MPE Rewind 2026

 I've been wanting to pen my learning from the recently concluded Mission Poverty Eradication (MPE) Rewind 2026 meeting held in Delhi.  I purposely kept delaying it to achieve some sort of objectivity and fairness (historical distance!), rather than let my reflection be moved primarily by emotion. 

While I truly still feel, a virtual meeting would have sufficed, but to be fair, I cannot but appreciate the meeting content.  Rather than come without a set agenda and let things unfold, the meeting was aimed at collating the efforts of the last one year, across the provinces of south Asia.  So the best was that preparation done.  We did not walk into the meeting, arms swinging.  Each province had to prepare two definite presentations and a video. So, in that sense, there was much effort and planning and thought put into the meeting itself. 

What I'd sincerely appreciate is a little more of openness and synodal approach towards the whole enterprise.  This is about the methodology at work of the whole initiative rather than the meeting per se.  I somehow sense a strong suspicion underlying the initiative, that most Salesians are against this endeavour.  That outlook really hampers the owning up of the undertaking because much of it depends on involvement and commitment.  When people tend to feel emotionally hurt, the tendency is to either resist or stay aloof - both of which are foolish and immature reactions.  Neither of which is helpful for the dissemination and imbibing of a noble initiative like MPE.  

That said, I see the potentiality and the ultimate goal that this undertaking strives to achieve: an attitudinal and strategic change in the way we exercise our ministry, focusing our attention consciously on the poorest. 

Decided forum

 I was part of a two day meeting recently. Most of the meeting comprised of presentations and videos of various achievements and strategies of the various provinces across the region.  However, there were two sessions, in the afternoons, titled 'Open Forum'. 

Most of the participants were familiar with one another, and attending this programme for the second time in as many years.  As for me, I was attending this gathering for the first time, outside the Province. At one point, during the Open forum, I made a proposal citing a similar effort already underway, as the same initiative proposed earlier in the day.  I did not oppose the initiative proposed or negate the plan.  All that I proposed was that we could converge efforts and minds, because the methodology and the end result were exactly - EXACTLY - the same!  

However, what happened immediately after I made the proposal was really something I was not prepared for.  The reaction to that proposal soon made it clear to me that the planned initiative and the whole meeting was a highly isolated and individual effort.  This enterprise spanned everything but did not want anyone or anything else to touch it - leave alone, assist or impact it.   

Far from being a Open forum, it appeared to me as a 'Decided Forum'! 

Forward looking

 One of the reasons our meeting go on and on is because we tend to focus on the past.  We keep repeating what happened, how it happened, why did it happen so, who was the cause (sometimes tracing it back to the series of causes, stopping just short of the Ultimate cause!), and so on.  While knowing the context in which things went on well or did not go on as expected and learning lessons is important for any evaluation, that shouldn't consume most of our time and energies.  We need to take stock of the facts and move on. We should focus on the future.  Planning our next move is more essential than prolonged dwelling on the bygone. Learning our lessons from the past and focusing greater attention on the future course of action, is integral to efficient planning. 

Expertise

Today I had the fortune of attending a finance committee meeting of a parish.  It was a mixture of priests and lay people.  I was briefed that it could get ugly, with the lay people being highly suspicious of the priests and their ways of accounting. I was prepared for that. 

Nonetheless what unfolded was a totally different scene!  The lay people were more strict with themselves and each other than with the priests!!  Their ability to see through the numbers and ask very valid and relevant clarifications was something I really was happy to see.  

They never asked one single question about the expenses FOR the Church or challenged any expenditure made by the administrator.  Most of their queries were to ensure that the collection, from various sources, over the month, was rightly accounted for or not.  

And all of this discussion with no malice, but a very cordial but serious examination of the accounts.  

Biting more than we can chew

Today was a rather challenging day... in spite of my natural tendency to be critical, I decided to enter into the meeting and discussion of the day (a particular apostolate at a centre) with an open attitude.  I did tell myself repeatedly that I needed to be optimistic and encouraging; rather than obstructive or pessimistic. 

