Fr. Aris Miranda, General Consultor for Ministry

The 27th World Day of the Sick is celebrated in Calcutta, India from February 9-12, 2019. The solemn event was preceded by a two day conference on pastoral health care and the testimonies of the various committed religious groups (lay, priest and religious) who are engaged in the health care ministries. The variety and inspiring experiences of the workers in the vineyard of the Lord demonstrate the richness of the charisms in the Catholic church all over the world.
This event occasioned the meeting also of the international Camillian charismatic family – the Camillian fathers and brothers, the Daughters of St. Camillus, and the Camillian Sisters coming from the Philippines, Thailand and India – who attended in this solemn event.
The celebration was organized by the Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI), and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development. The CBCI party was led by Bishop Prakash and Fr. Matthew Perumpil, MI, the executive secretary of the Commission on Pastoral Health Care. The Dicastery was led by no less than His Eminence Card. Turkson and 11 other delegates.
Bro. Madhu, MI delivered a very inspiring and moving testimony of the Camillian experience in taking care of persons living with HIV/AIDS. There were other testimonies from the different groups in India (lay, religious, priests) which demonstrate the great love and passion to care for the sick especially the abandoned and most vulnerable. In their own simplicity they witnessed with sincerity and wholeheartedness with what Pope Francis, theology of care (touch).

The holy mass which was presided by His Eminence Card. Peter Turkson and concelebrated by the delegate priests and almost all the diocesan clergy of the archdiocese of Calcutta.