By Ladislaus L D’Souza, PC

Mumbai: It was in 1917 that Blessed James Alberione established the Pauline Cooperators to give lay people an opportunity to participate in the media mission of the Society of Saint Paul [priests and brothers] and the Daughters of Saint Paul by, in his own words, “going where priests and religious cannot go and doing what priests and religious cannot do.”

In time Alberione was to found no less than 10 institutes or congregations that would constitute what has come to be widely known as the ‘Pauline Family.’

But it is significant that the third entity he gave birth to was a lay institute, and this happened long before the emergence of papal encyclicals urging lay involvement in the different areas of the Church’s mission.

As the central theme set for the centenary by the General Government of the Pauline Family in Rome succinctly suggests, the mission of the Pauline Cooperator is to “Wake up the world with the light of the Gospel.”

Pauline Family in India

Of the ten institutes that Alberione founded, there are four that have branched out in India: Society of Saint Paul, Daughters of Saint Paul, Sister Disciples of the Divine Master and Pauline Cooperators. While the Pauline priests, brothers and sisters are specifically involved in the media apostolate, the Sister Disciples are in the Eucharistic/Liturgical apostolate and in intensive prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed.

The Indian chapter of the Cooperators formally came into being when four lay persons, viz., Sarah Braganza, Margaret D’Souza, Livia D’Sa and Ladislaus L D’Souza, after an intensive two-year preparation, took the “Pledge” as the first Indian Cooperators at the Chapel of the Daughters of Saint Paul, Bandra, on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, on January 25, 2003. The group has grown since then, with branches in Borivili, Bangalore, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Nagpur and Goa.

Cooperation from these lay groups extends from assistance in editorial work to folding of printed sheets and from Open House in schools to diffusion, organizing annual book-fests and much else apart from monthly Eucharistic Adoration. The focus of Saint Benedict’s rule, “Ora et labora” in action so to say! While this assistance spells itself out in the work set-up of the Daughters of Saint Paul, the members are groomed to be of help to any of the other branches of the Pauline Family in India.

Interestingly, another group of ‘cooperators’ exercises its mission directly in collaboration with the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. Named ‘Friends of the Divine Master’ [FDM], the members meet with the Sisters for prayer and work related to their particular apostolate.

Roland Fernandes, Gretta Rebello, Victor Pereira, Alda Sequeira, Thelma Romelle, Collete D’Souza, Edocian Rebello, Agnes Patel, Juliet Alves, Madhavan Reddiar and Prabha Reddiar made their promise at Prarthanalaya, Bandra in 2002. The FDM Cooperators have their presence in Chennai, Bangalore, Goa, Kozhikode, Guwahati and Mumbai.

Pauline Charism

While each of the ten institutes has its own individual mission, the charism envisioned by the founder for all was ‘To Live and Give to the World Jesus, Master – the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’ In essence it was to allow ourselves to be so soaked in the Gospel as to be able to bear Jesus to the world around us in a very tangible way, in the manner of our patron, Saint Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles.

Paul was so consumed by Christ that he unabashedly declared “I now no longer live but its Christ that lives in me” [Gal 2:20a]. And that is precisely what Alberione had in mind for every member of the Pauline Family including the Cooperator.

Thrust of Pauline Cooperation

In the words of the Founder, “Apostolate means bringing humanity its salvation: Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and Life” [CISP 165]. Alberione also emphasizes: “The apostle is one who carries God within his soul and irradiates him to others” (UPS IV 277).

Implicitly, this enjoins on the Cooperator a greater responsibility in terms of evangelization – to be both in the world and of the world, being leaven in a world saturated with a worldliness that leads to nowhere. Perhaps we could make the prayer of Blessed John Cardinal Henry Newman our own – “Dear Jesus, Flood my soul with your spirit and life; penetrate and possess my whole being so completely that all my life may be only a radiance of yours!”

Given that not every media professional is called to the ordained or vowed way of life, the Cooperator’s apostolate opens its arms to those who feel inclined to preach Jesus without the obligations attached to the consecrated life.

The media today is vast and technology amazingly changing with the times. The question of its misuse aside, are we to allow such powerful means to go to waste by way of frivolity in entertainment? We ‘lay’ have at our disposal as much of the means and the wherewithal as do the consecrated, perhaps even more. What then is our response to the urgent media needs of the Church vis-à-vis the social ethos of our day and time?

Universality of Pauline Mission

Alberione says, “The Pauline Apostolate is universal in time and place. It is to teach with modern means what the Pope, bishops and priests teach” (CISP 165).

As the year-long Centenary celebrations took off in Bombay with the Eucharist presided over by Bishop Barthol Barretto at Saint Theresa’s Church, Bandra on June 25, the apostolate beckons every Christian lay media professional to sit up and think in terms of putting his or her talents at the service of the Church.

With Modern technology challenging us to allow the Spirit to bring out the best in us, what better way to wake up the world with the light of the Gospel than using our creativity to the hilt – music, singing and dancing, acting and writing, photography, animation and films…. indeed, all that delights the world no end!