MUMBAI, India (UCAN) -- Catholic priests in Mumbai preached peace and hope in their Sunday sermons on Nov. 30 to cheer a terror-stricken city.

The western Indian metropolis was on tenterhooks for three days starting on Nov. 26, when terrorists launched attacks on 11 locations in the city with automatic guns and grenades.

Some 3000 people took part in an inter-faith peace rally on Nov. 30 at St. Thomas High School grounds in Mumbai.

On Nov. 30, a day after security forces finished mop-up operations, thousands of people of all religions poured onto the streets with candles and flowers for peace.

As church bells tolled across Bombay archdiocese, Sunday sermons focused on hope in despondency, peace amid mayhem and, above all, forgiveness for enemies, Auxiliary Bishop Bosco Penha of Bombay told UCA News on Dec. 1.

Bishop Penha is looking after Bombay archdiocese while Cardinal Oswald Gracias recuperates from cancer surgery. The archdiocese has retained the old name of Mumbai, India's commercial capital, 1,410 kilometers southwest of New Delhi.

The prelate said he preached his Sunday sermon on peace and hope. Nov. 30 was the first Sunday of Advent, the four-week period of preparation for Christmas, which the bishop called "a season of hope in a world torn with revenge, despair and despondency,” he said.

At Masses and especially during sermons on that day, priests in the archdiocese tried to “make sense of the bloody tragedy” that had unfolded, he reported. He observed that the attacks traumatized citizens, “who have yet to come to terms" with the reality, especially those who lost relatives.

The bishop said Mumbai, India’s most populous city, witnessed “a spontaneous outpouring of sympathy for the slain and survivors.” Crossing barriers of class, caste and creed, people organized candlelight marches and offered flowers at the sites of shootouts.

"This is true religion, where God is present to all, where people are suffering collective pain and sadness, and being bonded as children of God,” Bishop Penha added.

Dolphy D'Sousa, president of Bombay Catholic Sabha (council), also said Sunday Masses focused on forgiveness, healing, peace and solidarity amid terror and trauma.

According to Father Warner D'Souza, assistant pastor of Bandra parish, priests in the city received calls from parishioners and friends seeking comfort.

"Feelings of despair, deep sorrow, fear and hopelessness have unsettled the parishioners, and most of the churches on Sunday dealt with the terror attacks and its effects,” the priest said.

Father Michael Rosario, a parish priest in neighboring Vasai diocese, added that people who watched live coverage of the “macabre dance of death” on television also needed comfort and hope.

Vasai, about 60 kilometers north of Mumbai, is a popular residential area for commuters who work in the city.

Father Rosario believes the Church must help people come to terms with the traumatic recent events in this season of hope. Dismay and despondency have spread over the parish after the terror attacks, he added.

Father Francis D'Britto, another pastor in Vasai, observed that the attacks have numbed people, so priests have to help them forgive the attackers. “Everyone has become terrified,” he reported.

Meanwhile, thousands of men, women and children marched with candles on Sunday evening on Marine Drive in southern Mumbai, the terrorists’ main target. They walked toward Churchgate railroad terminal and the Oberoi Trident and Taj Mahal hotels, scenes of some of the worst violence.

They sang peace songs and held placards calling for peace, brotherhood and better governance and protection.

Gool Bhujwala, a Zoroastrian, told UCA News he joined the program to “share the pain of Mumbai and pray for forgiveness.” He said the city had never seen such a deadly terror attack.

Aditi Kotak, a Hindu survivor who initiated the peace march, regretted that it took killings and mayhem to bring people together. “Here nobody asks your religion, because tomorrow it could be you," she told UCA News.

Kotak recounted she was dining at the Oberoi Trident’s Vetro restaurant when the firing started on Nov. 26. She and some others missed death by a whisker, she said. "But many others were not lucky. God has his own plans for each one."

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