The Marsascala parish has come up with a novel way of attracting more families to its fold and foster stronger ties among the community: blessing school bags in the early days of the scholastic year.

The initiative, now in its third year, seems to be leaving the desired results because over 100 children made their way to the parish for the ceremony on Sunday.

“Here, we have a lot of residents who spend summer elsewhere or travel abroad during the holiday months,” the parish priest, Fr Roderick Camilleri said, “so this is the first event that marks the end of the summer season and the time for children to go back to school.”

Priests from the Marsascala parish regularly visit the schools in the seaside locality to meet children and reach out to youngsters, Fr Camilleri said, adding that the parish wanted to focus on fostering a stronger sense of community.

Yesterday, a social event was held on the parvis after the school bags ceremony. The parish wanted to ensure people would remain outside the church a little longer so they could speak with each other as that helped foster a community feel.

“Our ultimate goal is not to make these families closer to us as priests or as a church but to the Lord,” Fr Camilleri said.

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