...only just noticed this, it was published in Feb 2003. FN ---------- Forwarded message ----------
ID3357.1223 February 14, 2003 71 EM-lines (839 words) INDIA UCAN FEATURE - 'REMINDERS' FROM THE DEAD RATTLE PROPERTY BUYERS IN GOA By Bosco de Souza Eremita PANAJI, India (UCAN) -- Planning to buy property in Goa? Those in the know in the western Indian state suggest that prospective buyers first consult a book kept in the archbishop's house to avoid a panicky rush to priests in the middle of the night. The book, "Legados Pios," lists houses, land and other kinds of property that people have donated to churches and private groups, and specifies the spiritual duties that the beneficiary is expected to perform in return. Father Jose Remedios Fernandes, the archdiocesan chancellor, says that real estate developers and other people come to his office to consult the 384-page book to look for records of "pensonada," ritual obligations that may be attached to any property they plan to buy. Priests and childless couples in Goa, a former Portuguese colony, sometimes donate properties to relatives, churches or the diocese on condition that the beneficiaries perform acts of worship or charity. If extensive properties are involved, Father Fernandes told UCA News, the beneficiary may have to provide a dowry to marry off a poor girl. Over the generations, however, people tend to forget the obligations and that is why, some say, strange sounds and visions awaken people at night. Such a case reportedly occurred recently at a house in Verna, some 1,910 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. A rich widow living overseas owned the house, and her two daughters came to stay there after their mother died. One night, a distress call roused neighbors. The girls reported hearing the rattling of copper vessels inside. Neighbors, suspecting a thief, armed themselves with sticks and searched the premises. No thief was found. Querobina Costa, the 67-year-old housekeeper, says the girls should not have been alarmed. "We are used to strange sounds and all such things," she told UCA News. The girls took her advice and prayed a litany for the souls. After that, says neighbor Peggy Peres, "the mysterious sounds vanished -- but the girls still sleep with lights on." Father Olavo Velho Pereira, an archdiocesan spokesperson, says such goings-on are reminders from the dead. He told UCA News, "I cannot say if it is true, but I can confidently say these things have been reported again and again, to such an extent they cannot be ignored." People rush to the archbishop's house hoping to get answers only when things keep going bump in the night, he added. Father Fernandes, the archdiocesan chancellor, said that though he does not believe in "these things," he also is "definitely not ready to ridicule" them. What is ridiculous for Girdharlal Gangani is the eagerness of Catholics to sell their "possessed" property. The Hindu real estate developer told UCA News two Catholics recently asked him to buy their property at "an incredulously low price." The Hindu did so, and then asked a priest to offer Masses for the deceased previous owner. He also erected a cross in the compound to remind the new residents of the religious obligation. "There's no problem now," he said. Father Fernandes says builders take such precautions because they believe the souls of previous owners would wreak havoc on their projects if the spiritual obligations went unfulfilled. The priest recalls some panicked nuns telling him about windows and doors banging in their new property on breezeless days. He asked them to check the "Legados Pios" that the chancellor keeps at the archdiocesan library. People have free access to the hardbound book, which measures 24 x 15 x 2.5 centimeters. Its white, glossy, semi-brittle and slightly musty pages have been in use since 1926, but no one at archdiocesan headquarters can explain why the book was created. It lists pensonadas by village and puts donors' names in bold text, followed by descriptions of the donated property and the spiritual requirements expected of the beneficiary. When the nuns failed to find anything about their property in the book, Father Fernandes suggested that they offer Masses for the soul of the donor and "those things stopped." He said the nuns later learned their convent stood on property donated to the church by an individual, so some unknown spiritual conditions may have been attached. Father Mousinho de Atadide, a member of the ecclesiastical tribunal, says certain happenings are hard to understand because "we are unaware of various forces in nature." He told UCA News that the inheritor of a property must bear the consequences, "immaterial of his relationship with the donor." He cited the case of a Hindu family midway abandoning construction of a house on newly acquired property after the father died of a heart attack. People fail to honor the ritual obligations because they forget or the rituals are too costly for them. The archdiocese is now compiling a new list of such obligations for property that has been given to the Church. Father Fernandes noted that many people tend to ignore what "our ancestors practiced." The dead, he said, seem to make their presence felt, especially in the middle of the night, to remind the new generation of its obligations. 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