LAHORE, Pakistan (UCAN) -- Although it was Sunday, the children gathered in front of a Marian grotto in colorful lines were wearing school uniforms. Then, led by their teachers, they walked in procession into the nearby cathedral carrying candles and banners declaring "Children Helping Children."

More than 2,000 Catholic schoolchildren from Lahore archdiocese took part on Feb. 4 in Holy Childhood Day events at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore, 270 kilometers southeast of Islamabad.

According to Father Mario Rodrigues, national director of the Holy Childhood Society in Pakistan, annual celebrations are organized in February, ahead of students' exams in March. The international Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood, based at the Vatican, counts children worldwide as members and is aimed at serving children in developing countries.

For the Lahore celebration, the children contributed tithes, offering special prayers and staged skits. Students of St. Joseph's High School for girls performed a holy song with dandiya, colorful sticks used in popular folk dances. The dancers move in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions for these dances, holding one stick in each hand.

The St. Peter's High School band played the cathedral's anthem to celebrate the Jubilee Year of the cathedral, which was consecrated on Nov. 19, 1907.

Father Francis Gulzar, archdiocesan director of the society, preached the homily at Mass, urging the children to let the Gospel of Jesus Christ be their guide in life. "Go ahead! Spread his news! Answer his call!" the priest said.

The Holy Childhood director then narrated a presentation on the Church in Asia. Daughters of St. Paul nuns helped with the computerized slide show on the life of Jesus, the cathedral's 100-year history, and an introduction to Pope Benedict XVI and the Asian Mission Congress.

That congress was held Oct. 18 to 22 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with the theme The Story of Jesus in Asia: A Celebration of Faith and Life. Father Rodrigues received a special mission cross there, which he presented to Karachi archdiocese in December.

On Feb. 4, the priest handed it over to Father Andrew Nisari, vicar general of Lahore archdiocese. Father Rodrigues told UCA News the cross "representing the mission of Christ" will be delivered to Hyderabad diocese after two months, and then on to the three other dioceses and one apostolic prefecture in the country.

Telling the story of Jesus will remain the focus of all Holy Childhood Society activities this year, he said. In his view, bringing "biblical stories to children is the most important part of mission, which can bring peace, joy and hope in their families."

During the Lahore event, seminarians from St. Mary's Minor Seminary presented a skit on Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson, who founded the Holy Childhood Association in France in 1843. The association sends out information concerning children in developing countries twice a year through its newsletters. Member children offer prayers and donate money to help with food, medicine, clean water, shelter and education for children in need.

Karachi archdiocese had a Holy Childhood Mass on Feb. 9 at St. Patrick's Cathedral for about 5,000 children from schools in the archdiocese, on Pakistan's southern coast.

Archbishop Evarist Pinto of Karachi, who led the Mass, urged the children to replace values picked up from television programs with Gospel values. Father Rodrigues, a concelebrant, told them about the Asian Mission Congress. "Go out and live the stories of Jesus," he exhorted.

Bookmarks were distributed with blanks for a name, address and telephone number. The children were each asked to fill these out and place them in a box outside near the exit, from which they would pick bookmarks at random on their way out. "The exchange of bookmarks was meant to encourage communication and build up friendship between the children," Father Rodrigues told UCA News.

The Holy Childhood Society was established in Pakistan in 1950. Almost 100 years earlier, in 1856, Pope Pius IX raised the association to the rank of a canonical institution, gave it a cardinal protector and instructed all bishops to introduce it in their dioceses. Pope Pius XI made it a pontifical association in 1926.

END

(Accompanying photos available at here)