Udupi: Pangla St. John’s Parish celebrates Annual Feast with devotion and grandeur

By Alphonse Mendonsa
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 30 Dec 2017: The much awaited Annual Parish Feast of St. John Evangelist Church of Pangla Parish celebrated with devotion and grandeur on 27th December 2017.

 

The celebration began with distribution of candles of honour to the members of various associations of the parish, Parish Council members and donors. The chief celebrant of the solemn Eucharist Feast Mass was Rev. Dr. Leslie D’Souza, Former parish priest of Pangla Parish (current parish priest of Mount Rosary Church, Kallianpur). The co-celebrants at the mass were Rev. Fr. Stany Tauro (Parish Priest, Shirva and Dean of Shirva Deanery), Rev. Fr. Ferdinand Gonsalves (Parish Priest, Pangla). More than 20 priests of various parishes, and priests of Pangla Parish serving missions in Mangalore and other parts of India attended. Large number of faithful of all religions also attended the mass.

 

 

In his meaningful homily, Fr. Leslie highlighted the family values based on Word of God from Testament of John the Evangelist. He said that our family should become the centre of faith. God loved so much He became man and lived among us. He taught us love, to love one another and humanity. When Faith and Love of God unite, we become the strength of Word of God. If we have strong faith, if we have deep love and if we believe in Word of God, nothing can stop us from living a united life of faith, love and bind us all together as one family. Our Patron Saint John the Evangelist has blessed us all with greatest blessings and it is our duty to accept those blessings humbly and spread the good news to our brethren by serving humanity.   

 

Fr. Ferdinand thanked Fr. Leslie for his meaningful homily. He also thanked all the priests who attended the Feast Mass from various parishes, especially, Rev. Fr. J.B. D’Souza (Retired Priest from Pangla) and Fr. Stany Tauro (Dean of Shirva Deanery) for his constant guide and support to our Parish. He also thanked all the Parishioners for their support, co-ordination in carrying out all the duties and responsibilities of the parish for the last one week during Christmas Season and finally the media persons for their exclusive coverage of various parish and school activities.

 

Fr. Stany Tauro in response appreciated fr. Ferdinand and he also said that the Pangla Parishioners today feel very happy to see our former parish priest Fr. Leslie who has served them for the last 7 years until he transferred six months ago to Kallianpur Mount Rosary Church.

 

After the mass, people enjoyed fun filled games and food stalls and ICYM stalls wherein loads of games were put up by ICYM members.