Panaji: After releasing its fact-finding report on the desecration of crosses, the committee, comprising members of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman’s social work wing – the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) and the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), Mumbai, will be setting up an interfaith alliance to propagate secularism.
“Releasing the social fact finding report wasn’t the only objective of setting up the fact finding committee, we also want to carry forward the mission of secularism, ” executive secretary of CSJP, Fr Savio Fernandes, said.
“We have been meeting but not on a regular basis. Now, we want to make it a stronger and permanent group,” he added.
The church has a social responsibility and this is part of our faith, Fernandes said. “Priests must not take sides but can bring unjust issues to the notice of the faithful. Priests have to be moderate but can advise in terms of principles,” he added.
The fact-finding report was a social fact finding report to understand whether they were just desecration of crosses or whether there is an undercurrent of communalism at the grassroots level, he said. The interfaith alliance is necessary in these times, he added .
(Source:The Times of India)