HOLY CROSS HIGHLIGHTS
- Fr. Kenneth D'Souza

Come September the big event is the Holy Cross Church feast, which is celebrated on the last Sunday of September.  This year as a spiritual preparation we organized a three half-day charismatic retreat every evening.  The resource persons were Fr. Alwyn Misquitta SDB and the “Grace Ministry” team  from Vasai.  The sessions proved to be informative, interesting, and enjoyable.  There was also a lot of singing and charismatic prayer interspersed.  Alleluia and Praise the Lord became a regular and loud refrain.  The Sacrament of reconciliation was made available at the end of the third day.  All in all it gave our parishioners a spiritual boost.

In the afternoon we had a festive lunch for the priests and sisters of Nasik.  It was preceded by a well-prepared prayer service by Fr. Tony V.  It was followed by an ice-breaker game and housie, with attractive prizes.

At the feast Mass at 5.30 pm Fr. Saby Correia was the main celebrant.  His preaching both in English and Marathi was well appreciated.  Both the English and Marathi choir did a good job of the singing.

In the evening by way of entertainment, our English and Marathi youth put up two well prepared skits, both giving strong Gospel messages.  This was followed by a food festival, the idea originating from the lay people themselves.  The food items were prepared at home and sold at reasonable rates.  The entire proceeds were given to the Church, a clean Rs.10,000-. All in all it was a memorable feast day celebration.

Earlier, we had a full day session for the youth, which was organized by the Holy Cross Parish.  It was entitled  a day of Togetherness.  A total number of 80 youngsters were present 40 from our Parish and the rest from the neighboring parishes.  The day began with a power point prayer presentation followed by Ice breakers, then the powerful input on the ‘Media and the young’ given by Fr. Edison, SDB.   Before lunch we had the Eucharistic celebration with a well prepared Liturgy done by the Holy Cross youth.  Fr. Kenneth was the main celebrant and preached both in English and Marathi.  After lunch, there were games for growth and group discussions and action songs.  The second input on Media Literacy was given by Fr.Robert Pen, SDB.  The entire session was much appreciated by all.  A word of praise to Fr. Kenneth and Sr. Cisily FC (is in place) as they worked hard to make it a success.  We have already planned a follow-up session, besides other activities and get-togethers for the youth of our five parishes in Nashik.