MAPUSA: The St Francis Xavier parish, Duler is celebrating the Decennial year of its elevation from a Chapel to a Parish Church. It was elevated on 29th March 2014 and the Decennial celebration was initiated in the presence of His Eminence Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao in April 2024. Now, being in the Christmas season, the parish wanted the parishioners to come together and celebrate their growth as a Parish community based on relationships and bonds that they have created over the last 10 years. So the idea of “Son-Born” was conceived in keeping with the spirit of the Christmas season.
During the next 3 days, starting from January 3, the parish will celebrate its rich cultural, artistic and social heritage.
And in keeping with the spirit, a line-up a mix of live performances, exhibitions, and community engagement have been organized. The parish is partnering with the Catholic Association of Goa (CAG) for this event.
Here is a brief about the program for the next 3 days.
There would be 2 stages – one in the vicinity of the stalls for showcasing the talents of the children of our parish and the other one would be for the highlighted event each day.
Before the start of the main event, there were performances by some of the parishioners showcasing their singing and dancing skills and young percussionist Clevy stole the show on drums. Jaden D’Souza and Dylan Azavedo, all teenagers, lent their vocals to make a great start to the celebration.
Our stalls comprise of food stalls and a very interesting mix of stalls where the parishioners will exhibit their own skills, trades, talents and creations. There is resin art, face painting, furniture, bakery products, crochet, art & craft, key chains, potted plants and last but not the least – pottery which has been a traditional trade in the parish. Most of the food and snacks that are available in the stalls have been prepared by and under the guidance of a select set of parishioners who excel in culinary skills.
On all 3 days the food stalls will be managed by different vaddos or Somudais ensuring equal participation of all somudais of the parish. This helps in growing as a community of faith, hope and love which echoes the Pastoral vision and which is also the theme of the Decennial year.
Each day, there will be a Chief Guest, a Guest of Honour, a Distinguished Guest and an Eminent Guest. The Chief Guest for would be Michael D’Souza, IAS and Secretary of Ladakh.