From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<Hi JC,
Thanks for your questions. The Child abuse was wrong and criminal in its conduct and in its cover-up.
Now we can be true Goans and try to hash and rehash with cheap shots the past with never ending posts and a little Mirchi Masala OR we can be proactive and move forward with solutions.
When I posted my 'Code of Conduct' post for Priests, the same catholic 'Catholic bashers' made fun of my solutions. I am sure you remember that post because you rebuked these guys.
As often, we love to RAKE an issue not solve it. SOLVING it means there is no issue to bash.
Regards, GL>
Dear Gilbert,
Thanks for your response.
I believe that your response is right on the button.
There will always be those Catholics who will criticise the Church unduly (and for the extreme left wing of the Church). Their position will counterbalance those Catholics who will defend the indefensible (those are the right wingers). Fortunately, the majority are in the 95% (normal gaussian distribution) that Kevin Saldanha was talking about OR who the Right Wingers will call the Cafeteria Catholics.
Coming back to Goans hashing and re-hashing issues, I'll offer a quick solution to prevent the rehash.
-> Just accept the well known facts e.g. That the unHoly Inquisition did take place in Goa, That innocent Goans got caught into the crossfire of the Inquisition, that the Horrible Hindu Caste System was practised within the precincts of the Church in Goa, that mistakes were made.
Now....knowing that India has a fair share of vicious Rt. Wing Hindu fundamentalists (some within the domain of the Goa BJP), it is important that we lay an equitable case out in the open.
i.e.
That Yes... Goans who claimed to be Catholic practised the discriminatory caste system, but that effectively made them Hindu
That Yes...Goan Hindus died in the Goa Inquisition and it was WRONG. For the record, the Inquisition was directed mainly at Jews and at the neo-Christians of Goa.
The Burning deaths of the Inquisition will ALWAYS be morally WRONG, just as WRONG as the deaths of millions of Hindu widows who were burnt alive by Hindu custom - mercifully banned by Afonso de Albuquerque.
Yes... some of the churches were built on temples which were brought down. That was WRONG. It matters little (as Pravin Sabnis said) that under many a temple will lie the ruins of a Buddhist Stupa.
Yes...many Goan Catholics were originally Hindu - but NOT all. Please do not tell me that there were NO Muslims and Jews in Old Goa at the time the Portuguese landed. ( I have NO IDEA what happened to the Buddhists of Goa ....but we can all think about that. The Buddhist organisations have their own theories on www.ambedkar.org ....but let us not get into that at this time )
Yes...the forebears of many present day Goan Catholics were forceably converted to Catholicism, but I don't really see any significant Back to Hinduism movement among Goan Catholics today. The only Back to Anything movement I can remember of late is the Back to Buddhism movement by the discriminated lot of so called Untouchables.
Yes...the Portuguese were harsh (to put it mildly) on the Goan Freedom Fighters, but NOT all the so called Freedom Fighters were kosher. Some were gangsters and theives. Some of the recently annointed "Freedom Fighters" give new meaning to the word Fake!
BTW: Just imagine How unHarsh the Indian Government would be towards ANYBODY who dares to fight for Freedom from India
this can go on and on ....but I will stop with these final thoughts:
For a people who invented Apartheid, who usurped the Property of the native Adivasis and Kunbis, who sent a zillion widows to their fiery end, and who still colonise the Andamans .... we surely have some nerve to talk about others.
We have a choice though. To stop this charade and do something about the Alibabas who are stripping the place clean.
That is why I believe that individuals like Santosh Helekar and Samir Kelekar have decide to call the bluff of the religious fanatics and the fraudulent GodMen.
There are more important issues like Clean Water, Health Care, Education, Women's Rights, Family Planning, Clean Air and Peace.
good wishes
jc
http://www.colaco.net
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