Andhra Pradesh Diocese organizes Bible festival

(Oct. 12, 2011) Bible Festival to inculcate a habit among the Christians to own and read the Holy Book has been organised in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh State. “The inspiration for the festival in the State’s Kurnool Diocese came from the 2009 Mumbai Indian Mission Congress. People are hungry for the Word of God and the festival is aimed at helping them find the real presence of God in the Bible,” said Bishop Anthony Poola of Kurnool. The festival will continue until January 2012. “We want every Catholic to possess a Bible which usually costs 120 rupees, but we have subsidized the price and are selling it for half the rate,” said Fr. Bhaskar Mendem, parish priest of Kurnool cathedral.
The diocesan pastoral commission has trained animators in every parish to conduct Bible programs. They celebrate mini-Bible festivals and programs in villages. Bishop Poola has issued circulars allotting dates for “chain adoration, including Bible prayers” in all the institutions and parishes for the success of the festival. He also distributed cards with Bible prayers and songs to be used in adoration. The effect of the festival was summed by a villager, who said “Through these celebrations we have come to know the power of the Bible.”