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Udupi : :  In an initiative to unite people of all faiths under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Dr. Leslie D’Souza (Parish Priest-St. John Evangelist Church Shankerpura) organizes every year Christmas Celebration by inviting people of all faith.  It is duty of Catholics to come out of the four walls of their church and mingle with people of other faiths, create an atmosphere of togetherness and unity and belonging by uniting under one umbrella titled:  Sarva-Dharma SauhardaSamithi.   This is the third year the Christmas Celebration was held on Thursday the 22^nd December 2016 in front of beautifully illuminated St. John’s Church/Academy and a large number of people of all faith enjoyed the unique festival.  ICYM (Indian Catholic Youth Movement) Pangala unit organized a beautiful tableau depicting the birth of Jesus in in the manger and the tableau was performed on the stage by members of ICYM.  Prior to that two large trucks were used to present Christmas Festivity which began procession at  Shankerpura  and went to Shirva and returned performing Christmas Carols and Tableau along the way and five Santa Clauses  dancing all along way.  On return from Shirva the trucks halted at Shankerpura where the Inter-Religious meet venue and performed Tableau on the stage which was attended by large number of people of all faith.

The main program of the day the Inter-Religious-Meet began with a prayer song by Parish Choir followed by Naveen Ameen (Secretary– Sarva-Dharma Sauharda Samithi)invited all the guests to the dais for the inaugural function namely: Rev. Fr. Leslie D’Souza (President – Sarva-Dharma SauhardaSamithi), Rev. Fr. Louis D’Sa (Parish Priest-St. Teresa Church Mukamar),  Mr. AdarshGokale (Convener, Sauskara Bharati-Udupi); JanabMauliAbdulsalam (Convener, JamateIslami Hind, Mangalore).  Antony D’Sa (ConvenorSarva-Dharma SauhardaSamithi)  welcomed the gathering.  All the honorary guests on dais inaugurated the Christmas festival with lighting of Christmas tree. 

All three leaders of different faith spoke on the occasion and greeted the people and stressed on importance of living in unity without bias of religion.  Equality among all religions is the key to success of our living and reaches the goal of truth and harmony among all religions. 

The entertainment program began with a beautiful Christmas dance performance wonderfully presented by students of St. John’s Academy Shankerpura.  Variety of dances on Christmas theme followed and enthralled the audience by other community members namely CSI Students from Manipura, Muslim Community from Subhasnagar, Shankerpura.

The ICYM Pangala unit presented Christmas Tableau they arrived from their first procession from Shirva and then continued the journey towards Katapady in a large truck beautifully illuminated and decorated and greeted by Santa Clause throughout the journey from Shankerpura to Shirva/Katapady.  All people and especially the kids on the roads greeted and waved the Santa clause which was a most memorable event of the day.

The Inter-faith meet was wonderfully conducted by a well-known MC Mr. Hanif Mohammed.  The entire Church, Institutions and the two huge trucks that presented ICYM Christmas Tableau were beautifully illuminated by Anil D’Sa Shankerpura (Anil Sounds Systems).