s India Blog – Week 3

    Fr. Jeff’s India Blog – Week 3

    Balamma Satram Home for the Needy, South India
    7th September – 10th October, 2012

    Trying to cope with extreme heat is difficult for a healthy person to survive in this area of South India, but for someone who is only hours from death it is an
    enormous struggle. On Friday night, Nirmalah, the sick old man that I spoke about last week was very close to death. He could hardly breathe. As I prayed
    over this man, Mary tried to help him by cooling his body and also giving moisture to his lips as they were sticking together. In his last minutes he died very peacefully. Within thirty minutes Mary and I, along with two of the men carried his body to rest in the chapel overnight. So much care was given to him as we placed him directly in front of the tabernacle and lit candles of jasmine and sandalwood. The smell was heavenly.
    The following morning after breakfast Mary collected all she needed to wash the body and to prepare Nirmalah for his funeral Mass. This is the first time that I had helped to prepare a dead body. Mary took this in her stride as she had done this before on previous visits. As she said, “It is a privilege to do this and to realise that the soul of Nirmalah had now journeyed to meet God face to face!” Everyone in the village attended the funeral and afterwards Mary and I helped to carry the body to the grave that is on our land. There he was laid to rest with great dignity in the hard parched ground.

    In the afternoon one of the eldest sponsored girls came back to see us. She told us that she had received her Diploma in Nursing and was working in a neighbouring village Primary Health Centre five days a week. This news really gave us a boost to know that our sponsorship programme is bearing fruit in helping others.

    Sunday morning was spent very quietly and then we had a concelebrated Mass with the congregation once again being made up of Catholics, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. After lunch, I spent a great deal of time with a co-sponsored child called Sreekanth. We finalised his placement on the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree course at the Tirupati University. In September 2005, I met this young shepherd boy who was without any education and now in 2012, he has achieved high grades in his ‘A’ Levels. These results give us all a great buzz of satisfaction knowing that our efforts are not in vain.

    On Monday we travelled by train to Chennai on the final part of our journey in
    India. Even as we left the village we were not sure that the trains would be running. Early in my journals I have spoken about the lack of constant electricity in the rural villages. This had impacted on the reliability of the trains as necessary repair work had been delayed. For ten days there were no trains running through Kadapa, however, when we needed the train God was by our side as our train was the first train to run and was only one hour late. Even on the train we felt God’s presence helping us in a difficult situation. Originally the only seating births we could get were on the top tier. However, the couple below us got out at the next station, which is very unusual for the train to stop at a local junction. We were then able to have their places for the seven-hour journey. In Chennai I took the chance to have a proper shower before travelling to the airport – England here we come!

    If I could sum up this fifth visit to India I can honestly say that the rural people are suffering more than ever. Even the richer people are not able to freely grow their crops due to the lack of rainwater. The area surrounding the Home for the Needy has been without rains for two years now and there is no real chance of rain before April or May 2013. The whole diocese of Kadapa is suffering also through the lack of foreign aid due to the world recession. The Bishop is therefore unable to sanction many necessary pastoral programmes. This is why Fr Sarves, through our giving, has taken on projects like the young
    women’s empowerment programme, which is delivered by the village Sisters. The elderly in our care are well looked after as they receive shelter, food and are kept in a clean safe environment. The children continue to grow in confidence. They are working hard at school to equip themselves with the necessary skills that will help them to become self-sufficient in the future.

    This Indian project has helped me to realise that we all have a responsibility to
    share what we have to help care for the most vulnerable and needy in our world today. We do this in many ways but especially through our constant prayers for others and our financial assistance. For Jesus said, “When I was in need you came to my help.”

    I take inspiration from the life and words expressed by Blessed
    Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997).

    ‘Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only
    today. Let us begin.’

    ‘It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.’

    ‘A life not lived for others is not a life.’

    For further details about this project in South India and ways you might like to
    help, please contact:-

    Fr Jeff. Email: stmarysphilip@aol.com or

    Mrs Mary Skaag. Tel. (02476) 336345 Email: maryskaag19@hotmail.co.uk
    Address: 6, Fivefield Road, Coventry. CV7 8JE.

