CHENNAI: The congregation of a small Catholic Church tucked away in Manali New Town, on the outskirts of the expanded city, has attempted to create a record in the Guinness Book of World Records by reading The Holy Bible non-stop, from beginning to end. Three days after they began this ‘break-free reading marathon’, the end was in sight. Running through the books of Timothy in The New Testament, there were less than 13 books left to be completed, as the upbeat worshippers of the Infant Jesus Shrine realised on Sunday afternoon. Surprisingly, this marathon was a result of their priest’s idea to increase Bible reading among the masses. “As this is the year of Catechism, we thought that we should do something to increase the awareness about how important it is to read the Catholic Bible,” informs Fr Ignatius Thomas, Parish Priest and Rector of the Church. When they were wondering how to increase awareness on Bible-reading habits, someone asked, ‘Why can’t we read it fully non-stop?’ and that’s how it started nearly two months ago, he adds. After having started the reading of 1,339 chapters from Thursday evening, 325 parishioners have continued day and night in shifts. “Initially when we started, people were skeptical. But after the first day, more and more people kept on volunteering,” says an elated volunteer. Set in the parish hall next to the church, the ‘marathon readers’ sit in two rows awaiting their turn flipping their allotted verses; two microphones are used in turn. “Each reader takes about four-five chapters and continues till they are done in about 25 minutes and the next person begins there,” he adds.A month ago, they wrote to the Guinness Book of World Records and the Limca Book of Records and got the go-ahead from them, informs the priest. “To keep it serious and holy, only youngsters above 18 were allowed to take part, while people as old as 75 were also there,” says Fr Ignatius. Now, 80 hours later, the parishioners are upbeat as the attempt will be finished at 10pm.
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