Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network

Kundapur, Nov 14: The celebration of Deepavali, the festival of lights, took place at the church of St Francis of Assisi in Thallur on Sunday evening.

For this Deepavali event, Girish Nayak, president of Thallur gram panchayat, Chandramathi Hegde, vice president, Nethravathi, president of of Hemmadi GP , and Ram Shetty, vice president of Katbelthur gram panchayat, were the chief guests.

Speaking at the event, Girish Nayak said, "The relationship between Christians and Hindus among us is excellent. We live in harmony. Christians participating in the celebration of Deepavali with us brings great joy. While the festival is ongoing, more Hindus than Christians participate, setting a good example of harmony among us."

Fr Edwin D'Souza, the vicar of St Francis of Assisi church, said, "Deepavali is a festival for everyone. It is a festival of light, meaning the dispelling of darkness and the arrival of light. If light is clear in the heart of man, it is the true light. We must all strive to eliminate the darkness within us and live together like brothers with love."

During the event, guests, panchayat members, church finance commitee members lit numerous lamps on the leaves a tree. Reena Mendonca, secretary of church committee and Rony Louis, coordinator of 20 Commissions were present. Kelvin Mendonca, vice president of church committee welcomed everyone to the event. Priscilla Menezes compered the program and propose a vote of thanks.