History and Events in Santa Cruz

Sacred Heart Parish and Boys’ High School had their special occasions or events – some annual, others monthly or quarterly, end of term, etc. One such event was Mission Sunday. At the children’s mass we attended, there was no collection except on this day. My father would give me two four anna (25P) coins, one to put in the collection box and the other for an ice cream at Cafe Marissa. Yes, that’s what we paid for an ice cream those days. On one such Mission Sunday, I was carrying the two coins handed over to me, both clenched in my fist. One coin fell off and rolled into the drain nearby. Besides 25P ice creams, we also had closed drains in Santa Cruz those days. I just looked up to heaven (that’s where we were told it is) and said “Lord forgive me for having dropped your coin in the drain.” I realized years later that there was no one upstairs to forgive or condemn me. I didn’t inform at home for fear that my father would think that it was the Lord’s coin that I was holding on to a...

Prof Archie D'Souza Our parents and every parent of the parish insisted that we attend the 6:30 am mass every day. No coffee before mass as we had to fast for many hours if we had to receive communion. On Sundays it would be the children’s mass at 8:30 and Thursdays (Sacred Heart and St. Theresa’s convent were closed on Thursdays) the crusader’s mass at 7:30. There was Sunday school on Sunday evenings followed by Benediction and the sodality meeting ever Thursday after mass. So, we were well instructed about how to live this life so our next life would be spent in the right place. The children’s mass was just that. The church filled with children. There was a children’s choir and the only adults you saw in church were the celebrant, the organist and Fr. Prax who conducted the children’s choir. There would be choir practice every Thursday after the sodality meeting and every Sunday after Sunday school. The parish children’s choir meant that zonal rivalries were forgotten and ever ...