Our vision: "Jesus is the only Master - St. Bartolomea is our model teacher"

Walking on her footprints we the educators consider Education as an integral development and formation of the young which will in turn help them to face their own life. And so we follow a policy of education listening to the church's concern for the poor and marginalized. Many of our Sisters who have gone to the Lord has planned, contributed and toiled tirelessly to give shape to the many educational Institutions the South East India Province own today. In the situations of today a relevant education is an essential resource for living. We are aware of this fact. Wherever our communities exist, we perceive the essential tool for the development of the people of the area is nothing but integral education. The history of our Province shows that the province continues to respond to the needs of the society, specifically education to the poor and the marginalized. In the villages like Gudalur and Pandalur where English education especially to the girl children was unheard of. Our Sisters dared the jungle and carried the torch of sound and solid education to the women folk of these areas and the result we see today is greatly satisfying.

We are still in the stage of tests and searching for different possibilities to educate the middle and lower middle class children through new technologies as our teams of educators are aware of the need to prepare the students to face the competitive world of today. Places like K.K.Patty, Nagarikathan and Eanchacode has received address in the world map due to the education given not only to children but to the parents and public as well. The South East India Province has 20 units of which 13 units give priority for educational sector. We have Higher Secondary Schools 3, High School 6, Primary 6, Pre-Primary 2, Technical education 3 and service at Diocesan schools 5. All of our schools come under our educational society's co-ordination and remains a minority unit serving the people without discrimination. The challenges paused on this sector today is-"Education for all, and quality education to empower the marginalized".

Our focus is on total dedication to build a new and inclusive society by providing quality and relevant education to the weaker sections. It also calls us to provide a spiritual formation to all our students that would free them from social conditioning and allow everyone to look forward with trust and live a life of freedom and happiness.

"With the spirit of St. Bartolomea and St. Vincenza we continue in our dedicated service to the sick, the aged and the unwanted………" (CS.53).

The healing ministry in our province is carried out in the dispensaries through the dedicated service of our Sisters. There are namely 3 dispensaries where our Sisters render their services in remote villages. They are:

St. Joseph's Dispensary: (Wellington, Nilgiris Dt.)

St. Joseph's dispensary was started in the year 1952. Ever since 1952 our dispensary caters to the needs of hundreds of poor people of this area. Few years later the Mother and Child welfare programme was started attached in the existing dispensary and the beneficiaries were over 500 pregnant women and children. In 1992 our dispensary took another step forward to admit few in-patients and administered delivery cases. At present our main service is towards the alcohol addicted people and their families.

Anbalaya Dispensary: (Meenachipuram, Virudhunagar Dt.

Anbalaya dispensary was started in the year 1998. A dispensary was an immediate need of the people of Meenachipuram. A Sister Nurse was sent there and a lot of poor people benefitted from this centre. Later on pregnant women and new born children were treated and this service continues till today. Health education and awareness about the cause of various sicknesses is brought to the awareness of the people.

Infant Mary convent Dispensary: (Kalaikulam, Sivagangai Dt.)

Holy Infant Mary's dispensary was opened in the year 2010 in a rented house. The dispensary was opened in order to meet the medical need of the people, providing possible treatment at our residence, as well as to the elderly in their homes. On 11th February 2013, the new convent building was inaugurated, part of which is set aside as a furnished dispensary to carry out the mission of healing more fruitfully and effectively.

These three dispensaries at different places are at the service of the poor, the sick and the elderly. Since they cannot afford to go to a hospital which is quite far away for many villages, they come to these centres for their medical aid. We strive to reach out to them through possible ways. Often we also visit the remote villages to distribute medicines, to those who are not able to walk and those who are seriously ill. At times palliative care is also carried out by our Sisters.

“The religious consecration makes it possible for us to be fully and constantly available to the mission.” -Cs.9

We qualify our works of mercy through charity, gentleness and humility in order to light new hope and courage in the poorest, the forsaken, the downtrodden and the marginalized. We consider our works of mercy as a place where we meet the Lord and through which the people come in contact with His charity. We seek to sense the “Divine’ in persons with whom we live and to whom we are sent.

”God has reserved such a great and charitable enterprise for these times, when the need is great and urgent.. to do everything possible, to suffer everything and even shed their blood for the good of their neighbor.” -F.D. 14 The sisters who are full timers have a regular action plan to face the emerging needs of the times. The stress has been more on empowering the poor and the rejected of society, paying special attention to the girl child, the adolescents and the women whose needs are both material and spiritual., empowering them to claim their rights and doing whatever in needed. They make the sorrows, anguish and suffering of the sick, aged, children, youth etc their own as Jesus did and help them to rediscover the meaning of their lives and regain their sense of human dignity.

“….we give special attention to the poorest, those who are rejected or condemned to isolation by society….we help them to rediscover the meaning of their lives, to regain their sense of human dignity and to give the Christian value to their painful condition, so that their suffering may be transformed into means of redemption for all” (CS 53)

“When I was in prison, you visited me” (Mt 25:37) Answering to the invitation of the Lord who came to call the weak, we render our service to the inmates of prisons located in different places. We realize that this is a place where we put our faith into action. We strive to become the face of love to the neglected and condemned of the society. Our sisters located at Karanodai – Chennai, Manikandam – Tiruchirapalli, Kattur – Tiruchirapalli, and Coimbatore reach out to the prisoners both men and women in collaboration with PMI (Prison Ministry of India). Every week we keep visiting the inmates both men and women at different prisons and also the inmates at juvenile prison. we listen to their owes and pains, offer them hope, give them proper guidance, counseling and the necessary helps needed to become independent organized persons. We too make visits to the families of the prisoners, offer them comfort and support them financially if needed. We are pushed to offer prayers for the prisoners who have lost their hope in life and to visit them regularly with the same heart of our dear St. Bartolomea who kept the distressed very dear to her heart.

“The Institute is to be of assistance to young girls in moral danger, excluding none…as long as they are in spiritual or material need; that our charity should reach out to all of them be they poor, needy or rich, or in whatever condition” (CS 52)

United in the Spirit of Christ and inspired by the youth spirituality of our dear St. Bartolomea, we commit ourselves to journey in the style of foundress towards fullness of life, becoming catalysts of Ecclesial and Social transformation especially through our service to the o the youth of our localities and parish communities. All the 20 communities of our province have launched into youth ministry, especially to empower the young people which is the new face of the Church and of Society today. Every community has youth animators who are skilled and are motivated to guide the youth. The co-ordinator of the youth ministry co-ordinates the entire ministry and the animators are helped time and again to carry out this ministry effectively through seminars. The entire community is involved in visiting the houses of the youth, identitying the number of youth in the families and gather them once a month according to the need of the place. The local co-ordinator co-ordinates the entire youth meeting.