Bangalore 7 June, 2022: The Latin Catholic Church in India will hold a one-hour National Thanksgiving Prayer Service on Friday 24 June 2022, on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, from 8.30 to 9.30 pm to pay tribute to St. Devasahayam and consecrate all families to Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The prayer will be conducted from the tomb of St. Devasahayam at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, Kottar, Tamilnadu. Special Prayer Service with a Eucharistic Benediction will be telecast on Catholic satellite television channels like Madha TV, Shalom TV, Goodness TV, Shekinah TV, Divyavani TV, Atmadarshan TV, Ishvani TV, CCR TV and Prarthana Bhawan TV; it will also be streamed through leading Catholic YouTube channels.
Most Rev. George Antonysamy, Vice President, CCBI and Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore will initiate the prayer service. Most Rev. Anil Couto, Secretary General, CCBI and Archbishop of Delhi along with Most Rev. Nazarene Soosai, Bishop of Kottar and Rev. Sr. Annie Kuttikadu, SMI will chant the psalmody.
Rev. Dr. John Kulandai, Vice Postulator, Canonization of St. Devasahayam will proclaim the Gospel and His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias and the Archbishop of Bombay will give the homily.
Rev. Dr. Yesu Karunanidhi, Executive Secretary to the CCBI Commission for Bible along with seven lay faithful from different parts of India will lead the prayers of the faithful in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali and Badga, languages. Most Rev. Thomas J. Netto, Archbishop of Trivandrum will recite the prayer to St. Devasahayam. The litany to St. Devasahayam will sing by the Choir invoking the intercession of the saint.
His Eminence Cardinal-Elect Filipe Neri Ferrão, the President CCBI and the Archbishop of Goa and Daman will consecrate all families to Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most Rev. Antony Pappusamy, Archbishop of Madurai will recite the concluding prayer and Most Rev. Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio to India will give Eucharistic Benediction.
The Circular, issued by the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, requests everyone, particularly families and religious communities, to join in the prayer service and asks that this event be shared also with those whose family and community members are abroad, so that they too may join in as one family.
All the faithful in India will spend this one hour as one family, thus giving witness to the Catholicity and cultural and linguistic diversity of the Church. There are 132 dioceses and 18 million faithful in the Latin Catholic Church in India.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara
Deputy Secretary General
Conference of Catholic Bishops of India