  • Fr. Jeff’s India Journal – Week 2

    Fr. Jeff’s India Journal – Week 2

    Balamma Satram Home for the Needy, South India
    29th September – 7thOctober, 2012
    As Mary Skaag and I have travelled around the surrounding area within a fifty mile radius of the village, we have realised that the poverty of the area is becoming greater due to the lack of rain. This is my fifth visit here and I have not experienced anything like this before. Everything is so extreme, there are fewer crops growing in the fields due to the lack of water and the bone dry soil is compact and hard. With these conditions in mind, every Holy Mass I celebrate I always include a prayer for rain and a more positive outlook for these people.
    Saturday 29th September. Today some of the sponsored children were brought home to the village to meet us. These are our youngest children who came to write letters for their sponsors back in the North East of England and in the Coventry area. They were delighted to be with us and expressed their gratitude to us through their enthusiastic smiles and hugs. After this we went to Kadapa to visit St Joseph’s Girl’s College where three of our girls are studying. We had to wait until the classes were over and then we were over-run by four hundred girls running to meet us. Our girls took us to the laboratory where they were dissecting snakes and then the teacher gave me a quick lesson on the lifecycle of the mosquito which causes malaria. We then visited the Bishop of the diocese. He made us feel very welcome and spoke openly about the great difficulties in the diocese due to the on-going poverty of the people and their fight against the political system that makes no proper provision for electricity in the rural areas. The Bishop spoke very highly of Fr Sarves complementing him on his great mission and zeal in his work with the poor. He also spoke about his own involvement with the new Telegu translation of the Altar Missal and also his programmes that he has suggested for his priests and people in the coming ‘Year of Faith.’ Catholicism in the diocese is very devotional and reminded me what it must have been like in England some forty to fifty years ago when we had many processions, novenas and parish retreats.
    Sunday 30th. This morning was spent quietly supporting an old man in the village who was so ill we thought he was dying. He was moved into a more open area so that he would have a little more fresh air. At midday we had Sunday Mass which was followed by the usual lunch of rice and curry. After a short rest we then went to one of the other schools to visit more of our children. This particular school is run by an order of Sisters who also have a small field hospital on the campus. Here we met an Indian doctor who had studied in America and who was now doing a one year placement in rural India. On each of her visits to India, Mary has suffered from a foot infection due to mosquito bites which has proved difficult to treat. This particular doctor was asked by Rev Mother to look at Mary’s foot and instantly he prescribed intravenous medication through a cannula in her hand. This treatment is very painful but over the next three days her foot became better and was healed.
    Monday 1st October. Today we celebrated the feast of St Theresa of the Child Jesus. Before the Mass, Fr Sarves explained the life of St Theresa and her concern for the poor. The Mass is always a joint celebration in both English and Telegu. Although the people do not speak English they still enjoy and participate fully whether it is Fr Sarves speaking or myself. It really is a celebration of the Body of Christ – Fr Sarves an Indian priest, me an English white priest and a joint congregation of Catholics, Hindus and Muslins. After Mass we were off again to visit more schools where our children are placed. In the town of Badvel where the school is situated, we called on the parish priest who had recently returned from studies at the Gregorium College in Rome. He had gained a Licence in Mass Communications (radio and television). Mary picked up on this and asked him if he would help to produce a documentary about the project work we are doing in one of the poorest parts of India. On our return to the village we though it might rain heavy but only a few drops eventually fell. This then gave rise to a hot wind with a great humidity. This type of weather quickly saps the energy out of everyone especially the elderly and the sick.
    Tuesday 2nd.  Once again we had morning Mass at 7.30am and then travelled to Kadapa where Mary had to fill out her Indian visa registration papers with the Superintendent of Police. I was surprised by the inefficiency of the police procedures. However, we were treated well. In India, Christianity is a minority religion and therefore treated somewhat with suspicion by the Police and so we have always to be careful that we do not give the impression of actively promoting the Catholic Faith. This visit to the Police Station took most of the day and after a meal at Bishop’s House we travelled back to the village. As usual I went to bed under my mosquito net, thinking and praying for all the people back at home who help to make the work of this home for the needy possible.
    Wednesday 3rd.  At morning Mass Fr Sarves prayed particularly for rain and for the survival of the area without water. After breakfast, Sr Justina came to give Mary her intravenous medication. These nursing Sisters are very much part of our work at the village and minister to the sick every day. All medical care is done out in the open with a big effort being made to try and make sure the treatment area is mosquito free! The old man whom I spoke about is still alive although becoming weaker, but he is given the dignity of preparing for death by the Sisters and the village helpers. Lunch was served at the local Convent and then we met the young girls who are on the Healthcare Course which our charity supports through financial aid. This course is designed to help the young girls prepare themselves to look after a family and home in the future. They also learn tailoring skills which will hopefully help them to make a living.
    Thursday 4th. Today we returned to the town of Kadapa to collect Mary’s registration documents from the Police Station. After this we then called into the Don Bosco Technical College for needy boys. This Salesian College promotes vocational training for the boys in many aspects of joinery, welding and basic engineering. At the college, Fr Sarves received an update on an order placed for stainless steel beds to be used for our most incontinent patients.
    Over the next few days we will be continuing to care for the elderly people here, complete our school visits and also spend time in prayer asking God to guide us and to place the whole project in His hands. I often recite the prayer of ‘St Michael the Archangel’ each day for our protection and to guide us all to be more open to God’s loving providential care – may the Lord be our help and strength.