Celebrations reach south; no-entry at Mother House

Kolkata may be bubbling with excitement over Mother Teresa’s beatification on Sunday, but there will be no celebration at the Missionar...

Kolkata may be bubbling with excitement over Mother Teresa’s beatification on Sunday, but there will be no celebration at the Missionaries of Charity, the headquarters of her order. Visitors to Mother House are greeted with a notice which read: ‘‘There won’t be any celebrations at Mother House on Sunday when the Mother is beatified. It is upto the people to celebrate.’’

‘‘There will be a special meeting on Sunday in the Mother House, at the same time when Pope John Paul II will beatify the Mother in Rome,’’ said Sister Christi, spokesperson of the Charity. ‘‘There won’t be any celebrations as such. We will spend the day in thanksgiving,’’ she added.

But the city has lined up a series of programmes to celebrate her beatification. Celebrations will begin from tomorrow with the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (BCP), the apex body of Christians in West Bengal, organising a statewide all-faith prayer meeting with street children.

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‘‘The main celebration will be at St Paul’s Church after a ‘harmony and amity rally’ by street children. Similar rallies and prayer meets will be organised in all 17 districts of the state,’’ BCP general secretary Herod Mullick said.

‘‘As an immediate preparation, there will also be veneration of Mother’s relics at all parishes under the Kolkata archdiocese, besides pilgrimages and eucharist at Mother’s tomb at the Charity headquarters,’’ said Fr C.M. Paul, spokesman of the Archdiocese Celebration Committee.

In the south, various churches belonging to the three Catholic denominations, Syro-Malabar, Latin and Malankara, have also geared up for twin celebrations — the beatification and the silver jubilee of Pope John Paul II’s pontification.

Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram diocese of Malankara Catholic Church, Cyril Mar Baselios, will lead the Holy Mass at Pattom. It will be followed by a public meeting where former principal of Mar Ivanios College Antony Eapen will speak on the Pope and former principal of Mar Theophilus Training College Mary Mathew will speak on Mother.