NEW DELHI (UCAN) — Prisoners sang, danced and whistled during a pre-Christmas celebration that Catholic seminarians organized in a federal jail.
About 1,800 inmates from a section of Tihar Central Jail joined seminarians from Jesuit-run Vidyajyoti College of Theology in New Delhi for the Dec. 5 program of carol-singing, skits and dancing. The prisoners shared sweets with jail officials and the visitors, and some even joined impromptu dances to popular songs while others joyously whistled and yelled.
The seminarians and some prisoners also performed a comedy skit that tried to convey a message of hope, peace and a better life.
Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi joined the seminarians and offered his own special message, telling the inmates that God does not forget prisoners.
“Whatever He does in our lives is for our own good,” the archbishop told the gathering. “It is all part of his plan for us. It is our task to reflect and set ourselves on a new lease of life that is promised for us.”
Despite human failures God continues to love, he added, “He loves us so much that He was born among us as a human so that we may live a life of truth.”
Several inmates told UCA News they much appreciated the Christmas program.
After six years in jail, Sonu Roopchand said, he found the celebration very special because it evoked “good feelings and insights about life,” and gave him a message of hope. “Problems and difficulties are part of life,” he added. “I have learned to accept them and I am waiting to start a new life.”
Fellow prisoner Sunil Yadav said it was his seventh Christmas celebration in this jail. “I very much liked the message of the skit — service to humanity and service to God.”
Inmate Kalyan Bharati told UCA News that the prisoners have different faiths and only a few are Christians, but this did not stop them from celebrating Christmas. “God is (the) only one. We are all his children,” he said.
This rang true for cellmate Rajendra Singh. “We encourage and welcome such a celebration,” he said. “We’re not at all divided on the basis of religion.”
Gulshan Naik, another prisoner, said he is not a Christian, but the function so reminded him of Hanuman (Hinduism’s monkey god) that he began to pray.
The Vidyajyoti seminarians have been conducting such celebrations since 1991 as part of their “Tihar Ministry.” They do so guided by a Vidyajyoti professor and with the permission of prison authorities. As part of their ministry, the seminarians regularly visit the jail, listen to and counsel the prisoners, and also act as a link between prisoners and their families.