By Verghese V Joseph –
New Delhi: In what could probably be the world’s largest Christmas initiative, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has launched a novel national parish-level crib contest, a first of sorts comparable to anywhere in the world. And so this Christmas, the inaugural innovative event titled ‘Away in a Manger’ has been thrown open to all the Catholic parishes across India.
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Traditionally, during Christmas, the crib holds a special place in the Catholic Church, the parish and the family and is considered very sacred. Crib making is an engagement that encourages youth and the parishioners to put their best talent to use. This initiative is to help parishes showcase parish crib-making team’s creative skills based on the theme, originality, materials used, etc.
The event is powered by Indian Catholic Matters, a community-driven online Catholic platform.
Speaking about this novel initiative, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, SFX, Secretary General, CBCI said, “Every year, parishes put their best effort in making the Crib, which is an integral part of Christmas. For long, this effort was recognised at a local level and this year onwards, we thought we should recognise the effort put in by parishes across the country. More importantly, we hope the prize money will encourage the crib-making teams of parishes and bring recognition to the Parish community. CBCI hopes that this small initiative will go a long way in raising the talent levels of crib-making teams at parishes. May God bless their efforts”.
There are over 19.9 million Catholics in India, which represents around 1.55% of the total population and the Catholic church is the largest Christian church within India. There are 174 dioceses in India organised into 30 provinces. Of these, 132 are Latin Catholic Church, 31 Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and 11 Syro-Malankara Catholic Church dioceses. Despite the small percentage, India has the second largest Catholic population in Asia after the Philippines, due to India’s huge population. The bishops of the Latin Church, Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and Syro-Malankara Catholic Church form the CBCI.
The Submission dates of the contest are December 27-31, 2018.
The prizes are token appreciation to recognise and encourage the efforts of the parishes to spiritually enliven the season of Christmas among the faithful.
The winners take it all!
- 1st Prize: Rs. 10,000 and a memento
- 2nd Prize: Rs. 7,500 and a memento
- 3rd Prize: Rs. 5,000 and a memento and
- Five Consolation prizes of Rs. 1000 and mementos
Rules and Regulations
The competition is open to all the Catholic parishes in India; entries are to be submitted by the Parish Priest/Parish Office and only one submission from each parish is allowed. There are no entry fees and only photographs with description of the crib to be submitted.
Parishes are encouraged to digitally submit a 100-word description about the Crib, theme, artwork, materials used; along with a zip folder containing a total of 5 pictures from different angles of the crib.
The crib should include Baby Jesus, Mother Mary, St. Joseph, at least one angel, and animals and other-related figures. Reverse image engineering software is be used to verify the authenticity of the pictures.
Overall assessment will be made on the creative ideas, originality, the use of different kind of recycled materials and mode of representation. A 5-member panel of judges comprising of a Representative from the CBCI, an architect, designer, Laity and an ICM Executive will decide the winners.
For more details about the contest, please click: Away in the Manger!