Northern India’s first woman’s congregation elects new leader

By Lalita Roshni Lakra

Ranchi, September 16, 2020: The Daughters of St Anne (DSA) has elected a new superior general, who hails from the parish where a Belgian Jesuit missionary was killed while trying to save some Muslims during a communal violence 56 years ago.

Sister Lily Grace Topno was elected as the 14th leader of the 123-year-old congregation, the first Catholic religious order for women in northern India.

Although the election was held on September 6, the results were published only on September 15, a delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sister Topno succeeds Sister Linda Mary Vaughan, who has completed two terms of six years each.

The first congregation, founded by a tribal sister for tribal girls 123 years ago, elected the team of leaders during the general chapter held at the congregation’s generalate in Ranchi’s Samlong area

The chapter that addressed the theme, “Called to Shepherd,” also elected Sisters Mary Pushpa Tirkey, Sosan Bara, Jacinta Kerketta and Monica Kujur as the general councilors.

Sister Topno, a Munda tribal, was born on October 31, 1956, in the Kutungia parish of Simdega diocese. The assassination of Jesuit Father Herman Rasschaert on March 24, 1964, brought to limelight the parish, a interior rural and tribal belt. The Hindu Muslim riot had forced hundreds of people to take refuge behind the low boundary wall of a mosque at Gerda, a village under the parish area.

The priest rushed to the scene hearing about the riots. He tried to negotiate for peace and save the refugees. Hundreds of people were also slaughtered with the Jesuit priest.

Sister Topno, who was eight when the martyrdom occurred, was inspired to join the religious life. She made her first vows on January 6, 1977, and the final vows on March 24, 1983.

After her profession, she served as a teacher at St. John’s Middle School, Ranchi. She has sone a two-year theology course at Mater Dei, Goa, western India.

She was an assistant novice mistress and novice mistress to train new nuns. She was also an assistant teacher at Nawdiha, Gumla. She was the provincial of Gumla. She was the first councilor of the last team of leaders.

She has served as the postulator for the causes of canonization of the congregation’s founder, Sister Mary Bernadette Kispotta, who is now a servant of God.

Many members of the congregation expressed happiness over the new administration.

“The new superior general can contribute to burning issues of tribals, such as reverse migration, displacement and trafficking of tribal girls to metropolitan cities,” said Sister Subhashini Xalxo, a delegate superior to the Andaman Mission of the congregation.

She expects the work of the canonization process of their founder to speed up as the new chief had worked as a postulator after her studies in Rome on “Causes of Saints.”

“We hope Mother Kispotta would be beatified during the term of the new team,” Xalxo told Matters India.

She also wants the new team to open English medium schools in tribal areas, which she says is “the need of the hour.”

Sister Shivani Ekka, secretary to the former superior general, says the new team would maintain the legacy and spirit of their founder.

The congregation marked its 124th foundation day on July 26

Mother Kispotta was declared the Servant of God on August 7, 2016.

The congregation was founded on July 26, 1897, in Ranchi. Mother Bernadette chose “Ablaze with the love of Jesus” as its motto. She wanted her nuns to lead a Christ-like life among the poor and downtrodden and foster human dignity and respect among all.

Today, the congregation is engaged in education, health care and social work as part of its evangelization. It has 1,093 members in four provinces and two delegations with a total of 149 convents. They are work in India, Italy and Germany. It has 84 novices.

In India, the nuns work in nine states and two union territories spread over 34 dioceses.