By C.M. Paul
Kolkata, March 18, 2022: The Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary in Kolkata March 18 celebrated Holi, the festival of colors, by organizing an inter-community goodwill gathering to spread the message of humanity, peace and environmental awareness.
Holi is a popular ancient Hindu festival, also known as the festival of spring, that celebrates the eternal and divine love of Radha-Krishna, Hindu deities.
Participating at the event were representatives professing different faiths – Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism.
The event was formally flagged off by chief guest Additional Commissioner of Police Kolkata Praveen Kumar Tripathi, and Guest of Honor D C Central, Kolkata Rupesh Kumar.
Other attendees included industrialist Pramode K Agarwal and curator of art work Subrata Ganguly among others.
Speaking on the occasion Pro-Vicar of the cathedral Father Franklin Menezes said, “The color festival of Holi and the onset of Lent, when Christians fast for 40 days in memory of Lord Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness, is an auspicious time for us to strengthen our inter-community relations and social bonding and also spread the message of peace, humanity, mutual respect among members of different faiths and environmental awareness. We all pray that the wars threatening global peace are ended.”
Tripathi said, “There is a need to build bridges between different communities and strengthen the social fabric of India and congratulated Father Menezes for organizing the event.
District Commissioner Kumar exhorted, “On this auspicious occasion of Holi we must reiterate our resolve to adhere to the values of peace and community service. More and more people should come forward to forge inter-community bonding and help in social welfare activities.”
Under privileged children of the streets were also served food packets.
The cathedral, founded in 1799, is one of the oldest cathedrals of eastern India.
The cathedral had recently inaugurated a special exhibition on the various pictures of Saint Francis of Assisi – the patron saint of environment and the originator of the tradition of Christmas cribs.
The pictorial displays of the saint, conceptualized by Church Art, inspire people to love and protect Mother Earth.
Father Menezes called on everyone to respect and protect Mother nature and earth’s environment and spread environmental awareness and practice in daily life by conserving nature and its resources.