Catholics intolerant, Goa mission congress told February 10, 2009 http://www.ucanews.com/2009/02/10/catholics-intolerant-goa-mission-congress- told/
Best regards, Dr. U. G. Barad PILAR, India (UCAN) -- Catholics are intolerant and exclusivist, representatives of other religions complained at Goa and Daman archdiocese's mission congress. Catholic-dominated villages in Goa continue to pass illegal resolutions to ban the sale of land to Muslims, Nissar Mohiddin, a Muslim leader, told about 400 participants at the Feb. 6-8 congress. Roxana Singh, a Zoroastrian married to a Sikh, alleged that Goa's Catholics have become exclusive as they seem to implement a reservation policy. The two were among some 20 people who represented other religions at the gathering in Pilar, a village near the Goa state capital of Panaji. Representatives from 161 parishes in Goa state and 59 in two geographically separate territories under federal administration -- Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli -- attended the congress. Its theme was: "Inflamed by the love of Jesus, spread God's love the world around." Singh recalled participating in her convent school's choirs and Christmas programs. Now, such schools have become exclusive and discourage other students from joining in Church programs, she maintained. "I knew the Our Father and the Hail Mary before I knew my (Zoroastrian) rituals," she told the congress, saying she was exposed to a Christian lifestyle and culture, and had several Catholic boyfriends. Singh also pointed to gender discrimination among Catholics: "It is an accepted way of life, and women are not expected to assert their right lest they be ostracized." Mohiddin, also an alumnus of a Catholic school, said he felt discriminated against during his school days and now often hears Catholics express anti-Muslim sentiments. He also said Catholics never bother to get the Muslim point of view. As an example of ongoing discrimination, the Muslim leader alleged Catholic civic officials have denied his community a burial place in Margao, the state's commercial capital, even after 20 years of pleading. But he also spoke of an internal prejudice. An elderly Catholic once simply declared the "Muslim breed" as cursed, he recalled. "I was aghast. Despite my explanations to the contrary, he merely apologized for the statement but was far from convinced." Mohiddin called it ironic that Catholics hate a religion that respects Catholicism. "I see Islam as a sequel to the Bible. Islam speaks so much of Christianity," he said, adding that he believes in Mary because of the Qur'an. "If I do not believe in Jesus' miraculous birth, it goes against the tenets of my religion," he asserted. Conversely, Madhav Bhide, a Hindu who grew up among Catholic neighbors, said he has never felt discriminated against. "My father's best friends were Catholics, who helped my brother get a scholarship in Europe," he told the congress. Sumitra Sawant Desai, another Hindu who shared at the congress, recalled she was the first Hindu girl to become a bridesmaid at a local Catholic wedding. She said her parents did not mind her friendship with her Catholic neighbors, but warned her not to eat anything from them. Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman attended the congress along with his predecessor, retired Archbishop Raul Nicolau Gonsalves, and Bishop Alwyn Barreto of Sindhudurg, who heads the only other diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Goa and Daman. Archbishop Ferrao, who opened the congress, noted that in 2010 Goa will mark 500 years since receiving the Catholic faith. A Portuguese colony 1510-1961, Goa served as a springboard for missionary activities in Asia.