On the yellow mud paths of villages and the tarred roads of Rajkot town, people often spot a Catholic priest rushing on his cycle.
After almost a decade’s work in Rajokt’s Junagadh parish, Father Vinod Kanatt is now nicknamed “cycle priest” in the diocese managed by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate congregation.
“He always surprises us. I have never seen a priest cycling home to exchange birthday greetings,” said 65-year-old Tony Dias after welcoming the priest came to his house in January. The priest came to wish his daughter Flora Mascarenhas on her 40th birthday.
The 52-year-old priest offered a white envelop carrying a birthday card and offered greetings to Flora Mascarenhas has been mourning the death of her husband. He then prayed over the woman for the gift of her life, changing the melancholic atmosphere in the house.
Dias said the priest make it a point to visit the house every Catholic in his parish on their birthdays. “It is very hard to find such a priest, when priests hardly visit houses once once a year under obligation,” Dias said.
Fr Kanatt visits every Catholic family on all important occasions…and the priest will be the first outside the family to know if anyone is sick. And, in some cases, he takes the sick to hospital and family members get to know of it only later,” Flora said.
