Media Release
Bengaluru, Dec 18: Don Bosco Church at Lingarajapuram in the city, has always made a difference in the lives of people in the vicinity. The church has, of late, become a shrine with more and more spiritual activities induced under the leadership of Fr Aloysius Santiago. This is noticed by the regular church-goers of the parish and also by those from the neighbouring parishes especially when it happened after a lull due to the lockdown and Covid-19. This year, the Christmas celebrations began with carols. The singing commenced from December 14 taking all the necessary precautions prescribed by the church and government authorities.
Don Bosco Church in association with Lions organized a Christmas programme with the collaboration of NGOs running homes for children. This had given an opportunity for the team involved to give them toys and Christmas goodies.
Each day, from December 14 to 24 evening, the organizers have chalked out an agenda to have the Christmas programme with the adopted families of the Salesian cooperators - a pious association which is part of the church and they are partners with the team for all welfare programmes meant to uplift the lot of the people around.
On another day, they have planned a Christmas celebration with 50 people who are part of ‘Share and Care’ scheme. Those families of about 100 have benefitted for the past 11 years, as they were served a meal throughout the year. This year, 50 of them will be given blankets, Christmas kitties worth at least Rs 1100. The items include cake, a shirt piece and saree besides chicken for a good meal on Christmas day.
The leadership has not forgotten the staff workers in the church numbering around 14 of them. They will be presented Christmas gifts and a bonus and the clergy will also share their meal with them. Yet another programme is being organized to have celebrations with all the associations in the parish, namely, altar-children, Legion of Mary, Salesian Cooperators, members of St Vincent De Paul Society, choir members of Kannada, English and Tamil apart from the youth groups.
Fr Aloysius announced that on December 24 morning, Don Bosco Church in association with Rotary, Folklare, HUG and Lions, plan to have a Christmas celebration with the children from the slums of Janakiram Layout nearby. That evening, as per the directives of Archbishop Peter Machado of Bengaluru, the people will have mass in three languages. Fr Aloysius Santiago SDB, rector and parish priest explaining the motive behind such programmes said, "Don Bosco Church believes in sharing the Christmas joy with the poor, marginalized and with people who are in the fringe of society. We want to tell them that God loves them not on the basis of caste, colour or religion, but for the very fact that they are created by God.”