A Great Multicultural Start to our Monthly Blessed Joseph Vaz Canonization Mass Program
The 12:30 p.m. Multicultural Mass on Sunday January 26 at St. John the Baptist Church in El Cerrito, California, was the perfect setting for the start of the monthly Mass for the canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz who was himself multinational (Goan-Portuguese-Indian and Sri Lankan) and multicultural and multilingual (he spoke and wrote in Konkani, Portuguese, Tamil, and Sinhala). The officiating priest, Fr. Rafael Duda, is Polish. The Deacon, Thom McGowan, who made the sermon is African- American. The Choir director, Ligia Britto, is Goan. The congregation and choir was a mix of American, South Asian, Filipino, Brazilian, Hispanic, Portuguese, Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Nigerian, and Haitian parishioners of St. John's. Hymns in various languages were sung to lively piano, guitar, and drum accompaniment. Fr. Duda and the Reader both announced that we were celebrating the Feast of Blessed Joseph Vaz which was on January 16. Fr. Duda added that this was the start of monthly Masses for the canonization of Blessed Vaz, who was born in Goa, and worked as a missionary in Mangalore and Sri Lanka during the 17th century under Dutch persecution. Life sketches and flyers on the life of Blessed Joseph Vaz were distributed to priests and congregation after Mass. All Bay Area Goans, Mangaloreans, and Sri Lankans are warmly invited to the next monthly multicultural Mass on Sunday, February 23, at 12:30 p.m. Please email [email protected] for directions and information. http://josephnaikvaz.org/
