SARGODHA (The Thursday Times) — Thousands of Catholics from across Pakistan gathered at St Francis Xavier Parish in Sargodha for the 60th annual Marian Feast, a three-day celebration of devotion to the Virgin Mary held from October 16 to 18, Matters India reported.
Held under the theme “Our Lady of Perpetual Help”, the feast drew families, devotees and youth delegations from cities, towns and dioceses across the country. Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi presided over the main Mass that closed the celebrations.
Three days of prayer
The programme opened with a procession and the Holy Rosary, followed by student performances on educational, cultural and spiritual themes, healing prayer services, Eucharistic adoration and reflection. In all, 283 young people received the sacrament of confirmation during the feast.
“Missionaries of hope”
Addressing the congregation, Archbishop Arshad called young people the “future and strength of the Church” and urged them to “stand on their own feet with dignity”. He described the newly confirmed as “missionaries of hope and soldiers of Christ” and recalled Mary’s words from the Gospel of Luke: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
Father David John, the parish priest, said the feast had brought together faithful “from all corners of Pakistan”.
A parish with deep roots
St Francis Xavier is one of the largest parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi. Capuchin missionaries led the early work of the Church in the region, and the Mill Hill Missionaries later supported the diocese’s growth. The parish complex includes Presentation Convent High School, Sargodha Catholic High School, Fatima Hospital and the Sargodha Institute of Technology, founded by the Mill Hill Fathers in 1958.
Christians number about 3.3 million in Pakistan, or 1.37 per cent of the population, according to the 2023 census.∎
