Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
St. Andrew Church
Mumbai (Agenzia Fides) - It is a very old church, older than the Taj Mahal in Agra, and one of the oldest churches in Mumbai: the church of St. Andrew in Bandra celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2016. The church was built twenty years earlier, in 1595, by the Portuguese Jesuits, in the maritime area and has always had an original feature: by a manmade miracle of architecture, the sunray’s focus upon the holy cross through a skylight on equinox days (March 21) and winter (September 22).
This phenomenon did not remain just an astronomical data or a curiosity but, as Fr. Magi Murzello explains to Fides, gave rise to an initiative of evangelization: the "Mission Sonshine ". "We want to say that Jesus Christ the Son of God is the light of the world and our mission is to transmit the Light of Christ to the world", notes the priest.
The typical solar phenomenon, therefore, becomes the occasion for initiatives of prayer, evangelization and catechesis, thanks to a "team of Sonshine mission", that operates at a creative and educational level. (NC - PA) (Agenzia Fides 01/04/2016)
