For someone who has never seen the inside of a church, the imposing hall of Bandra’s Mt Mary Church with the statue of Virgin Mary would be a breathtaking introduction, as it was for the 25-odd children visiting on Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn’t just being inside a church that was a novel experience for the children. Barring a few, most of them knew little about Christmas, they admitted.  Some had never met a Christian before. Hence, for most, everything was new; the church, the stalls selling candles, figurines and crosses, the short talk on Jesus Christ by a BMMA member, and the links drawn between Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam by Noorjehan Safia Niaz, the BMMA’s co-founder.