Punjabi Chaplaincy celebrates Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Jalandhar at Pantasaph, N . Wales
The Punjabi Catholic community in the United Kingdom celebrates the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Jalandhar paying tribute to the pioneers.
We, the members of Punjabi Catholic Community in the United Kingdom offer our heartiest congratulations to the Bishops, priests, Religious and Laity of the Diocese of Jalandhar on the splendid and sacred occasion of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee. We would have wanted to be with them all during these days of celebrations but the current situation of the pandemic didn’t permit it.
The jubilee is indeed a reminder to all of us to appreciate the missionary legacy of the Church in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh which has its roots in the missionary work of English Capuchin Missionaries with the help of the Indian Capuchins in its very initial stages.
It is in this regard that we the Punjabi Catholic Community members in the United Kingdom had planned to celebrate a Golden Jubilee thanksgiving Holy Mass at the Church of St. David at Pantasaph in Wales where in the cemetery all the English Capuchins, the pioneers of the Jalandhar mission, are buried. The Golden Jubilee Mass and the Celebration here in the U.K. had taken place on 07/11/2021, the same day, when the Diocese gathered at Jalandhar Cathedral celebrating the annual Feast of Our Lady of Peace and the Golden Jubilee. We deemed it proper that the celebration here in the U.K. would symbolically be a good gesture to express our appreciation and gratitude on behalf of the entire Diocese of Jalandhar for the great missionary work done by the English Capuchins between the years 1952-1972.
Moreover, the jubilee celebration like this is an opportunity for all of us to remember with utmost gratitude what the Lord has done in our lives as individuals and as a diocesan community during the last Fifty Years. With the help and grace of God It truly is a time to move forward with confidence and renewed vision in the context of new challenges that await us in the future. Our prayers are that God will bless us richly as we all enter into the new era in the life and history of the Diocese of Jalandhar.
Ad multos annos!
Fr George Waraich, PP St. Anne’s Parish, Nuneaton
December 2021
