Dear Nelson In your haste to hit the streets, the Headline became the Contents and the Contents were repeated all over again. I was not sure what your trust was...the leaders of Catholic Church erred when they gave so much emphasis on skin colour etc. St Augustine and his Mother St Monica were both Africans. That is another story. ...back to St Mariam Thresia of Kerala
My interest in St Mother Mariam Thresia. were four fold ..Briefly First: She like St,Pio was also blessed with the stigmata kept it secret to avoid attention. I “discovered” the book on St Pio given to the Mascarenhas Family in 1976 wishing us a happy New Year. In the Refurbished Church in Upanga Parish, Fr. Mario Dias showed me the stained glass windown with St‘Pio. The following Sunday there was a celebration Mass in the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima and this was followed by the blessing of a massive Grotto dedicated to St Pio. This was less than 700 metres from Our Lady of Fatima Church. On the 6th of October 2019, I attended services at Parish of Makongo Juu, close to where I live. There was a stained glass window of St Pio. ..I asked a VIP of the Parish Council who was the Saint. He had no idea. I whispered to him about the 700 miracles performed by St. Pio Secondly, Mariam Thresia, founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Thrissur in May 1914. What is remarkable is that she tended to the sick, helped the poor and constantly made it her job to spread the social and message of peace etc , I think this is so important in India and our contemperory world with the likes of some of the Presidents, PMs etc Thirdly, Along with the St Mariam Thresia who was canonized was St Newman….the former Anglican …who moved to the Roman Catholic fold. Both India and Britain sent high level representatives …Prince Charles and India seems to have sent an Invitation to Pope Francis to visit India in 2020. Will there be a special message for Pilar? I hope so. Finally…I hope that what St, Vaz, St Pio and St Mariam Thresia have emphasized will be taken seriously. Less on massive statue and more on the human aspect, dignity of life, health, education etc. Not violence and War Adolfo Mascarenhas