CHENNAI: The famous Besant Nagar Annai Vailankanni Church’s 11-day festival is to begin on August 29 with flag-hoisting followed by a special mass to be conducted by Bishop Lawrence Pius, Auxiliary Bishop of Madras. For the Christians, it is festival time again. Bishop Lawrence Pius will be undertaking a road procession with devotees from St.Thomas Mount Church to Vailankanni church in the evening of August 29 to begin the festival. The thematic special masses on each day of the festival will be the highlight of the day. On August 30 it is the teachers’ special mass , on August 31 it is mass for people who have the special calling for spiritual service. The youth mass is on September 1, followed by the Workers day mass.
On Sept 7 Lady Vailankanni will be taken for a car procession at 6 pm. Keeping with the swine flu panic that had taken grip of the city, the church had organised a 24-hour medical team that will be stationed on the church premises to handle emergencies. Fr. Francis Michael, rector and parish priest of the shrine, said, “ We expect thousands of people to participate and the transport department is deploying special buses for people to come to the festival.”