Diocese: Lucknow
Pioneers: Sisters Carmelita Monteiro, Lucy Lasrado and Philomena Benedict
A long felt need of the Sisters of the North Mission to own a house of their own in Lucknow, the capital of the State of Uttar Pradesh, was realized in February 1993 when a plot of land was bought in Gaurabagh, thirteen kilometres to the North of the Lucknow railway station. Sr Carmelita Monteiro, the Mission Superior of the North Mission, had a significant role to play in this venture. Having bought the piece of land with the assistance of Fr Oswald Lewis, the Vicar General of Lucknow Diocese, Sr Carmelita along with Sr Lucy Lasrado and Sr Philomena Benedict resided in a rent-free house made available by Mr Peter Fanthome (a Catholic Minister in Parliament representing Anglo Indian community). They settled in the house from July 24 to December 27, 1993.
In the meantime a convent building was raised in the plot; Bishop Albert D’Souza of Lucknow Diocese blessed it on December 30, 1993. A tiny and rather congested house served as the Mission House, Vice Provincial house and then the Provincialate building until June 27, 2005 when a more spacious and more comfortable building was put up during the tenure of Sr Ancilla Pinto, the Provincial Superior. The new structure was meant to be the Province administration block as well as residential block for the Sisters of Jeevan Dhara community. The new structure is designed in a way to make the two structures appear as a single block. In 2012, a second floor was added to the Provincial house in order to accommodate Sisters arriving at Jeevan Dhara for courses, retreats etc. Sr Ancilla, the Provincial Superior left no stone unturned to see to the growth of the Province during her stay in the North Province. The Sisters of the Province are indebted to Br Julian Crasto OFM cap for designing the structure. The building serves as a meeting point for all the major programmes of the Province.
At the insistence of the Central administrative team headed by Sr Edilburga Monteiro the four provinces of the Congregation had established their own novitiates in their respective provinces in early 2000s. The North Province had established its novitiate programme in 20021. However, due to hassles involved in procuring a feasible location, the programme was held in a block of the Jeevan Dhara School at Lucknow. At the completion of the new building, the novitiate programme was shifted to the existing building (first house) in 2005.
Alongside the construction of the residential block, Sr Carmelita had raised a building, meant to be Jeevan Dhara English Medium School. Here too as in the case of Baheri, the chief objective was the financial self-stability of the North Mission. While the building was still in the process of completion, classes were conducted in the convent building. The roll entailed fifty children for kindergarten to class II. Subsequently the children were shifted to the new school building. The school is upgraded in the following years reaching up to class XII currently.
The purpose of the presence of the Sisters in Uttar Pradesh was to ‘evangelize’, which they were to achieve by reaching out to the poor. Being true to this objective, Sr Carmelita initiated a Hindi Medium School in the evening hours of the day for those children who could not afford to meet the demands of an English Medium School. Several children have been benefiting from this project. Currently, the scheme has been shifted to morning hours in order to cope with the acute issue of availability of instructors. Expertise of teachers from the English Medium has been utilized in the Hindi Medium section.
The Diocese of Lucknow has been considerate towards the Sisters, their spiritual needs in particular. Earlier the Sisters walked four kilometres to participate in the Sunday Eucharist in St Fidelis church at Aliganj. Besides, the Catholic population was also growing gradually in Gaurabagh. The Bishop addressed the situation by erecting a parish church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at Gaurabagh on December 1995. Currently, five convents, two province administrative units, three novitiate houses reap the spiritual benefits from the parish church. The Sisters as well as trainees serve the church wholeheartedly. Sisters take up pastoral activities such as cleaning the House of God, preparing liturgy and conducting prayer meetings. They undertake faith formation and leadership training of youth. Sisters also visit families, coach students slow in learning, participate in inter-faith meetings and in celebration of festivals of other religions.
