The annual Juniorate Staff meeting of the South Asian Jesuit Conference was held from Sept 19 to 21 at Vinayalaya in Mumbai. Twelve participants were present.

The newly appointed CSIF, Fr Somy Mannoor, unfortunately could not be present. On the first morning at the inaugural Eucharist, Fr Anil Pereira, the Provincial of the Bombay Province, invited the Juniorate Staff to be not only teachers, guides, and mentors but to be formators – to instruct, intervene, inspire and be role models.

At the first session there was an input on Empowering the Juniors in their Holistic Growth by Dr Nirmala Almeida, a renowned psychologist and Human Development expert. The input was interactive, very informative and interesting. It opened the eyes of the participants to a lot of issues and areas of intervention.

The second day was dedicated to sharing the activities in each of the Juniorates by the respective Deans. Each sharing was followed by questions, clarifications and suggestions.

On the third morning there was a sharing of the common concerns of the Staff and the difficulties they face in their situation. At the end a list of concerns and suggestions was drawn up to be presented to the CSIF for further action. The participants also had a business session wherein they planned the upcoming activities (examination dates, dates for the Conference level competitions, place and dates for the next Juniorate staff meeting, etc). The meeting, which included evening outings, ended with a thanksgiving Eucharist.

The entire meeting was very meticulously planned and the logistics were superb thanks to Fr Learoy Rodrigues, the Dean of the Bombay Juniorate, and the Jesuit community. Everybody was very appreciative of all the facilities and the way the meeting was conducted.

– Vincent Saldanha, SJ (GUJ)