By Augustine Singh

Kandhamal: Around 4,000 people from various pats of Odisha attended the concluding programs of yearlong celebrations of birth centenary of Father Pascal Singh, Odisha’s first Catholic priest.

Bishops, priests, nuns and people from all over Odisha gathered at Allanjuri, in the Kandhamal district of the eastern Indian state. Father Singh’s birth place, for the closing ceremony on May 17.

The concluding day saw the blessing of newly built St. Thomas Church in the village.

Father Singh was ordained a priest on December 31, 1945, at Kattingia, the oldest parish known as the mother parish of Kandhamal. His only brother Cyprian Singh was ordained four years later as the second native priest of Odisha.

Since then the eastern Indian state has seen a steady increase of priestly and religious vocations.

Currently, Kandhamal, Sundargarh and Gajapati districts of Odisha are the favored places for promotion of vocation to priesthood and religious life.

“Fr. Pascal was a dedicated educationist and social reformist,” said Bhaktanath S, old student and retired teacher.

Bishop Aplinar Senapati of Rayagada said Father Singh knew that only education could bring development of communities.

“Hence, along with his younger brother, he was instrumental in establishing educational institutions in different parts of Odisha that empowered the downtrodden, marginalized people of the then Cuttack diocese,” said Ambrose Sualsingh, another old student and a retired teacher.

Several speakers recalled their experience with the two brother priests as students of schools they established or how they were inspired by the lives of these great visionaries.

Bishop Niranjan Sualsingh of Sambalpur said the central executive committee of the centenary celebration has raised funds to give scholarship to brilliant students from poor families.

Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur said he was impressed with the yearlong celebrations organized at different centers.

Father Santosh Singh, parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, Bamunigam, Kandhamal that covers Allanjuri village, expressed “great joy” to attend “unique and special events.

He said Allanjuri village has so far produced 12 priests and 16 nuns who serve the Church in various parts of the world.

The priests and nuns from this village are very committed, strong in faith, persevering and moved by values learned from the Lord and from the brothers, he added.

Among those present was 83-year-old Father Anselm Biswal, who said the centenary celebrations rightly honored the two brother priests. “The values and inspiration we have received from Father Pascal Singh must be planted and nurtured for the benefits of the present and coming generation,” he added.