------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------
Dear Gilbert, Before naming names, please read below what I have replied to Cornel. I am dead against this caste based politics and have suggested intermarriage is the best way to end this once and for all. The message below was sent to this website on May 4, 2007 and then copied to Cornel. Maurice. On 5/4/07, MDMello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Cornel, I have seen your earlier post of Mon. Jan 29, 04:13:41 PST 2007 and the five questions you have referred to and addressed to Fr. Loiola. I apologize , I did not read this post earlier. You have put forth the following questions and I have tried to explain what could be the reasons and possible solutions. You ask: 1. Why did the Catholic Church in Goa historically side with the 'upper castes' in all manner of practise and especially regarding entry for the priesthood? I think historically, only upper cast people bothered to be literate and if education was not made compulsory, even now only upper cast will, in the more likelihood, be the literate one. Certain pre-requisites are needed to join priesthood. 2. The stated directive from the Vatican at present is that, racism is an evil and has no place whatsoever in the Catholic Church. If this trend continues in the Goa Church despite Vatican directive, then who is to blame? It is the right and the duty of the wronged to fight back and make the things right. (privately, some are fast tracked to sainthood by the Vatican, and they are not Indians!) 3. The Confrarias (brotherhood?) are deemed by many observers and writers to be residual but active bastions of caste manifestation. I do not know what you are referring to in " Confrarias" 4. What hard evidence is there, if any, that the Catholic Church in Goa has tried to break the link between Catholic religious belief and belief in caste when the two belief systems are totally incompatible ideologically? If the Catholic Church in Goa has banned marriage between different Catholic castes, then you have an issue. Otherwise, it is better to encourage marriage between different cast Catholics and this way, the cast system will disappear. 5. Finally, and speculatively, if at baptism the Catholic Church in Goa took it upon itself to remove the stain of original sin, why did it not simultaneously remove the stain of caste. Favouritism is always there. If there are two contenders for one post, both belonging to the same upper cast, one has to be chosen. What will be your stand on this? It is quite clear when I said it is we, not the church that practices this system. We have to think what we can do to solve this problem. As the saying goes, when I point my finger at someone, atleast three of my fingers point to me!! Thank you for your time. Regards Maurice Subject: Re: [Goanet] Accommodation with caste by the Catholic Church in Goa. Dear Maurice D' Mello I want to thank you very much for your post. Although I have a lot of literature on this vexed subject, there were elements in your post that were new to me. I can never have enough of this material even though I have written extensively on this theme in articles etc as well as on Goanet. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 8 May 2007 3:16:03 -0700 From: Gilbert Lawrence Subject: [Goanet] Caste and Church Practice / to Selma To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mogal Selma bhai, Kitlem sobit post broita! Tuven boroilolem aum zaitem vaztam. I am so glad to note that you - the Goa authority - are not hesitant in saying, "The practice certainly does not exist anymore." Should we ask Professor Cornel DaCosta ani Maurice D'Mello to write this very definitive sentence 100 times? And it would not hurt for them to also write, "Kunbis no longer wear the tradition dress and so I have no idea who is one." This may help end their repeated efforts to tar the collective reputation of present-day Goans and present-day Catholics with their sondanchem sweeping over-generalizing strokes. Kind Regards, GL --------------- Carvalho Dear Gilbert Irmao, 1. The practice certainly does not exist anymore. I have said so, by wondering aloud who was the first Rosa Parks amongst our Kunbis.
