Pics: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)

Mangaluru, Feb 5: “Catholic Maha Samavesha – 2020, which was held at Sacred Heart Church grounds of Madanthyar was a grand success. Over 30,000 Catholics from Mangaluru, Puttur, and Beltangady witnessed the historic Samavesha. Everything went as planned and in a disciplined manner," said Rolphie D’Costa, president, Catholic Sabha, Mangalore Pradesh.

Rolphie further said, "In the Samavesha, we passed four important resolutions. We demand an independent 'Samudaya Bhavana' with a care center to rehabilitate drug addict youths and bring awareness on drug abuse. Secondly, we demand an independent Christian Development Board and Rs 50 crore initial grant, along with government land for this purpose.

“Christians of coastal Karnataka celebrate September 8 as birthday of Mother Mary, which is a family feast. As a custom, all family members are supposed to attend this festival and have lunch and dinner together. As this falls on a working day, children, teachers and government employees of our community miss the chance to celebrate this festival with family members. So, we demand a government holiday on September 8 with prior notification.

“We have demand a ban on online games like PUBG which put our youth and students in depression. Finally, we have also demanded equal reservation for Christian candidates in all parties. Based on population, we are eligible to get tickets to contest elections and political parties should think about it. After February 22, we are going to meet chief minister B S Yediyurappa and will keep our demands in front of him. At the same time, we will also meet Siddaramaiah, opposition leader, to seek support from the opposition party to get our demands sanctioned. A meeting with Dr Parameshwar, Congress leader and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, BJP state president, is also being planned during our visit to Bengaluru. “

Rolphie thanked all three bishops of Mangaluru, Puttur and Beltangady diocese and heads and various committee members, who worked for the success of Maha Samavesha. He specially mentioned the support of Harish Poonja, Beltangady MLA, volunteers, arrangers of bus and other vehicles, donors and priests.

Joel Mendonca, convenor, Maha Samavesha, Fr Francis, spiritual director, DCCW, Fr Ronald D’Souza, spiritual director, ICYM, Leon Saldanha, president ICYM and Elias Fernandes, media coordinator were present.