Dear Sisters and Brothers,
We have begun a new year 2020 !
I wish all our friends and well-wishers peace and joy in this year.
At the moment, there seems to be a lot of unrest, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty in the minds of many people especially the ones that are on the fringes of society and those that are excluded from the massive development taking place in the country.
My prayer, for this year is that we Indians learn to accept each other as brothers and sisters our one common God, that we learn to appreciate our rich diversity in terms of faith, ethnicity, language, culture, etc and celebrate this diversity and weave it all together into a harmonious symphony that will fill our lives with joy.
I wish that you all swim in the stream of love, life and laughter.

Happy New Year to you all !!!

ALL-FAITH CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2019

Refreshing Old Memories:

14 years ago on this day (18th November 2004), Seva Kendra Calcutta's Extension Centre at Kharagpur was inaugurated by Archbishop Lucas Sircar SDB and it was named after St.Jude.
This was the wish of Mrs. Clare Gordon, an Anglo-Indian lady of Kharagpur who moved to the United States after Independence. It was in the year 2001 that she met Fr. Reginald in Kharagpur and offered to start a center for the social work in Midnapore. It was with her financial support, that a plot of land in Jholi, Kharagpur, near the Hijli station was bought. Fr. John Noronha, when he was the Director of Caritas India helped in the construction of the first building. Later on, the office structure was put up with the support of Manos Unidas.

Director's Message 

I almost dropped my cup of coffee as I read the following :

" By 2050, 36 million Indians could lose their homes and livelihoods to flooding caused by rising sea levels, according to new projections from US-based research group Climate Central.", reported The Times of India, Kolkata, on Thursday, oct. 31, 2019.

 If this was scary, what was said later made me shudder.

" Kolkata along with its vast adjoining areas will be wiped out by 2050 !!!! The threat is imminent. We can no longer sit back and ponder about the next course of action"   (Kankana Das, Climate activist )

I wish to plead with the responsible citizens of our country and of our own state of West Bengal to take this up seriously. This is not just an emergency. We are in the ICU. We better do something before we are sent to the morgue. 

Blessing Ceremony of Sindhu Tara Training Centre
Blessing Ceremony of Sindhu Tara Training Centre on 18th October at Digha by Archbishop Thomas D'Souza.
Our Extension Centre looks even more beautiful after the renovation.

"THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH"

In the Holy Bible the book of Revelation chapter 21 in verse 1 the author describes his vision: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth". In verse 5 he writes, "And the one who was seated on the throne said,'See, I am making all things new'".

If this is what we read in the last book of the Bible, the first book, the book of Genesis gives us the story of creation by God and we hear a constant refrain that says, “And God saw that it was good.” If the first book of the Bible speaks of “CREATION”, the last one speaks of a “NEW CREATION”. And between these two poles the tragic events of “UNCREATION” unfolds because of the sin of humans. This situation is so poignantly portrayed by St. Paul as he writes to the Romans, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God….” We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now (Romans 8: 19-22).

The world is viewing climate change as the defining issue of our time. Now is the time to act. Hence the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the 2019  Climate Action Summit on 21-23 September 2019  to meet the climate challenge. Pope Francis declares 'Climate Emergency' and urges action as he addresses the energy leaders.

As I pen these lines we hear of the heat-wave in France, an all-time high temperature of 45⁰.9 C. Europe is reeling under the unbearable & unprecedented temperatures. People in Chennai are struggling for drinking water. Plasticwaste is choking India. Air-pollution in our metros is making it impossible to live healthy lives. Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai among 21 cities will run out of ground water by 2020 (https://www.firstpost.com). Little efforts are made by different groups to do something beautiful for creation. One such noteworthy action is the: "Season of Creation", celebrated each year from September 1st to October 4th. This is an effort by the Christian family to unite for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. We are called to be Stewards of God's creation. 

At Seva kendra Calcutta we intend organize a national inter-faith climate change conference in December 2019. Knowing well how the religious leaders influence their followers, there will be a day long conference on climate change action involving religious leaders, enviromentalists, social activists and representatives of different faith-communities to discuss as to how we can play a small yet significant role in climate action.

Climate action on the macro-level is the responsibility of world-leaders who influence policy making. Civil society can put pressure upon them to take big and bold steps to protect our common home. On the micro-level all of us have a serious responsibility to take steps to lead a life-style defined by REFUSE, what you don't need; REDUCE, what you need; REUSE, by using what you have; RECYCLE, what you can; REPURPOSE, your life-style.

Having placed before you my deep concerns for our common home, it is my pleasure to present the Annual Report of the year 2018-2019. The pages that follow will tell the story of our service to thousands of families on the margins of society. We are indebted to them for allowing us to journey with them on the path of sustainable development. I wish to express my debt of gratitude to Archbishop Thomas D'Souza, the President of the Governing Board, the members of the Governing Board, Finance Committee, the General Body and the members of the staff of Seva Kendra Calcutta. I owe deep sentiments of gratitude to our donors, partners, benefactors, volunteers and our numerous well-wishers without whom it would have been impossible for us to serve with the kind of love with which we have reached out to our less privileged sisters and brothers. Do continue to support us so that we can transform this broken world and heal the broken hearts by inspiriting hope and kindling joy.

Ruby Jubilee Activity: Planting of 40,000 Saplings

40 Years- A Ruby Jubilee is not celebrated too often. However, Seva Kendra is celebrating it this year with much joy and aplomb!

One of the activities of the Ruby Jubilee is to plant saplings- 40,000 in number!

As Theodore Roosevelt had once said, "To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, and to live as a people, we must have trees". Trees play their part in building a community that is healthy and whole by reducing the ill-effects caused by unbridled mushrooming of industries in the name of economic growth and development.

The depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain and indiscriminate harm to bio-diversity and the ecosystem can partially be prevented by planting trees.

"Planting of trees" is an expression of one's understanding of a deeper connection with nature and thus shows the love and concern of man for his environment. Thomas Fuller says, "He that plants trees loves others besides himself".

It is precisely with this "love for others" that Seva Kendra Calcutta has launched the project of "greening the earth".

Come let us live for Mother Earth- Join us in this exciting endeavour.

You can sponsor a sapling by contributing Rs. 100/- Cheque may kindly be drawn in the name of "SKC Ruby Jubilee" and sent to the Director, Seva Kendra Calcutta, 52B, Radhanath Chowdhury Road, Kolkata - 700 015, India.

With your support and encouragement, today's 40,000 saplings can become tomorrows 400,000 trees! The number will surely multiply- All it needs is YOU!