Tangkhul Catholics take out huge procession

A huge procession of the Tangkhul Catholic Church (TCC) of Manipur evoked good response  in Tangkhul Naga Long Ground, Ukhrul headquarter on Sunday.

 Rev. Dominic Lumon DD, Arch Bishop of Imphal graced the occasion as the main celebrant as well as the main speaker for the day. The procession that began from two destinations - Hungpung and Hunphun parish was held under the theme of “Eucharist, the source of our Salvation”.  

Over 4000 Catholic faithful from different villages of Ukhrul district and delegates from the state parishes, including priests and sisters participated in the religious procession. The procession saw the faithful praying and singing hymns while venerating the body of Christ (Holy Eucharist) arranged in a mobile altar. The Catholic faith believes that Jesus is present as himself in the bread and wine (Holy Eucharist).  

While elaborating on his topic, ‘Eucharist: The Source of our Salvation’, Arch Bishop Dominic Lumon said that he visualized the two way procession - Hungpung and Hunphun - as that of two general armies with powerful machine guns heading towards each other but when they meet, they didn’t shoot each other because they are one (in Christ). He urged the Catholic faithful to continually worship and do Adoration of the Holy Eucharist to receive blessings from God, while strongly emphasizing that in the Eucharist there is love, peace and unity. 

Rev Fr. Vialo Zingkhai, who is currently doing an LLM in New Delhi, also spoke on the topic “The Spirit of the Early Church”. During his exhortation, he stressed on how even the early undivided church struggled to maintain unity in the church by citing various Bible verses. He also called on the Christian brothers of every denomination to understand that we are all the same as we believe in the same Christ and that we should show love and respect for each other. Mention may be made that there has been instances of religious intolerance in the district among the Christian denomination I the recent times.  

Meanwhile, Fr. TS Dominic, the parish priest of Sacred Heart Church, Hungpung expressed his joy and happiness on the eventful day saying, “I feel so blessed to live the day. In the first place I thank God for his manifold goodness and blessings. I thank our faithful who turned up in droves to manifest and witness their faith unflinchingly - young and old alike. ”  

The gathering was made even more lively and warm by the beautiful singing of the choir. While the little boys and girls as angels stole many people’s hearts with their adorable angel costume and their sweet smile. The Tangkhul Catholic Shanaolong (Woman’s organization) also gave their warm reception by feeding all the participants with homemade fruit juice and sticky rice bread.