Muscat: Joyous Celebrations as Ghala Parish Completes 25 Glorious Years
Report: Antony D’Cunha
Pics: Dilip Correa
Daijiworld Media Network – Muscat
Muscat, Nov 26: "Men who made history have had little time to write it."
A decade after the blessing of Sts Peter and Paul Church, Ruwi, the need for another place of worship was felt, as the Christian community had grown in number. Therefore, in 1986, the late Fr Barnabas Maddii briefed Bishop Bernard G Gremoli, who in turn approached Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who once again in his benevolence, donated a plot of land in the serene surroundings of Ghala, thus paving way for the consecration of new parish, “Holy Spirit Catholic Church” in 1987. Since then the Church has grown from strength to strength under the leadership of various priests and overcome all hardships.
The priests who served the Ghala parish in the past are (late) Fr Barnabas Maddi, Fr Varghese Chempoly, (late) Fr Jesse (Jesus) Gueco, Fr Joseph Thyagaraj, Fr Chacko Mannisserril, Fr John Fernandaz, Fr Maria Anthony, Fr Zacharias Para, Fr Raul L. Ramos, Fr Amara Bose and Fr Christudas.
Now 25 years later as we look back on the history of our parish we admire our past priests and parishioners for their contributions and tireless efforts in nurturing its growth.
1987 to 2012 marks the 25 years milestone and the year-long silver jubilee celebrations for the past one year has already brought in new hope and vigour among the parishioners.
Fr Albert D’Silva, OFM Cap – a great leader and the parish priest of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church – Ghala, and his theme “Celebration of Unity in Faith and parish Life” to commemorate Silver Jubilee milestone of the parish, together with current Assistant priests - Fr A Selvaraj, OFM Cap, and Fr Mathew Thomas, OFM Cap, has brought all the communities closer.
The moves such as Jubilee Logo, Jubilee Anthem, Jubilee prayer, etc., have created record number of parishioners volunteering to support the activities and working tirelessly to achieve the results which culminated in magnificent Grand Finale of Silver Jubilee celebrations taking place for two days with droves of people arriving from distant places for the celebration.
The celebrations began on Thursday, November 22 with the Thanksgiving High Mass at 6 pm by Archbishop Petar Rajic (Apostolic Nuncio – Kuwait) together with 16 past and present priests of the parish and guest priests from the Vicariate. Archbishop Petar Rajic, in his homily said “Jesus is the reason for this gathering. Jesus never used violence in his life.” The focus was on strengthening the peace, love and unity among the people.
The Church Choir under the leadership of Hortencia Barboza comprising of more than 50 male and female vocalist with soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices sang to the Glory of God and the congregation actively joined their voices for a meaningful participation.
After the Mass, light snacks and refreshments were served to the gathering. One of the leading brands was offering free tea service to the crowd as a part of their product promotion activities. Silver jubilee mementoes such as t-shirts, caps, keychains, mugs, etc were on sale.
Godfrey D’Souza, in his usual wit and body language conducted cultural programme. Cultural programme began with unveiling of two plaques at the main entrance – the one at right has the history of the parish and the one at the left has names of priests who have served the parish; while the Choir sang the Jubilee Anthem. Then the Archbishop, Bishop, Ministry of Awqaf representatives, priests and Guests were escorted to their seats.
Children are like the stars in the endless Blue Sky. The welcome song by the children in costumes brought such stars like look to the stage. The children by their little steps and tender voice welcomed the Guests, Dignitaries and Audience to the cultural programme.
Fr Albert, in his welcome speech expressed his gratitude to the gathering for partaking in the celebrations in such a large numbers. The Papal Nuncio and the Ministry of Awqaf representatives were greeted with bouquets.
The fusion dance sequence put up by various communities showcased their respective cultural heritage and rich traditions practised back home.
Mangalorean dance 'Dingiri Dinga', choreographed by Sylvester Vas and Ajay Lobo was presented by four couples - Nancy Vas and Sylvester Vaz, Ajay Lobo and Gracy Barboza, Avinash Menezes and Nirmala Goveas, Peter Fernandes and Jacintha Pereira.
Arabic dance 'Dabke Tallo', choreographed by Catherine was presented by small children - Rebecca D’Souza, Stacy Vas, Sia Furtado, Lizy Barboza, Muriel D’Souza, Jia B Dsouza, Rebecca Pinto and Melina Goveas.
Portuguese dance “Curudinho” by the Goan community choreographer Shalini Henriques was performed by Maggie Povo and Benedict Vaz, Rosy Eustace and Manuel Raposo, Alice Castel and Joyce Raposo, Shirley Lobo and Elona Collaco, Benny and Margaret Fernandes.
Dance by the Malyalam community “Aarane Aaranne” was choreographed by Sherin Martin.
Dance by Mangalorean community “Althodi thavn poltodi” was choreographed by Ajay Lobo. Participants were Priyanka Mendonca, Joylin Gonsalves, Justin Gonsalves, Michelle Gonsalves, Richelle Dsouza, Anshul Pinto, Mark Passanha, Aaryl Saldanha, Shavina Menezes and Rochelle Lobo. Bride - Cynthia Saldanha, Bridegroom - Lancy Saldanha, Best man - Lawrence Francis D’souza, Bridesmaid - Lavita Shaila Pais.
The power-point presentation on the Church history brought back vivid memories of the past and the people associated with it.
The skit on Virtues of Mother Teresa with Helen Sequeira, playing the lead role of Mother Teresa, has won the hearts and minds of audience. The skit was written and directed by John Gonsalves. Other actors were Albert, Manoj, Leo, Peter Fernandes, Joylin Gonsalves, Cyril, Lancy Barboza, Arokia Raj, Dorothy Crasta, Pauline, Errol Saldanha, Dr Bernard, Dr Rita, Jolly, Celine, etc. Narration was by Michael, power-point presentation by Robert Saldanha, Music by Savio, makeup by Alwyn Pinto with co-ordinated efforts by Valerian Crasta and Jawahar Pinto delivered good results.
Fr A Selvaraj, delivered the vote of thanks. In the concluding part, the choir sang the Jubilee Anthem in languages of various communities such as Tagalog (Filipino), Arabic, African, Sinhala (Sri Lankan), Malayalam, Tamil, Konkani, and many more. The Jubilee Anthem was composed by Apolinaris D’Souza of Ruwi parish.
Day two on Friday November 23 had Silver Jubilee Solemn Concelebrated Thanksgiving High Mass at 6 pm. The main celebrants were Bishop Paul Hinder, OFM Cap (Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia), Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCJ (Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia) together with past and present priests of the parish and guest priests from the Vicariate. Truly a record sort of gathering that has created history and pulled record number of crowd for the celebration.
After the Mass, light refreshments were served to the crowd. Goretti Pinto, in her usual charisma took control of the stage to conduct the short felicitation programme. Programme began with greeting the Bishops and priests with Floral Bouquets. Bishop Camillo Ballin and Bishop Paul Hinder, in their address to the gathering congratulated the parishioners and lauded the efforts put in by the Silver Jubilee Event organizing committee.
All the celebrants and priests were honoured with special Silver Jubilee mementoes. Silver Jubilee Souvenir was also released by Bishop Camillo Ballin. Moreover, foundation stone was laid for the new Catechism block and the construction activities are due to begin soon to keep the current excitement on with parishioners. The parish priest delivered the vote of thanks. The celebrations came to an end by ceremonially lowering the Silver Jubilee Flag with show of solidarity. May the Silver mellow into Gold in the next 25 years.