Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 19: Christmas Day was celebrated with fanfare and zeal.
St. Mary’s Cathedral Church organized Carols Competition to celebrate Christmas, wherein twenty teams were vying for honours and heralding the message of Christmas through mellifluous songs.
Students, parishioners and choir troupe members, dressed in colourful fineries, painted the Church in Christmas hue and brought alive the nativity scene through the sprightly competition, which is held each year in the loving memory of (Late) Fr. Raphael Jeykumar.
The curtain of the spirited competition was lifted with the hoisting of traditional Christmas Star by Rt. Rev. Ivan Pereira, the Bishop of Jammu-Srinagar Diocese. The event was further glorified with the valued presence of Rev. Fr. Jose Vadakkel, the Vicar General, Fr. Thomas Niravathu, Fr. Shaiju Chacko, Fr. Santosh, Fr. Suresh Britto and Fr. Premful. Among other guests, Inspector Bishnesh Kumar, SHO Gandhi Nagar Police Station also graced the event as a special invite.
The participants presented well-coordinated carols in Hindi as well as Punjabi in front of the luminaries and the large gathering of people who had come from nearby churches and institutions.
Rev. Fr. George GP, Rev. Fr. Jaya Pradeep and Agnes, acclaimed musicians in Christian devotional music from Punjab, were the adjudicators of the competition.
St. Peter Church, Prem Nagar was adjudged the winner of the competition while the second prize was bagged by Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School, Jammu and St. Peter’s High School, Jammu secured the third prize.
The event was coordinated by Bunty Gill and Anish Mattoo while Neha John and Arun Nayyar were the masters of ceremonies.
To commemorate Christmas, a function was organized by Kahpota-Jandrah Church under the overall supervision of its poster Raman Kumar. On the occasion Senior Congress leader Rakesh Wazir, President Hotel and Restaurant Association, Katra was the chief guest and Dr Bishop Santosh Thomas and their full team were special invitee.
A colourful programme was organized, on the occasion, which was appreciated by the audience.
Sonia Wazir, Posters Charan Dass, Danish Kumar, K Ravi Kumar, KR Bakshi, Sudesh Kumar and many others were present on the occasion.
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