REGIONAL BIBLE INSTITUTE, Sugranth Subodhana,for the AGRA ECCLESIASTICAL REGION
At the climax of the Pauline Year, the long cherished dream of the Bishops of the
Agra Ecclesiastical Region is now realised. On 31st Mar, 2009, the Regional Bible
Institute, named as
Sugranth Subodhana, was inaugurated and blessed, by His Grace
Albert D’Souza , Archbishop of Agra and Anthony Fernandes, Bishop of Bareilly, along
with 5 more Bishops of the Region and priests, religious and laity.
The word
Sugranth refers to the Sacred Writings of any faith which are written
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The word
Subodhana refers to critical
awareness. The institute aims at a critical understanding of the Word to be able
to retell the story of Jesus in the light of peoples’ living experiences.
Special Features:-
- Teams to reach out to the dioceses to conduct Bible Courses
- Focus is the laity
- Language will be largely Hindi
- Nrityarpan – a dance troupe to visualise the Bible.
Activities:-
A three and half year long Bible Correspondence Course in Hindi. A team will reach
out to train the people in the Bible Correspondence Course that the institute has
planned. The booklets (15) on the Gospels sent every 3rd month as BCC by the institute
will be used as a resource material for the laity to familiarise themselves with
the Gospels. We have begun our study with the Gospel of Mark. We have published
two booklets of approximately 50 pages each. The third one will be ready by Dec
09 with which we complete the study of the Gospel of Mark. From Jan 2010 we will
begin with the Gospel of Matthew.
Mobile Exhibition Unit bringing the message of the Bible through appealing visuals
Nrityarpan – a dance troupe to proclaim the Word through Indian Art Forms, such
as Music and dance.
The main objective of this group is to bring the Gospel-based values to our people
in Hindi and at the same time in their idiom, their culture, particularly the folk
culture. Hence a department for Culture and Communication has been set up, called,
Nrityarpan, for this purpose. They : a. Teach the values of the Gospel to Christians
and people of other faiths in today’s context through Indian art forms without causing
any offence. b. Celebrate Bible with parishioners teaching them the events and stories
of the Bible. c. Make some of the lessons of Catechism very appealing with the help
of art, dance drama, action songs, magic etc.
BIBLICAL VALUE BASED ORIENTATION PROGRAMES FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
Since the educational ministry has been very successful in serving the people in
our Region, an entry through orientation programes for students and teachers that
are based on the values of the Bible, but without making explicit reference to it.