Bishop plans to help air crash victims’ families

(May 25, 2010) The Bishop of Mangalore in southern India has swung into action to help the families of victims of the air crash in the city that killed 158 people on the 22^nd of May, as parishes across India prayed for the dead, several of them Catholics. The aircraft, with 166 people on board, overshot the runway and crashed into a valley, bursting into flames. Eight people survived. Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore said some 17-18 Catholics from his diocese lost their lives. “I am trying to visit the grieving family members,” he said adding that he had already attended two funerals. The bishop said his diocese is ready to help the families of those who have perished in whatever way possible. “But first we are trying to ascertain through the parish priests the actual need and then we will respond accordingly,” he said. Mangalore diocese will organize a special Mass for the “deceased very soon,” said the bishop of the coastal region, from where thousands have gone to European and Persian Gulf nations to work. The Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the “the horrifying tragedy” was “most shocking and disturbing” for the Church in India and for the country and offered condolences to the families and relatives of the victims.. Bishop Derek Fernandes of Karwar expressed his grief and sorrow at the loss of precious lives and conveyed his deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and wished speedy recovery to the injured in air crash. He offered prayers along with the faithful of the diocese during the Sunday Mass, for departed souls.