Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bangalore (Fides) – The Sisters of St Joseph of Tarbes have worked in Kolar Gold Fields, Bangalore, capital Karnataka for a century. The community marked the 100th anniversary of missionary activity on 2 February, the Day on which the Church recalls with gratitude and love all her consecrated men and women religious. The Sisters are known and appreciated for their service to the local people at the social, cultural and spiritual level.
When the Sisters arrived at the beginning of the last century there area was known for its gold mines and numerous gold diggers investors and traders boosted the local economy. A small group of five sisters opened a school and a home for children. They continued their mission even in times of difficulty when the gold was finished and the mines were closed and poverty spread. Impoverishment led a growing number of mothers to entrust their children to the nuns.
The Mission spread and continues to spread a ray of hope, the local people say. And when in 1952 a cyclone destroyed the house the grateful people helped the Sisters to rebuild the compound. People are still grateful to the Sisters, Archbishop Ignatius Pinto of Bangalore told Fides for their spiritual assistance, and efforts to promote peace and tolerance. Pupils of all religions attend their schools, children from poor families are give free education and the Sisters also provide assistance for unmarried mothers and orphaned or abandoned children.
(PA) (Fides Service 2/2/2004 lines 21 words 269)
