Mysuru: “Many look at the big churches and institutions and think that Christianity is a glorious religion right from the beginning, but when we look back at history we will see that Christianity has endured the most suffering,” said Bishop of Mysuru, Rev Fr K A William.
Speaking after inaugurating the 13th Diocesan level carol singing competition, organized by the Catholic Association of Mysore at St. Philomena’s High School in NR Mohalla, here on December 3 he said, “Even Jesus was not accepted by his own community, his whole life. When he said ‘I am the Son of God’ people laughed at him and he was driven away from his home town of Nazareth. It was only later that people realised his value. It was the Roman Emperor Constantine who first embraced Christianity. Today, Christmas is not just confined to one religion, but it has become a festival for all.”
Speaking about the current situation of humanity, he said that the carol singing competition is a time when they all come together, forgetting about their differences. He asked the people to be humans first and give importance to human values, which seem to have been lost in today’s world. “We are not able to trust each other like we once did, we are not able to listen. We have turned our hearts into rocks and I think we need to break this. This type of carol singing competition will help us come together and we should do more to let this togetherness grow,” he said.
Tanveer Sait, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education also spoke on the ocassion. He reminisced about his school days when he too was part of the carol singing team. “As students, we sit together and make friends irrespective of caste or any other differences, but as we grow older things change. The message of the Bible is to love your neighbour. When we celebrate Christmas, we need to spread the message of love and unity and work to remove hurdles that block human relations,” he said.
State government protects religious places: “The state government has released Rs 5.5 crores for the renovations of various churches in the Mysuru district including Rs 5.20 crore for renovation of St Philomena’s church. Bishop Williams has requested for an additional Rs 1 crore from the government and I will try my level best to get the grant released at the earliest,” added Sait.
Overwhelming response from participants: When compared to last year, the number of participants have increased – 82 teams last year and more than 95 teams this year.