Nonetheless, it was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to be and do, that I ended up being and doing.  I really had to clip wings, curtail fantasies and get our feet back on the ground.  And I'm not in any way disappointed with myself, even though I broke my own resolution for the day!  In a way, looking back (even though it is not much of a historical and temporal distance that I can claim) I'm happy to have played the devil's advocate. 

My basic principle was (has always been): Dream big, but start small.  And from experience in the Salesian life, all the more in the last three years as the Economer, I've learnt that we Salesians are good at 'wasting money'.  Not in a bad sense or in malice. But purely due to misplaced prioritisation.  

I firmly believe and have seen it in action (with regard to the school here at Bandlaguda) that when we embark on a new mission or apostolate, we need to build ourselves first; our quality, our expertise, our attitude, in order to make a real impact on the beneficiaries.  Once we actually deliver a quality service, we do not need to resort to campaigning or pleading for people to come to us, or avail themselves of our services.  They will be a queue eager to learn from us.  At that point, nothing else matters (lack of extensive of fanciful infrastructure, for example). 

If we deliver QUALITY, people WILL come to us for enriching themselves.  We do not need to beg, plead, campaign, canvas, advertise... And if we do have to resort to these, then it is a clear sign that we have fallen short of qualitative standards.  

Coming back to the start (of an apostolate), begin small, but with the best of quality (and I do not mean show). Riding on the success of that small initiative, then scale it up or widen it to reach more people or diverse services.  In the meantime we have gained the first hand experience of knowing and handling the challenges, so that we can avoid mistakes and build on our strengths.  

So sure...

Every once in a way, right in the midst of an intense discussion or conversation, someone pops up with a question that fringes on the most inconsequential matters under the discussion, that one wonders if the person is really sane.  However, for the one asking the question, and doing it in all sincerity and seeking, it is an important and central question - only that he or she has failed to grasp the core of discussion. 

"Whose wife would she be on the day of the resurrection?"  (Mark 12) An important and relevant question when viewed from the sociological perspective.  The one posing this question would certainly be a good devout practicing and learned Jew.  He wanted to be clear about what would be the case of this tricky situation, because he could not think of a way out.  Unfortunately, he did not think that Jesus could be speaking of things outside the box!  In the process he misses the core of what Jesus was trying to communicate: that God is a loving and living being.

Can happen to us too:  we are so sure of what is being said that we miss out the greater indepth meaning being offered! 

The Master made it his task to destroy systematically every doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now being taken as descriptions. He loved to quote the Eastern saying 'When the sage points to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.' (Anthony deMello)

Those who enjoy meetings

The other day I received a set of quotes by Thomas Sowell.  Never heard of him before... however was amused very much by this particular one...

I laughed about the truth of this statement... but how impossible it is! 

God so loved the world...

Having been involved in meetings and organising some, I know the pain of getting everyone on board.  It is far easier to work with individuals directly than get a group going!  Today found a theological (or Biblical?) proof for this idea!

God so loved the world that he did not send a committee. 

Person or document?

When in a dire situation and would like some help, to whom or to what will I turn to?  A document or a person whom I trust?  I'd surely turn to the latter.  Perhaps in leisure when nothing else to do, then I'd like to flip through a document.

Even when I do turn to a person, who would that be?  certainly not any random person.  It will be someone whom I trust, perhaps someone who's been through such a situation and I've known him or her to have handled it well.  What will certainly count is my rapport with him and the amount of trust I have in that person.

Contrary to my own present state of conviction, perhaps there will come a time when a document will  be formulated from the collective experience of those who've been through situations, and based on their suggestions and recommendations.  But how effective will that be?  ... the same as personal experience enriched sharing/learning?

But again, that is in time of 'crisis'.  

Whose need?

The ongoing work of the revision of the Rector's manual is raising more questions than answering existing questions - at least for me!

The most important and persistent of all: whose need is the manual: of confreres (those appointed/would-be rectors) or the formation department?

The primary reason for this question that keeps propping up in my mind is what 'different' are we going to say than what is already enumerated in the Constitutions, Regulations, Ratio and the million and one directives that keep being churned out of the Generalate and the Provincial offices?

