Sister Inigo ssa, the former Superior General of St. Anne’s Chennai
speaks to Sr. Claudette Miranda dsp
on her present ministries and challenges
 and the reality of the Religious life today and in the future 

Sister Inigo, what ministries you are engaged in?

After finishing my term as Superior General, I decided that I must move out of administration into direct mission field. I knew about our sisters doing prison ministry in the south and about Kiran Bedi’s transformative policies in Tihar jail and the words of Jesus, in Lk.4 “I have come to liberate the captives” and in Mt.25 ”When I was in prison, you came to see me”. People are imprisoned not only in jails, but also psychologically, spiritually and intellectually. I felt I must do something to the most neglected, the most unwanted and the most unfortunate brothers and sisters behind bars. Having no knowledge of the language Hindi and without having much knowledge of Jail and who are these prisoners, I came to Delhi moved by the Spirit. The very next month I got a pass to work in Tihar jail.

What has life taught you over these years?

I began to learn about Life from different perspectives. To live in Delhi and to work in Tihar Jail is an experience which cannot be easily expressed. One can only live and work in jail and you will be dumbfounded. I began to see persons from a different perspective and feel their feelings, I began to read their mental agony, I began to listen to their silent cry in the midst of their loneliness, desolation, alienation and being totally abandoned. I didn’t need to talk to them about God. I started talking to God about them. I find God in these people.  

How do you live your religious life?

I had always lived in institutions. Now I wanted to live in a non-institutional set up and at the same time to be mission oriented. We are 4 sisters living in a small flat in Dwarka. Every time we went for prayer, prayer questioned and challenged us and made us reflect on our commitment. It made us search for meaning in our commitment and consecration. 2 sisters are appointed to Ashalayam, a centre for street children run by the Salesian Fathers. I started my ministry in prison. One sister got a teaching job at SFS School . We started going to Matiyala slum and started interacting with people. Their children who go to government schools need extra classes and value system, so in the evenings our flat becomes a small school for these children.

How do you find your spirituality in all this?

In the mornings we sit quietly in meditation in self examination. We do not have domestic helpers as we do all our household works and go for our different ministries. As we discover God in the poor, the downtrodden, the suffering during the day, we also want to meet that God at night during our evening prayer, a peak moment in our life. Everyday we take the Word of God and connect it to our day’s struggle and the struggles of our people. We integrate it in the light of our context which would enlighten us, comfort us, and challenge us to go ahead. In other words prayer challenges us and moves us to mission and mission leads us back to God in silence and stillness and to the Word of God.

How do you see Religious life today?

Many major Superiors started inviting me in India and abroad to share with them my views of Religious life, my challenges of leadership, my new way of looking at the society and the signs of the times. I feel I am driven by the Spirit and the spirit is communicating through me. I don’t know from where I get the energy, the light and the points to speak on. My interactions with different congregations and listening to them, makes me realize that RELIGIOUS LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL and it is a call to live lovingly and joyfully for the sake of mission. Religious life will continue in the future but definitely in another form.

What forms do you envisage?

From my experience, religious are drawn to new ministries of justice and women issues, organizing youth groups, finding fulfillment in working for the poor and the marginalized, even teaching but not in organized institutions but teaching children in slums, on the platforms, on the streets and in prison. Education has not become irrelevant in our country but whom do we educate and where is the issue. Health care has also not become irrelevant because still people are dying for lack of health facilities. The NGO’s are also doing social ministry but God always calls a group to consecrate and dedicate one’s life to new ministries. But people still need religious who live their life with mystical dimension and with prophetic vision.

As a religious, I have a joy of seeing many religious including the young sisters moving towards this new way of being religious and living their commitment totally according to the signs of the times.

Do you find any conflict with regard to the Institutional way of life?

To a large extent yes! Many religious want to be faithful to their mission and to sincerely commit themselves to a challenging life. There is a kind of tension to live the present religious life. I feel in the coming years the Lord will speak to us in much more clearer terms to resolve these tensions and to be more fruitful religious. We need to re-interpret our three vows in this light and our prayer life should lead us from being pious to spiritual beings, from just professionalism to missionaries, from just being workers in the institution to committed and God-experienced religious. Into that heaven of freedom my Father, let our religious awake!

Source: CRI       Published Date: December 7, 2011

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