Workers carry out renovation at St Mary’s Basilica

SECUNDERABAD: When Muthiyala Dinesh Kumar walked into the St Mary’s Basilica at Sarojini Devi road wishing for a job in the US, he had decided to donate his first salary to the 180-year-old church. Months later, the church is now getting its interiors repaired and renovated following the fulfilment of Dinesh’s wish.

Crossing the religious divide, it was this Hindu man’s faith that made him donate Rs 5 lakh to the church, which is not the regular place of worship for his family. “My brother had made a wish that if he secures a job in the US, he will donate his first salary to the church. Last month, when he secured an offer from a New York-based firm, he attributed the same to Mother Mary,” said M Prabhu, brother of the donor.

Ahead of Christimas and New Year celebrations, the family is now repainting interiors of the church and conducting minor repair works apart from donating an LED to the church. The family’s faith in the church dates back to 2012 when Dinesh’s father suffered a heart attack. “In 2012, when my father suffered a heart attack, no temple was open during midnight. Somewhere, my mother believed that it was Mother Mary’s blessing that my father could recover from such a severe heart attack,” said Prabhu, adding that it is since then that the family began believing in St Mary’s Basilica.

Calling it a rare occasion, Rev Msgr Swarna Bernard, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad rector and Parish priest at St Mary’s Basilica said, “It is for the first time that we have received such a unique request from a Hindu family. It only goes on to show how faith supersedes any religious divide.”

As part of the Christmas celebrations, the church is also distributing provisions to close to 50 families on December 25. “Instead of giving out blankets and clothes, we decided to provide provisions including rice, lentils, oil and vegetables to 50 families from the economically-weaker sections of the society can have a hearty meal on Christmas day,” said Bernard.

