16 Siddis from Mainahalli, Mundgod, where Jesuits of Karnataka Province run a mission visited our parish "Immaculate Heart of Mary" in Bangalore on 4th of August 2019. They were accompanied by their priest in-charge Jesuit Fr Sujay Daniel. They were here to raise funds for the construction of their new church building in Mainahalli. The Siddi parishners participated in three Sunday Masses, doing the traditional entrance dance as well as lending their melodious voices for the Masses.
Siddis also performed some of their traditional cultural dances for the parishners in the church premises. The parishners of our parish were very generous and contributed digging deep into their pockets for another Jesuit Mission, which needs a lot of financial help from outside. Jesuit Fr Arun Kumar, the parish priest, who is also the Co-ordinator of Province Pastoral Work and Secretary of JEPASA planned this inter-parish level collaboration.
Siddis are originally from Africa. They were brought into India by the Portuguese and British as slaves. They worked mainly in Goa in the 16th century. Later on most of them entered the territory of Karnataka and made jungles/forests of Uttara Kannada district as their home. Since 1980, with Fr Mathew Lewis, Jesuits of Karnataka Province started the Siddi Mission with great dedication and zeal. Today there are two substations attached to the Mundgod parish. The two substations are Mainahalli and Ugginakeri. These two substations are made of up of Siddis exclusively. Jesuit Fr Lawrence Pinto started a school for them in Mundgod in 1991. Today, this Loyola School is a sprawling institution with various additions and Siddis are getting their education. They are also helped with various welfare schemes and Christian faith formation programs. [OV]
2 comments:
This post is very interesting
The inter collaboration between the city and rural parishes is a great initiative.
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