MUMBAI, India – Everyone is called to be a missionary disciple “by our life, by our works, by our words,” according to Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias.
He was speaking during a Mass of installation for Father Anthony Charanghat as the new rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Mumbai.
“As [Jesus] told the disciples … he said go out to the whole world and preach the Gospel. This is the mission for each one of us: Priests, religious and laity. Go out to the whole world and preach the Gospel by the witness of my life,” the cardinal said June 2.
Charanghat is a well-known figure in the archdiocese, since he has been the editor the weekly Catholic newspaper The Examiner, for the past 25 years.
Gracias noted it was providential that his installation Mass was taking place on the World Day for Communications.
“Tony was with me in the seminary. He is a good friend of mine. He is a good organizer, a good preacher, a creative thinker and good theologian,” the cardinal said.
“He promises to be a shepherd with the smell of the sheep. We know that he will carry out his duties effectively. We assure him of our prayers, we assure him of our collaboration and affection today and all the days of his ministry,” he continued.
Gracias noted the cathedral parish, like every parish, “has its own mandate.”
“Every parish has an outreach to the poor and this parish too has an outreach for poor and needy. We have a community fridge for the poor, homeless persons, and slum dwellers,” he said.
He noted the Church serves the needy “without discrimination of caste or creed.”
The cathedral is the seat of the archbishop, and the “mother church” for the entire archdiocese. The Church of the Holy Name was opened in 1905, and raised to the status of a “pro-cathedral” in 1942. It became the full cathedral of the archdiocese in 1964.
