By Joyce Dmello for BIS Mumbai

This year St. John Bosco Parish, Borivali celebrated one of its most vibrant events fulfilling the call to serve others, and strengthening community bonds by raising funds to support a missionary cause for the church at Dakor, Gujarat.

The preparation of the Mission Fete 2026 began weeks in advance. Under the guidance of team of Priests and members of Parish Pastor Council (PPC), our parish successfully celebrated a well-planned event going beyond its own walls with service, faith, and generosity.

It all began at the dawn of October 18, 2026, when members of every zone of our parish assembled in the undercroft of the school building, putting up a profound manifestation of charity and creating a festival like atmosphere. The program began with Fr Dinesh Vasava, Parish Priest, Dakor Church, Gujarat inaugurating the ceremony by ribbon-cutting and an opening prayer. In his message Fr Vasava said, “every baptized catholic is an active missionary disciple and mission belongs to all.”

The atmosphere of the event was more like a colourful carnival filled with joy, and enthusiasm coupled with charity. The highlight of the event was the variety of stalls set up in the quadrangle containing different kinds of homemade culinary /delicacies, including handicrafts and other items for sale. In addition, the youth had organized a number of thrilling games including tattoo painting for kids. Above all, a live counter put up by our priest serving piping hot snacks was a centre of attraction. To add colour to the Fete, some zones performed group dance and sang songs. The lucky draw saw members winning attractive prizes, and the Housie games got the crowd together as both the young and aged participated. What made the event more sparkling was our young parishioner, Ms Suzette, Host for the program, who connected with the audience with her impromptu talk and challenging spot prizes.

Every ticket purchased, every game played and every item bought fostered a profound sense of unity, strengthened the community bond and fulfilled the true spirit of the mission with human kindness, thereby fulfilling the ultimate goal to raise significant funds for the mission as well as take back good memories.

A heartfelt thanks goes to every hand that facilitated in the making of our Annual Mission Fete fruitful. Special thanks to Fr Manuel Murzello and Fr Vishal Lopes for holding periodic meetings with the PPC members, sharing valuable inputs, putting forth their views and ideas, thus giving us the opportunity for organizing this event successfully and helping us to stay connected to the universal mission of the church.