Jharkhand Area Centenary Celebration:
“You shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all the land; it shall be a jubilee for you.” (Leviticus: 25: 9-10)
For us as a Society it was time to let the trumpet sound throughout the land and let all congregations know that this was the Centenary Jubilee year for the Medical Mission Sisters. It was moment of great joy for all of us and time to be grateful to God for all the blessings that our Society has received during past 100 years. We gratefully remembered, thanked and prayed to our Mother Dr. Anna Dengel, Dr. Agnes McLaren, Pioneers and all our sisters who have played an important role in founding our Society and have helped to mark the 100 years of our Society through their loving and compassionate ministries and services.
Closing of centenary celebration concluded at Mandar on 30th September 2025. The celebration began at 3.30 pm with welcoming our chief guest and guest of honor with traditional dance by the students of Constant Lievens Nursing School. To mark the centenary day at Mandar we had the unveiling of our Mother Dr. Anna Dengel’s memorial statue in front of, Ashadeep community, in the center of the flower garden. The statue was unveiled by Rt. Rev. Anand Jojo bishop of Hazaribagh and blessed by most Rev. Vincent Aind D.D Archbishop of Ranchi Archdiocese. While unveiling the statue short introduction about mother Dr. Anna Dengel was given by Sr. Floria Minj. Our Mother Dr. Anna Dengel is surrounded by beautiful Balsum flowers.
Blessing and unveiling of the Mother Dengel Memorial Statue
The Solemn Holy Eucharist begun at 4 PM. All MMS, around 30 priests and bishops were proceeded with entrance dance to the alter for the Eucharistic celebration. In the beginning of Holy Mass, history of MMS and the beginning of mission in Mandar was given by Sr. Manju Joyce Ekka our Unit Coordinator and Sr. Anastasia Tete Area Coordinator of Bihar.
The history of MMS Foundation and humble beginning of mission in Mandar was inspiring, counting the blessings of Hundred years. it was mentioned in the introduction about the Holy Family Hospital, Mandar, when the hospital was born and coming up “the sisters asked people of the area, if the Hospital were not there what would you do, their simple answer was that we would Die”. This profound statement changed the lives of MMS and they worked day and night for the improvement of bringing health awareness and medical relief to the people. It was a humble beginning, which brought about better health and standard of living with education and establishment of the first Nursing School in Bihar (before Jharkhand became a separate State, it was State of Bihar) The hospital served thousands of people in this rural area and brought new life and beautiful smiles in people’s lives. Today the Holy Family trained Nurses are much sought after for their professional and dedicated service following their motto “Serve with Love”.
Gratitude was the center of the whole Eucharist, as mentioned, the Belgian Jesuit Fr. Edward D’Moulder with whom Mother Dr. Anna Dengel started this mission. The melodious singing and a good music team set the right tone for the holy mass, the Bible procession, offertory dance and symbolic prayers were offered for all the well-wishers, Medical Mission Sisters, Bishops, priests and family members of MMS, thus the prayer connected all of us together and felt united with one another.
Sr. Manju Provincial, Honoring the Dignitaries
There after we had the cultural program starting with welcoming and honoring of our chief and honorable guests with (Adivasi Shawl, Bouquet and Jubilee Cup) followed by Lamp Lighting. There were varieties of dances and songs performed by MMS students, co-workers, Nursing students, children from Kasiadih and women’s group (Mahila Sangh) from Mandar parish. We are grateful to our former Holy Family students and present tutors of Constant Lievens Mrs. Kanti Soreng and Miss. Justa Kujur together introduced the program. The cultural program was followed by festive dinner.
The centenary celebration was marked by different prominent invited guests – like His grace Vincent Aind, D.D Archbishop of Ranchi, Rev. Anand Jojo Bishop of Hazaribagh, honorable Minister for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Ms. Shilpi Neha Tirkey Jharkhand, Former Education minister of Jharkhand Bandhu Tirkey, Rev. Fr. Sr. Lily Grace Topno Superior General DSA (Daughters of St. Anne’s, Ranchi) and Fr. Ajit Kumar Xess SJ Provincial superior, Ranchi Province.
All our sisters’ family members from Jharkhand, sisters from Bihar area, MMS friends, all the Holy Family Graduates, Alumni, Mahila Sangh, Catholic Sabha, Youth from Mandar Parish and the religious both men and women from Mandar Deanery, Ranchi, Khunti and Lohardaga were other invitees. Sr. Pushpa Baxla gave the vote of thanks. Around 900 guests were present who added much joy and happiness to our celebration. All marked this day with joy and gratitude in their hearts for Medical Mission Sisters and participated in the celebration joyfully.