Report: Lavina D’Sa
Pics: Joachim D’Souza
Muscat, Feb 14: The Mangalurean Catholic Community (GMCC) of the Holy Spirit Church, Ghala, Oman, conducted its annual day celebration, which saw the beginning of a new era with Sunil Furtado being elected as its new president. Along with him, a new executive committee was installed for the next two years in a glittering ceremony held on February 9 at the Ghala Church parish hall.
Sunil Furtado has previously headed MCCP, the flag bearing organisation of Mangalurean Catholics in Oman and is currently serving as vice-president of Ghala Mangalurean Catholic Community. He is also actively involved in various ministries of the Ghala parish. He will be supported by an executive committee consisting of eleven highly talented individuals to take care of community affairs for the years 2019-21 in the Ghala parish.
The programme commenced with a devotional dance performed by Ashwitha Cutinha, DelishyaD’Souza, Siona Saldanha and Tanya Saldanha. It was choreographed by Priyanka Mendonca.
The current president, Edward Mendonca, welcomed parish priest Fr George Vadukutt to the programme with a floral bouquet. Fr George then led the gathering in prayer to mark the beginning of the programme.
The current executive team members were welcomed on to the stage. Edward Mendonca, the current president, welcomed the audience and expressed his gratitude to his executive committee and the members of the community who supported the church activities during the last two years. Various benefactors who helped during the tenure of the current executive community were honoured with floral bouquets and mementos.
The members of the executive committee were honoured with a memento. The outgoing committee members were Edward Mendonca (president), Sunil Furtado (vice-president), Tressy Fatima Goveas (general secretary), Alwin Fernandes (secretary), Joel Mendonca (cultural secretary), Charlotte D’Souza (choir secretary), Helen Sequeira and Gracy Barboza (spiritual secretaries), Teril Saldanha (sports secretary), and Prem Colaco and Aslita D’Souza (community services secretaries).
A PowerPoint presentation of all the events held by the GMCC for the past two years brought to life many memories. Alwin Fernandes then presented the statement of accounts.
Lavina D’Sa compered the programme and kept the audience engrossed with many spot prizes and raffle draws.
DJ Loveline entertained the crowd with his delightful music. Shanon D’Souza with her beautiful and informative PowerPoint presentation kept the audience updated.
Peter Fernandes and Praveen Serra captivated the audience with their comedy skit ‘BCom Kela’. The hall resounded with laughter as they put forward their best performance.
The Dancing Divas danced to the tunes of various Bollywood numbers and mesmerized the audience with their dance moves. The dancers were Ashwini Corda, Jane D’Cunha, Linda D’Souza, Priyanka Mendonca, Reshma D’Costa and Sunita Furtado. It was choreographed by Priyanka Mendonca and coordinated by Philomena Mendonca.
‘English Teacher’, another comedy skit was presented by Alwin Fernandes, Joseph D’Souza, John Secundas, Evjeen Sequeira, Naveen Mathias, Meera Saldanha and Helen Sequeira tickled the funny bones of the audience.
The new committee was then installed and blessed by Fr George. The newly elected committee members are as follows:
President: Sunil Victor Furtado, Vice president-finance: Prem Colaco, Vice president-cultural: Nirmala Goveas, General secretary: Ophelia Lazarus, Spiritual secretary: Helen Sequeira, Finance secretary: Alwin Fernandes, Cultural secretary: Linda D’Souza, Choir secretary: Naveen Mathias, Techno-support secretary: Ajay Barboza, Sports secretary: Joel D’Souza, Community Services secretary: Roshan Saldanha,Internal auditor: Prakash D’Sa.
Fr George in his message was highly appreciative about the contribution done by Mangalureans towards community welfare as well as the church. He praised the outgoing president Edward Mendonca and his team for their generous support towards various activities and projects of the Holy Spirit Church, Ghala.
Newly elected president, Sunil Furtado then addressed the gathering and put forward the team’s motto of simplicity, spirituality and all-inclusiveness of the community members. While, he promised his and his team’s sincere commitment, he requested the support of the entire community in order to strengthen them.
The game of housie-housie was conducted with great enthusiasm by Terence D’Souza and he was assisted by Teril Saldanha and Prem Colaco.
Joel Mendonca offered the grace before meals. A sumptuous Mangalurean style dinner was enjoyed by the gathering.