Rebello House Zone / The Good Shepherd Community

We started in the year 1999 as the Rebello House Zone with Carol Carvalho as the coordinator and a team of eight animators. Now we are known as the 'Good Shepherd Community' - a name which was unanimously chosen by the community.

Our community consists of 54 families from Rebello House, one from Déjà Vu, three from Wahedna Apartments, two from Gazebo Restaurant building and three from the bungalow next to Anwar Tailors. We will miss the presence of the latter three families, as they will be moving to another area due to the demolition of their bungalow.

Fr A. Saldanha was in charge of our community and took an active part in visiting our families and guiding us during our monthly meetings. Sr Teresa Pinto, who was in charge of St. Peter's SCC, was always present at our meetings as well. Her guidance and encouragement helped our community to grow.

Our monthly meetings are usually held on the third Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The members of our team are:
• Joe Norton (who has been our coordinator for the past two years)
• Carol Carvalho
• Elfie Remedios
• Jessie Coelho
• Gail Rodricks
• Heena D'Silva
• Peggy Noronha
Fr Gerard Rodricks has been guiding our community for the past year.

Here are some of the out-reach programmes that we had undertaken over the years:

1999: Our community made a large collection of money and part of it was donated to St Catherine of Sienna School for Destitute Children towards their ‘Water Project’, aimed at providing proper drainage facilities and water supply. Members of our community also offered their cars to drive 127 children from this home to Rebello House for a Christmas party. The children were entertained with a magic show and each child was given a gift by Santa. Snacks were provided by McDonalds free of charge – this was arranged by one of our members, Alston D’Souza. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

2000: A Christmas party was arranged for the children of St Catherine of Sienna School for Destitute Children at the home near Mount Mary’s Church with games, snacks and individual gifts which had each child’s name on it. Our annual collection also enabled us to donate 72 blankets to the home, which they were desperately in need of for winter.

2001: Around 15 members of our community visited Don Bosco Seva Sadan, Titwale, a home for Adivasi boys run by Mr Augustine Fernandes. This home houses and schools around 100 boys from the surrounding villages. We spent a day there, entertaining the children with games and snacks. Clothes and cash were also donated.

2002: In November, a group of 50 boys from Don Bosco Seva Sadan were brought to Mumbai and shown around the city. They visited Gateway of India, Chowpatty Beach, Hanging Gardens, Bandra Bandstand and Mount Mary’s Church. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided.

2003: Another group of 50 boys from Don Bosco Seva Sadan were brought to Mumbai for a similar outing.
As part of the Children’s Day Programme, a few children from our community and animators visited the school for poor children at Carter Road and assisted Mr Daryll Loyola in conducting a dance programme for the 350 children. A snack was also served for each child.

2004: We contributed our annual collection to the Ashagad Mission, Santivan Shetkari Seva Mandal, which is run by the Jesuit fathers.

2005: A lively entertaining evening was spent at St. Anthony’s Home for the Aged, Bandra. We organized a game of Housie and a sing-song of old favourites in English and Konkani. The elderly residents of the home actively participated. Snacks were also served.

Some of the other programmes conducted by our community are:
• Rosary during the months of May and October
• Newspaper collection drives
• Stations of the Cross for the house-bound during Lent
• A special prayer service to welcome newborn babies
• Spiritual programmes in the form of slide shows/ movies and bible study classes conducted by Fr Benji, Fr Barjau, Fr Brian Lobo and Fr Emile D’Cruz
• Annual zonal mass followed by a get-together
• The first zonal picnic to Gorai (in November 2005)

We thank all the members of our community for their generosity and invaluable assistance, which has helped to make our programmes a great success. We also thank the fathers of St Peter’s Parish for their guidance and help.