I urge you to organize special intercession in your Parishes, Religious Houses, Formation Houses, Retreat Centers, Schools and Institutions etc., for a very urgent need in our State.

On account of errant Monsoon, practically the entire state has no electricity. The latest weather predictions, have ruled out, more rains. This will have serious effects on crops and the prices of food grains and vegetables are bound to go up in the coming days. I feel that the time has come when the Archdiocese of Bangalore should again play an active role in leading the City, the State into prayer and intercession. Let us pray that God sends rain all over the State to save His people from shortage of electricity, water and food grains.

Sensing the magnitude of the above problem, I request you to rise to the occasion and to urgently organise special prayers in your parishes and communities for God's mercy on His people and to receive good rains.

In celebrating the nativity of Mary, Christians anticipate the Incarnation and the birth of her Divine Son, and give honour to the mother of Our Lord and Saviour. This Feast provides us with an occasion for praise and thanksgiving in honour of the personal sanctity and vocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus

The feast of Mother Mary's nativity is celebrated in our Archdiocese through a novena in honour of the Blessed Mother with grandeur and solemnity at St. Mary's Basilica Shrine, Shivajinagar. Thousands of devotees from all religions come to the Shrine as pilgrims on all the novena days and take part in the spiritual activities at the Shrine. They honour her and pray to God through her powerful intercession for their spiritual and temporal well-being, and thus obtain favours and graces from Him.

The best way to express our love and devotion to the Blessed Mother is to receive the Holy Sacraments worthily. Hence, let us approach the Sacrament of Penance with trust in God's mercy and compassion, and also receive Holy Communion to enshrine the Divine Saviour in our hearts, just as Mother Mary carried Him in Her Immaculate womb for nine months.

I exhort all the diocesan priests and religious priests to come to the Basilica in large numbers during the Novena Days and help the Basilican clergy in hearing confessions and offering the Holy Masses. This would help the devotees to celebrate Mother Mary's feast more spiritually and meaningfully.

I wish all of you a very happy feast of the Birthday of Our Blessed Mother, and assure you of my special prayers for you, especially on September 8th when I preside over the liturgical services at St. Mary's Basilican Shrine.

Month of October reminds us of our missionary zeal and commitment to share Christ's Good News with those who are yet to know him. The theme for Mission Sunday 2010 is "Building Ecclesial Communion is the Key to Mission" and it will be celebrated on October 24th. The collections made on that day will be sent to the missions to fund a range of pastoral projects undertaken there. As in the past, the parish priests, superiors of the religious communities and heads of the institutions are requested to organise programmes to celebrate Mission Sunday meaningfully. They are requested to chalk-out fundraising programmes to increase our Mission Sunday collections this year. The posters and other relevant publicity materials will be sent to you shortly.

The Message for this year's Mission Sunday will be published in TABOR in the October issue.

The newly built Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, adjacent to the Archbishop's House, will be blessed and opened on Friday, September 17, 2010 at 10.30 a.m. followed by a Holy Mass. I invite all the Archdiocesan Priests, Priests working in the Archdiocesan parishes and institutions, Major Superiors of the Congregations, Secretaries and Joint Secretaries of the Commissions, Office-bearers of the CRI, Lay Associations to participate in this inaugural function and to join with me in thanking God for the gift of this Centre.

I have asked the Editors of TABOR to write in detail about our Pastoral Centre.

