The archbishop of Calcutta, Reverend Thomas D’ Souza, has called for a “peace procession and rally” on July 16 for Manipur.
“As an expression of our solidarity with the suffering people of Manipur, as well as to pray for peace in that state, a peace procession cum rally will take place on Sunday, 16th July 2023, starting at 4.30pm,” says a circular from the archbishop to the clergy, consecrated men and women and lay faithful of the archdiocese of Calcutta.
The peace procession, to be led by the archbishop, will start at Don Bosco Park Circus and end at the statue of Mother Teresa on Park Street.
“I request all our priests, religious men and women as well as laity from all city parishes, including Howrah Parish, to take part in this procession-cum-rallyin large numbers,” says the message from the archbishop.
“We want to show solidarity with the suffering people. We are with them and we pray for peace,” the archbishop told Metro on Monday.
The archbishop said any calamity, event or conflict has recourse in prayer.
“Peace will restore relationships, bring back normality.... It (the violence) has gone for too long in Manipur,” the archbishop said.
“We don’t want people who live in the vicinity to live in hatred. It will take a long time to heal. We hope our prayers would help,” the archbishop said.
“People should live in harmony and brotherhood as they have always done, whichever race or culture they belong to.”
The circular, issued on Saturday, says the information must be announced in all city parishes.
There are 22 parishes under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta.
There will be “no evening Mass in all the city parishes” on July 16 to enable the faithful to join the walk.
All have been requested to bring candles, which will be lit at the end of the procession. “We will walk praying, carrying select placards, with no slogan shouting,” the circular says.
From Don Bosco Park Circus, the rally will wound its way through the Park Circus Maidan seven-point crossing, Mullick Bazar and Park Street before ending at the Mother’s statue at Allen Park.
“We are expecting priests, nuns and laity, all to take part in this procession. We sympathise with the people in Manipur and we want their cries of agony and pain to be heard,” said Father Dominic Gomes, vicar general of the archdiocese of Calcutta.
On July 2, a prayer meeting and a candlelight procession were organised by the Catholic Association of Bengal.
The prayer meeting was held at St Thomas’ Church on Middleton Row, following which the assembly walked to Allen Park. A message from the archbishop of Imphal, Reverend Dominic Lumon, was read out that day at the church and at the end of the procession.
“Manipur is going through unprecedented social unrest since May 3, 2023. It is so painful to see thousands of people, uprooted from their homes, leaving everything behind, languishing in camps, lost in helplessness, with no future in sight,” Reverend Dominic Lumon had said in the message.