In a rare and blessed coincidence, St Mary's Catholic Church celebrated a second sacerdotal silver Jubilee within a period of three months and that too in the Year of the Priest! This time, the celebrant is Rev.Fr. Varghese Chempoly, OFM Cap,Vice Provincial Minister of the Capuchin General Vice Province of Arabia.
On 28 December 2009 as the Church was celebrating Holy Infants feast, Dubai parish also celebrated the Thanksgiving mass for Fr Varghese who was accompanied by Bishop Paul Hinder and 17 other co-celebrants who had arrived from various parishes of the Vicariate. The solemn procession of altar servers and celebrants made the grand entry into the church from priests residence, with children holding candle-light served as guard of honour inside the church. Parish Priest Fr Tomasito briefly introduced Fr Varghese Chempoly, who was ordained a priest on 31 December 1984. He served in India, Oman and is currently based in Dubai for the last four years.
In his homily, Bishop Paul Hinder called the faithful and specially the priests to carry out the message of Jesus who has called us all to be the light of the world. At the end of the Holy Mass, on behalf of the congregation, Mrs Aboline D'Cunha, Vice President of the Parish Council read the felicitation address to Fr Varghese and highlighted his various achievements. Bishop Paul Hinder then presented Fr Varghese with a gift on behalf of the parishioners. "I rejoice in the Lord, for even in my failures he has guided me and chose me as His anointed one" said Fr Varghese in his response and urged the congregation to accept even failures as God's plan and move on in life with faith and perseverance.
Being the feast of Holy Innocents, the Bishop blessed all the children. In conclusion the Souvenirs of the Silver Jubilee of Priestly ordination of Fr. Varghese were distributed to the congregation together with sweets courtesy of ICCRS (International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services) of which Fr Varghese is the Convener.
Email to a friend
Send your feedback
Print this article