“When two or more are gathered in My name I will be in midst
of them,” is a divine promise in the Holy Bible. This and other verses common
to the Christian faith hold essential keys to recovery from devastating alcohol
and drug addiction, Father Joseph Pereira, Founder and Managing Trustee, Kripa
Foundation, told a nearly 400-strong gathering in Vasai (West) near Mumbai, at
a seminar held on Sunday, February 24, 2013.
Addressing a seminar entitled ‘The Role of Christian Faith
in Addiction Recovery,’ Fr. Joe said, the Kripa Model of Recovery is based on
the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. These 12 steps, he highlighted,
are based on Biblical and Christian principles such as placing unflinching
belief in God- power greater than
oneself, honesty- one of the basics tenets of Christianity, confessions of our
wrong doings with a resolve not to repeat them and other, all are commonly used
in the Catholic faith. He stated that the 12-step program was developed by
persons who followed Christian principles and hence, Christianity plays a major
role in recovery of addicts. The seminar was held as part of the ongoing ‘Year
of Faith’ by Kripa Foundation and to observe the Lent season.
The seminar also included an audio-visual presentation on
the history of Kripa Foundation, made by Bosco D’Souza, National Program
Director, Kripa Foundation and translated into Marathi, for benefit of
attendees by Sanjay Joshi of Kripa Vasai.
Fr. Joe and the kripa Team were welcomed at the venue, Late
Fr.Bhandari Hall, Dev talao, in Vasai (West) by Msgr. Francis Correa, editor of
the Suwarta, a Catholic community publication from Vasai-Virar region, to which
he contributes regularly. In his welcome speech, Msgr. Correa said that it was
indeed a pride for Vasai that it’s son, Fr. Joe, had reached such great heights
in serving mankind by helping substance addicts recover and helping HIV/ AIDS
victims and to an extent that he was honored by the President of India,
Pratibha Devsingh Patil with the Padma Shree, India’s highest civilian
accolade, in 2009. He joked that Fr. Joe, by taking priesthood, had broken
hearts of several young women of Vasai since he was a handsome, eligible
bachelor while young. The Grace Choir played six traditional Lent songs at the
beginning of the event, later a meditation demonstration was given by Fr.
Andrew Rodrigues.
Fr. Joe also spoke about the challenges faced by recovering
addicts. He said, eminent psychologists like Carl Jung had proved that
addiction can be cured through faith in God but Karl Marx had managed to
overwhelm Jung with his theory that religion is the opium of the masses.
Despite these challenges, faith continues to play an important role in recovery
and rehabilitation of addicts. Similarly, many psychologists and physicians had
tried to prove that faith had nothing to do with de-addiction and had been
proved wrong.
Later, Fr. Joe also spoke on the benefits of meditation both
for recovery from addiction and for non-addicts, to help improve quality of
life. He gave a brief demonstration of meditation and spoke about the World
Community of Christian Meditation, stating he would hold a WCCM workshop in
Vasai soon. Msgr. Correa said, another seminar on Christianity versus addiction
would soon be held with Fr. Joe to benefit the populace of the Vasai-Virar
region. Fr. Joe ended the programme by singing the praises to the Holy Trinity
in Sanskrit which kept the near house full audience spell bound, sending them
home soaked with a better knowledge to combat addiction in the region Vasai-
Virar.
We are deeply gratefull to Mr Royal D'Souza of Jeevan Darshan Kendra for his kindness of recording the whole audio program for us.This will be shortly available on our website.
We are deeply gratefull to Mr Royal D'Souza of Jeevan Darshan Kendra for his kindness of recording the whole audio program for us.This will be shortly available on our website.
Submitted by
Ashwin Honawar
Collage
Newsdesk
