Blessed Joseph Vaz on celluloid
Posted By cninewsletter On January 9, 2012

A film on the life of Blessed Joseph Vaz has been produced to popularise the little known priest, who is just a step away from sainthood. Agnelo Fernandes, a youth from Consua-Verna, has produced the film based on the life and missionary works of the patron saint of Goa. His 300th death anniversary was celebrated last year on January 16. The producer of ‘Panvlam’ has highlighted the missionary life of Bl Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka and the challenges he encountered.

Samiro Rodrigues plays the role of Bl Joseph Vaz while Eltrich Fernandes enacts the role of the saint’s assistant, Joao. Bl Joseph Vaz went to Sri Lanka when it was under Dutch occupancy and Catholicism had been almost obliterated from the country. He lived as a mendicant and secretly ministered to the Catholics. The Goan priest died in that country.

Scenes like the miraculous rain, taming of the wild elephant, prosecution of Christians, the house arrests of Bl Vaz are the highlights of the film. A novice in the film industry, Rodrigues, a retired English teacher from Ponda, has done full justice to his character role. The cinematography is by Nilesh Keni and narration by Fr Valmiki Gonsalves.

The music is composed by Fr Peter Cardozo. “Archbishop patriarch, Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa, has provided a letter of approval for screening the film in parishes and schools,” said Agnelo Fernandes.

Source: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com 

Blessed Joseph Vaz, an Asian Apostle
Posted By cninewsletter On January 16, 2012

During the night of November 26, 1938, Quiteria Costa from Aldona, in Goa, was hemorrhaging badly at Medical College Hospital, in what is now the state capital Panjim.

Although she was only seven months pregnant, the surgeon treating her decided on performing a caesarian section the next day even though he believed the mother and child had only a one percent chance of survival. The family prayed for a miracle through the intercession of the first Goan-born Venerable Servant of Goa Fr Joseph Vaz (1651-1711).

The next morning, the hemorrhaging suddenly stopped and the premature baby boy was born alive, and named Cosme.

In 1991 that event was the object of a canonical investigation.

On July 6, 1993, Pope John Paul II declared: “It is ascertained that a miracle was worked by God through the intercession of Venerable Servant of God Joseph Vaz, namely the rapid and perfect cure of Mrs Costa of hemorrhage in delivery labor.” Joseph Vaz was declared Blessed; Costa lived into her 90s; and Cosme became a priest in the Missionary Society of St Francis Xavier, at Pilar in Goa. Today, he is an eminent Church historian and an authority on Blessed Joseph Vaz.

Born almost 100 years after the death of St Francis Xavier, whose body rests in the Jesuit Church of Bom Jesu (Good Jesus), Joseph Vaz studied for the priesthood at Goa’s Dominican Academy and at the Jesuit College of St Paul, where Francis Xavier had been rector more than a century earlier. He was ordained in 1676 and joined the Oratorian Order of priests founded by St Philip Neri.

A Portuguese priest traveling from what is now Singapore to Goa happened to meet some Catholics in Colombo. He heard their pitiful story of abandonment and persecution under the Dutch. The Portuguese had colonized Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1505 after kicking out Muslim traders from Colombo and gaining exclusive control over all commercial activities.

There they established the Catholic Church as a perfect replica of the Church in Europe to reinforce, mainly through religion, their economic hegemony. But in 1637, Dutch colonists conquered Ceylon. They were Calvinists and hostile to the Catholic Church. By 1658, they had wiped out the Catholic Church.

After listening to this Portuguese priest’s story in the Cathedral Church of Old Goa, and about the sad plight of the Catholics in Ceylon, Fr Joseph Vaz felt the call of God to rescue these suffering Catholics.

Just after Easter in 1687, he and his faithful servant John, disguised as coolies (menial workers), sailed for Jaffna, in Ceylon. Even after being shipwrecked and falling seriously ill with dysentery, he began secretly to search out Catholics. In disguise and with a rosary around his neck, he looked out for people who showed any sign of recognition of the rosary. Soon after, on June 23, 1687, he secretly celebrated the first Mass on the island for 29 years.

During the 24 years of his apostolate in Ceylon, the first nine without any other priest on the whole island, and with only John as his companion, he single-handedly revived the Catholic faith. All the while, he was hunted by the Dutch who suspected him of being a Portuguese spy.

In fact, the Decree of the Heroic Virtues of Fr Joseph Vaz announced in May 1989, emphasized his extraordinary and supernatural fortitude - facing physical danger from Dutch persecutors and from the wild beasts in the jungle where he hid from his pursuers and through which he traveled from one place to another.

The decree compares him to St Paul especially in II Cor.4:8-10. “We are in difficulties on all sides but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down but never killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, may always be seen in our body”. The decree has five other references to St Paul that bear similarities to the life of Blessed Joseph Vaz.

Blessed Joseph Vaz adopted a unique missionary method during those dark years when he kept the faith of Catholics alive, which is why he is now known as the “Apostle of Sri Lanka.” The renowned Sri Lankan Jesuit Church historian S.G Pereira wrote: “The second foundation of the Church in Ceylon by Fr Joseph Vaz and his Oratorians from Goa, was not in the manner of the first, a ready-made organization imported from abroad and imposed on all who hearkened to the Gospel of Christ, but a Church adapted in externals to the conditions of the country and to the genius of the people.”