Parish Priests and Assistant Parish Priests

Sl. No.	Name	To	Designation	Date	To be Installed by
1	Fr. George Xavier Vettaparambil, vc	St. Josheph's Church (Syro-Malabar) Babsabpalya	Parish Priest	15.08.2010	Fr. Joseph Menezes
2	Fr. Mathew Indikuzhy, vc	St. Josheph's Church (Syro-Malabar) Babsabpalya	Asst. Parish Priest	15.08.2010

i. Teachers' Day

Every year, Teachers' Day in India is celebrated on September 5, the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. "Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well" said Aristotle. A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others. May Christ Jesus, the greatest teacher, bless all our teachers in our Catholic and non-Catholic schools in Karnataka and reward them for their dedicated service. I thank in a very special way all the teachers who work in our Archdiocesan educational Institutions.

ii. Archdiocesan Directory 2010-2011

The Archdiocesan Directory – 2010-2011 is available for sale at Archdiocesan Communications Center, Archbishop's House at the rate of Rs. 45/- per copy. It has been brought out very well with the initiative of the Chancellor, Claretian Publication, Brilliant Printers and the office staff who worked day and night to bring out this beautiful and informative directory. I congratulate all of them for their dedicated work. If there are any mistakes or suggestions, kindly inform the Chancellor.

To enable the priests, religious and lay people to have easy access to Archdiocesan Directory 2010-2011, we made it available at the following places:

i.   Asian Trading Corporation
ii.  St. Paul's Book & Media Centre
iii. Liturgical Centre, St. Mark's Road
iv. St. Anthony's Friary Church, Hosur Road
v.  Basilican Book Stall, Shivajinagar
vi. Infant Jesus Shrine, Viveknagar

iii. Honouring the Meritorious Students by the ABE

The ABE will honour the Children who have secured 80 percent and above marks in the S.S.L.C. exams held in 2010 on 17th September, 2010 at a function at Infant Jesus Church, Viveknagar. The function will start at 5.00 p.m. with a Holy Mass. The Heads of the Institutions / Parish Priests are requested to send the names of all the Catholic students who have obtained more than 80% to:

Rev Fr V. M. Gregory
Secretary – ABE
Marianiketan School
St.Thomas Town Post
St. Mary's Town
Bangalore 560 084
Phone No: 25464484

iv. Sixth Anniversary of my Archiepiscopacy

I will be completing six years of my Artchepiscopal Ministry in our Archdiocese on 17.09.2010. Numerous are the blessings that I have received during the last six years. I thank God for his bountiful blessings upon me and on our Archdiocese. I owe my sincere thanks to all of you for your prayers, support and collaboration in my Episcopal ministry.

During the last six years, all of us, with the grace of God, have achieved many things. Still we have to do a lot in the field of Evangelization and Pastoral work. I look forward to your continued encouragement, support and cooperation in my pastoral work. I am confident, the Priests, Religious and Lay people of the Archdiocese will continue to do their ministries with great vigour and earnestness.

v. Annual Returns

The Parish Priests and the Heads of the Institutions were requested to submit the Annual Returns to the Finance Office by April 30, 2010. Quite a number of parishes/institutions are yet to send them, I request them to do so at the earliest so that the Archdiocesan Auditors could prepare the Statements of Accounts to be filed with the Income Tax Department as per schedule. Unnecessary delay would cause us inconvenience and payment of a fine to the Income Tax Department. Kindly treat this matter as urgent and extend your cooperation.

vi. Immaculate Heart of Mary – Appeal with a picture!

An organization called 'Immaculate Heart of Mary Trust', which is located at # 838/2, III Cross Road, K. N. Extension, Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore - 560 022 is distributing the picture of Mother Mary and appealing for donation from the people. This Trust is not recognized or approved by the Archdiocese. Hence, I have not authorised either this Trust to collect funds through appeals.

I sincerely thank all of you for your prayers and wishes offered to me on my Birthday and Feast Day. I thank all those who sent me greeting cards and wished me with copies of the Bible, plants and bouquets. It was indeed a touching experience for me when Priests, Religious Sisters, Presidents of the associations and organizations, and individuals came in large numbers to wish me. Please accept this as my personal acknowledgement. The expression of your love, support and sacrifice manifested to me is indeed a source of strength and joy to me. May God bless you all of you. Kindly continue to pray for me as I do for every one of you.

With every good wish and God's blessings,

Yours sincerely,

Bernard Moras
Archbishop of Bangalore