Diocese: Gulbarga
Pioneers: Sisters Evelyn Pinto, Grace Alvares and Janet D’Souza
The ‘Bidar Mission’ in the district of Bidar consisting of five talukas – Bidar, Basavakalyan, Bhalki Humanabad and Auarad has been a dream child of Bishop Basil S D’Souza of Mangalore Diocese. His striving to plan, to establish, and to build it in person ought to be written in red letters. He had integrated it into the Diocese of Mangalore following a request from Archbishop, Samineni Arulappa of Hyderabad. Factors such as long distance, language barriers, and lack of personnel had restricted the Archbishop’s visit to the believers at Bidar twice a year only, for Easter and Christmas celebration. At the time of adopting the Bidar Mission, Bishop Basil appointed Fr Robert Michael Miranda as the overseer of the Mission. Subsequently several women religious of various congregations established their houses in the Mission at the invitation of Bishop Basil S D’Souza. The Ursuline Franciscan Sisters constituted one of the nine women religious congregations working in Bidar.
The Bidar Mission became a part of the Gulbarga Diocese since June 24, 2005, day of erection of the new diocese. Fr Robert Miranda, ordained bishop on August 18, 2005, was the first bishop of the new diocese. The Diocese of Gulbarga has been established for the Catholics of the then three civil districts of Karnataka State, namely, Bidar, Gulbarga and Bijapur1. With the bifurcation of Gulbarga in 2001, Yadgir has been the fourth district of the diocese. The newly formed diocese has a Catholic population of only 6,500. The diocese maintains the legacy of being a diocese ‘of the poor and for the poor’.
‘Being a diocese of the poor and for the poor’ is a loaded statement. In order to understand this, a bird’s-eye view of the socio-cultural and economic setting of Bidar is in order. The district of Bidar is the northernmost of the districts of North Karantaka. The saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ applies to a great extent to the district. Being located 692 kilometres north of Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka, Bidar is neglected in all aspects by the State Government, which has been a cause of its dismal condition. In addition its inherent drawbacks such as its location as a border of two States, namely, Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh, its multi-lingual (Kannada, Marati, Telugu and Hindi) reality, its disadvantages resulting from illiteracy and superstitious beliefs render it liable to pulls from every angle, ethnic being the key factor of them all. Moreover extreme climate of Bidar in summer and in winter acts as a disincentive for habitation. Agriculture is the main occupation of the region; however it is seasonal. Scanty rainfall drives people to migration outside the district and even outside the State. Migrants often become carriers of communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. People are daily wage earners, which is sometimes no more than Rs 20/- a day.
The Hindus are the majority of the area – 78%. 50% of them belong to scheduled castes and tribes. The caste system is a hallmark of society. Lingayats and Marathas dominate and subjugate the other castes. People are religious-minded; as a norm every feast is celebrated by people, and pilgrimages to religious places are undertaken in spite of all their meagre earnings. It is believed that these are means to appease their god/goddess. Religious celebrations are marked by various folk songs and folk dances. The district has been once an abode of royal dynasties such as Kalyans, Brahmins and Nizams. It is also the birth place of Sharana movement led by the great reformer Basava in the twelfth century. By and large the people of Bidar are peace- loving.
In a place enhanced by a rich historical background, rich religious heritage, a dynamic culture vis-a-vis the ills of caste, poverty, superstitious beliefs..., the Ursuline Franciscan Sisters started their mission on May 29, 1998. They arrived at Kaudiyal2, a tiny village in the Basavakalyan taluk; it is one of the 117 villages of Bidar district and from most points of view insignificant. Sisters Evelyn Pinto, Grace Alvares and Janet D’Souza were pioneers in the mission; they arrived there having no inkling of what they were in for. They were greeted with the scorching summer heat when they landed in the place at midday. However, they were soothed with the hospitality they received from Fr Baptist Menezes, Director of Prarthanalaya (abode of Prayer, which simply meant Prayer Centre) at Bidar. They resided at the parochial house until they moved to their house offered by the Mission. Their abode, Chaitanya, meaning vitality, the twenty-seventh community of the Mangalore Province, was born on June 2, 1998.
The Sisters assumed their mission immediately. The initial days proved trying as people were wary of Christians due to allegations of converting the naive to Christianity. They began with visiting families of people belonging to lower strata of society, forming SHGs (Self-Help-Group) of women and imparting non-formal education to children, particularly, dropouts from school. They also visited the schools in the vicinity, made a careful study of the performance of children, and motivated the slow-learners to come to the convent for coaching classes. They integrated extracurricular activities like dance, sports, and singing in the coaching sessions. Besides, they created awareness regarding self-hygiene, cleanliness of their houses and surroundings.
They were able to gain confidence of the people due to their philanthropic works. Eventually the people accepted them as their own; they also conscientized them with questions related to their way of life, their service, motive for their free service, their financial source etc. People requested them to attend to their illnesses. Bishop Basil S D’Souza encouraged the proposal. Sr Grace Alvares started treating the sick with herbal medicine. They started a dispensary in 2001. Sr Helen Monteiro, a trained nurse who joined the community later was able to help the people in their physical and mental health through the medical centre. The Sisters shared in the vision of Bishop Basil S D’Souza. He had envisioned starting a prayer centre or Prarthanalaya at
Kaudiyal. That was in 1996. It must be noted that no Catholic population existed at Kaudiyal village or in its vicinity. One could count only a few Christians belonging to the Methodist denomination. While these used the centre regularly for prayer, a few others too joined them to pray there. The mission teams of Bidar as well as of Gulbarga use the Centre for rest, for prayer and for recollection. Prarthanalaya was later rechristened Christashram; it adopted three ways to proclaim the Good News
of salvation taught by Jesus Christ, namely prayer for the people, dialogue with the people of other faiths, and liberative activities for the people around the place. In evangelizing, they employed down-to-earth and popular methods of prayer of the region such as chanting the Keertans and Bhajans. The Sisters involved themselves in preaching the Word of God, during which they prayed over the sick. They also preached retreats at the Centre. The number of people coming to the Centre increased day by day.
