Udupi, 15 Jan 2017: A group of twenty Youth Delegates who would be attending the Tenth National Youth Convention along with nearly 2000 delegates from all over India at St. Joseph’s Engineering College, Vamanjoor, Mangalore from 18 to 22 January would be staying with seven families in Moodubelle parish. They are part of 500 delegates who had arrived at Udupi and are being sent to different parishes of the diocese in groups as part of the ‘Days in Diocese’(DID) programme from 14 to 17 January.
The delegates assigned to Moodubelle parish belong to Kolkata and Delhi. Out of these, fifteen delegates from Kolkata along with Directress of ICYM Kolkata Archdiocese Sr. Lidwin Fernandes (UFS) arrived at Moodubelle at 6.15 pm accompanied by Felina D’Souza, ICYM Diocesan Central Committee Secretary. Remaining delegates from Delhi will be arriving during night.
Soon after their arrival, the delegates were provided with refreshments and were welcomed by Fr. Lawrence Cutinha, Assistant Parish Priest of Moodubelle by offering each of them a rose. Office bearers and members as well as the animators of ICYM Moodubelle Unit were present to welcome the delegates.
The delegates introduced themselves and few of them even tried to speak a sentence or two in Konkani. The delegates seemed to be quite excited to be in Udupi in general and in Moodubelle in particular.
These fifteen delegates as well as those five coming from Delhi will be hosted at their homes by seven families. These include: Felix Helen D’Souza, Joseph Martis, Henry Alva, Charles Quadros, Fr. Charles Menezes, Alphonse K. Alva and Gerald Fernandes.
A number of activities have been chalked out by the ICYM Unit of Moodubelle for the delegates. In the evening of 14 January they attended a wedding reception. On Sunday, 15 January they will attend the morning 7.30 am mass. Thereafter they will have interaction with the ICYM members of Moodubelle. They will be taken around to see the educational institutions. After lunch, the ICYM Unit of Moodubelle will organize cultural programme during which the delegates would also present their programmes. In the evening they will go back to their host families. On Monday, 16 January the delegates will be taken out for a picnic to nearby place of interest, most probably Kunjarugiri. On Tuesday, 17 Janaury these delegates will proceed to St. Lawrence Shrine at Attur-Karkala where they will attend the mass concelebrated by Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo. Thereafter, all the delegates who had arrived in Udupi Diocese for ‘Days in Diocese’ programme will be given a warm send off and the delegates will move on to Mangalore to attend the National Youth Convention from 18 to 22 January.