Divine Love: the SSpS in India South

As we continue our missionary journey, we realize that all our SSpS sisters follow the same spirituality and charism, but in each place, they give a different response. This is the creativity of the Holy Spirit in meeting the urgent needs of each people or situation.

This variety of missionary services appears very strongly in the India South Province, which we will get to know today.

In this video you will see a little of the history of the SSpS missionaries in India and learn about their various apostolates.

So, come with us on this fascinating journey and enjoy the video!

Women Disciples and Bearers of Good News

Divine Love Province, India South

The Congregation of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, set foot on the Indian soil in the year 1933, establishing the first house at Indore. With the demand and need for better education facilities and formation, in 1970, the regional house was shifted to Bangalore in South India.

The subsequent growth in the number of sisters in our Congregation within India necessitated the bifurcation of four provinces namely– the Province of Divine Love, India South, the Province of Divine Providence, India Central, the Province of Divine Word, India East, and the Province of Divine Spirit, India North East.

Today, India South Province with its 18 communities and 125 sisters – hailing from 10 cultural and linguistic states – presently works in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

Over the years, the province has discerned, adapted, and responded to the changing realities, situations, and various needs of the people, through its diverse ministries, making JPIC an integral part of our mission.

Education

Education was the felt need of the hour in urban and rural areas. Thus, the ministry of education was undertaken. Presently, through our 5 established schools, we ignite the minds of around 6000 students. Sisters also collaborate with diocesan schools and lay organizations, through formal and non-formal education.

Health Care

A 300-bed multispecialty, tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, provides comprehensive health care to proximately 2 million people while providing post-graduate medical education through DNB & CPS programs and nursing education through general and graduate nursing institutions. A 20-bed rural hospital extends necessary health care services to thousands of outpatients who are economically poor at Periyapatna, Mysore.

Social Ministries

Social ministries with the shift towards right based approach include:

❖ Education and Integral Development of Girl Children
❖ Women Empowerment programs for Women Religious
❖ Domestic Workers / Women in villages
❖ Hostel for College Women
❖ Counseling and Guidance
❖ Legal Aid
❖ Prison Ministry
❖ Ministry with the Differently Abled
❖ Caring for the Elderly

Collaboration and Networking

The province collaborates through netwrking with other NGOs, Diocesess, National Women’s Movement, Conference of Religious India, and Catholic Health Association India.

Caring for Mother Earth

In caring for the Mother Earth, the Province has initiated the following projects: Waste Management, Solar Installation, use of Bio Gas, planting trees, production of Organic bags, and No-Plastic bag policy, rainwater harvesting … in communities and Institutions.

Pastoral

The Pastoral activities include:

❖ Family visits and Counseling
❖ SCC Meetings
❖ Catechesis, Faith Formation, Liturgy Animation, and Preparation for Sacraments
❖ Animation of Associations like Women’s cell, Youth Groups, Holy Spirit Mission Association (HSMA)

Formation

The sisters accompany the Candidates, Aspirants, and Students to help them discover their calling and nurture it with daily communion with God and create a space where they experience the SSpS way of life and discern their calling to the SSpS family.

Responding to the  urgent needs and the situation in our Country we are invited to be a prophetic and compassionate presence to the people in the “Peripheries” (existential & geographical) through our ministries, networking, and collaboration.

We are proud to acknowledge that our province named after the Spirit of Divine Love, has been immensely blessed by God, for which we are ever grateful. Being aware of the constant call of the spirit in our concrete situations with its opportunities and challenges, our deep desire and prayer is that, immersed in the life of the Trinity, we become ever more ‘the good news we proclaim’ as we move forward as women disciples, in our life and mission.

Province Divine Love – India South