Introduction
Your Excellency Most Rev. Dr. Thomas Mar Anthonios, our Aboon, esteemed guests of the dais, Rev. Fathers, Beloved Sisters, Dear Parents, Well-wishers, teaching and non-teaching staff. It is a custom that the annual reports must be positive, presenting all the benefits and achievements of the year. Thus I too present before you the report of only the achievements and activities of the last academic year. I stand with great satisfaction and in reverence to God Almighty, our Aboon, the Curia priests, teachers of the seminary and all the benefactors and well wishers for your utmost support, prayers and cooperation. As we share the yearly updates of our activities, we take the modesty to say that we did our best to do as we had planned and we are proud of our seminarians and teachers who strived hard to achieve beyond expectations.At present there are 15 seminarians – including seven first years, two second years and 06 fourth years undergoing priestly formation under the guidance of the Rector, Fr Mathew Joseph, the Spiritual Adviser and Bro Jose G, the regent. We focus on the all-round development of the seminarians. I wish just to present a nutshell of the report. 

Blessing of the Seminary and Inauguration of the Academic Year : Our Aboon, Thomas Mar Anthonios inaugurated the academic year with the official blessing of the seminary chapel on 18th June, 2016. Very Rev. Fr. Malcolm Sequeira, the vicar general of the diocese of Pune, Very Rev Fr. Varghese Mattamana, Rev. Fr. Varghese Kaithone, the procurator of the exarchate, Rev Fathers from different parishes, Rev. Sisters, many of the pastoral council members and Parishes were also present in the inaugural function and the blessing of the seminary. On the pastoral council meeting day, our Bishop also suggested “Transforming oneself into Christ” as the motto for the seminary.
Visit of Aboon : Our Aboon was very concerned to visit the seminary whenever possible and to celebrate Holy Qurbono and pray with the seminarians. He met them all in person and in group guiding and motivating them and showing them the way to walk on the paths of our Lord. He loved them to the core and admonished whenever required. He was always cautious and concerned of the seminarians and enquired and did everything necessary for the smooth functioning of the seminary and the good of the seminarians.
 

Spiritual Guidance : Rev. Fr Mathew Joseph, the Assistant vicar of St Patrick’s Cathedral Church who is also the Spiritual Father of the seminary visited the seminary on schedule once a month and whenever needed was available to guide them. Seminarians were personally guided and they were also given spiritual talks in general by Fr Mathew.
Monthly Recollection : Monthly recollection was held every month along with Spiritual Guidance to help the seminarians to evaluate their spiritual growth and to improve themselves for transforming themselves responding to their call. Priests and lay faithful helped us in our monthly recollections sharing their Christ experience with us. 

Faculty and Academics : NirmalHriday Minor Seminary comprises of  well trained, well experienced and dedicated teaching staff.Rev. Fr. Mathew Joseph as the spiritual father, Bro. Jose G as the regent.

The faculties for the year were:

1. Fr Varghese Kaithon

2. Mrs. Mell Perera

3. Rev. Fr. Saju George MCBC

4. MsPooja

5. Rev. Srs. Brigit and Sangeetha

6. Rev. SrMareena

7. Rev. Sr. JameseySheeba

8. Prof. Joseph

9. Fr John Sleebadas OIC

10. FrArundas OIC

11. Rev.Fr. Devadas

12. Rev.Fr. Berchumans

13. Fr. Kuriakose Thadathil

14. Fr Varghese Valikkodath

15. Mrs Annie Anish and MsRohini

16. Bro Jose G

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Subjects

1. Language – Syriac, German, English & Hindi

2. English Grammar and Comprehension

3. The Syriac Liturgical Songs

4. The Liturgical Hymns

5. The Antiochian Liturgy

6. Vocal Music

7. Instruments

8. Introduction to Bible

9. Christian Spirituality

10. Spiritual Life of Mar Ivanios

11. The Holy Eucharist

12. A study of the Tookasa

13. Church History

14. Personality Development and Public Speeking

15. Basic Catechism

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Office Bearers
Bro. Joby John was assigned as the beadle of the house, Bro.Sherry as the Master of Ceremonies, Bro.Blesson as the magazine editor and Academy President and the other seminarians to different offices which they fulfilled to their best of capacities.

