The Sisters of Charity came to Mumbai in September, 1963. They resided on the second floor of Sacred Heart Parish School at Worli, doing Socio-Pastoral work and giving medical help to all. In 1970 they moved to the newly built Working Women’s Hostel called Yuvathi Sharan at Prabhadevi, Mumbai. But the sisters continued their mission, in Worli, until June 1991 when Family Care Centre was opened as a Socio Pastoral Community, and functioned as an offshoot of Yuvathi Sharan. In 1995 Family Care Centre was canonically erected as a Socio-Pastoral Community.
The people of Worli belong to different castes, creed and languages (English, Marathi, and Konkani) with approximately 2 Lakhs population, of which 3000 are Catholics. Communal feelings and disharmony exists among the people. Majority of our people are of the low-income group, living in slums, pavements and have poor housing facility and girls in moral danger. There are others who live in apartments who are also struggling to make both the ends meet. Some of these are self-centered, and indifferent. Hence there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor.
There are broken families, mixed marriages, alcoholics, HIV/AIDS patients, as well as exploitation of women and young girls. Among the older ones illiteracy still exists; poverty and unemployment also prevails in our neighborhood. Mass media has a negative influence on families especially on the youth and children.
According to the latest survey we observe that due to inflation and change of life style, once again the poor are not able to cope with the demands of life. At this juncture the society is highly competitive, because of which the system of education is very demanding and commercialized. This makes them spend all their time and energy for their studies to cope with the latest challenging trends to achieve success in life. Money has become top priority of life. We find youth and children giving more importance to materialistic goods and worldly entertainment. And as a result their participation in the church activities is reduced and we find them having shallow faith. Due to this there is lot of frustration and meaninglessness in life. Hence they fail to give priority to their spiritual needs, and are unable to make best use of the opportunities that are provided for their growth and development.
However, the people are receptive, warm hearted, eager and open to learn and co-operate but need to be conscientized on various aspects of life. There is an increase of Catholics attending the daily Eucharist, which shows signs of growing in faith.
We empower the families by our frequent visits, counseling them when needed, giving them moral courage, listening and understanding them especially when they face crises. At times we also share with them materially. Special attention is given to broken families and helped to solve their problems amicably. This has helped them to live in peace and harmony.
We provide value based education in all our apostolate. Through coaching classes children are motivated to do their best in their studies, to promote their all-round development, we provide opportunities to participate in various extra co-curricular activities like Dance, Yoga, Music etc, so that they are able to tap their hidden potentials and are able to look forward to a better future and live in dignity as children of God. A sister who is working in the school as she fulfills her teaching apostolate, imparts Gospel values to the children under her care and also motivates them to give priority to God in their life. She gives extra attention to the children who are backward in all aspects of life and tries to help them in whichever way possible.
Through women’s empowerment and development project, various activities are conducted to empower marginalized women. They are formed into self-help groups, the members of these groups have regular monthly meetings, during which they save a small amount which is collected and rotated among the members according to the need. This has helped them to face their financial crises. During meetings they are also made aware of issues that are affecting their lives, various training programs are conducted to bring about change in their personality and to provide them with the knowledge that is needed to demand their own right and live in dignity and respect and in turn to become agents of social change.
We also provide employment to domestic workers part time and full time. Through “ Women’s Grievance Redressal Cell “We counsel women in distress. We help them to face reality courageously and discern what is good for their peaceful and harmonious living. We uphold the Gospel values in our way of settling the cases. The people in any kind of need approach the centre for help and guidance.
We collaborate with the pastoral plan of the diocese, by involving ourselves in SCC, Parish Council, Catechetic, Liturgy committee, Youth committee and in other associations of the Parish. We motivate the parents, Youth and children to participate and collaborate actively in the parish activities. We impart the Gospel Message through the Sunday Catechesis and in all our apostolatic activities.
The community of ‘Yuvathi Sharan’ was erected in 1964 by Superior General Sr. Constantina Baldinucci, on the request of Cardinal Valerian Gracias, the then Archbishop of Mumbai and of the then Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Church Worli, Fr. T. Mascarenhas, for the dispensary and for social work among the poor in the slums and to offer hospitality for all the Sisters of the Congregation in transit and others in need by offering accommodation.
In the course of the years and according to the needs of the times, the community took upon itself other services. Bombay being the commercial capital of India, girls from different states came looking for jobs. Therefore on request of Cardinal Valerian Gracias, a hostel was opened for working girls in 1970, which has become the main apostolate today.
‘Yuvathi Sharan’ is a well-known hostel, sought out by many young girls. It provides long term accommodation for a maximum period of three years. It’s a home away from home and fosters an environment of peace and fellowship conducive for personal growth. Yuvathi Sharan aims at providing all-round development for young girls through moments of prayer, talks on relevant topics, counselling, moments of relaxation through various celebrations etc.
After a few years of establishment of Yuvathi Sharan, Capitanio Vocational Training Institute (CVTI), was initiated in order to train young women in skills like short hand, typing, tailoring, fashion designing and secretarial course which was the need of the hour.
With the changing times these courses were terminated and currently CVTI offers a short term lodging facility for young women who come for internship, on job training and projects for a short period.
Apart from this, the Institute also accommodates the activities performed by an NGO- ‘Akanksha Foundation’, which runs tuition classes for the poor children of the locality and a YOGA class conducted by an external faculty.
CVTI also offers Guest House facility for visitors of hostelites and those who come to Mumbai for genuine emergencies like Medical treatment.
Besides this the community is also involved in Socio – Pastoral activities like faith formation through Small Christian Communities(SCC), teaching catechism, family visits etc. which are continued even today by the community which comprises of four sisters.
