Dear Antonio, The title "Were colonial Goans, sour grapes ?" and the conclusion, "over 90% of the grapes in the Lord's vineyard actually turned to be sour. " IN "how come for 450 years with so many intellectuals from Europe as well as locals (may P Benedict do justice to their Jose Vaz ) caring for our spiritual needs, over 90% of the grapes in the Lord's vineyard actually turned to be sour" --- are two different concepts.
I believe the idea is to make an analogy here? Asking, "Were colonial Goans, sour grapes ?" amounts to asking whether the Goans complained, were a sorry lot, etc. I guess it could also remotely---within the general context mean "not amounting to much in terms of literacy and perhaps a comprehension of Christology." But the part "over 90% of the grapes in the Lord's vineyard actually turned to be sour. " amounts to saying, bar 10%--almost all Goans were of a bad crop, as in the grapes were not sour--did not amount to much and not worth making wine from. That the very flesh was poor to begin with according to some specific yardstick. It is an serious intellectual concern though. Perhaps the term grapes were a collective used to describe Goans by the Portuguese. But, their initial was focus truly about education in the sense of developing minds and teaching people how to live, but it did not pan out. Did we contribute to the destruction of any of their ideas? Did they? Did they over reach? Etceteras. I do believe that the more astute families saw benefit in educating their own. Yet, in looking at Kierkegaard, we hear "In making a choice it is not so much a question of choosing the right, as of the energy. the earnestness and the pathos with which one chooses." Goans in their own way must have done just that according to the way they chose, the way they were chosen/drawn to the/ir choices, as also the way they saw, or in equal measure--were made to see Hope, their Past, the Present, Recollection of their Pasts, an Ability to see into/ regard the Future, and the Repeating of something learnt earlier. My parents for one for decently sad reasons were both educated up to the 4th Std. venantius j pinto PS: All, beginning early noon May 12, I will not be near a computer until May 26. Take care. Bye all. Message: 5 > Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 07:33:40 +0530 > From: Antonio Menezes <[email protected]> > To: goanet <[email protected]> > Subject: [Goanet] Were colonial Goans, sour grapes ? > Message-ID: > <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > I have before me 3 volumes of ""Follow Me''' written by one Fr. N. > Mascarenhas which contain a lot > of information about Christianity in Goa and above all about thousand and > thousand gardeners > who toiled so hard in the Lord's not very extensive vineyard in Goa from > Siolim in the north to > Velim in the south. > > Sometime back I had few posts on the Goanet in which I had expressed my > opinion that by 1961, > 90% of Goan catholics were either illiterate or quasi illiterate. No one > seems to have challenged > the veracity of this figure on illiteracy in Glorious Goa of 1961. > > The question that now arises is, how come for 450 years with so many > intellectuals from Europe > as well as locals (may P Benedict do justice to their Jose Vaz ) caring for > our spiritual needs, over > 90% of the grapes in the Lord's vineyard actually turned to be sour. > > > ------------------------------ > >
