THE BENGAL REGIONAL BIBLICAL SEMINAR

A two-day seminar was organized by the CCBI Commission for Bible in collaboration with the Regional Bible Commission of Bengal Region at Seva Kendra Calcutta on 23rd and 24th November, 2019. The Theme of this seminar was "A Biblical Theology of Caring the Creation and Biblical Apostolate in our Dioceses." Some of the participants arrived on 22nd evening itself. There were 75 participants consisting of priests, religious sisters and lay faithful.

The seminar began on 23rd morning at 9.30 a.m. with the inaugural prayer. The welcome address was given by Rev. Fr. Dr. Franklin Menezes, Regional Secretary for Bible Commission, Bengal Region. He also welcomed the gathering and introduced the resource person Fr. A. John Baptist, Executive Secretary, CCBI Commission for Bible. He also gave the outline of the seminar.

Rev. Fr. A. John Baptist, Executive Secretary, CCBI Commission for Bible, in his introductory speech, situated the seminar as one of the series of seminars that will be conducted in different regions and in the country. Rev. Fr. Dominic Gomes, VG of the Archdiocese of Calcutta encouraged the participants to enthusiastically plan and celebrate the Bible Sunday in their respective regions. He also briefed about the Biblical Apostolate in the Archdiocese. Then, there were series of input sessions: Rev. Fr. Franklin Menezes spoke on Climate Emergency, Ecological Spirituality, Foundations of Catholic life, the four Cs (Community, Creed, Cult and Creed), Meditations on passages of Bible such as Lk 7:11-17; Rev. Fr. A. John Baptist presented his paper on "Ecological Reading of the Bible"; His presentation included areas such as Why to Read Bible from the Perspective of Ecology; the Harmony in the Created Order; Shattering of Harmony through Sin and Restoring the Harmony and Original Order; Rev. Fr. Gilbert Choondal, SDB's paper was on "Biblical Catechesis" and Rev. Xavier Savarimuthu SJ spoke on "Ecological Crisis, its Indicators and Signs: What does Bible Say about this Crisis and our Response as Individuals and as Institutions. The talks were informative and thought provoking. On the first day, after the lunch, there was a group discussion on the present crisis, biblical response and action plan. The reports were presented on the floor. On the second day, around 4.30 p.m. the participants dispersed after the tea. Rev. Fr. Franklin Menezes, Regional Secretary of Bible Commission, Bengal Region, had made all the arrangements.