India’s Kohima Diocese to hold Marathon Bible Reading
(March 16, 2012) Kohima diocese in north-east India is holding a Bible Reading Marathon
next week as part of its Year of Evangelization. St. Xavier’s Parish Church, Meluri,
in the Diocese of Kohima, Nagaland state will hold the event from March 20 to 25.
Preparations are under way to host this first ever reading of the complete Bible on
Meluri soil by the people from various walks of life. The programme will begin with
a Bible enthronement service and will conclude with a Holy Mass. People consider
the event a rare privilege and a blessing, and the Catholic Church in Nagaland has
given the programme a great deal of importance. The event is being organised as part
of the Year of Evangelization that is being observed throughout the diocese. The Bible
reading event has drawn inspiration from what was held in the Vatican in Oct. 2008
in which Pope Benedict XVI himself began the Bible marathon reading that was taken
up later by others. Lay men and women both young and old, priests, nuns and catechists
from three churches of Meluri will read the Bible in English and Pochuri languages.