On the 14^th of April it was a great day in the history of the Region of India.  A long awaited dream of having a house in Mangaluru, of the state of Karnataka came true. After putting many heads and hands together with the support of the congregation and by the Grace of God the new novitiate house was erected and was inaugurated. 14^th April is a significant day for us as handmaids as it was the foundation day…. We have been praying to the Lord through the intercession of Mother Pillar and we felt that all things went on well through her intercession. The house was blessed and Inaugurated on the 14^th of April 2016 by Bishop Aloysius Paul D’souza, the bishop of Mangaluru. Sr. Margaret our Regional Superior cut the ribbon and the doors of the house were opened, the house was filled with Handmaids, other religious, priest and all the friends and well-wishers. Along with the Bishop there were four other priest to celebrate the Eucharistic celebration. The mass was in local language that is Konkani apart from that Bishop also spoke few things in English. According the rubrics and ritual the house, alter, crucifix, tabernacle was blesses.

 A short program was conducted to felicitate the dignitaries. On behalf of the Handmaids Sr. Monti Rodrigues welcomed the people and introduced the Handmaids life and mission.

  Important personalities like our Bishop, the parish priest Fr. Gregory Vas, Sr. Margaret, the builder Mr. Roy Castilino, the architect Mr. Christopher Norona, Mr. Ronny Montero who showed us the land and was dealt with the land papers and who was a constant support all through were felicitated A memento from the congregation was given to the builder and the architect.

Bishop spoke a few words and in his speech he expressed his joy of having another congregation in his diocese and inaugurating a novitiate house for the first time in his twenty years as a Bishop. He spoke lot of words of encouragement and support as well as asked the sister to pray for his intentions and for the intentions of the diocese. Sr. Margaret gave the vote of thanks which was specific and deep expressing her gratitude to all who have been part and parcel in building this Novitiate house. The house was named as St. Raphaela Mary’s Novitiate house. As a sign of gratitude and togetherness to we had the fellowship meal.

On the 18^th of May we celebrated the feast of St.Raphaela Mary. On that day in the morning we had together adoration conducted by Sr. Suvarna and during that adoration the four postulants, Margaret, Stella, Ayana and Ashana started their novitiate. The theme was “Draw me into your friendship” with a symbol of the different stages of butterfly where novitiate is stresses as a time of silence, prayer and reflection. They had chosen different symbols which represent their life in the novitiate. At the end of the prayer Sr. Margaret gave them the chain with the embalm.

In the evening we had the first profession our novices Aruna and Rima. They chose the theme “You are precious to me”. The Eucharistic celebration was at 5.30pm. The main celebrant was Fr. Gregory Vas our parish priest and Fr.Botham OFM Rima’s cousin con celebrated the mass and preached the sermon.

 It was nice and cordial celebration; both the family members and parents of Srs. Aruna and Rima were present. The liturgy was a mixture of three languages, Hindi, English and Marati. The presence of many Handmaids added flavor to the celebration. A few close friends too were invited.

When Srs. Aruna and Rima professed their vows and gave vote of thanks both of the family members and parents were very emotional, in fact it was a touching ceremony and for those of who had attended for the first time especially our close friends and neighbors appreciated by saying it was very inspiring and worth attending. After the mass we had a prayer dance y our Novice Ashna and the newly professed cut the cake and all of us wished them. Cake and drinks were served and after that we had a fellowship meal.