History of the Province (in bits)

Listening to Fr Chacko last night at supper time, a thought flashed through my mind, again. These senior confreres hold such an amount of information and history of the Province, its beginnings, the petty things which are not normally recorded in the Chronicles... Especially given the context of our days when House chronicles are written just before the Provincial visitation, mostly by printing out news posted on the website (if any!), such history is lost with these pioneering confreres.

Just to put down a few things that came up during our discussion last night at table:

• Fr Chacko was one of the pioneers of Mariapuram, Ravulapalem (the mission started in Palivela and was later shifted to its present location at Ravulapalem, by Fr Chacko himself)... and of course, Orissa too!
  
• The East Godavari Mission was started by Fr Chacko and Fr Johnson Moyalan. After two years, Fr AR Jose replaced Fr Moyalan. Later that third year Fr KK joined them. The private boarding/school that Fr Chacko initiated (and was the principal of) was later moved to Ravulapalem and Fr KK was the headmaster of that school. Mind you, imagine Fr Chacko as the first headmaster, before Fr KK!! There was also a Sister of the St Ann of Providence (SAP) to help out then inthe school.
  
• The tussle between the Salesians and the JMJ sisters at St Theresa's, Sanathnagar dates back to Fr Lens' time. Not that he was the cause of it but most probably because of some tiff between the sisters and Fr KS. The first sign of animosity was when the Sisters stopped giving b'fast for Fr Lens after Mass! Furthermore, the opposition really started when Fr Lens proposed the erection of a gate beside the Prysbytery entrace facing the Hospital road. Sisters planted a couple of trees right there to block any further thought about it (which Fr KS uprooted in the dark one night!).
• Fr KS and Fr Selveraj are the only two confreres in the Province who served the shortest term as Rectors, only three years (at Guntur and Kadapa, respectively).
• Fr MS Michael has been the longest serving Rector of Guntur... almost 18-20 years and has practically spent two-thirds of his Salesian life in Guntur. He is the one who was appointed Rector of Guntur after Fr Benji (who was appointed Vice-Provincial of INM) in 1978.