Team Herald
MARGAO: Churches all over Salcete are gearing up for the Christmas celebrations that will begin with a vigil or prayer service post 11 pm and will be followed by the mass at midnight to mark the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger in Bethlehem.
While the prayer service at Holy Spirit Church and Grace Church at Margao will commence at 11:15 pm at Our Lady of Rosary Church Navelim the service will commence at 11:30 pm.
Holy Spirit Church and Navelim church will have the midnight service in open space and have erected spacious pandals to accommodate the expected crowd. While Holy Spirit church has put a pandal and ordered 1500 chairs for the faithful to occupy, the Navelim Church has put up a pandal in front of the school to accommodate 4000 people as the church can at the most accommodate around 700 people.
The Grace church on the other hand will accommodate the faithful in the church premises as it is quite spacious said Fr. Carmo Martins the parish priest. Grace church can have 1000 people seating in the church with another 200 standing. “Besides we are putting around 300 chairs outside the church for people who do not find place in the church,” said Fr. Carmo.
Both the Grace Church and Holy Spirit Church have planned three programmes for the parishioners during the Christmas Week. Grace Church will observe 28th December as Children’s day and have a Christmas tree on that day. 29th December is the youth day when the annual Christmas Chimes a carol singing programme will be held and on 30th is the parish family day that is for the whole family to participate in.
Holy Spirit church is observing December 27 as children’s day with the Catechists organizing Christmas tree and sports programmes for children. Children of the parish will present cultural programmes on December 28, while on December 29, Christmas programmes will be held in each ward of the parish.
Navelim church on the other hand has a slew of programmes planned for the Christmas week: December 26 is dedicated to the sick and elderly while on December 27, the Basic Christian Communities will organize programmes in their respective wards.
At Navelim, a tiatr will be staged on December 28, while on 29th the iconic film Nachum-ia Kumpasar will be screened and on January 1, there will be a sports programme.
