Fraternal greetings and prayerful wishes!
As we journey together in the spirit of our Founder, St. Louis Guanella, I am happy to address you through this Sixth Circular Letter. We are living a significant moment in the journey of our Divine Providence Province, marked by gratitude for the blessings received, important celebrations, renewed missionary commitments, and new opportunities to strengthen our Guanellian identity. Our journey invites us to return to the source of our vocation, rediscover the beauty of fraternity, and renew our commitment to serve the poor with the heart of Don Guanella..
I invite all the confreres to reflect prayerfully on the recent letter of Rev. Fr. Superior General concerning community life in the service of charity. Community life is not simply the sharing of a residence or the coordination of apostolic activities. It is an essential dimension of our consecrated vocation and an indispensable foundation for our mission. We are called to build communities in which prayer, mutual acceptance, dialogue, forgiveness, shared responsibility, and fraternal correction become concrete expressions of our Guanellian spirit.
Our Founder desired that his religious communities be true families, united by faith and animated by the love of the Father. The quality of our charity depends greatly on the quality of our fraternity. When we listen to one another, respect differences, communicate honestly, and share responsibilities, our communities become places of communion and signs of hope.November is a month rich in celebrations, remembrance and spiritual significance. We begin with the Solemnity of All Saints, remembering those who have gone before us in holiness, and the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, renewing our hope in eternal life.
As we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of Divine Providence, let us place ourselves under her loving mantle, like chicks resting safely beneath their mother's wings. May she shelter us with her maternal protection, guide us with her wisdom, and strengthen our trust in God's providence. In moments of uncertainty, may we remain confident that God never abandons those who place their hope in Him.
We celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, acknowledging Christ as the center of our lives and the Lord of history. We also share in the joy of Diwali, the festival of lights in India and Thanksgiving Day with our confreres and friends in the United States. This month also marks the closing of Ordinary Time and the beginning of the new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent, inviting us to renew our hope, prepare our hearts and welcome Christ into our lives.
For our Divine Providence Province, November is especially meaningful as we celebrate the Ruby Jubilee of the Guanellian Presence in India, giving thanks for forty years of God's faithfulness, the dedication of our confreres and the generous service of so many people. We also rejoice in the Perpetual Profession and Diaconate Ordination of our confrere, a beautiful sign of total commitment to God and renewed hope for the future of our Congregation. Furthermore, the welcoming of our new Constitutions and Regulations invites us to embrace afresh our Guanellian identity, deepen our fidelity to the charism and renew our commitment to fraternal life and mission.
With profound gratitude to Divine Providence, we are preparing to celebrate the Ruby Jubilee—forty years of the Guanellian presence in India. The journey began in 1986, when Fr. Tito Credaro, accompanied by Bro. John Bosco, the first priest of the servants of Charity in India, arrived in India on July 3rd, the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. This historic beginning was the fruit of the missionary dream of St. Louis Guanella and the generous collaboration of pioneers, benefactors, clergy, and many friends who helped the Congregation to establish its roots in Indian soil.
From those humble beginnings, the Lord has blessed us with vocations, formation houses, communities, pastoral commitments, charitable institutions, and opportunities to serve the poor and abandoned. We gratefully remember the pioneers who opened the way, the confreres who labored generously, and all those who continue to offer their lives for the growth of the mission.
We shall celebrate this important milestone at St. Joesph's Seminary Cuddalore on November 20-21, 2026, a significant place in the history of our Indian mission. The celebration will be an occasion to remember our origins, honor our pioneers, thank our benefactors and collaborators, and renew our commitment to the Guanellian charism.
I warmly invite all the confreres and members of the Guanellian Family to prepare spiritually for this celebration and to participate with grateful hearts and a renewed missionary spirit.
We are pleased to welcome Fr. Soosai Rathinam, SdC, Vice General, who is expected to visit India from November 9th to December 31, 2026. His presence will be an expression of the communion that unites our Province with the Congregation. During this period, we shall have the opportunity to celebrate the Presentation of the New Constitutions and regulations, Ruby Jubilee, and the Perpetual Profession and Diaconate Ordination of Bro. Arockiasamy, SdC, an important moment of grace for the Province.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Rev. Fr. Amalraj, SdC, Vice Provincial, who organized every detail of the visit with great care, precision, and thoughtful planning. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to all the superiors and confreres, Sisters, Cooperators, collaborators, benefactors, and friends who warmly welcomed and accompanied the recent visit of the Provincial and Council to our Guanellian communities in the United States.
A particularly significant moment was the presentation of the revised Constitutions and Regulations of the Servants of Charity by Rev. Fr. Soosai Rathinam, SdC, Vice General. We also joyfully celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the priestly ordination of Rev. Fr. Enzo Addari, SdC, giving thanks to God for his fifty years of priestly ministry and dedicated service.
As part of our ongoing journey of renewal and co-responsibility, I wish to announce the following new assignments of our confreres. These assignments are entrusted to us in a spirit of faith, obedience, fraternity, and availability for the mission of the Congregation.
Read about these events and more in the latest issue of NEWS and VIEWS.
Fr. Gnanaraj, SdC
Provincial Superior
Making Charity the Heart of the World!
