The Women’s Cell in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Whitefield, Bengaluru, was inaugurated on Sunday, 26th September 2021 by the Parish Priest, Rev. Msgr. S. Jayanathan. The SPARKLE Program was launched on that day. The acronym SPARKLE stands for Share, Plan, Act, Reflect, Know, Learn and Enjoy.
Women’s Cell is a platform for multilingual women to come together. Its about breaking barriers of language, status and being united and inclusive.
It was the endeavour of His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bengaluru to have a Women’s Cell in every Parish in the Archdiocese in order that women in the Parish will have an opportunity to connect with one another and understand the needs of other women in collaboration with the Parish Priest.
At present the Parish Women’s Cell consists of 27 dedicated members. We don’t believe in numbers but in the unity and support we receive from each other which is of utmost importance in strengthening the Cell.
The Parish Women’s Cell is affiliated to the Catholic Women Collective (CWC) of the Archdiocese of Bangalore.
Catholic Women Collective has the following Vision, Mission and Goal:
VISION – United and empowered women living with dignity.
MISSION – Promotion of Solidarity of Justice and Equal Status in the Society.
GOAL – Inclusive and Sustainable Women’s Cell in the Parishes of Bangalore.
Rev. Fr. Dr. Susairaj, Ecclesiastical Advisor, Women’s Commission, Archdiocese of Bangalore spoke on three aspects that are the need of Women’s Cell:
- Women must be enriched spiritually.
- Women to take active participation in all the church activities both in a spiritual and physical manner.
- Strengthening women to be aware of political issues. To be politically empowered.
Women’s Cell focus areas are:
Political Empowerment
Girl Child Safeguarding
Health and Wellness
POSH – Prevention of Sexual Harassment.
Peaceful Family lives through elimination of abuse and violence against women.
Our Activities are:
Political Empowerment – To empower all the Parishioners to exercise their right to vote for the right candidate in any given election.
- Participated in the Political Empowerment Drive conducted at the Parish Level in order to help every parishioner to exercise their vote, i.e. new registrations, names that were deleted in the voting list and wrong spelling of names, change of address, etc. This was conducted in association with the Catholic Association.
- Registration for the MLC Election Voter ID for the Teachers’ and Graduates Constituency was conducted in the Parish, Forms collected and submitted in the BMSSS Office at Paalanaa Bhavan.
Girl Child Safeguarding – An Awareness Program was created for girl children between the ages of 8 to 11 years. They were taught to be aware of their surroundings and how to raise an alarm in case of any danger signals, why it is necessary to keep their parents informed and to be wary of relatives and family friends.
Health and Wellness – To introduce Government Schemes to our needy parishioners and help them with the filling-in of applications and submission at the right Government counters so that they could benefit from such Schemes offered by the Government. This exercise must be taken up with the help of the Labour Commission at the Archdiocese.
POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) – This program needs implementation in our Parish to create awareness of how to avoid such sexual approaches and what one needs to do when caught in such a situation.
Elimination of abuse and violence against women – This is another area where the Women’s Cell need to look into especially family break-ups which are on the rise.
- Women’s Cell have Faith Formators.
- Women’s Cell organised Breakfast Outlet after Sunday morning Mass.
- Women’s Cell took care of the Tailoring Centres.
- Women’s Cell have served the Parish guests and taken care of them.
- Women’s Cell facilitated Family Bible Marathon with a group of families at the Parish Level organized by the Bible Commission of the Archdiocese of Bangalore from 1st April 2023 to 15th December 2023. The reading of the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation was covered.
- Women’s Cell attended the Protest Gathering to condemn the atrocities committed against women in Manipur, conducted by the Women’s Commission, Archdiocese of Bangalore and the CCBI Commission for Women on Sunday, 30th July, 2023 from 10.30 AM to 1.30 PM at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Coles Park, Bangalore.
- Women’s Cell members attended the 5th National Conference of the CCBI Commission for Women hosted by the Catholic Women Collective at Paalanaa Bhavan on Saturday, 21st October 2023 at 4 PM. In this prestigious Conference, Our Lady of Lourdes Church Women’s Cell, Whitefield received the “Vibrant Parish Women’s Cell” Award and an Appreciation Certificate from the eminent Chairman of the National Commission for Women, Most Rev. Kishore Kumar Kujur, Archbishop of Ranchi and the eminent National Secretary, Rev. Sr. Lidwin and Rev. Fr. Dr. Susairaj, Ecclesiastical Advisor, Archdiocese of Bangalore.
- Women’s Cell participated in the Mission Sunday Food Fest on Sunday, 5th November 2023. We sold food made at home by some of the participating members who sponsored every item. Our sale brought in a revenue of Rs.23,200/-.
- Women’s Cell sold 5 Raffle Ticket Books, each book consisting of 25 tickets amounting to Rs.12,500/- for the Mission Sunday Raffle Draw.
- Women’s Cell visited Orphanage where only girl children are housed. Spent time with them, engaging them in games, making them aware of their safety and helped them with certain items that were needed.
- Women’s Cell meets to enjoy a meal together which helps in bonding relationships.
- Women’s Cell who are part of the T.C. Palya SPARKLE team have helped in the formation of new Women’s Cells in other Parishes in different Deaneries.
- Women’s Cell works at the Archdiocesan level whenever the need for such work arises.
- Women’s Cell also attends Programs and Seminars conducted by the Catholic Women Collective from time to time.
- Women’s Cell has celebrated the International Women’s Day and Girl Child Day.
- Women’s Cell is always ready to do any work entrusted to it by the Parish Clergy.
