Media Release

New Jersey, Sep 9: Over 300 people from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut areas gathered together on Saturday September 6 at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Piscataway, NJ for the Mangalorean Catholic Association of the East Coast’s (MCA-EC) Monti Fest 2014 celebration. Great weather coupled with a beautiful auditorium created a perfect setting for a feast to remember.

The event was kicked off by a traditional Konkani mass which was presided over by Fr Augustine Claude D’Souza, MCA-EC's 2014-2015 spiritual director along with Fr Wency Rodrigues and Fr Henry D’Souza.

Fr Augustine kept the congregation's attention with an awesome Konkani mass that reminded most members of the traditional mass experience back in Mangalore. Various MCA-EC members volunteered for readings and the choir was led by Vijai Furtado.

After the Konkani mass around 90 children lined up in a procession to shower flowers on infant Mother Mary's statue. The board members and volunteers did an extraordinary job in ensuring every child got an opportunity to shower the flowers as the choir sang Sokkodd Sangatha Melleam..Moriek Hogolsia.

The colorful array of petals looked beautiful in the hands of adorable children. It was a delight to watch children enjoy and stay connected to their Mangalorean roots through this ceremony. The statue of infant Mother Mary was showered with petals of roses, marigolds and lilies and that scene reminded many as if they were all in Mangalore at that moment.

The master of ceremony was Kenneth Monteiro who orchestrated the event beautifully and kept the audience entertained with humorous anecdotes and one-liners.

The afternoon saw several MCA-EC members of all age groups who had practiced hours and weeks put up one fabulous cultural show for all attendees.

The participants were:

Moriye Vado - Skit:

Sharlet, Ivan, Shawn, Jiten, Anu, Merlin, Mark, Eva Pinto, Mia, Isha, Alyssa, Annalise, Christa, Jiselle

Fatima Vado - Dance Medley:

Anita, Simi, Geethanjali, Dileeni, Sherrin, Saritha, Carmeline, Michelle, Saharika, Amelia, Melody, Abgail, Ethan, Aaron, Matthew, Caleb

Kursa Vado - Dance Medley:

Jovin Serravo, Shane Quadras, Ethan Menezes, Luke Menezes, Sherin Lobo, Shyna Quadras, Paul Quadras, Monthi Dcunha, Stanislaus lobo, Saritha lobo, Stany menezes, Diana Noronha, Janice Bothello, Antony Serravo, Reena Saldana, Arun Menezes

Moriye Vado – Mime Act:

Venora,Melanie,Michelle,Tasha,Gina,Jonathan,Meldon,Orran,Darryl,Clayton,Gerard,Vinuth

Fatima Vado – Teen Dance:

Leann Rego,Nikita Eddy,Stacey Barretto,Caroline D'Souza,Sahanah Sahay, Susanna D'Souza

Roshan D’Mello, MCA-EC president thanked every key contributor by name for all the hard work and commitment toward putting such a grand event.

After the cultural programme event, everyone was served with 'Novein' which is a drink made by mixing together the blessed and pounded "new paddy" from Mangalore with milk followed by some mouth- watering delicious authentic Mangalorean style vegetarian lunch. To emphasize the level of tradition, everyone was served on banana leaves, as is the custom in the villages of Mangalore.

Group games segment after lunch was the highlight of the afternoon. People had fun and burnt some good calories.

The day ended with a housie game and members were served with delicious snacks with tea.

The MCA-EC encourages members to keep in touch with each other via Facebook Link. The website www.mca-ec.org gives more information on the association.