Shillong: Hundreds of people on August 22 attended a Requiem Mass in Shillong for a Catholic nun who had dedicated her entire life to foster leadership among the youth of India, especially in the northeast.
Sister Xavier Chirayil, a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM), died of cancer two days earlier at her native place in Changanacherry, Kerala, a southern Indian state. She was 77.
Her funeral is scheduled for 11 am on August 23 at the congregation’s convent in Kollam, Kerala.
The Requiem Mass in Shillong was offered at 5.30 pm in St Mary’s Convent chapel, Laitumkhrah. The convent will organize a public condolence meeting at 6.00 pm on August 23.
Sister Chirayil was a pioneer of the Leadership Training Service, popularly known as LTS program, a mission to empower the youth.
She was an educationist and a social worker who had worked in St Mary’s Shillong, Kolkata and other places. She is the pioneer of the
She was a chartered member of Rotary Club of Orchid City Shillong since August 20, 2003. Her death coincided with the club’s anniversary.
Sister Chirayil began her religious life in the RNDM order, in 1962 at St Mary’s Convent, Shillong.
Soon after, she went to St Scholastica Convent, Chittagong, now in Bangladesh then known as East Pakistan for her one-year novitiate where she took her first religious vows in 1965.
On returning to Shillong she enrolled in St Mary’s College. In 1968 she passed her Bachelor of Arts majoring in political science.
In 1970 she was at the Sudeep Training Course, Bangalore in Karnataka, to prepare for her final profession. She took her final vows in 1971 at St Joseph’s Convent, Shillong.
After a course at Rome, she was sent as headmistress of St John Bosco High School, Sohra in Meghalaya. In 1980 she was posted to St Michael’s School, Umsning where she was instrumental in upgrading it to secondary level. She had also served as a vice-principal of St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong.
(Source: thenortheasttoday.com)