An Interactive Session with Bishop Barthol Baretto

The Bombay Brothers Association was started with an aim to increase the bonding among seminarians studying for the Archdiocese of Bombay and who would be future priests ministering in the same diocese. The association is primarily concerned with the needs of the Bombay seminarians, to enhance their formation and prepare them to work as a team focused on the common good of the Archdiocese.

To keep this spirit of togetherness and team work, an interactive session was conducted for the Bombay Brothers on 21st September, 2017. 51 seminarians studying for the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Bombay came together for a time of fellowship and interaction with Bishop Barthol Baretto, our guest speaker for the evening.

The meeting began with a game which was well conducted by Br. Ivel from the Orientation Year.

Bombay Seminarians with Bp Barthol Baretto and Rector Fr Aniceto Periera

Bp. Barthol, then in his most humble way shared his experiences that led him to join the seminary and gave us glimpses of his life as a Pastor. It was an interactive session, which allowed brothers to ask him many questions mainly about the vision of the Priesthood in our Archdiocese, requirements to be an effective priest, the challenges in ministry and working together as a team.

Bp. Barthol provided excellent answers and deep insight on Priesthood and what it means to be an effective Priest. He emphasized the role of 'Prayer and Scripture', which together shapes us to be like Jesus – the Model Priest. Time fell short as the meeting did not seem to end thanks to the beautiful way in which Bp. Barthol conducted the session.

Our Rector, Fr Aniceto Pereira then expressed our gratitude to Bp. Barthol for his availability and his passion in communicating with us seminarians. The meeting then ended with everyone enjoying refreshments.

Br. Ashwin Castellino

3rd Year Theologian