------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------
Hi Maurice, To begin with let me apologize to you. I agree with many of your comments. Hence, I can understand your displeasure at me for lumping you with Cornel. Cornel is my good friend. Yet I strongly reject his tunnel vision and understanding of the caste system of Goa; and his presenting it as a PRESENT DAY phenomenon among Catholics. I thank you for taking the time to respond to his questions. I hope it helps his (and others') understanding and corrects his / their concepts. I hope his future writings recognizes your explanation. Though I will not hold my breath to see him change his script. You have correctly pointed out why "AMCHEM TEMPAR", the Bamons went into the religious hierarchy. And for similar "family tradition" reasons, Chardos tended to go into the government hierarchy. There is nothing new here - except perhaps to Cornel. A similar "son following the father's occupation" was seen in Europe in the Middle Ages. Cornel complains about the priest /archdiocese not responding to his questions. Yet, the questions are more like "When did you stop beating your wife?" Any response / explanation, ipso facto accepts the premise of the question. This is well exemplified in the two questions below. You adroitly avoided the trap, as seen from your replies, though occasionally you came close.:=)) I hope Cornel does not direct his ire at me, but rather to the mirror. Most Goans are tired of the self-plagiarized writings of caste among Goan Catholics, as we have seen from many many posts. Now if Cornel has a targeted audience that repeatedly is a cause for his frustrations, he should seek a focused approach to THAT group, rather than over-generalization of the topic on Goanet. I think Cornel's anguish is sincere and his writings are not intended only to get an applause. Again my apologies to you. I will be out of town for the next week. Kind Regards, GL ------------ maurice dmello " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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. 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. 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.
