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.
Well, Durga pooja is barely some 6 months away. Maybe we can expect to see the installation of Durga Mata in Calcutta’s iconic cathedral this year – INTER-FAITH HARMONY AT ITS SACRILEGIOUS BEST!
When o when will we realize that such nonsense is not going to change the mindset of those who are ruling the country with a focus on soon making the country a HINDU RASHTRA?
All those who are offended may kindly refer to Mathew 10:5 reading
Matthew 10:5
King James Version
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
I suppose that everyone realizes that we fall into the category of Gentiles, not being a Jew.
Disobedience to the Synod decision, to the Papal Order and to the Major Archbishop of Syro Malabar Church amount schism as per CCC2089. This disobedience should not be tolerated fir the future of the Church.
Is the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Kolkata the right venue to celebrate Holi, a Hindu festival? The Roman Catholic way of dialogue is not to promote syncretism. All those concerns taken into consideration is valid to promote dialogue n build bridges of harmony and peace among people of all faith. I wonder why such event was allowed within the Cathedral by the senior clergy, the reporter and the Pro Vicar? These senior R C clergy of Kolkata have very little knowledge and experience how the Inter faith dialogue should be carried out!