Entrance into the novitiate

On September 7th, CASA St. Claret had the great joy of celebrating the entrance into the novitiate of 11 students. This took place at CASA St. Claret (the Claretian Novitiate in Sri Lanka) chapel in Kurunegala at 7.30am. The chapel was full of Claretian fathers, brothers and well wishes.
The mass was celebrated by Fr. Leo Dalmao, the General prefect of formation. In his homily he mentioned that those who had been called by the Lord to the life of celibacy were “aristocrats of love”. He encouraged the brothers to be faithful to this calling. He also shared more thoughts on prayer and perseverance.
This is the first time that the Sri Lankan Claretian mission experienced the blessings of God to have more than five novices in a year. These 11 novices are after their philosophical studies from Madurai, Kandy and Jaffna. They are namely:Sahayanathan Dias Rajasekar, Charles Mathews Desmenraj, Alveenas Rojes, Anthony Antony Vergen Lambert, Sebamalaimuthu Jeyaprakash, Alex Kupsan Antony Danoshan, Anthony Desmond Croos, Kitnam Rubeshan, PiledranVenasius, G. Philx ArulnesnVinoraj and Gunaseelan Selexon. Together with them, the novitiate community consists of Fr. Royestan Jeyaraj, the novice master, Fr. S. Jeganathan, the econome and Fr. E. Peter Paramavalan.