Kolkata: 45th Priestly Anniversary of Fr Francis Sunil Rosario

By Isaac Gomes –

Barasat (WB): On 21st April at 5.30 pm 200 parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes, Barasat gathered together to participate in a special thanksgiving Eucharistic celebration. It was to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of Fr Francis Sunil Rosario’s priesthood (ordained in April 1979) and the Second Anniversary of Fr Leo Parimal Hembram (ordained in 2022), Curate of the parish. Fr Charles Naren Hembram, Curate of St Joseph’s Church, Bongaon ordained with Fr. Leo also joined in the celebration.

Fr. Sunil Rosario was the main celebrant. The other priests who joined him were Fr Henry Saldanha – Dean North 24 Parganas, Fr Sebastian Rodrigues – Spiritual Director Morning Star Regional Seminary, Barrackpore. Both are Fr. Sunil’s Seminary companions at Morning Star Regional Seminary and ordained the same year in 1979. The other concelebrant priests were Fr. Sebastain Joseph Coventual (OfM), the local superior, Fr. Manohar, (Minor Seminary) and Fr Stephen Borg Superior of OFM Congregation, Malta.

The participants included sisters from Loreto, RNDM, St Anne’s, Chennai, St Joseph of Cluny, Auxilium sisters, Providence, Sisters of Charity (Oasis) and from other congregations. In fact, it was a very nice gesture on the part of Loreto IBVM Provincial Sr Sabriana Edwards to be personally present to grace the occasion.

Also present were Dr Isidore Gomes, retired Chief Scientific Officer, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute and Fr Sunil’s brother Sanjay Rozario, Former Zonal Manager, Caritas India, CBCI.

Fr Sunil who is erudite, an expert communicator, a voracious reader with a well-stacked library and on the B.Ed. (In the faculty of Education, Music), St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, began his homily by greeting his concelebrants, all the nuns and the parishioners who turned up for the celebration. He said a priest’s life is to emulate Christ and SERVE the needy and helpless. Referring to the evening’s Gospel Reading (multiplication of five loaves and two fish) he said this miracle always encourages a priest in the midst of life’s myriad crises and carries him through. He also observed that priesthood is not a well-charted career path as many new aspiring priests might think, it’s not to build a career – it is a very challenging life of emptying oneself daily, dying to self and vested interest and rising to Christ.  He also cited instances of several priests and bishops who feel like fish out of water after their retirement and suffer from depression and related problems at the sudden loss of position and power.

The Eucharist was quite engrossing thanks to the Sisters of Charity who organised the liturgy. The singing by their novices was melodious and befitting the occasion.

After the Eucharist, there was a felicitation programme where Dr Subhasis Chattopadhya, a companion in dialogue enlightened the audience on his twelve-years’ interaction with Fr Sunil on religious discourses and their differences of opinions. He said Fr Sunil always respected his arguments with an open mind and that they agreed to differ with mutual respect which is the first premise for any inter-religious discourse. Dr Chattopadhyay’s expertise on the Problems of Evil, and his training in Formative Spirituality is used both by Hindu monks and Catholic Religious. He had studied the Bible from Pontifical Atheneum, Bengaluru and Hinduism from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS), UK. He had delivered the prestigious de Nobili Endowment Lecture on Edith Stein and Advaita Vedanta at Chennai International Jesuit Centre for Philosophical Studies in October, 2022.

After Dr Chattopadhyay’s talk, Fr Sunil and his two celebrant priests cut the cake together. This was followed by a fellowship dinner. Fr Dominic Gomes Vicar General and Fr Moloy D’Costa, Financial Administrator also dropped in for the dinner and interacted with the gathered parishioners.