Contact Pauline Book and Media Centre: Sr Lissy Maruthanakuzhy tvmbc@paulineindia.org

The community of Trivandrum began on 16 July 1994. Late in the evening of 15 July Srs. Clement and Mary Paul arrived to begin our first house in Kerala. After three weeks Sr. Regi john joined the group. With the help of Redemptorist fathers of Muttada they found a temporary accommodation in the house of Mr. Gregory at Paruthipara. He gave us one room and the kitchen was shared with them.

The very first day itself sisters began to find out possibilities to accomplish our mission over there. For this purpose we visited different parishes and schools. The first parish where we began was at Madre de Deus church at Vettucaud. Fr. Romance the then parish priest gave us much
encouragement and support. He visited us to have Book displays on every Friday. This is a pilgrim centre and every Friday there in Novena in honour of Christ the King. People of all faiths irrespective of cast, creed and religion come to the shrine to pray. The first school we visited was Christ Nagar school run by the CMI fathers. Our stock room was the sacristy of the old church in Muttada. The then superior of the Redemptorist father's community was Fr. Devasia Manglaam and the Parish priest was Fr. Thomas who gave us the freedom to use their place.

Since Sr. Clement was sent for a short time she had she had to return to Bombay. Towards the end of 1994 Sr. Patricia and at the beginning of 1995 Sr. Jyothi joined the group respectively. In May 1995 Sr. Patricia was appointed the Superior of the community.

In 1995 Bishop entrusted us with the Diocesan Book shop and the agreement was made for the same between the Bishop and the Provincial regarding our presence in the Trivandrum Diocese and about our service in the Book Centre. Srs. Rosily and Elizabeth had been given the charge of the Book Centre.

From the time we reached Trivandrum we were constantly in search of a house of our own. Due to the daily price hike and lack of finance we were not able to purchase a place of our own very easily. In 1995 we were able to purchase a house of our won with the help of Mission, Propaganda Fide and Our Superior General Sr. Giovana Maria.

The then Provincial Sr. Ancy John played an important role in opening the house and in looking for a place of our own. When Sr. Ancy John was appointed as general councilor, Sr. Marisa Maruthanakuzhy took up the responsibility as Provincial. Sisters continued to look for a place of our own and a place was found finally. The land and the house were bought on 24th April 1995. Once the Income Tax problems were cleared Fr. Sebastian SDB did all the renovation and repair works with the help of his workers and shifted every thing to the new house. The house was blessed by Bishop Soosa Pakiam.In 1997 Sr. Catherine took charge of the Book Centre at Bishop's house. The Mother General and Councillors visited Trivandrum community in November 1997. Sr. Patricia finished her term and Sr. Mary Paul was appointed superior in 1998 June.

Since the Centre at Vellayabalm is far from the main road we tried to open a Centre at Palayam in a rented room in view of the General Public. This Centre that was opened in Sept. 1999 had to be inactivated in Sept.2002 because the people who frequented the Centre were few. Inspite of all these difficulties Srs. Jolly, Elizabeth, Josephine and Speranza gave their dedicated service in this Centre

Our apostolic activities are:- Conducting Bible weeks, Family visits, Parish Displays, Animation of the Liturgy to highlight certain occasions such as Press Month, Advent, Lent, Communication Day, Mission Sunday etc.. Giving programmes and Media Awareness classes to the students and youth are very much appreciated.

Conducting Prayer Services and having AudioVisual shows for different groups and for various occasions are also asked of us and done by us. Prison Ministry, Puppet show etc. are performed with the help of the youth groups. Teaching Catechism on Sundays, attending prayer meetings of Basic Christian Communities and guiding the weekly prayer gathering of teenage girls are also taken seriously. Our work also extends to writing features for some magazines and helping out with the proof-reading of the Diocesan Magazine etc.