Rajodi Community, Vasai (2000 – )
Rajodi is a village located in the Vasai-Virar coastal belt, a northern suburb of Mumbai in the Palghar district of the western railway route. Rajodi beach is clean and is one of the four connecting beaches with Arnala, Kalamb, and Navapur. Rajodi belongs to the Diocese of Vasai. His Lordship Dr. Thomas Dabre, the Bishop of Vasai invited the Assumption Sisters to his Diocese. He proposed Rajodi, a sub-station of the Nandhakal parish for the mission. On 3rd July 2000 on the feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle the sisters came to Agashi to a small village in Vasai stayed in a flat. On 24th October 2000, they shifted to Rajodi where they bought a piece of land with a farmhouse. On 17th September 2001, Bishop Thomas Dabre celebrated the Eucharist in the convent and blessed the house.
The sisters listened to the felt needs of the people around and started a nursery cum playschool for their children. As new members joined, the community started to extend their services in socio-pastoral services, teaching in schools at Nandhakal, visiting families, etc. They formed groups of women and children, initiated many educational and social programs. They continued building their contacts with Christians as well as non-Christians. This was an occasion to have a wider influence in the local Church as well as with the people by educating students with the educational pedagogy of the Assumption.
In 2005 ‘Assumption Together’ was started in Rajodi. They are partners with the sisters in prayer as well as in the mission of the community. They often tell the sisters, “we are their sisters and they are our brothers and sisters”. We have the statue of St. Marie Eugenie installed in the bell tower of Rajodi Parish in 2008. From that time onwards the feast of St. Marie Eugenie on 10th March is solemnly celebrated in the parish with nine days of Novena. The people take part with lots of devotion and faith and many miracles are happening.
Inspired by the principles of education for transformation of society envisaged by St. Marie Eugenie the sisters in Rajodi started reaching out to new areas of the marginalized tribal and Dalits of Vasai. The permission to build the convent and Jivhalla Assumption Social Centre in Rajodi was granted in 2013. The construction of the convent building was completed in 2014 while Jivhalla Assumption Social Centre was constructed in 2016. Thus, both the community and the social center have a spacious and well-arranged structure. Pastoral work is a very important mission of this community and all the sisters are actively involved in the church and its mission.
Vocation Promotion was another concern of the community. They contacted girls and their families in different places. Many girls participated in the ‘come and see’ and ‘candidacy’ program in Pune. Some of them were with the sisters till postgraduation while some others discontinued after their English studies. Sr. Rashmi Dabre is the only vocation from Vasai since our mission from 2000.
The community lives the Assumption Charism and is witnessing it to the friends and neighbors of the community, committing them to the integral development of the people in and around the parish. The members of Assumption Together consider the Rajodi community as their own home. The people feel at home in the Rajodi community, they visit the sisters often and participate in the life of the community. The natural beauty coupled with the friendly nature of the people makes the community home of love.
