Advani Visits Mumbai Church

Sept. 13, 2011: Senior BJP leader of India L.K. Advani visited the Mount Mary Church in Bandra, Mumbai, where he placed a garland of red flowers and two candles at the statue of Our Lady. recalling his association with the Catholic community as a student in a Karachi school.
Advani, an alumnus of the St. Patrick High School in Karachi, run by the Irish Christian Brothers said: "I have had a very close association with the Catholic community since my school days. I was born in Karachi and educated at St Patrick’s. Since I have links with the community, I feel happy coming here, meeting the priests here, participating in the prayers and getting the Blessings."
“I am happy to take the blessings of Mother Mary,” he said on Monday, September 12.
Church’s Vice-Rector Aniceto Pereira said Advani showed a lot of devotion and showed a lot of respect to our religion and the shrine.
Advani was presented three books - History of Mount Mary shrine by Father Francis Correia, a copy of the Holy Bible and the Divine Harmony, a comparison of Vedas and Bible, he said.
According to the Shrine authorities, since the novena began in eagerly September, more than 15,000 people visited the shrine daily. More than seventy per cent of the devotees belong to religions other than Christianity. In Bandra, the feast of Mary has been strongly associated with the statue of Virgin Mary at Mount Mary's Basilica for several hundred years.