Blessing of St. Andrews Church extension The overall atmosphere in the precincts of the St. Andrews parish church in Vasco the second largest in Goa in terms of catholic population after the Navelim Parish in the South is of a festive kind. There is hectic activity going on round the clock as the parishioners prepare themselves for the auspicious and historic blessing of the newly renovated and extended parish church. The engineers and contractors engaged in the renovation and extension are burning the mid-night oil to complete the works in time and meet the deadlines for the scheduled blessing of the new construction on 20th Dec 2009.
The 439 year old St. Andrews church one of the oldest churches in Mormugao Taluka built in 1570 by the Jesuits, presently headed by the Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Jose Antonio da Costa has undergone extensive renovations and structural extension to meet the need for bigger accommodation for its ever-growing parishioners. The entire church has a new look internally as well as externally. The foundation stone for the renovation and extension of this heritage monument was laid on 14th March 2008, and now the project work is at completion stage. His Excellency Filipe Neri Ferrao Archbishop Patriarch of Goa & Daman, will be the main celebrant at the solemn Eucharistic celebration on 20th December 2009 at 5.00 p.m. in the evening and thereafter the newly added structures to the existing Parish Church of St. Andrews on both the sides at ground level will be liturgically blessed according to the rite. The two extended wings on either side of the church will accommodate more faithful during the religious services thereby fulfilling a long felt need. A commemorative special souvenir brought out by the church to mark this historic moment will be released at a brief function to be held after the Eucharistic Celebration. The church Fabrica and the PPC has designed a memento as a token of remembrance of this historic event to be distributed to each family in the parish. In anticipation of this unique religious event the parishioners were being spiritually prepared by the church so as to build a temperament of faith, brotherhood and true Christian values. A three day Biblical festival Sinai Horeb Expereience one of its kind held in November by the Cathecatical Association under the guidance of Fr. Jorge Fernandes saw the parishioners cherish the word of God in song and Gospel music. Daniel F de Souza Press & Media In-charge St. Andrew's Church Vasco da Gama Pl. see the link below to view some pics of the church http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048658&;id=1213936286&l=fb6e328a17
