Films, concert to mark Mother Teresa's sainthood process By Krittivas Mukherjee, Indo-Asian News Service
Kolkata, July 19 (IANS) The city's small but vibrant Christian community has drawn up a gala plan to commemorate Mother Teresa's beatification, an important step towards her sainthood. The beatification that will allow her to be called the Blessed will be held at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on October 19. "It's a huge occasion for us and we mean to celebrate it in the right manner," says Fr. C.M. Paul who is organising a festival of films on Mother Teresa from November 1 as part of the commemorations. Alongside this will be organised a music concert, a children's rally and a special mass at a downtown public ground. The beatification ceremony, after which the final process of canonisation can begin, will be beamed on a giant screen for the people here to catch the action live. The film festival, which Fr. Paul claims to be the first of its kind for a sainthood candidate ever, will showcase such documentaries as 'Mother Teresa - Her Legacy', 'Mother Teresa and Her World', 'In The Name of God's Poor', 'Mother Teresa's First Love' and 'Something Beautiful For God.' The main draw of the festival could be the controversial Channel 4 film 'Hell's Angel', based on Christopher Hitchens' book "Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice". The live telecast of the ceremony is to be followed by a music concert dedicated to the nun. Several of the city's musical bands will perform at the Mother Teresa Homage Concert. A march by schoolchildren to Mother Teresa's tomb here has also been planned, said Herod Mallick, chief organiser of the rally. Missionaries of Charity (MoC), the order founded by Mother Teresa to work among the poor and diseased, will honour her with a "spiritual ceremony" on November 8. Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. She came to the city in 1929, began a life dedicated to the service of the poor and dying, and was widely considered a living saint. She founded the MoC in 1949, a year after which it received the Church's approval. MoC has about 650 centres in 123 countries run by about 4,000 nuns and sisters. She received the Nobel peace prize in 1979. Mother Teresa died here in 1997 and royalties and heads of state attended her funeral. --Indo-Asian News Service ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
