Thank you Fr. Pereira for clearing the gossipy air from the bolcao of Albert. I think someone from the US needs to sponsor Albert and send him a ticket. That's the real issue. The mentality is 'If I don't get a chance to go to San Fran. why should another person go? Good old goan crab mentality. Secondly, regarding Roland's reply to Fr. Pereira's apt email and then an emotional out cry on Caste System in the Church. Roland makes it appear that Caste System is like a aeroplane owned by the church, piloted by the archbishop and priests and the brahmins ride in the first class, and the rest of us are stuck in the coach class with one toilet. Well, as per my knowlegde that comes from studying History, Sociology, Religions and Anthropology I know that Caste System is a much bigger beast and reality, dates back to Before Christ and primarily has it's roots in Hinduism. It started out well as a way of division of labour or roles in society but later the Brahmins - priestly and teaching class used it as a way to exert authority over the rest. They claimed that they came from the head of Brahma(God), while the Shatriyas(warrior class) came from the shoulders of Brahma, the Vaishays(trading class) came from the belly of Brahma and the Sudras(manual labour) came from the feet of Brahma. This description was given by the Brahmins for obvious reasons. I donot know what caste i belong to because I never spoke about it with my family or friends but I know for sure I don't belong to the brahmin caste. Now my parents were never deprived of any educational or working opportunities. In fact it was the Church that was there for them when they needed help. I don't think Fr. Pereira needs to address this issue because the ball can never be in Altinho or for that matter Rome. It's all over the place including in mine and your heart. Whenever we refer to people as Sokoile(southerners) and Voile(Northerners) there is the prejudice of caste system. Whenever we are anxious that our daughter may fall in love with a non-goan or a goan of a poor background or locality or schedule caste there is caste system. The church used to recruite candidates for the priesthood from mainly the brahmins but that practice died 3 or 4 generations ago. I think we need to move on and stop playing the blame game and work to fight the bigger elephants and tigers in our Global world and ask questions like – Why do our Goans have to leave Goa and struggle in a foreign land? Are we providing them opportunities to earn their bread and butter, fish and curry in Goa? What are we doing about corruption? What we doing about the sale of our land in Goa in the name of development? Sale of our land by our greedy politicians as if it's their father's property. What are we doing about pollution? What are we doing about our educational system? What are we doing about our inadequate and depleting infrastructure? What are we doing about further degradation of our environment especially our beaches and rain forests? For Roland in Canada these may not be issues that affect his life? And Albert in Goa, now you will realize why he wants to go on a vacation to San Francisco. Let's talk about issues that are touching our daily lives, why goans want to leave goa? Why Roland does not want to go back to goa? Why Albert want's to take the first flight out? Fr. Pereira does not have to waste his time on issues that need to be laid to rest with history and be busy tackling the burning issues of today.
I'm of the opinion that the Archbishop needs to travel. He needs to know what’s happening around the world not just from newspapers and televisions. It is good for his leadership. He will be a better leader. He has a very important role in Goa, not just in the spiritual domain but in every aspect of people’s life. I know he works very hard and holds very, very important responsibilities and I thank him for his dedication. He has spoken on issues that no one dare speak in Goa and he has my respect. So, let bygones be bygones, Roland I would suggest you to come to goa and get in touch with some of our burning issues and ground realities that affect us today rather then seek to heal old wounds which are irrelevant today because that will not bring food to our table. Thanks, Agnelo
