SPIRITUAL - PASTORAL WORK - FORMATION - RETREAT - HQ - VOCATION PROMOTION
In the direct care of souls, the Jesuits have used all the means which experience had demonstrated as efficacious elsewhere in the world. Of these the sodalities of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Retreats deserve special mention.
The first sodality to be established in Mangalore was Men's Sodality of the Immaculate Conception at Codialbail in 1879. It was started by Fr Urban Stein. During a hundred years it has faithfully maintained the high traditions and has been a model to other sodalities as well. To keep the members together and to promote healthy social life among them, a Recreation Hall was constructed at Hampankatta which came to be known as the Catholic Club, where library and reading room facilities too were provided.
For women, the Sodality of the Christian Mothers was started by Fr Torri at Milagres Church. These and other parish sodalities were the means of propagating true and filial devotion to the Blessed virgin Mary, love of prayer, regular use of sacraments, cultivation of Christian virtues in hundreds of men and women. For the students of St Aloysius College, The Sodality of the Presentation was started in 1881 which was bifurcated later on to form the Sodality of the Assumption for Junior boys of the High School. These two have in particular been the seed-bed of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
As it is well known, a new orientation has been given to the sodality movement with a change in name and of programme as Christian Life Communities in which much greater responsibility is given to laymen with the aim of forming a capable laity and a more solid spiritual basis of Gospel values and the Spiritual exercises of St Ignatius. They are yet in their infancy and will have to be tended with great care and solicitude.
The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius popularly known as retreats have always been considered a potent means to instill a deep spirituality and to renew it regularly. The first retreat for the clergy was held in the first year, namely 1879. Since then, the clergy retreat has been an annual feature in the Diocese of Mangalore. Retreats for boys and girls were introduced in schools and colleges. In the parishes, 'missions' were preached from time to time. 'Closed retreats' or residential retreats for small groups were introduced by Fr Emmanuel Coelho as Director of the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception and so to say exploited by Fr Denis A. Pai as producing the night atmosphere and disposition for youth to choose their state of life or, in the words of St Ignatius, 'to make an election.
Fatima Retreat House
It was however left to Fr A. Le Tellier S.J. to give a push to the movement and to give it a "local habitation and a name", "Characteristically he swooped down upon Mangalore and started the work. He took the town by storm as he knocked and knocked at the door of each prospective benefactor. Mr James Britto gave the present compact 3.5 acres of land at Jeppu as a gift for the retreat house, wrote Fr William Sequeira in 1953 describing Fr Le Tellier's activity in Mangalore between 1938 and 1948. Fatima Retreat House had begun! In the decades which have followed, successive directors have made additions to buildings and improvements. In keeping with the spiritual atmosphere of the place, a life size Calvary and the stations of the Cross in cement concrete have been erected on the grounds, around the shrine of Our Lady of Karnataka, Patroness of the Karnataka Jesuit Province. The Fatima Retreat House has all the advantages without any of the disadvantages of a roadside location.
The Fatima Retreat House today is more than a retreat house merely: it is a complex of apostolates: the press apostolate with the publication of the monthly paper, Jesu Rai, religious books and liturgical-music publications; the School of music already known as 'Sangeetalaya' teaching vocal and instrumental music: the West Karnataka Jesuit Regional Vocation Centre. It is, owing to its location, a meeting place for scripture studies, Alcoholic Anonymous, conferences for clergy, courses in counselling and spirituality for religious etc.
While there was limited response for the retreat movement in Calicut, it caught the attention of the people in Banga lore, thanks to the numerous houses of formation for religious. This led to the establishment of Dhyanashrama, the house for retreats on the Bannerghatta Road.
