------------------------------------------------------------------------ * * * 2006 ANNUAL GOANETTERS MEET - GOA * * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WHERE: Foodland Cafe - Miramar Residency - Miramar, Goa
WHEN: December 21, 2006 @ 4:00pm More info: http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2006-December/051412.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AICU Demands Development Survey Of Christians On Lines Of Sachar Panel By SAR NEWS PANAJI, Goa (SAR NEWS) -- The All India Catholic Union has urged the Centre to grant Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians without waiting for the report of the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission, which has been delayed for unexplained reasons. In a press release December 7, the AICU president John Dayal blamed the delay in submitting the Mishra Commission for the Supreme Court adjourning hearing on public interest litigation writs on the matter till April next year. "These delays have dismayed the entire Christian community and led it to doubt the motives of government institutions, he said. The AICU said it would fully support the Dalit Christian groups, now on a long relay hunger strike before Parliament during its winter session. A major rally will be held December 11. Church and political leaders have addressed the agitating Christians and expressed their support for the Dalit Christian cause. It may be recalled that recently, the Uttar Pradesh State government passed a resolution in the State Assembly demanding that the Central government extend to Dalit Christians and Muslims the same benefits being given to Hindu Dalits. The AICU also demanded that the government set up a high-powered commission on the lines of the Justice Sachar Commission, to study the economic and political disempowerment of the Christian minority groups in the country, among whom are tribals, Dalits, landless agrarian labour, and many others in the unorganised sector. Such groups live below the poverty line and have not benefited from State and the Church educational institutions and development schemes so far, Dayal pointed out. The Sachar Commission has done justice to Muslims by highlighting the abysmal condition of the poor in the community. "The situation of all minorities must be similarly assessed so that government can make a holistic scheme for all minorities as part of its poverty removal and human development strategies," the Union said. Dayal, speaking on behalf of the Catholic Union, also expressed concern at the rising trend in violence against the Christians in both the Congress and BJP-ruled States. A morbid and alarming extension of this violence was the rape of Christian women, particularly in Madhya Pradesh. "On top of that, there was concern that even a Congress chief minister such as Vir Bhadra Singh of Himachal Pradesh, was talking in the language of the Sangh Parivar against Christian work, saying he was considering ant-conversion laws in the State. Congress party president Sonia Gandhi has come out strongly against such laws passed by the BJP governments of Gujarat and Rajasthan States. * * * * * Long Search For Queen Ketevan In Goa May Finally Be Over By Fr Desmond de Sousa CSsR PANAJI, Goa (SAR NEWS) -- Many tourist brochures on Goa project the soaring, half-broken, more than 400-foot, 16th-century tower of the monastery of St. Augustine in Old Goa. It is certainly one of the most famous landmarks of Old Goa. But the sprawling, ruined monastery hides an extraordinary secret: the remains of Queen Ketevan, the patron saint of Georgia. According to archeologist Abhijit Ambedkar, since 1989, many scholars from India and abroad have been showing interest in finding the relics of Queen Ketevan, following a request from the government of Georgia. The long search may finally be over. According to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), Queen Ketevan was taken prisoner by the Emperor of Persia Shah Abbas I, after his army conquered Georgia in 1613. From 1614 to 1624, the Queen remained the emperor's prisoner in Shiraz. On September 22, 1624, the Queen was tortured and strangled to death after she refused to convert to Islam and join the emperor's harem according to his wishes. Two Augustinian friars in Shiraz, who were the Queen's confessors, unearthed her mortal remains and hid them for three years. In 1627, part of these remains, her right arm and palm, were brought to Goa. Queen Ketevan was declared a saint in the 17th century because she died a martyr of the faith. In his book entitled Our Lady of Grace, St Augustine's Church Ruins: Reading from remains in Old Goa, coauthored by Abhijit Ambedkar, N. Taher and Sidh Mendiratta, the only literary evidence so far known to exist concerning Queen Ketevan's burial place is that of Portuguese scholar Silva Rego. He claimed that according to his research the remains, her right hand and part of her arm, were in an urn of basalt stone buried in the Chapter Chapel. "On the second window of the epistle side is a tombstone that reads: Remains of the Friar Guilherme de Sto Agostinho, hermit and Queen Gativanda, Servant of God, who gave their life for the faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Friar Hyeronimo da Cruz, son of the Province of Portugal. >From 1988 onwards, various unsuccessful attempts were made to locate the relics of the saint from the ruins of St. Augustine's complex. The Catholic Patriarch of Georgia wrote to the former ambassador of India in the Ukraine in October 1998 for permission to search for the relics. Since then, the Georgian foreign minister and later a 10-member team from Georgia comprising high dignitaries, including a bishop, came to India. During the last quarter of 1998 and again in 2002, a Georgian team visited the Augustinian site in search of the mortal remains of the Queen. She had by then been declared one of the national saints of the country. They searched in one large chapel, removed some of the basalt stones from the floor in the transept and main altar and dug a portion of the north wall above the main altar. But the results were fruitless. During 2002-2003, the Archeological Society of India (ASI), while carrying on conservation work at the site, made new attempts to locate the Queen's tombstone or burial place. On the side altar of St. Anne (fourth from the entrance on the epistle side), a burial chamber or crypt was discovered below the floor in front of the main altar. This unexpected discovery reopened the debate over Queen Ketevan. Abhijit Ambedkar showed me the place the archeological team had excavated very carefully below the second window of the epistle side to the floor of another chapel in the sprawling ruins. Among the four black stones, they identified one as the tombstone with an inscription belonging to Father Domingos da Trinidade. This finding corroborates the literary evidence and the archeological team was now certain that the missing tombstone of Ketevan was once below the second window of the epistle side of this chapel. They also found the tombstone of Manuel de Sequeira close to the transverse door. These two discoveries confirmed that they had now discovered the location of the Chapter chapel. They now believed that they had discovered the original burial place of Ketevan within the Augustinian complex at Old Goa. The ASI then found a long bone and other bone fragments near the spot. Now Taher states they would get the DNA sequencing done at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad and compare the report with the one from Georgia. If they match, that may end the long-drawn and often emotional search for the relics of the saint and finally solve the mystery of Queen Ketevan in Goa. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goanet supports BMX, the alumni network of Britto's, St Mary's and Xavier's -- three prominent institutions in Mapusa, Goa. Events scheduled from Dec 16 to 21, 2006 For more details visit http://www.bmxgoa.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------