Ministry:
We
believe that we are called to religious
life to give public witness to
Christ’s life on earth. We proclaim the glory of God and His love to all men
especially to the poor and those who do not have faith, through our word and
deed. We carry out our role in the Ministry in accordance with the Charism of
the Founder.
With
a view to effective service of the Church and of the people of God, the
ministries of the Congregation extend to various fields such as Education
Ministry, Health Ministry, Social work and pastoral work according to the needs
of the time. We carry out our ministries by running schools, hospitals,
dispensaries, technical institutions, free boarding, homes for the aged and
destitute, homes for the abandoned, palliative care center, school for the
mentally handicapped, visiting homes, slums and jails .
Education
Ministry:
One
of the basic aims for founding our congregation was to promote education of the
poor, especially girls irrespective of caste and creed. Following faithfully
the Charism of the founder, our Congregation is typically an educative
community.
Some
of our sisters are teaching in
Diocesan
Colleges
Viz.
Fatima
Mata
National
College
,
Kollam and Bishop Benziger College of Nursing. We teach in corporate management
schools. Among them Vimala Hridaya Higher Secondary School, Pattathanam, Kollam
deserves a special mention for, it is the best school in the district of Kollam
and about five thousand students study in this school. Other schools are St.
Margaret Girls’ High School, Kanjiracode, Kollam, St. Antony’s HSS Kanjiracode,
Nitya Sahaya Mata School Kottiyam, Kollam, St. Michael’s
Vocational
Higher
Secondary School
,
Kumbalam, Kollam and St. Antony’s Secondary School Koivila and
St. Joseph
Secondary School
,
Sakthikulangara, St. Goretti Higher Secondary School, Punalur
and several other elementary schools.
Our
Self management schools in Kerala include Vimala Hridaya ISE School
Pazhayattinkuzhi, Kollam, Lourde Mata Higher Secondary School Kovilthottam
Kollam,
Lourde
Mata
CBSE
School
,
Kovilthottam,
Vimala
Hridaya
High School
,
Viraly,
Trivandrum
and many
elementary schools.
A
good number of sisters teach in our own schools in other states of
India
viz.
at Korba and Charoda in Chattisgarh, Chengum and Santhavasal in Tamil Nadu,
Bethmangala in Karnataka, Veeravasarum in Andhra Pradesh, Banmankhi and Purnea
in Bihar, Bavel in Haryana,
Among them Nirmala Convent English Medium Higher Secondary School, Nirmala
Convent Hindi Medium Higher Secondary School, Nirmala Convent CBSE School,
Korba, Chattigarh, Jyothi Vidyalaya Higher Secondary School, Charoda,
Jyothi Vidyalaya CBSE School Charoda, Chattigarh and Vimala Hridaya CBSE
School, Bavel, Haryana deserve special mention.
Divine
Mercy
School
,
Veeravasarum,
St.
Francis
Academy
, Kala
amb, Himachal Pradesh are parish schools where our sisters render service.
It
is a matter of joy that a few sisters are teaching in Parish schools in the
archdiocese of
Indianapolis
,
Indiana
,
USA
and a
few others are getting ready to teach in schools in the archdiocese.
Where
ever we teach, we help the students to develop themselves into mature and
responsible persons to play well their role in their families, social and
political life. With a sense of responsibility we make efforts to spread the
Spirit of the Gospel in colleges, schools and families through active
participation in the campus ministry.
Health
Ministry:
Many
of our sisters are dedicated to the service of the sick and the suffering.
Loka
Rakshaka
Hospital
is a
Congregational hospital at Thevelakkara, Kollam.
Kristu Jayanthi School of Nursing is also functioning along with the
hospital.
Assisi
Hospital
,
Channapetta, Kollam is another hospital of the Congregation in Kerala.
Auxiliary Nursing and midwifery is also functioning along with this hospital.
Vimalalaya
Hospital
,
Electronic city in Karnataka state,
Jyothi
Hospital
,
Charoda in Chattisgarh state are famous hospitals of our Congregation. Besides,
at Santhavasal and Chengum in Tamil Nadu, Korba in Chattisgarh, Baghela, Purnea
and Banmankhi in
Bihar,
Bavel in Haryana we run dispensaries.
Some
of our sisters are rendering selfless service in other Management hospitals
viz.
Bishop
Benziger
Hospital
at
Kollam
,
India
.
Istituto San Giovanni Di Dio,
Genzani Di Roma
,
Italy
,
St.
Francis
Hospital
at
Indianapolis
in
Indiana
,
USA
,St.
Franziskus Kranken Haus at
Aachen
in
Germany
.
By
our self sacrificing and loving service we try to bear witness to the
sympathetic and merciful love Jesus had for the poor, the sick and the
suffering. We always keep in mind that the sick desire not only physical care
but also moral support, personal attention, kindness and consideration. We
achieve our apostolic aim by our active service as well as by our prayer and
penance. We begin our daily work
only after active participation in Daily Mass, Liturgical hours, Adoration,
Rosary etc.
A
palliative care centre is functioning
adjoining to our hospital at Thevelakkara. It helps to provide
palliative therapy for the critically ill patients specially cancer patients.
It also helps to provide psychological and spiritual support during their last
stage of life and alleviate financial burden of the family. It helps to provide
medical facilities feasible for the poor and down trodden. In short,
Palliative care
offers an integral assistance and furnishes the incurably ill with human
support and spiritual guidance they greatly need.
