ZOOM MEETING OF THE SECRETARIES OF REGIONAL BIBLE COMMISSIONS

A Report
A Zoom meeting of the Secretaries of Regional Bible Commissions with the Chairman and the Executive Secretary of the National Bible Commission was organized on 4th July, Saturday, 2020 from 10.00 am to 11.15 a.m. The Chairman, Executive Secretary and eight Regional Secretaries (Rev. Fr. Dr. Wilfred Moras, Rev. Fr. Peter Ignatius SJ, Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier, Rev. Fr Laurence Culas, Rev. Fr. Antony Khokhar, Rev. Fr. Johnson Thurackal, CMF, Rev. Fr. Ubald, Rev. Fr. G. Kiran Babu, and Rev. Fr. Lui Heredia) attended this meeting via online.

At the outset, Rev. Fr. Johnson Thurackal CMF of the Northeastern Region read a passage from the Bible and implored God’s blessing. Rev. Fr. A. John Baptist (Executive Secretary, CCBI Commission for Bible) welcomed all the members for this ever first meeting via Zoom. He said that this was necessitated because of the situation that is prevailing in the country due to Covid-19. The purpose of this meeting is to review and to take stock of the situation of Biblical Pastoral Ministry in the regions and also to see what can be done in this situation. Then the Chairman of the Bible Commission, Most Rev. Antonysamy Peter Abir, welcomed all and in particular Rev. Fr. Peter Ignatius SJ, Regional Secretary of Bihar Region, who attended the meeting of the secretaries for the first time. Then the participants introduced themselves to each other. The Chairman who was moderating the session also invited the Regional Secretaries to brief about the Biblical Apostolate they are doing in spite of the present trying situation in the country. Some of the salient features of their report are: 1. Release of the new Telugu Bible in Telugu Region, 2. Preparations for Bible Sunday in Northeast Region, 3. Translation of Bible in Panjabi language, 4. Developing Bible App in the North Region, 5. Revision of Kannada Bible, 6. Preparation of materials on the ‘Background to the Gospels’ in Kannada.

The Executive Secretary briefed the activities that were carried out in the past few months at the National Office. They are: launching of Online Bible College, preparation of lessons for Bible Correspondence Course, launching of Online Bible Correspondence Course in English, Conducting of Online Bible Class (webinar) etc., There was a brief discussion on the translation of lessons for Bible Correspondence Course into Hindi. It was agreed that the Regional Secretary of Agra Region, Rev. Fr. Wilfred Moras, will continue the translation work and complete it with the help of the Regional Secretaries of Bihar (Rev. Fr. Peter Ignatius) and North Region (Rev. Fr. Antony Khokhar) and then see the possibilities of launching Postal Correspondence Course in Hindi for these regions and other regions that are interested, such as Maharashtra, M.P and North East. The Regional Secretary of North East, Rev. Fr. Johnson Thurackal, CMF, briefed about the situation of launching Postal Bible Correspondence Course in Khasi and Gharo languages. It was also decided in the meeting to keep the language level of the lessons ‘simple and easy to understand’. Though the National Bible Commission provides the basic syllabus and lessons in English, the Regional Secretaries are free to adapt and modify them according to their situation and need. It was also felt that such meetings through online can be thought of and tried in the future and the member bishops of the Commission can also be invited to take part in it.

The Executive Secretary and the Chairman Bishop thanked the participants for their interest and initiatives in the Biblical Pastoral Ministry. They were also thanked for participating in this meeting and contributing their ideas. The meeting came to an end at 11.15 a.m. with the concluding prayer from Rev. Fr. Antony Khokhar (Regional Secretary, North Region). The Diocese of Sultanpet provided the link for the meeting and Rev. Fr. Vimal (Sultanpet) took care of technical aspects.

Fr. A. John Baptist,
Executive Secretary,
CCBI Commission for Bible.