Parishes in India mark Independence Day on Assumption Day

(August 16, 2010) Parish communities across India said special prayers for the nation on this year’s Independence Day as hundreds of them hoisted the national flag with their Sunday congregations. As India’s Independence Day and the feast of Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary fall on August 15, national flag hoisting and gatherings are normally part of parish programmes on this day. As Aug. 15 fell on a Sunday this year, hundreds of parishes, especially in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu held special meetings and prayer programs recalling the sacrifices of freedom fighters. Kerala Catholic bishops’ Pastoral Orientation Centre hosted a special musical worship concert named ‘Free to Worship’. Missions India and Friends of Missions India organized it in Greater Cochin. In the program the members of the Revive Praise Band, a group of friends who are professionals in various fields, sang prayer songs based on the theme ‘no one is beyond the love of God’. Various Christian denominations came together for singing songs of praise at ‘Free to worship’. They together prayed for the peace and the unity of our motherland at the event. Missions India is an indigenous, interdenominational Christian organization with a two-fold ministry namely, revival of the church and welfare of the underprivileged people of our country. It was in 1989 that Missions India came into being in Navajeevodayam Tiruvalla, Kerala. Now its ministries have spread to 17 states of India with 535 missionaries serving in 300 mission stations.