The Sisters were also involved actively in other activities related to evangelization. They were : preparing the Sunday liturgy and getting the people for the reception of the sacraments. They preached the Word of God during retreats and conducted the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Kaudiyal and in other villages. On Fridays, they observed fast, conducted Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and counselled people arriving at the Centre. The Bidar Mission has a tradition of performing an annual Jathra or pilgrimage to Infant Jesus Shrine at Bhalki, in Bhalki taluka during the second week of November. The pilgrimage is an occasion to thank God for good harvest, to pray and to accomplish the vows taken. Gradually the pilgrimage has turned out to be a diocesan event. Sisters participate in this event by joining people in the pilgrimage by singing Keertans and Rosary, preparing liturgy, installing a stall of religious articles, praying over the sick, and preparing people for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The event has been truly an occasion for the Sisters to witness Christ by identifying with people; it is also a means to profess publicly the Christian faith of believers.
As the Sisters had succeeded in establishing good rapport with the people, and the children in particular, they started children’s groups. They coached them for their studies regularly for which the number of students used to be more than one hundred. They visited their families and in the process obtained proficiency in local language, their dialects in particular. Various recreational and other activities conducted in the Centre enabled the people to build an affinity with the Sisters. The children are guided to put up cultural programmes on feasts and public days like Christmas, Independence Day, Republic day, Diwali and other national programmes.
ORBIT, a diocesan organization for Bidar Integral Transformation, functions in all the centres of Bidar Mission, with its head office at Humanabad. Focusing on developmental activities, it adopts different projects, programmes, and schemes from the Government as well as from other donor agencies. The Sisters collaborate with the ORBIT in Bidar. One teacher takes up Vidya Vikas programme arranged by the ORBIT. As a regular teacher in the school, she coaches children both in the morning and evening. The Sisters guide and accompany her in family visits, in conducting meetings and in monthly evaluation of the programme. The Self-Help-Groups initiated by the Sisters are linked to the bank for further help. The incentives and initiatives provided for women have caused an increase of Self-Help- Groups in different villages of Basavakalyan. Women are offered information on different issues related to their rights and duties and self-hygiene. They also make available government loan to women and enable them to contest in local civic body elections.
The Sisters had carried out a unique mission at Kaudiayal under the ORBIT the NGO, namely working for HIV/AIDS prevention. ‘Sneha’, a preventive measure of HIV/AIDS, supported by CRS from Hyderabad is initiated in six panchayats of Basavakalyan taluka. The programme is both useful and
essential because a sizeable number of populations of Bidar have been affected by the disease due to migration to other places in search of employment. Sr Helen Monteiro coordinated the work with assistance from eight supportive staff. They conscientized the SHGs, the youth, and members of the panchayat Raj (local civic body), schools and colleges, roadside hotels and truck drivers, school teachers, the migrating population, police personnel, Anganwadi teachers, ANMs and in moving buses in two talukas. They also attended meetings regularly arranged by the CRS agency. As alternative methods, they held various competitions in schools on the disease. On World AIDS Day, they conducted programs at the panchayat and district level. The programme created awareness as a whole in the district of Bidar. Initial oppositions have given way to cooperation and collaboration from leaders at various areas and levels in society. A remarkable and substantial outcome of the Sneha programme was the establishment of a care centre for HIV/AIDS in the district. The centre is financed by the NACO guided by the KHPT. The ORBIT of the diocese monitors and supports all such activities. It was provided with a ten-bed support by the NACO and fourteen-bed support by the centre itself. Sr Helen Monteiro who along with the staff in coordinating the programme, attended to the clients, monitored their progress, and maintained documents of the centre. Families of clients were visited, awareness was being created in them, and they were counselled to lead a calm life. Besides, they held and monitored income generating programmes, conducted meetings every month, and enabled them to attend meetings organized by the District AIDS Control Officer.
When Sr Helen Monteiro withdrew, Sr Meena Monica was appointed in her place at Community Care Centre on June 1, 2011. Sneha project of CRS, Hyderabad is continued and presently supported by KROSS. Sr Meena Monica was the resource person for the Sneha project for two years – from September 5, 2011 to 2013. The Centre organized blood donation camp and 108 persons donated blood which came to be used for the needy HIV patients. Sr Meena Monica attended ART and District AIDS prevention and control unit meetings regularly every month. The Community Care Centre was the Central Government project which was closed by the Government on March 31, 2013. This was the only centre that existed in the whole of Bidar District. It treated totally 1058 patients.
In 2000, the Sisters bought 1.03-acre land near the church and got it registered. A convent building was erected in the plot; it was inaugurated by Sr Doreen D’Souza and blessed by Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Bishop of Mangalore on March 13, 2002. The district of Bidar is generally called the Land of Patience because of its sluggish progress. The Sisters consider themselves fortunate to be able to live and work in the district, while giving the best to the people – the knowledge and compassionate love of Jesus Christ and bringing the best out of them – their latent determination to love Jesus Christ. They look forward to having more volunteers in the region who can transform risks into challenges in proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
