BORIVLI, JANUARY 25, 2012: The French philosopher, Voltaire said, "Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." These exact sentiments echoed the pride and pleasure that we Salesian Co-operators felt as we gathered in large numbers to felicitate three of our members – Philomena D'Souza, Carmen Nunes and Angelo Nunes – who completed more than twenty five years of active service with the Association of Salesian Co-operators.
Philo, Carmen and Angelo made their promise to be Salesian Co-operators in January 1984, that is, about twenty eight years back. Fr. Elias Dias was the local delegate of the Cooperators at that time. Since time, all three have been consistently very active and faithful to their commitment. They regularly attend meetings and participate in the activities conducted by the Association. Carmen and Angelo sit in the religious book stall every evening. You can count on them to be there every day, whatever the weather - be it rain, cold or shine. All three are very helpful, supportive, kind, generous and encouraging.
Completing more than twenty five years of active and faithful association with the Co-operators is an important milestone. Hence, to celebrate this achievement, the Co-operators decided to felicitate Philo, Carmen and Angelo in a special way on January 24, 2012. The date chosen had a special "Salesian Significance" –the Feast of St Francis de Sales. The celebrations began with the 7.00 pm Eucharistic Celebration which was offered as a Thanksgiving Mass. Fr. Wilfred D'Souza, Provincial Delegate of the Salesian Family, Mumbai Province was the main celebrant at this Eucharist. Fr. Ronald Menezes, our parish priest, was the concelebrant.
After Mass, the Co-operators gathered in the Multi-purpose hall, waiting to greet the Guests of Honour. The jubilarians – Angelo flanked by Carmen and Philo on either side – entered the hall to the beat of music and enthusiastic applause of the Co-operators and occupied centre stage. Phyllis Lewis presented a bouquet to Fr. Wilfred, who then addressed the Co-operators. He lauded the Co-operators of our unit for being active and vibrant. He touched upon different aspects – the duties of the council members to ease the pressure off the delegate, the spiritual formation and animations to be done at the monthly meetings, the Salesian Family Day and the Strenna for this year. Fr. Wilfred then presented the Silver Jubilarians with plaques and gifts.
The co-ordinator of our unit, Geeta Menezes, addressed the gathering and the power point presentation with various photographs featuring the three Silver Jubilarians elicited amusing response from the audience.
Everybody enjoyed the games and the fellowship meal that followed. The Co-operators coming together in such large numbers and participating in the celebrations showed solidarity and affection for Philo, Carmen and Angelo. All in all, it was an evening of joie de vivre and camaraderie!