Kolkata: The Archdiocese of Calcutta celebrated 107th World day of Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 25-26. It was a twin celebration with a day spent on Seminar on the topic and on the second day, on Sunday, Sept 26 with a Thanksgiving Mass and a cultural program on the theme of this year, “Towards an ever Wider ‘We’ celebrated by the North 24 Parganas deanery at the Church of Lourdes, Barasat.
Holy Father, Pope Francis’ call to be “We” emerges out of ‘The truth is that we are all in the same boat and called to work together so that there will be no more walls that separate us, no longer others, but only a single “we”, encompassing all of humanity. ’ Pope Francis wishes to use this World Day to address a twofold appeal, first to the Catholic faithful and then to all the men and women of our world, to advance together towards an ever wider “we”. Under the leadership of Holy Father, Pope Francis, this pastoral concern has been taken up quite seriously and he has invited all the Church leaders to take up these in a systematic way and towards implementation.On behalf of the Commission for Migrants & Refugees, CCBI, this program was organized by the Archdiocesan Commission to help conscientize the Clergy, Religious and the faithful to be aware of their situations, their many challenges they face in their day-to-day lives and to promote those concerns of the Migrants and refugees gradually. At the deliberation during the Seminar on Saturday, Sept 25, all the participants realized that over 90% of our faithful, clergy and religious are the migrants in some way or the other. Most of them ‘Internal migrants’ and others ‘Inter’ or ‘intra’ migrants due to ‘Pull’ or ‘Push’theory. His Grace, Archbishop Thomas D’Souza gave a key note address at the Seminar held at Seva Kendra on Saturday, Sept 25. There were around 40 members present for the Seminar. Besides the keynote address on the theme,“Towards an ever wider ‘We’” and in the context of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, Archbishop elucidated with some appropriate anecdotes and stories of the migrants, who come out spontaneously to help those in need in difficult situations. He cited the example of Mother Teresa alias St. Teresa of Calcutta; how she reached out to the poor, the downtrodden and the excluded of the society to give them God’s compassionate love and care for the migrants and refugees. “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me” the teachings of Christ was always put into practice in her life. During the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, Mother went from camp to camp to show her love for the refugees and to help them to feel 107th World Day of Migrants & Refugees Celebrated in the Archdiocese ‘TOWARDS AN EVER WIDER “WE” Welcome, Protect, Promote, and Integrate AJOY XAVIER GOMES protected and embraced by God’s compassionate love. Many others came forward to welcome them and to protect them from any harm. On Sunday, Sept 26 , the deanery of North 24-Parganas celebrated on the theme at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Barasat. His Grace, Archbishop Thomas D’Souza was the main celebrant at mass.The concelebrant priests were, Fr. Henry Saldanha, Dean of North 24- Parganas, Fr. Xavier Kujur, Parish Priest, Barasat, Fr. Shyam Charan Mandi, Director, Proggaloy, Fr. Arijit Bor, Rector, St. John Mary Vianney Seminary, Taki Road, Barasat, Fr. Robin Paul Banerjee, Land & Property In-charge, a guest priest from Dhaka Archdiocese, Fr. David Shaymol Gomes, and Fr. Francis Sunil Rosario, Director, Commission for Migrants & Refugees, and Regional Secretary, West Bengal region, under CCBI. Various congregations represented the thanksgiving mass on Sunday, Sept 26. Among them were the Prado sisters, Barasat, Our Lady of Providence, Barasat, Sisters of Charity, Oasis, The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, Kanchrapara, Auxilium convent, Barasat and the Conventual Fathers, Madhyamgram. Besides, the faithful of the parish, Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, who were the majority, the other members who came to be a part of celebration were from St. Joseph’s Church, Bongaon, Our Lady of Immaculate Mary Church, Kanchrapara, the Green Park faithful. Keeping in mind the protocol of social distancing, the Church was full. It was a well attended thanksgiving Mass, with active participation. The Tri-language mass, in Hindi, Bengali and English, with entrance dance, singing in Bengali, Hindi and in English added color to the Mass to celebrate the world day of Migrants. Soon after the mass, there was a cultural program in the hall. Several groups took part. The most significant part of this program was the variety of cultural dances. It was well integrated and all the members felt that they were the part of the celebration. Archbishop Thomas thanked Fr. Sunil Rosario, Regional Secretary, and everyone who took the trouble to organize this great event and to bring together to celebrate this day to remember the migrants, displaced and the refugees.
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