Commemoration of Mar Ivanios

 From 10th July to 15th July, 2016 our fourth year brothers took part in the Padhayatra in connection with the feast of the Commemoration of Servant of God Archbishop Mar Ivanios. Special prayers were conducted in the seminary on the same day.

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Aboon’s Festal Celebration
We had the blessing to be part of the festal celebration of our Aboon at the Cathedral Church on 17 January.  Our Aboon, the dignitaries and the audience were mesmerized by the brother’s decorations and talent shows. We were very glad and proudly put forth a festal hymn including the languages used in the different states of the exarchate viz. Malayalam, hindi, Marathi, English, telegu, tamil and kannada. We also put forth a performance of martial art named KalariPayattu.

Vianney Day

We celebrated the feast of St John Maria Vianney, the patron saint of the diocesan priests on 4th August, 2016. The celebration was blessed with the presence of Rev. Fathers and the Staff from Bishops House, Khadki. The seminarians depicted their talents in the forms of skit, song, and mono act.

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Onam celebration : Onam was celebrated with a glimpse of nostalgic traditions that our ancestors followed.  Our guest of honor V. Rev. Fr. Varghese Mattamana and Fr Varghese Kaithon, shared their beautiful Onam memories they had experienced in their life.  Rev. Fathers and Staff from the bishop house and parents of Bro. Joseph were present in the occasion. The seminarians celebrated and enjoyed the day with Onakkalikal and Onasadhya.
Excursion : A one day Picnic to Mumbai was held on 07th November, 2016. The priests and Staff from Bishop House also joined us. The major spots of the city was explored, especially Bandra church, Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves, hotel Taj and so on. Everyone enjoyed with prayers and entertainments.
Christmas and New Year Celebration : Christmas, the celebration of our Lord was celebrated with piety and devotion. Special prayers, fasting and offerings  were held to imbibe the message of the incarnation of our Lord. We had the blessing to celebrate Christmas with our Aboon at the Bishops House.New year was celebrated in the seminary. On the eve of the last day of the year we symbolically burnt our old self burning an effigy. We also specially prayed for each other and exchanged gifts amongst us. 

Extra-curricular and co-curricular activities

St. Alphonsa Academy : St.AlphonsaAcademy  was inaugurated by Rev.Fr. Rector.  Seminary Academy is focused on inculcating spiritual and moral values in the seminarians and to improve their linguistic, creative and oratory skills. Two speeches were conducted, evaluated and corrected in each week.Every student had to deliver one Malayalam, two English and one Hindi speech. Many programs were conducted by incorporating the creative talents of the seminarians by the academy. Some of them are the following.

1. Book Review

2. Debate

3. Literary Competitions

Sports : Friendly Volley Ball Matches were held with the brothers from Bethany Ashram, Ramwadi and Malankara Seminarians from Papal Seminary. 

Brothers of the Seminary : There were sixteen brothers in the beginning of the academic year. Bro. Rahul and Bro. Robin (First year brothers) left the seminary after two months. Bro. James John (Fourth Year) and Bro. Sanu Mathew (Second Year) took break in the starting of the second semester. Bro. Sherry Thomas from Kalewadi parish joined the seminary after completing 3 year study in Bethany Ashram in the second semester. He was added to the Fourth Years group. Bros. Akhil and Binoy from Trivandrum joined the Exarchate in the month of March 2017. They were also added to the Fourth Year group. Presently there are six fourth years, two second years and seven first years undergoing priestly formation towards the end of the academic year March 2017.
Conclusion : Before concluding this report, I bow my head in reverence to the Almighty God for the blessings He has showered upon this seminary. I take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to our Aboon, Rev. Fathers, and Benefactors, staff teaching and non-teaching, parents and well-wishers for the whole hearted care, co-operation and concern. Let me conclude this report by entrusting our seminary into the divine hands of Mother Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus and invoke blessings of the Almighty.

 Thanking you. God Bless us all.

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