The Christian Brothers, India

CONGREGATION OF CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

INDIAN PROVINCE

CCBI

The Christian Brothers came to India in January 1890. Four Brothers (Vincent Casey, Fabian Kenneally, Edward Aherne and Ambrose Flynn) arrived in Kolkata from Ireland at the request of Pope Leo XII. From Kolkata the Brothers moved to St. Patrick's, Asansol the very next year. In March 1892, the Brothers took over St Joseph’s School,Nainital, which was constructed 3 years earlier as a Capuchin Seminary.In 1894, a new building, the present red- brick structure, was erected in Bow bazaar and is now St. Joseph's College, Kolkata. This became the Head Office of the Christian Brothers till it was moved to St. Columba's New, Delhi in 1980.

The work that the Brothers were doing received considerable recognition and requests came from several Catholic Bishops for the Brothers to open schools in their respective dioceses. At the turn of the century there were nearly fifty Brothers in India, both Irish and Anglo-Indian. Over the years, the Brothers opened St Michael’s School, Kurji, near Patna (1894-1974); Goethals School, Kurseong (1907); St. Edmund's School, Shillong (1916) and College (1936); St Edward's, Simla (1925 - 1983); St. Vincent's Asansol (1927); St. Aloysius' School in Quilon, Kerala (1931 - 1967); St. Mary's High School, Mt. Abu (1929); St. Columba's School, New Delhi (1941) and St Mary's Orphanage, Dumdum (1947).

Indian Independence in August 1947 caused great upheaval and change. Many of the British, Europeans and Anglo-Indians left the country, immigrating to England and Australia and Indian students were admitted to the Brothers' schools. Till then, the Anglo-Indian Board did not permit more than 15% Indian students to be on the rolls. Restrictions on foreign missionaries mandated that a number of Irish Brothers too were unable to return to India. As a consequence, in 1958, the Brothers made a concerted effort to attract young men from India to join the Congregation. St. John's School, Chandigarh (1959) was the Brothers first openingpost Independence. In 1968, the Brothers moved to the West Coast and took over the management of Our Lady of Salvation School, Dadar, Bombay. Other openings followed on the West coast: Regina Mundi, Goa (1971); St. Augustine's, Vasai (1972) and St. Joseph's Junior College, Bajpe, Karnataka (1979 - 2017).

Yet another significant organizational shift took place in the 1980s. A growing sense of responsibility towards the education of the rural and tribal poor saw Brothers of all ages responding to the challenge. The Brothers were invited to run a Gujarati Medium school at Mandal near Surat in 1993. In 1999, an English medium School, AneMoriam was establishedin Arunachal Pradesh. Since then the Brothers have experimented with other rural projects among tribal communities: Umarpada&Vijaynagar (Gujarat), Mawjrong (Meghalaya), Bongera (Jharkhand), Saraitoli (Chattisgarh), Gevrai (Maharashtra) and Challakere(Karnataka). Some have succeeded while many others have, for one reason or another, been discontinued.

The Christian Brothers have constantly tried to discern and adapt to the changing needs of the world around them. We felt the need, despite much resistance, with non-Brother lay Principals from the 1980’s and today this trend has become a mainstay. At ourCongregational Chapter 2014 we have resolved to look at an alternative way of living and doing ministry, calling it ‘Our Way into the Future’. The new option is a shift into a more rural and community-centric model and is requiring of us to restructure our resources and realign our priorities. We are doing so with utmost sensitivity and responsibility to our traditional schools, having undertaken an exhaustive professional study of the best way forward.

The Christian Brothers too, over two hundred years after they were founded, are undergoing a new birthing cycle, as we try to discern how God is calling us to be brother to our world today. The Christian Brotherhood of the future will be in quite different settings than the ones of the past. The new that is birthing in the Congregation will not be without its fair share of messiness and pain, like all new birth is. Like the source of our life's inspiration, Jesus was, our new life likewise will require to be among God’s anawim, the people that most need us. It will be built on the foundations of the hundred year old tradition of quality education that we are recognised in India for today. As the Christian Brothers of the Indian Province journey into the future, we are continuously going to need the understanding and support of those who know and value us for who we are.