EVENTS:

Thanksgiving Mass – 2nd May 2021 - St. Dominic Church Golden Jubilee Celebration

The 2nd of May 2021 is a day to remember as St. Dominic parish, Ashoknagar celebrated its Golden Jubilee. We had great plans to have the Bishop of Mangalore Rev. Dr. Peter Paul Saldanha as the main celebrant and a 50 member choir singing for the festive mass. But due to the pandemic we have had to postpone our plans to a further date when we can all gather together as a parish community.

One of outstanding events was the blessing of the newly painted sanctuary wall. Fr. Aquin Noronha OP, Parish priest of St. Dominic church blessed the sanctuary before mass. There are 3 paintings depicting the 3rd Joyful Mystery -the Nativity of the Lord, the 5th sorrowful mystery - the Crucifixion of Jesus and the 1st Glorious Mystery - the Resurrection.

Due to the restrictions of the govt. only 25 people were permitted inside the church . Therefore the gurkars of the ward, the Finance committee members, Co- Convenor of golden Jubilee celebration committee and superiors of St. Dominic & St. Joseph convent were present. Choir members Josline Vas, Iral Dsilva , Cletus Mendonca and Monica D’silva sang for the Eucharistic celebration and Meryik D’silva played the keyboard.

Fr. Aquin Noronha was the main celebrant and he was accompanied by Fr. Prateek Pereira and Fr. Sunil Lobo. The gospel reading was taken from St. John 15: 1-8 which is about the vine and the branches. In his homily Fr.Aquin spoke on how we need to be attached to the vine if we have to bear fruit. He gave examples on how fruit trees around us give fruit only seasonally and we look at them only when they yield fruit. But Jesus tells us that we need to bear lasting fruit in abundance.

When we do not bear fruit, we are like the branches that are cut, they dry up and are gathered and burnt. We need to be in a relationship with God. Every Christian need to put our status as “In a relationship with Jesus “.

St. Dominic our patron saint was always in a deep relationship with God “He spoke with God and about God.” He spoke to God in the night and shared his Godly experiences with people during the day and prayed for sinners.

St. Dominic has been interceding for us and guiding us from the last 50 years. Let us also follow in his footsteps and grow in relationship with God. Let us cling to Jesus like a branch attached to the vine. Let us bear sweet fruit and serve each other with love.

At the end of the mass the video CD of the Golden Jubilee Anthem song was released. The lyrics of the song were composed by Dr. Therese Nunes. The music and tune were composed by Joel Pereira, Fr. Aquin Noronha & Mackwill Crasta.