Dear Rev. Fathers / Rev. Sisters / Headmasters, Teachers and Students of the Sunday School,

Prayerful Greetings from the Department of Catechesis, MCC-ETRI!

We have entered into a New Year; a time filled with hope, decisions and renewals. Year 2009 is decisive for the Department of Catechesis MCC ETRI. On 25 March 2009, I complete one year as the Director. In July 2009, we complete one Sunday School Year with the new schema. In April or May 2009, we are planning to have an evaluation gathering of the Headmasters and Teachers of the Sunday school, Priests and Religious in the presence of His Excellency Jacob Mar Barnabas and the Experts from the field. A bylaw for the functioning of the Department has to be evolved and the activities of the Department have to be set in tune with the bylaw. I request your earnest prayers, sincere support and valuable suggestions for the same.

I am attaching herewith the Syllabus for the Second Semester. All the lessons given in the Syllabus are obligatory. All liturgical hymns and prayers given in the text have to be by-hearted; but only those given in the Syllabus will be asked for the Examination. The page numbers given against liturgical hymns are of the corresponding version from the English Text. You are requested to teach the Malayalam version as given in the CD provided from the Department. Students are allowed to write in Malayalam, English or Hindi for the Examination.

I do hereby entrust the Headmasters of the concerned Sunday Schools to conduct the Re-exam, for those who have got E grade and those who were not able to write the Exam on 7/12, in this month itself and send their marks to the Centre before 9 February 2009. Barnabas Thirumeni is so particular about the re-exam and has asked me to make sure that it has been conducted everywhere. The Question Paper for the Re-exam has to be set in the parishes itself by the teachers of the respective classes. If you have any difficulty, let me know at the earliest.

It is quite encouraging that noone has asked for revaluation of Answer papers. I wholeheartedly thank you all for the trust you have in the Department. Trust in the organization and confidence in the methodology is the foundation of the success of activities. Let the blessings of the Almighty be upon us all through this New Year!

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Fr Varghese Valikkodath

Dear Rev. Fathers / Rev. Sisters / Headmasters, Teachers and Students of the Sunday School,

Prayerful Greetings from the Department of Catechesis, MCC-ETRI!

First of all, let me congratulate all the Rank holders of First Semester Catechism Examination 2008-’09. It is the result of their hard work, zealous mind and right motivation. Rev. Fathers and Sisters, Headmasters and Teachers have tried your best to make this venture a great success. Announcing the result of the Examination in a week was a tedious task. But You made it feasible by preparing for the Exam in the best possible way, conducting the Exam in the most disciplined manner and sending the Answer Papers and doing the formalities in the just instructed means. I wholeheartedly thank each and every one of You, especially the Zonal Directors and the Zonal Executive Body, for your sincere support, generous service, earnest initiatives and timely interventions.

The ETRI level Ranks were announced by His Excellency Jacob Mar Barnabas at the Cathedral on 14 December 2008. Correspondingly, the Zonal Directors announced the Zonal level Ranks in their respective parishes on the same day. The Rank List was sent to Rev. Fathers and the Headmasters by the same evening. The individual Result of each Centre was formulated and communicated through email on 18 December. It is downloadable from the blogsitewww.catechesismccetri.blogspot.com. A bird’s eye view of the status of each Centre will be sent to you soon.

I hope you have already announced the results in the Parish. We have provided grades together with marks. For details regarding the grades, kindly refer Circular No.1. We had decided that all those who get grades less than C have to repeat the Exams. But since this is the first attempt to have a centralised scheme, we are giving a consideration for those who have got D+ and D grades. In short, only those who have got E Grade have to repeat the Exam with the Question Paper sent from the Centre. Rev. Fathers and Headmasters are requested to make arrangement for the Exam at your convenience. Kindly make sure that all those who have got E Grade and those who did not appear for the Exam make it this time. The papers have to be valuated there itself and the marks have to be sent to the Centre. The date of the Exam has to be intimated to the Centre next week itself.

The marks of those who have got E Grade is below 15 and hence not shown in the Result Sheet. If someone is so particular about the marks, I am obliged to disclose it at their request. Regarding the marks of others, we have tried our best to make things foolproof. Still if you have some doubt concerning the marks of anyone from your Centre, you have the provision for both recounting and revaluation. You have to apply specifying the Centre, Class, Reg. No. and Name with a nominal fee of Rs. 50/-. The amount will be given back if there is any change in the marks. You are free to ask any clarification regarding the Valuation.

We have tried to record the mark of each answer of each student in the excel format of the Computer. But many students have deviated from the numbering pattern of the Question Papers. It made things difficult and complicated. Please do make sure that the children follow strictly the numbering pattern next time. The Question Pattern will be the same for the Second Semester Examination.