Without any missiological training outside of his native Goa and in spite of his own Western form of training, Fr Joseph Vaz grasped the central principle of missiology. He delved into the culture of those he was going to evangelize.

Whenever there was a sufficient number of Catholics, they built a chapel. In each chapel there was a “Muppu” or catechist or at least an “Annavi” or sacristan to look after the building, the celebration of festivals and the teaching of religious doctrine. They prepared the ground for the missionary, organized prayers in in the houses of the sick and at funerals. A Muppu was chosen not merely for his piety, but for the influence and prestige he wielded in a village. An Annavi was chosen for his zeal, piety and industry. These helpers received no remuneration as they held their own lucrative jobs.

Fr R.H. Lesser in his book on Joseph Vaz, India’s First and Greatest Missionary concluded: “When he died, after 24 years work, under God, entirely due to the work of this indomitable little man and the priests he had formed, there were 70,000 practicing Catholics, served by catechists whom he had trained.”

The “miracle child” Fr Cosme Costa concludes: “We can affirm without any exaggeration that the bold venture of ‘Sinhalizing the Church of Ceylon’, carried on with apostolic fervor and supernatural prudence, gives Fr Joseph Vaz the right to be numbered among the greatest pioneers of the methods of adaptation in Asia: Mateo Ricci, Robert de Nobili, St John Britto, Constanzo Beschi.”

Eminent missiologist Fr Pierre Charles pays him a moving tribute.

“It is no exaggeration - it is merely a repetition of the unanimous testimony of his contemporaries - to call him the perfect model of an apostle.”

Source: www.ucanews.com

Redemptorist Father Desmond de Souza formerly served as executive secretary of the Office of Evangelization in the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference. He was closely associated with the Churches in Asia from 1980 to 2000. He is now based in Goa.

Campaign To Save Goa‏
Saturday, January 21, 2012 | Team Herald - teamherald@herald-goa.com

Panjim: The campaign to save Goa from incessant mining has now got a global linkage with almost 40 Goan overseas associations joining hands against mining activity at the cost of environment.

The associations representing the Goan Diaspora in Australia, Canada, UK, Middle East, East Africa and Portugal have come under one umbrella called Save Goa Campaign UK, which on Friday submitted a petition to Goa Governor K Sankaranarayanan’s office and to Chief Minister Digamber Kamat.

The members, who are concerned about rampant mining activities and its devastating impact on environment and population, are likely to petition President of China demanding not to buy iron ore from Goa.

Almost 86 percent of Goa’s iron ore is exported to China, ever year.

“Not just to China, but we are also going to write to all other buyers of Goa iron ore not to import the ore as its source is illegal,” Canada based Cellie Gonsalves, told reporters. She said that this could be one major step towards curbing increasing illegalities in the mining industry. “Half of Goa has already been destroyed and the damage is irreparable. But what we can now do is to protect the remaining half,” she added.

The association will be also submitting a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Union Mines Minister. The association members, who on Friday held a meeting with state Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava and Mines secretary R K Varma did not seem too satisfied with the assurances given by them.

“Varma told us that within the next six months, a compact mechanism would be put in place thus monitoring mining business and its related activities,” Pamela Gonsalves, a UK resident said adding ‘we will be in touch with the government authorities on a monthly basis to get the work done immediately’. In a petition submitted to government officials, the members have pleaded to close down all illegal mines operational in the state along with immediate promulgation of mineral policy.

“Despite the fact that illegal mining in Goa being a well known issue discussed for years by civil society and villagers, it has never been investigated, or stopped or anyone punished in anyway by government authorities,” the petition reads alleging that the government is turning a blind eye to the entire issue.

Goa Foundation claims that 43% of ore exported from Goa in 2010-2011 was illegally extracted.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/43-of-ore-exported-in-2010-11-illegally....

Goa Foundation director Claude Alvares said, "From official figures provided by two separate and independent government sources-directorate of mines and geology (DMG) and Indian bureau of mines (IBM)-it is clear that more than 43% of iron ore exports from Goa in 2010-11 came from illegal or unauthorized mining operations."

He added that illegal ore exports in the year 2009-10 were to the tune of 33%.

Data giving details of production and exports for 2009-10 and 2010-11 was provided as an affidavit in response to the Goa Foundation PIL on illegal mining in the high court of Bombay at Goa. Alvares claims that DMG and IBM had provided divergent data on the number of working leases.

While DMG stated that 91 leases operated in 2009-10, IBM said 114 leases operated the same year. Alvares questioned as to what had happened to ore produced and royalty payments of those 23 missing leases.

Alvares also noted that according to the DMG affidavit, in 2010-11 total production was 48.38mt (million tons) of iron ore while the exports were 54.03mt. Hence exports exceeded production by 5.65mt. The DMG affidavit does not disclose the sources from where unaccounted 5.65mt were obtained. The sources of this ore are important to ascertain that it was not extracted from illegal mines, Alvares said.

