Don Bosco Church Lingarajapuram celebrates the Feast of Don Bosco

The Church (people of God) of Don Bosco at Lingarajapuram has grown during the past decade. Thanks to the founding fathers and pioneers. Situated near the Banaswadi railway station, the face of Lingarajapuram has changed over the past two decades with more people, shops, apartments, institutions and churches. But, Don Bosco Church remains a prominent landmark in the area. The recently concluded feast of Don Bosco (connected to the birthday of Don Bosco) had several moments of variety and novelty that brought the people of God in fellowship and fervour. 

The nine-day Novena was something different this time. Each day of the Novena was dedicated to different groups of people in the parish. 

“This feast should remind all of us everyone in this parish significant. So, we try to cover the entire people of God, giving importance to each group every day of the Novena. They were brought into the Church, given a special blessing and made to feel that they are significant in the church”, said Fr. Jose Kootyanickal SDB, the Parish Priest. 

The groups focused on each day were youth, single parents, sick, senior citizens, babies, couples, differently abled and catechism children. Some of the couples were moved to tears while they renewed their marriage vows. “It was a tough task to bring our single parents and make them feel wanted. But, our efforts were not in vain. There were more than 50 single parents present that day. And some of them, expressed they never had been so touched by this gesture of the Church than before”, said Mr Stanislas, a Salesian Cooperator who was the coordinator for single parents’ day. 

The final day of the Novena was colourful and vibrant with the presence of Catechism children. The children came in with the costumes of Salesian saints and angels and with placards and posters on Don Bosco. Catechism children took the oath of faith at the mass. Fr. Gilbert, the coordinator of the catechism class in the Church, coordinated the day with the help of catechists. The procession on the final day was colourful with children, youth, and adults who took to the streets expressing their love and reverence for the saint of the young.