Social
Works:
Our
sisters involve in a variety of social works according to the needs of time and
place. It is mainly intended to
help the less privileged young ladies who turn to be the bread winner of
families.
Stabilizer
assembling units
are the main technical institutions where more than three hundred ladies earn
their livelihood. Presently we have four Stabilizer
assembling units, two in Kerala at
Kollam and Alleppey and two in Karnataka at Electronic city and Byrathy.
We
have 2 tailoring and garment making units, one
in Kerala another in Tamil Nadu. In
Vimala Hridaya Garment making unit, readymade uniforms are stitched and
distributed to all schools owned by the Congregation. Through this social
center many unemployed ladies earn their livelihood.
Homes
for the aged
and destitute is another social activity
carried out by our sisters. Assisi Vinayalaya, Kottiyam, is a Home for the
aged. More than fifty aged destitute are cared here.
Assisi
Bhavan, Kottiyam and FIH Santhi Bhavan, Edacochin are the boarding homes for
the aged in Kerala.
Casa
Serena, Casa Accoglienza are the two homes for the aged at Florenze in Italy,
St. Elizabeth Haus at
Berlin
,
Martin Altenzentrum at
Hagen
,
Franziskus Seniorenzentrum at Wuersel and St. Elizabeth Altenheim at Frechen
are the homes for the aged in
Germany, where our sisters render service.
The
sisters of our Congregation run many orphanages for girls
1.
Balika Sadanam orphanage, Kanjiracode,
Kollam, 2. Balika Sadanam,
Kottiyam, Kollam, 3. Balika
Sadanam, Thirumullavarum, Kollam, 4.
Balika Sadanam, Punalur,
5. Balika Sadanam, Kothamangalam, 7. Vimala Hridaya orphanage,
Viraly,
Trivandrum
are
the seven orphanages of our
Congregation in Kerala. More than
500 girls are taken care in these orphanages.
St. Antony’s orphanage, Santhavasal in Tamil Nadu, Amala orphanage,
Purnea, Vimla Hridya orphanage, Bagela, Vimla Hridya orphanage, Banmankhi in
Bihar
state and Nirmal gram orphanage, Korba in Chattisgarh
are the five orphanages for
girls in other states of
India
.
More than 400 orphans are looked after in these orphanages.
Our
Social services include house visiting, slums visiting, prison ministry.
Running
a School for the mentally handicapped is an outstanding service done by the
sisters of our Congregation.
Vimala
Hridaya
Special
School
for the mentally
challenged
is
located at Pazhayattinkuzhi, Pallimukku, Kollam. It
was blessed and Inaugurated on the 1st of the May 1995. Vimala Hridaya
special school is a day care school with junior senior wings. The institution
which was started with 10 students and 2 sisters is now having the strength of
about 75 students and four staff.
Sr.
Litty Mary’s service in this field is commendable.
The once invalid and problem creating children are making the best use
of their time under the able guidance of Sr. Litty Mary. Candles of various
colors and types, Christmas cards, envelop and other useful handicraft items
are manufactured by them and are very much appreciated by one and all. They
also spent their leisure time for growing gardens both vegetable and flower.
Beautifying garden is one of their leisure time activities.
To learn more about special
school please visit
http://www.vhmentallyhandicapped.org/
We
cannot ignore another commendable service that is being carried out by the
Congregation. We shelter unwed mothers and abandoned children. Our main role in
this field is helping children whose parents are not there for them to care,
love and foster. Presently 11 children who were once left to be
dead are growing happily under our care.
They are all sponsored by kind hearted persons. Sponsors show great interest in
their all round development. Thirteen other infants had been already handed
over to organizations that have registration for adoption. They are all growing
in some safe places.
Karmel
Hostel, Pattathanam, Kollam is a women’s hostel owned and managed by the
Congregation. It is mainly for the students of
Fatima
Mata
National
College
and
Vimala
Hridaya
Higher
Secondary School
. FIH Santhi Bhavanis
another hostel for women at Edacochin.
One of our sisters is working as Educational Secretary in Quilon Bishop’s
house.
Our
sisters’ service at
St. Joseph
’s Priest Home,
Kottiyam is a worth mentioning social work and we have been doing service since
28 years.
Pastoral
works.
Sisters actively
participate in diocesan pastoral works, Family apostolate, B.C.C programs,
Jesus Youth, KCYM and other Parish works. we help in liturgical services,
Catechetical
services like teaching catechism, preparing youth and children for sacraments
and House visiting, helping in distributing Holy Communion to patients.
Another notable service we do in
India
and abroad is
distributing Holy Communion to the sick.
Commendable
pastoral works are carried out by our
sisters in mission especially in the diocese of Purnea. Training health
promoters to work in their local communities.
Infant survival effort.
Mobile clinic. Immunization HIV
Aids awareness
classes. Women’s development
and vocational training. Herbal
medication training. Kala-
Azar Elimination program.
Self Help Program.
Jail Ministry is another
service rendered by our sisters. One of our sisters is working as full timer in
this field.
Evangelization
Ministry : Vimala Hridaya Retreat
center, Thazhuthala, Kottiyam is our main Evangelization unit. Here we conduct
retreats, prayer services, counseling etc. Our sisters help in Evangelization
by providing counseling at other retreat centers viz.
Padre
Pio
Retreat
Center
, Tillery.
Christeen retreats are conducted by our sisters in various schools.