Our Lady of Fatima shrine serves disadvantaged tribes in Maharashtra

The shrine, located in the city of Karjat, nearly 40 miles southeast of Mumbai, is home to several disadvantaged ethnic communities, including the Katkari, Mahadev, Koli, and Thakur.

Pilgrims queue up to pray at Our Lady of Fatima shrine in Karjat.

Mumbai:  A parish and shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima in the Archdiocese of Bombay draws thousands of pilgrims regularly, and serves the scheduled tribes who live in Raigad district of India’s Maharashtra State.

The shrine concluded its 79th annual pilgrimage on October 19, the Sunday following Our Lady of Fatima's feast.

“Our Lady of Fatima Church at Karjat was the first to be named and dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, not only in India, but in all of Asia,” said Father Calistus Fernandes, rector of the shrine.

It is home to a statue of the apparition which was brought from Portugal in 1920, even before it was granted formal recognition by the Holy See in 1930.

The statue was first venerated at the Railways Station Masters office, but in 1935 a small church was built to house it.

“The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Karjat stands as a beacon of unity and peace, where springs a spiritual oasis through Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, novenas, and the rosary,” Father Fernandes said.

The shrine is located in the city of Karjat, nearly 40 miles southeast of Mumbai. The district is home to several disadvantaged ethnic communities, including the Katkari, Mahadev, Koli, and Thakur.

It now largely serves the Katkari, a vulnerable, nomadic tribal group. The parish has 45 indigenous families, and has social development programs and capacity building, focused on education in partnership with religious congregations in the area.

Father Fernandes said that indigenization and inculturation of liturgy, and the message of Fatima communicated in vernacular languages has “fostered participation and faith building.”

Despite the shrine's relative remoteness, people flock in large numbers to venerate and honour Our Lady of Fatima, which raises queries among locals of other religions: “Why and what attracts people to this small shrine, with miracles and votive thanksgiving?”

“This creates an opportunity for interreligious dialogue,” Father Fernandes said, “and clearing ideas of relativism, or falling into traps of syncretism and false propaganda.”

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Bombay are less than three percent of the total population.

The parish is gearing up for the upcoming centenary celebrations of the Fatima apparition, which will occur in 2017.

With the influx of pilgrim visits and the number of graces received, the Bombay archdiocese is considering raising the parish's status to that of archdiocesan shrine.

Source: CNA/EWTN News