Secondly, most confreres (at least those whom I've come across) have never really used the existing edition!  Some are happily ignorant even of the existence of one such book!!  Therefore, if it is out of the genuine felt need of confreres then it will be of great help.  If not, it will be one of the many books collecting dust in our archives and bookshelves. And all this effort, time, resources and personnel spent on this endeavour... huh? 

Divergent thoughts

There are different perspectives one comes across when one starts interacting with people.  A classroom which facilitates discussion and debate is one fertile ground for hearing different and sometimes divergent views.  There are those who have similar views as oneself.  Then there are those who agree to most of what you hold but differ on some points.  There are those who agree with your point of view theoretically but practically believe that it cannot be so.  Then there are a few who have no view at all (God alone knows how... or perhaps give them the benefit of doubt and say that they do not wish to express their view).  Then there are those who hold a radically contradictory view to oneself.  In an environment of healthy discussion and exchange of ideas, this is very enriching.

However, what if the other does not want to see your viewpoint at all!  What if he or she thinks that what you hold as real and something you are very much convinced about, is utter nonsense and totally illogical?  

Process vs Event

By now, all the celebrations of the Province Jubilee and the visit of the Rector Major would have concluded in the Province.  All, especially those in the Provincial house, coordinating the events would surely let out a big sigh of relief.  I also hope that all the planned events went on smoothly and will do some good too.

My fear is that these events remain as mere 'shows' and not as valuable moments of animation.  The 'celebration' takes over and not the preparation and the follow up later.  The visit of the Rector Major tends to be the big event, rather than one of the main events in a process.  I guess we are basically programmed that way.  We move from event to event, rather than through a series of well connected and meaningful processes. A simple analysis of the time, resources (especially financial), energy and personnel we spend in making events spectacular in contrast to initiating and sustaining meaningful processes, will prove this point.

Reading habits

I just finished reading the book Don Bosco in Mangalore: Before the Arrival of the Salesians by Sr Philomena D'Souza (the book launch of which was held last month end in Bangalore).

Was happy to read it for it offered me great insights into my own background.  Though of Mangalorean descent was never very familiar with my faith 'roots'.  The book offered quite a bit of history of the Mangalorean Catholic community.

However what appealed to me most was the spirit of youthfulness that was guided by the Priests and other youth clubs of the mid 1900 around Mangalore.  Inspired by Don Bosco's style and grace, these youth clubs were proposed, guided and organised by non-Salesians (Salesians had still not arrived on the scene - not till 1997. By then the zenith of the 'salesian' spirit was long past!).  I'm listing below some of the truly profound - yet simple - lines of action of a youth club established in 1967, on the model of a couple of others existing already:

• monthly meetings to enhance exchange of ideas, plan, discuss and decide;
• library and reading room to inculcate good reading habits;
• organising drama and musical performances in Konkani and other languages;
• organising spiritual retreats and the study of Sacred Scripture;
• inviting resource persons to give talks on various relevant issues;
• felicitating people who have shown exceptional achievement or given exceptional contribution to society. (page 81)

I wonder how come the present generation has lost its passion for reading.  Earlier children would long to go to school. Now they detest going to school and studies itself!  Reading rooms and libraries!!!  Wow.  

Ad quid perditio hec

Being with Fr Pandi one often hears some Latin phrases from his early years of formation.  The one that I picked up fast is this:

Ad quid perditio hec

To what purpose is all of this ... in other words, everything is a waste of effort!

The context in which this phrase cropped up today also was the fact that we are having a set of meetings in the coming days, and the participants list is constantly changing.  Worse still, so is the agenda!!  For the past one and half month some confreres are so busy attending, conducting meetings that there has hardly been any moment of rest at all!

I understand some of these meetings do help, but only when the agenda and the purpose is clear to everyone. Or else if the coordinator or animator himself is not sure what to really discuss, then it is a waste of effort, time, resources and energy.  Only the formality of having conducted, or attended, a meeting is fulfilled.  Not much or nothing at all is registered or imbibed.  

Shut up!

When does one say "Shut up!" to someone else?
When I realize that I have nothing more valuable to say and the other is just getting started to share something valuable!