IBM data clearly and unambiguously declares that production from so called "reject dumps" is "excess production" which is outside and beyond permitted production. Hence it does not have the sanction of IBM which is the concerned statutory authority and is therefore illegal.

The DMG affidavit acknowledges that 12.60mt of ore were produced from dumps in 2009-10. The corresponding IBM figure for that year is 7.11mt. The difference of 5.49mt reported by these two statutory authorities is truly astonishing, Alvares said. He added that it appeared that mining companies are reporting different quantities to different statutory authorities or else the variations would not have occurred.

Based on information provided by DMG in 2009-10, 39 mining leases with environmental clearance (EC) limit of 17.31mt, produced 24.64mt, an excess of 7.33mt. The combined EC limit of 31 leases was 14.82mt while they produced 27.06mt, an excess of 12.24mt. Even data from IBM confirms that in 2009-10, 31 mining leases exceeded their target by 3.26mt while dumps production in excess was 7.11mt, a total of 10.37mt.

DMG states that their figure of illegal extraction is 6,000 tonnes from a single mine in the year 2010-2011, which is based on records available in the office. Goa foundation feels this a fit case for a CBI inquiry.

TNN

Private sector should assist Goan Institutions for infrastructure development
Posted: 15 Jan 2012 06:37 AM PST

Private Sector in Goa should give financial assistance to the educational institutions in Goa to update and modernize their infrastructure, so that, these institutions are able to impart quality education to the students, said Mr Shantaram Naik M.P. at Cuncolim on Saturday.

Speaking as the Chief Guest on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of Cuncolim Education Society’s college of Art and Commerce, Mr Naik said the concept of relevant education is not necessarily the education which can ensure jobs but , it is that education, which can give students strength to reason, take decisions and become self confident. Higher education has come a long way in India Mr Naik said. In 1950 when country had hardly 25 Universities, the figure in 2008 has reached to 431; country had 700 colleges in 1950 and in 2008, there are 20,677colleges. Similarly, Mr Naik said, teachers in higher education were merely 15000 in 1950 while the strength in 2008 is 1 crore 16 lakhs and 12 thousand.

Mr Naik advised the College management to strive to achieve higher gradation from competent authorities , so that, parents feel safe to send their children to the institution. He said situation as regards vacant post in teaching faculty is terrible in the country. He said in the post of Professors, Readers and Lecturers there are as many as 8515 posts vacant as against the sanctioned strength of 16579 posts. The relaxation in recruitment rules and other measures taken by universities, recently, has eased out the situation. Appointing teachers on contract basis is also going on in large scale when the tolerable limit prescribed by the experts is 5 to 10%. of the sanctioned strength. The Goa government should bring Central Educational schemes enacted by the central government as regards financial assistance , tuition fees for weaker sections etc.

Madhukar Desai Chairman of Cuncolim Education Society gave welcome address. Shri Laxman Naik Principal of the College read out the annual report. Secretary of the Students’ Council read out the report of the Council’s activities. Prizes for excellence in education and sports were given at the hands of the Chairman Shri Madhukar Desai, Principal Laxman Naik, Vice Chairman of the Society Shri Dattakumar Ambe, Secretary Shri Prabhakar Desai, Treasurer Shri Dilip Desai, Shri Moti Desai, Shri Ulhas Desai and others.

Sharon D’cruz, Chairperson of Students Council proposed a vote of thanks.

Migration & The International Catholic Goan Community by Dr Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes
http://www.navhindtimes.in/ilive/migration-complex-social-pattern
By Arti Das | Nt Buzz

Social scientist, Dr Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes, who recently released her book, ‘Colonialism, Migration and the International Catholic Goan Community’, which dwells on the issue of migration among Goans, believes that search for better livelihood is still a major reason for migration.

During her interaction she also spoke about the divide between male and female migration, its implication on the family and also the one major reason behind people settling down Migration is a complex issue with various associated layers and patterns. Goans are very familiar with migration as most families have at least one member who has migrated.

Delving further into this issue is Dr Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes, a social scientist, who has undertaken research on the Goan Diaspora. Her research involved ethnographic fieldwork in Goa, other parts of India, UK, Portugal, Dubai and Brazil. She recently released a book on the same topic titled, ‘Colonialism, Migration and the International Catholic Goan Community.’

Excerpt from GoaNet

Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes holds a PhD in Social Anthropology, an MA in Higher and Professional Education, and a B.Sc. in Psychology. She has undertaken research on the Goan diaspora which involved ethnographic fieldwork in Goa, other parts of India, UK, Portugal, Dubai and Brazil.

Currently she works as a senior social researcher and policy adviser in the Department for Education, British Government. Prior to joining the civil service, Dr Mascarenhas-Keyes worked as a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University and also as a consultant in training, educational development and social research. She has undertaken a range of policy-focussed social research projects, including a study of British universities to inform the development of social anthropology curricula and pedagogy, and of universities in UK and CHina to inform globalisationa and innovation policies. She has given several national and international presentations on her research and published many academic articles. Her book 'Colonialism, Migration and the International Catholic Goan Community' was published in December 2011.