Chhattisgarh region to hold mission congress next year

(October 4, 2010) Catholic bishops of eastern India’s Chhattishgarh state are planning to hold Mission Congress (Yesu Mahotsav) next year to rekindle the spirit of mission in the life of every Christian of the region. In a joint pastoral letter the five bishops of the region have appealed to their priests, religious and laity to bear witness to Christ in the predominantly non-Christian area. “Let your light shine,” would be the theme of the meeting planned for Oct-25-28 next year. The event should “enable each one of us to let our light shine first of all in our own personal lives, then in our families, in our communities, in our parishes, in our dioceses, and indeed in our entire Chhattisgarh,” the bishops said in the letter. “Yesu Mahotsav is not a project of any one of us. It is a project of God, the Father who sent His Son into this world,” the bishops said. The Father wants that His Son, the light of the world, is celebrated with a new enthusiasm and zeal. Now this divine plan of “Yesu Mahotsav” has to become “Hamara Mahotsav (our celebration),” they said. During the Indian Mission Congress held in Mumbai last year, the 1,500 participants from all the 13 ecclesiastical regions, including the Chhattisgarh region, had agreed to hold a Mahotsav at their regional levels.