A pilgrimage to India

Fr. Jojo Ancheril had a chance to use his Cantonese as a “tourist guide” in India. This is his sharing:

It was a long cherished dream of some Hong Kong people to visit India. And some of the parishioners of Christ the Worker Parish (the parish where I stay for my language studies) approached me and asked my help to accompany them to India.

With the blessing of my superiors I accompanied 10 people aged between 48 to 83 yrs to India for three weeks last December. It was a challenging mission because many of them did not know English and I had to be a translator for them with my broken Cantonese. This pilgrimage helped the Chinese people to understand a different people, culture, customs, traditions, etc.

During the first week we had a retreat at Divine Retreat Centre at Muringoor. We then went to Bangalore where we visited many churches, orphanages, leprosaria, temples, etc. People from Hong Kong appreciated the unity and diversity in Indian cultures. It also helped them to understand the missionary dimension of our congregation.

It was a wonderful experience for us as well as the people of India. And had the joy of being a few days with my family and share many stories about China and about work there.

Then, back in Hong Kong, people who joined the pilgrimage shared their experience with the parishioners of Christ the Worker Parish. They shared about strong family prayer, the need to take care of the parents and elders, the need to have an extended family.

And I am very happy with the outcome of this pilgrimage and sincerely thank all the people who helped us in different ways to fulfill the long cherished dreams to visit India.