Media Release
Mangaluru, Mar 15: The Annual Catechism Day was meaningfully celebrated on Sunday, March 13, with the Eucharistic Celebration at 9.30 am Fr William Menezes the parish priest and Fr Lawrence Cutinha, assistant parish priest, concelebrated the Holy Eucharist. In his homily, he highlighted the importance of Catechism to build up and strengthen faith in one’s life. He emphasized that every child’s life to be built on the strong foundation of Christ teachings and Word of God. During the Holy Mass, thanksgiving prayers were offered to the Triune God for bestowing the blessing throughout the year. The liturgy was led by the children and all took active participation in the Eucharistic banquet.
The second part of the celebration was held in the Church Hall. At 11.00 am, students put forth a variety of short cultural programme. Children from different classes performed various value based programmes to the audience. Salony D’Souza and Master Deon Melrick compered the entire cultural programme. Melina Crasta welcomed the dignitaries. Mahima Saldanha shared her experience of being a catechism student. The coordinator of the Sunday Catechism Sr Lorna presented a brief annual report of the Catechism classes. Fr William Menezes the parish priest delivered the message to the parents and the gathering regarding the importance of faith and the Gospel values that need to be instilled in the children. He also emphasized to involve more lay people for teaching catechism to various classes. He thanked all the catechism teachers for their selfless service to the church. Fr Lawrence Cutinha, Noel Pinto the vice-president and Lolina D’Souza the secretary of the parish pastoral council were present for the programme. Finally, prizes were given to the children for their good performance in the catechism exams. Aron Vas proposed vote of thanks. Refreshments were served to the children.
To conclude, we would like to add that the catechism classes of this year were more interesting and the children were enthusiastic to participate actively in all the activities. The initiatives taken by the parish priests and the catechism teachers were effective to build up strong foundation of Christian faith in the life of the children.