Pics: Roshan Martis Mogarnad
News: Fr Praveen D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv, Dec 27: It was a memorable Christmas for Christians around Tel Aviv as they gathered at the Church of St Antony, Jaffa here on Saturday December 25 to share the joys of the festival.

The purpose of the cultural evening was to bring together Christians speaking different languages under the roof of Indian Chaplaincy. The ambassador of India to Israel was the chief guest for the cultural evening. It was the first time in Israel that the ambassador visited a church campus to meet the Christians in particular.

During the get together, along with the ambassador, the new parish priest of St Antony Church Fr Ramsey and Fr Arok were honoured by Fr Jai. There was carol singing in Konkani, Malayalam, Telugu and dances from Kerala and a carnatic dance by Royce. The Galaxy Beat Group led by Prakash sang some memorable tunes much to the joy of the people gathered. At the end of the gathering there was baila dance by all the participants.

Fr Jai welcomed the gathering. Fr Praveen and Roshan compered the programme.

A day earlier, the Indian Chaplaincy in Israel had the Konkani Mass for Christmas celebrated by Fr Arok and concelebrated by Fr Jai and Fr Praveen at the same venue.

The theme of the celebration was “Emmanuel: Poynari Dev-Poynari Loka Sangatha.” There was a big gathering of almost 2,000 people. The choir group led by Prakash sang carols before the Mass and during the mass all children born in Israel were specially blessed in the name of Infant Jesus. The children then cut a cake, which was distributed among all after the Mass.