Shankarpura: Annual Parish Feast celebrated in St. John the Evangelist Church, Pangala

By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Shankarpura, 29 December 2010: The annual parish feast of St. John the Evangelist Church was celebrated with great devotion, joy and merriment by the parishioners of Pangala on Wednesday, 29th December 2010 at 10.30 am. Prior to the solemn feast Mass, at 10 am, Rev. Dr. Leslie D’Souza, parish priest of Pangala distributed the candles of honour to the founders, benefactors, donors, members of the parish pastoral Council, Gurkars of wards and the presidents of all the parish associations.

 

The solemn feast Mass was concelebrated by 30 priests, Rev. Fr. Stany Tauro, parish priest of Shirva and the Dean of the Shirva Deanery being the chief celebrant. In his homily, Rev. Fr. Stany Tauro highlighted the power of love and said that it is the most powerful force in the world. He pointed out that a number of songs, poems, stories and novels have been written on love. He emphasised the fact that Mother Theresa is known throughout the world because of her love to Jesus Christ and the love that she shared with the destitute and homeless. Referring to St. John the Evangelist, the patron saint of Pangala, Rev. Fr. Stany Tauro said that St. John was the favourite disciple of Jesus and St. John loved Jesus and was with him during some of the significant events in the life of Jesus. He was at the Calvary at the time of the death of Jesus on the Cross and he was also the first disciple of Jesus who had discovered that He had risen from the dead.

 

The church was filled to capacity with the parishioners of Pangala and the neighbouring parishes as well. The choir with melodious singing enhanced the spiritual atmosphere of the feast Mass. The choir was coordinated by mrs. Flavia Menezes and the organ was played by Br. Rahul D’Souza. At the end of the Mass, Rev. Dr. Leslie D’Souza thanked the chief celebrant, Rev. Fr. Stany Tauro and all the guest priests and the priests from the Varado for being part of the celebration of the annual parish feast. He also expressed gratitude to all those who helped in making the celebration a grand success.

 

 

The fair of the feast was organised in a newly levelled ground towards the north of the church. According to the parishioners it was for the first time that such an arrangement was being made as on previous occasions the fair used to be by the side of the road due to lack of space inside the church premises. The fair was filled with people who made purchases of various articles. There were food joints serving Gobi Manchurian, stalls selling religious articles, toys, sweets and even sickles. One girl was exhibiting her acrobatic skills on a thin wire rope to entertain people and there was also a hand-driven merry-go round.

 

Earlier, on the Confraternity Sunday on 26th December 2010, the sermon was preached by Rev. Fr. Maxim Rosario, Administrator of St. Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore and the homily on Vespers (Besp) evening, Tuesday, 28th December 2010 was delivered by Rev. Fr. Vincent Sequeira, Professor in St. Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore.

 

The parish dedicated to Apostle St. John the Evangelist at Pangala-Shankarpura comprises of villages such as Pangala, Kurkal, Moodubettu, Innanje, etc. The parish has 19 Wards and around 700 families. It is the only church dedicated to Apostle St. John the Evangelist in the diocese of Mangalore. The church is easily accessible from Katapadi, Shirva and Belle.