Sharing... from the heart

While our sharing based on our reflections on the Salesian Constitutions was good, it brought back to my mind some of the earlier sharings I was involved in, with members of my community wherever I was during my earlier years.

There was a time when I was 'all head' and would feel odd about people sharing their feelings and sentiments.  I considered them as not strong people or those incapable of 'delving deep' into something profound.  However over the years my perception has changed and today I hold quite the contradictory position.  To share something of one's own feelings and emotions in all honesty require a great amount of courage and maturity.  Only those who have a genuinely large heart for the group and are at home with the group and themselves can do so.

To expose one's vulnerabilities before others, one's own family members, does not make one more feeble or guilty; it actually strengthens one from within.  Done in an ambiance of sincerity and openness, it gives one the courage to face difficulties, no more as individuals but as persons who enjoy the support and cooperation of a 'family'.

Once we taste this sort of sharing when in a small close knit group of persons, a very sound theological or doctrinal exposition of a concept does not touch anyone as much as a downcast look or a brief pause after narration of a very personal experience.

Hidden Agenda?

I liked two statements that Palli made during the discussions.

Any hidden agenda is not good agenda! 

He interjected with this statement when a confrere started speaking of our task of evangelization (preaching and proclaiming Christ) especially in a context that does not endorse it.

The other is from the cartoon, Dennis the menace...

You can win any game, if you make the rules of the game. 

This is how the government and corporates play. The others are bound to lose because the rules are always set against them.  For an onlooker, the game was played out perfectly and as per the norms and therefore the win of the government or corporate is legitimate.  But when the rules themselves are skewed and the poor have no say whatsoever in the rules nor an alternative to joining the 'game', then it is injustice! 

Strategic Planning

We concluded yesterday a workshop trying to initiate the Strategic Planning method for evaluation of our national networks, our whole working strategy across India.  I was asked to help out with the documentation.  However, it did not take me long to realise that the whole future mode of action is all set and decided, the planning is only to confirm it.

While on the one hand I denounce this mode of thought, on the other hand I am hopeful that the result of this planning, involving all stake-holders would certainly throw light on very many a truths we Salesians have along the way ignored or trampled.

Fr Joyce Francis during the inaugural Mass spoke of the four-fold fidelities:

• Humanity and our times 
• Christ and the Gospels 
• Religious life and mission 
• Salesian consecration and charism. 

I think his perspective on this whole 'strategic planning' was clear when he clearly emphasised:

Not forget the essentials when we go about the urgent.

Anyway, it was an unwilling experience!  More reflections in the posts to come...

Different value scales

During our group discussion we had an interesting tug of war. A rather stubborn pair of confreres - I said pair, purposely to mean it! - held on to their view even when everyone else in the group (of 8) strongly felt and showed otherwise.

Honestly speaking they didn't mean harm or ill. They just had a different set of values. I guess that's the case most of the time.  Not that people are bad or evil or wrong.  They merely have a different value scale, different priorities, varied glasses to look through.

Growing in reality... genuinely

Had a long sitting for the Salesian Social Forum the whole day.  Honestly it was not what I really expected it to be.  Today's whole day was dedicated to discussion on the statutes and code of ethical practices.  We hardly discussed anything else.

I joined the SSF last year, when Fr TD John had briefed me about the same during one of his visits to Karunapuram. At that point I already had a strong feeling that the formation process I was involved in was far removed from reality and honestly needed an overhaul.  For that I personally needed an overhaul!!  Therefore I volunteered to widen my own horizons, grow more grounded and genuine before I assist others in their formation process. I was honestly exploring.

However, there was one thing that Fr George Kollashany stated sometime in the beginning of the discussions, right in the morning which kept ringing in my ears all day long.  He was trying to "define" our spontaneous group of SSF.  He basically asked if I was afraid to venture out, take initiatives on my own for something I deeply feel is truthful, but lack support? He cited this group as the support bank that one could fall back upon. But basically it was a personal challenge:  Am I questioning myself with regard to the radicality of the gospel?  Am I willing to have my whole inner world topple?  In turn am I ready to shake the existing structures, more out of my conviction, than my convenience, and that too for a truly noble cause?