By Matters India Reporter
Panaji, August 8, 2023: The Catholic Church in Goa has distanced itself from a layman’s call to fellow Goans to unite or be doomed.
The call appeared in an article published in the August 1-15 edition of the “Renewal,” the bimonthly pastoral bulletin of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman.
The writer, F E Noronha, in his one-page article, titled “Goans need to Unite …or they will perish,” referred to politicians such as the state chief minister talking about destroying traces of Portuguese culture. Such announcements are part of a holocaust under preparation, he warned.
The Goa edition of The Times of India on August 5 carried a report with the headline, “Church bulletin article warns Manipur-like situation in Goa.”
Reacting to such reports, Father Barry Cardozo, director of the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, asked the newspaper to publish a corrigendum, stating the Church’s stand on the matter.
“A section of the print media has recently carried a misleading report titled ‘Church predicts Manipur-like situation in Goa.’ We would like to state that the Church in Goa has never made such a statement. Statements made by an individual contributor to the pastoral bulletin of this Archdiocese have been made to appear as (official) statements of the Church. The pertinent newspaper has been asked to issue a corrigendum.”
The priest’s statement further says that any official Church statement “is normally published and released by the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, Archbishop’s House, Panjim, Goa.”
Father Cardoza also says the information is issued in the interest of the people lest they fall prey to “misleading news about the Church.”
He says the Church communication aims at promoting “the Good News of Jesus Christ, made in the genuine service of society, for the promotion of justice and communion among peoples, nations and cultures.”
Another aim of the Church communication is to inform people about its services to society, “providing an opportunity for people of good will to generously contribute to build and foster a unity of brotherhood and love and also, when needed, to denounce injustice and forces that act against this communion.”
The call to wipe out traces of Portuguese culture from Goa has come from state chief minister Pramod Sawant. On June 8, he said all Portuguese signs should be wiped out when Goa celebrates the 60th anniversary of the state’s liberation from colonial rule.
“The time has come to wipe out signs of the Portuguese and have a fresh start,” he asserted while speaking at a function to mark the 350th anniversary of Shivaji’s coronation at Betul Fort.
The Portuguese ruled Goa from 1510 to December 19, 1961.
Goa was liberated from the Portuguese rulers through a military action undertaken by the Indian government of India.
The chief minister said the Portuguese began destroying Goa’s temples 350 years ago.
In August 2022, Sawant said the Portuguese looted the state. “Goa was not poor but was rich, and that is the reason they (the Portuguese) came here. While ruling Goa for 400 years, it would not be wrong to say that they looted it. Goa was blessed with iron ore and other natural resources,” he said at a function organised to launch ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ programs at Fort Aguada.
Earlier in his budget speech in 2022, Sawant said that the Portuguese systematically destroyed Goan culture. “Our places of worship are symbols of our rich cultural heritage,” he had said.
The chief minister said his government has set apart 200 million rupees for reconstruction and restoration of these temples and sites, as part of the state’s tourism development plans.
It is good that the Catholic Church has officially distanced itself from the statement of an individual layman. But this is a case of shutting the door after the horse has bolted! Such an article should not have been published in the church’s official organ in the first place.