Media Release
Texas, Sep 23: Houston Konkan Catholic Association (HKCA) celebrated Monthi Fest on September 7 at Holy Family Catholic Church in Missouri City. Fr Joy James O S H celebrated the mass and Fr Valerian Menezes from archdioceses of Los Angeles, California was the co-celebrant. The statue of Infant Mother Mary, beautifully decorated on the altar by Lidwin Machado and the Novem was blessed by Fr Joy at the Mass.
The readings were done by Nigel Periera and Tina Mathias. Cantoring in between readings was done by Blendon Sequeira. After Mass, there was a procession carrying flowers, candles and Bambino of Mother Mary singing ‘Sokkodd Sangata Melleam’ to the adjoining parish hall. At the hall ‘Moriek Hogollsiam’ was sung while flowers were offered by one and all.
The evening event commenced with Mathew D’Souza taking over the proceedings and asking the attendees to collect their nametags and take their respective seats.
Fr Valerian then led the gathering in prayer and asked the Lord’s blessings on all those present. Next Novem arranged by Ronnie Crasta and prepared by Anita Lasrado was served to everyone present. There were also refreshments served in the form of veg puff pastry and chutney & cheese sandwiches along with Tea (Chai) & Tang.
The cultural programme soon commenced led by MC for the evening Darel D’Souza. Nikita and Karina D’Souza and Shania Menezes led a presentation on the background of Monthi fest.
There were beautiful, energetic dance performances and Konkani songs sung beautifully by a group including little children, youth and adults.
The first set of dance performances was choreographed and led by Kiera Pattani along with Anessa Mathias, Kien Pattani, Roma Quadros, and Trinity Fernandes. The second dance performance was done by the sister duo of Nikita and Karina D’Souza. They danced to the recent hit bollywood songs to the delight and applause of the crowd. The dances were then followed by ‘Morea Christa Maie’ sing by Caelan D’Cruz, Ruth Samuel, Aiden and Evonne D’Souza, Abby Furtado, Noah Suares, Ayana Quadros, Sophia Sequeira. This was followed by foot tapping Konkani numbers sung by HKCA members led by Shiny Lewis and Allwyn Furtado who accompanied them on the guitar. DJ Chris Pinto then had the crowd grooving to popular Konkani, English and bollywood numbers as everyone mingled and socialized.
Soon it was time for dinner. Grace before meals was said by Fr Valerian Menezes and the dinner counters were opened for the crowd. The food was authentic Mangalorean fare cooked by members from the food committee coordinated by Loraine Sequira. There was a sumptuous vegetarian spread consisting of rice, chapathi, moong and raw banana sukke, beans sukke, kuvalo curry (ash gourd), mixed fruit curry, karathe sukke (bitter gourd also known as karela), soney sukken (black chickpeas), moong sukkho (green gram), thoushey Kharam (cucumber with coconut and green chilli), tendli and cashew, avial (yoghurt curry), papads and pickle. Delicious pasta was also served. For dessert, vorn, a traditional Mangalorean sweet dish was served. Children were also treated to some delicious ice cream.
After dinner, they had housie housie led by Mathew D’Souza and he was accompanied by his son Aiden D’Souza. HKCA president Leslie Mathias then gave the vote of thanks wherein he thanked all the volunteers who made this event possible with their time and energy. He also updated the members on forthcoming HKCA events and asked everyone to take an active part in the organization.
Laudate Dominum was led by Maxim Pereira & Allen D’Souza along with everyone present as the event drew to a close. Sugarcane samples provided by Maxim Pereira were made available for anyone interested to take home.
This was another beautiful celebration of the feast of Monthi Fest, one that was attended and appreciated in large numbers by HKCA members and guests. HKCA was very grateful to Holy Family Catholic Church, Fr Joy James and Fr Valerian for traveling all the way from Los Angeles to join them in celebrating Monthi Fest. The photographers – Loraine Sequeira, Blendon Sequeira, Roshan D’Souza, Rachel D’Souza and HKCA members were thanked for taking pictures of the event and posting videos of performances. The volunteers were also thanked for their hard work along with the HKCA family!
Anyone wanting to join HKCA can do so by going to the 'contact us' section on HKCA website at https://www.hkcaus.org/houston-konkan-catholic-contact-us/ and sending the details.