By Isaac Harold Gomes –
Kalimpong: Wednesday 31st May 2023 was a red-letter day for St Joseph of Cluny Congregation. On this day, at the High Mass celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, Pedong (Kalimpong District), four Cluny sisters namely Laetia Lepcha, Sunita Lepcha, Angela Gurung and Senora Rai took their Perpetual Profession (final vows) to dedicate their lives to Christ by living in chastity, obedience and poverty. They took this oath in the presence of their Provincial Sr Edel Rai and other sisters of their congregation.
The main celebrant of the Holy Eucharist was Bishop Stephen Lepcha – Bishop of Darjeeling and Sikkim. The concelebrants were Fr Joseph Chettri, Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Church, Pedong and Fr Dominic Vaz, OCD, Mysore Diocese. Fr Vaz who is a nephew of Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, had trained the four candidates for nine months on deep spirituality and various other related skills and had come all the way from Mysore to participate in the joyful event.
During his homily, Bishop Stephen congratulated Sr Edel (Cluny Provincial) for successfully inducting four more sisters into her congregation to enable her to render greater educational, spiritual and welfare service to the community in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Sikkim and Nepal. “The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.”
In his very meaningful homily, Bishop Stephen stressed on two important points. He said, “Firstly, none of us, whether we are priests, religious or laypersons – are outside the circle of Vocation. We all are in it. Secondly, whatever we do, even cooking or daily household chores, if we do it in the name of Christ, it will be a successful vocation. If Christ is missing in our daily work, then our work becomes mundane and machine-like.”
One by one the four sisters came forward and expressed their lifelong dedication, in the name of Christ, to the Cluny mission to serve humanity, especially the marginalized. Bishop Stephen and Sister Edel Rai accepted their promise of fidelity and welcomed them permanently into the Cluny fold. The bishop conferred his blessings on the Holy Spirit-filled nuns and gave each of them a gold ring. Fr Dominic Vaz (who Bishop Stephen said is a nephew of Archbishop also blessed the four nuns.
On behalf of the four nuns, Sr Laetia thanked Bishop Stephen Lepcha, Fr Vaz, Sacred Heart Church Pedong Parish Priest, all the priests and Cluny nuns , all members of the gathered faithful and the organizers.
The tastefully-decorated Sacred Heart church was packed to capacity where many priests and nuns has turned up. The choir was meticulous with seamless symphony.
After the Holy Eucharist, there was a sumptuous lunch in St George’s School Pedong premises for all the faithful who had gathered to witness the historic event. The menu comprised a wide variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian preparations namely rice, pulao, pork, chicken, fish fry, momos, soups, vegetables, salads and sweet dish.