While the elders are busy with meeting and greeting and
catching up over kulkuls and coffee, the kids are out having a gala time
indulging in Christmas activities with friends, either in the colony compound
or at the church ground. With competitions and get-togethers being held almost
every day of the festive season, the children have a jam-packed schedule and
are delighted about it.
The Church of Our Lady of Help, Ribandar have the children
and youth in focus during the festive season. “Our youth, which comprises 43
members, are very active and exceptionally enthusiastic with the Christmas
planning,” says Fr Lawrence Fernandes, Parish Priest of the church. “There is a
week long list of programmes with the children’s events being the most exciting
as they will be having face painting and gifts from Christmas Father. On December 28, 2014, the parishioners will
get together and celebrate Family Day with a musical show by Anesete featuring
Sonia Sirsat. The tiatr, ‘Facebook’, by Alexinho de Morjim will be held on
December 30.
Christmastime in Model Legacy Colony, St Inez started with
joyous sessions of carolling with the start of December. “Children are very
happy to participate in carol singing. I think it’s a great way to learn and
remember the beautiful songs about Christmas. Even non catholic residents of
the colony show the same level of zest,” explains Sharika, a resident of the
neighbourhood. The colony members are looking forward to the fun get-together
which will take place today, December 27 in the colony.
Fr Marcelin Rodrigues, Parish Priest of Holy Spirit Church,
Margao, says, “We have a huge number of children coming forward for church
activities. They love spending time with their friends here. However, in the
cities, children are dependent on their parents. In the villagers, they will
run and go to the church compound on their own or on their cycles but in the
cities, parents have to drop and pick their kids. Eventually, it becomes a
parents’ initiative to send their children for the fun activities.” The church
will be organising the Catechism day programme today, December 27 followed by
their ward-wise programmes on December 28. “In Margao, most of the chapels have
their own programmes in Borda and Ambaji and the crowd gets distributed
according to their areas but the youth and children are very enthusiastic about
organising and participating in the programmes,” adds Fr Marcelin.
Flavia Fernandes, a resident of Merces, says, “This is the
first time that our Parish organised a carol singing competition and a crib
competition besides the yearly programmes. We will be celebrating Infant’s Day
on December 28 followed by the staging of John D’Silva’s Tiatr ‘Zaal’ on
December 29, Family Day on December 30 and Sports Day on January 1, 2015. We
already finished visiting the wards for carol singing. The youth and children
organise the programmes with the help of the parishioners.”
