Media Release

Udupi, Jan 20: Setting aside our personal ideologies and looking at every individual with the feeling that ‘everyone belongs to us’ alone can help us witness unity in the country, opined Fr Veeresh Moras of Thirthahalli Church.

He was speaking while delivering a message at the Udupi zone–level Christian Unity Week prayer meeting held on Monday, January 19 evening. He said that poets have described India as a garden of peace for all communities, and living up to that ideal is possible only when everyone lives in unity. Different Christian denominations must come together and raise their voices against the issues faced by the nation. Through this, it is possible to foster the feeling that we are all one, he added.

Presiding over the unity meeting, the bishop of the Udupi Catholic diocese, Dr Gerald Isaac Lobo, said that the spirit of unity should be strengthened by responding to the difficulties and sufferings of others. When we become the voice of others’ pain, we can see God in them. There is a need to forget our differences of opinion and move forward together, he emphasized.

CSI Southern diocese bishop Hemachandra Kumar expressed hope that the Unity Week would strengthen Christian congregations and instill a sense that all are one.

Fr Denis D'sa, national committee member of the Christian Unity Commission and public relations officer of the Udupi diocese; Fr Stephen D’Souza, chancellor of the diocese; Fr Charles Menezes, dean of the Udupi deanery; Kishore and Santosh of the CSI Church; along with representatives of various Christian denominations including Roman Catholic, CSI, and Syro-Malabar Churches, participated in the prayer service.

Prashanth Jathanna, vice president of the United Christian Forum, welcomed the gathering, and Fr Leo Praveen D’Souza, director of the Christian Unity Commission of the Udupi diocese, proposed the vote of thanks.