Bengaluru: Priests in Bangalore archdiocese are making news different and positive ways these days.

Thursday, August 6, saw almost every member of the Clergy Association of Bangalore (CAB) out on a cricket ground. Encouraging them with his presence was their leader, Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore

The prelate, who came wearing a sportsman gear, spent nearly 80 minutes at the famous Maria Niketan Grounds in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) watching his priests playing India’s most popular game.

“We should organize more such events to promote love and unity between people of all religions,” Archbishop Moras said in his message. The archbishop heads a state-level unit for peace and harmony.

The prelate, who celebrates his birthday on August 10 and feast day ten days later, invited people of all religions to collaborate on any initiative for peace and goodwill. The archbishop celebrates his birthday with prisoners every year.

The CAB, which is older than the archdiocese, organized the cricket tournament for the first time in its 75-year-old history.

The match witnessed an audience from ages 30 to 89.

Archdiocesan priests Fathers Benedict Rajesh and Vinoo Fabian planned the cricket program. CAB secretary Fr. Adolf Washington says he had several such plans to foster better relationship among priests and help them serve the archdiocese better in a cordial and collaborative way.

The archdiocese made history in April when through the Vatican initiative it resolved its decades-old controversy over the language used for church services. The controversy that had triggered violent protests, had divided the priests in the diocese into two camps.

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples issued the guidelines on April 12, claiming they would help find a “permanent solution to the long-standing” controversy.

Two Catholic priests are in jail for more than a year in connection with the murder of the rector of a pontifical seminary in Bangalore.

In March 2014, the Bangalore police claimed they had cracked the mysterious murder of the 65 year-old rector on April 1, 2013.