Santa to cheer sans jingle bells

Pune Santa to cheer sans jingle bells
Camil Parkhe
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 AT 12:12 AM
Tags: Santa, Christmas, Mumbai terror, Orissa violence
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Pune: Santa Claus will cheer children and others at all city churches following Christmas midnight mass on Wednesday, but it will not be followed by the customary fire works or bash.
The Catholics Bishops Conference of India has instead asked the faithful to pray for the victims of the terror attack in Mumbai and those who suffered during the recent violence against Christians in Kandhmal district of Orissa.
“Christmas celebrations this year will be strikingly different. No bash this time, it will only be church celebrations and the traditional family unions,’’ said Pune Catholic Sabha president Diago Almeida.
Almeida said that Pune Police Commissioner Dr Satyapal Singh has permitted use of loudspeakers at all churches for the Christmas midnight mass on December 24 and the New Year midnight mass on December 31.
The Mumbai terror and Orissa episodes also had impact on the weeklong door-to-door carol singing conducted by youth groups prior to Christmas.
Some Christian schools also called off their annual social gatherings this month as a mark of sympathy for the kin of those who lost their life in the terror attack.
Some churches in the city have also called off get-togethers of their parishioners normally held during the Christmas week.
The Christmas religious celebrations in the city will be led by Pune Bishop Valerian D’Souza concelebrating the midnight mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, preceded by traditional carol singing at 11 pm. The cathedral parish, incidentally, is the most populous in whole Pune diocese with as many as 12,000 parishioners.Masses will also be celebrated at all churches on the morning of December 25