Media Release

Mangalore, Aug 29: Holy Cross church witnessed another milestone in the promotion of Konakni language in the religious field.

Konkani language grew with the help of missionaries. Today there are many challenges to promote and stabilize local languages because of the wide spread of English language. To give the younger generation a taste of Konkani and to take this language to the next generation, Holy Cross church published two books.

The book 'Jezu Songim Mageam,' is a family prayer book having both Kannada and Roman script. These daily prayers recited both in church and homes would be very handy to people who do not know Kannada. It is said that in the history of the Mangalore Diocese, this is the first book published in both Kannada and Roman scripts.

The book 'Jezu Songim Mageam' was released by Edward D'souza, chairman of Federation of Konkani Catholic Association Bangalore.

Another book 'Novena of Holy Cross' was released by Praveen Patrao, vice president of the Parish Pastoral Council. The books were transliterated by Sushil Noronha, former vice president and Richard Alvares.

The program was presided by Fr Valerian Pinto, parish priest of Cordel. Arun Fernandes, secretary of Federation of Konkani Catholic Association Bangalore, Parish Pastoral Parishad secretary Michael D'Souza and Fr Anil Lobo were present for the inauguration. Fr Vishal Monis compered the programme.