THE GOAN NETWORK | WEMBLEY
About 1,000 Goans gathered for a Thanksgiving Mass on the Feast of Assumption and India’s Independence Day at the St Joseph’s Church in Wembley on August 15.
Fr Feroz Fernandes, sfx, along with Fr Patrick DSouza, sfx, celebrated the Feast Mass.
In his homily, Fr Feroz spoke about Pope Francis’ message to 1.5 million young people at the World Youth Day in Lisbon on August 6.
“The pope invited young people not to be afraid. The pontiff encourages youth to become entrepreneurs of joy not administrators of fear.”
“Do good to others, displaying behaviours of kindness to celebrate the joy of being a follower of Christ and honouring our homeland.”
“There is growing sense of hopelessness and helplessness in our society” Fr Feroz said. “The Feast of Assumption is a celebration of hope “ hope in life after death. As Pope Francis says: “God will not allow our bodies to vanish into nothing”.”
Fr Patrick D’Souza, the Goan Chaplain in UK, coordinated the event along with Floyd Dias Do Rosario, a local activist from Wembley, for the second consecutive year.
Fr Patrick D’Souza thanked Floyd Dias Do Rosario and his friends for sponsoring the refreshments for the gathered congregation. The event was supported by Juella Camelo, Renna De Cruz, Sai Karthik Madabhushi, Sushil Dokval, Hema Mistry, Clayton Barreto, Jovita Luther, Fortunad Fernandes, Valerian Fernandes and Newton D’Souza.
Rizia De Oliveria (18) of Wembley and hailing from Santa Cruz in Goa cherished the twin celebration of August 15.
“Just as Mary rose and went in haste to help others, we need to get up and be our best to serve others and our motherland,” remarked Rizia after the Mass.
