Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha encourages Lahore, Saint Mary's seminarians to be holy and dedicated priests

Lahore, Pakistan: March 01, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha was talking to the seminarians during the visit of the Kirche In Not donors who are visiting all diocese in Pakistan from February 18 to March 10, 2010. He continued that the seminarians are to take their vocation seriously and become dedicated priests to take up the responsibilities in future to lead the local church.

He thanked the donors and said, “I sincerely thank you for your regular financial help which the poor people give after making lot of sacrifices. He appealed to them to pray for the church in Pakistan which is going through lot of difficulties. He mentioned that the local press and media does not give sufficient coverage while the English news papers and the international press takes up certain issues concerning the church in Pakistan.

He informed that the Kirche in Not started in 1947 soon after the end of the second world war. Its’ first aim was to rebuild the churches in the Russian states and eastern Europe where they were destroyed in the WW II. They also help the churches in the Middle East, India, Pakistan and many other countries.

After the variety programme by the students of St. Mary’s Seminary, representing the Kirche in Not, Marie Ange Siebrecht said, “ The vocations in Europe have gone down and we need the priests from Asia to re-evangelize us.” She said the very rich people do not help but the poor people make sacrifices for the churches in need in the countries where the Christians are in minority. She appreciated the 48 minor seminarians coming from the dioceses of Multan, Faisalabad, Qutta, Hyderabad and the Archdiocese of Lahore. She said we do not have the relationships of receiving or giving only but we are united in prayer rand form one universal church.

She was accompanied by Javier Henendez Ros from Spain and John Pontifex from England.

The seminaries presented hymns and skits in English and Urdu. Fr. Zacharia Ghauri, the Rector and Fr. Ianayt Bernard, resident priest accompanied the guests to St. John Mary’s Vianney’s Hall in the Seminary and later joined in dinner for the guests.