I had repeatedly requested you to furnish all the necessary details in the Hall Ticket for the purpose of registering at the Centre. I am sorry to say that there were Hall Tickets with not even full name. I’ll sent you back the name of the students whose Hall Tickets are incomplete. Kindly provide me the details as early as possible. The details of those who were absent for the Exam also have to be sent.

The Register Numbers given in the Result Sheet is temporary but valid for this academic year. Once the Registration Process is completed in the Centre, the students will be provided with a permanent Register Number.

Kindly check the spelling of the names of all the students in the Result Sheet. If there is any mistake, inform me at the earliest so that it can be rectified in the official documents.

The remaining lessons in each Class have to be taught for the Second Semester. A detailed Syllabus will be sent to you soon. The Question Bank for the remaining lessons will be prepared and sent to you in due course of time. The Question Pattern remains the same. The Second Semester Examination is scheduled for the first week of July. You will have enough time including the holidays. So kindly make a detailed plan for each Class and try to implement it with a will with which the Department of Catechesis has grown till this.

Once again, a big Thank You for all of You!

Wish YOU all

A Grace filled Christmas

and

A Blessed New Year!

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Fr Varghese Valikkodath

Dear Rev. Fathers / Rev. Sisters / Headmasters, Teachers and Students of the Sunday School,

Prayerful Greetings from the Department of Catechesis, MCC-ETRI!

I am enclosing herewith the Question Papers for the First Semester Exam, which has to be conducted on 7 December 2008 at 11.00 a.m. Since the exam is centralized, kindly do your best to keep the time. The envelop containing the Question Papers are to be opened only after 10.45 a.m. on 7 December, in the presence of the Supervisor. If you have any difficulty or clarification on the timing, kindly let me know by the earliest. The following centres will have the respected Priests-in-Charge as the Supervisors: Calcutta, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Baroda, Bhilai, Chennai, Secunderabad, Nasik and Surat. For all other centres, Supervisors will be appointed by the Regional Directors. The cloth bound cover enclosed should be used to send back the Answer Papers. Answer Papers of the children of same class has to be wrapped together and kept separately in the cover.

As we have discussed earlier, Classes 1 to 3 will have Oral Exam with the Question Papers sent from the Centre. Answer keys are also included for these classes in order to assist the concerned teachers for conducting the Exam. Answer keys for Classes 4 to 10 will be sent to you, through email, immediately after the Exam.

Hall Ticket, which has all the required details furnished, has to be attached with the Answer Papers. Nothing that reveals the identity of the person should be written in the Answer Papers.

Any complaint regarding the Exams should be registered at the Centre through email atleast by the next day. Complaints are not encouraged after that and will not be able to consider with due importance.

Once again I remind: Kindly do not open the envelop containing the Question Papers before 10.45 a.m. on 7 December 2008.

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Fr Varghese Valikkodath

Dear Rev. Fathers / Rev. Sisters / Headmasters, Teachers and Students of the Sunday School,

Prayerful Greetings from the Department of Catechesis, MCC-ETRI!

We are at the dusk of the First Semester. I appreciate the hard work and the genuine effort you put up to kindle the light of faith in our children. At the onset of this Academic year, we had decided to conduct the First Semester Exam on the last Sunday of November. But the Priests’ Meet held in Chennai suggested postponing it for a week due to certain unavoidable circumstances. So the First Semester Exam will be on Sunday, 7th December 2008 at 11.00 am in the respective Centres.

In Banglore - Delhi - Mumbai - Pune regions, Supervisors will be chosen from other Centres by the recommendation of the Regional Directors and they will be entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the exam. Headmaster and teachers of respective centres are requested to assist and support the Supervisor and the Regional Director in this regard. In other Centres, Priests-in-Charge will hold the responsibility of conducting the exam. Answer papers of all the children from Classes 4 to 10 have to be sent to the Central Office for central valuation, details of which will be communicated to you by the Regional Director. Classes 1 to 3 will have Oral Exam with the question paper sent from the Centre. Their marks are to be sent to the Centre at the earliest.

I am enclosing herewith a copy of the Hall Ticket which has to be attached with the answer papers. Kindly make as many copies you need and make sure the children have furnished all the details requested by the Central Office. Each Hall Ticket has to be authorized by the Headmaster and validated by the Church seal. The children who have incomplete Hall Tickets will not be considered for Ranks and other merits. Please do take up the responsibility of providing ruled papers for the children to write the exam. One type of paper should be used by the children of same unit. The centralized valuation is scheduled to be held in the second week of December and the results will be announced before Christmas.

Let us join hands to conduct the First Semester Exam in a fruitful way!

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Fr Varghese Valikkodath