From: "Venantius J Pinto" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> <<<Hi Cornel,
I respect your position and your concern with racism. That is a given. >>...Some of those ecclesiastics are in happy retirement now. Three others are in Rome for training, and life may change. I mean people become priests for various reasons, including mothers wanting their sons to be Bishops, and possibly Pope. Think about that. Let them deal with their own. What people could do, and it may not be you--unless you are on the ground in Goa, practicing with the people making them aware--helping them see, seek meaning identity within their Christianity. It cannot happen otherwise--almost impossible.
***Dear Venantius J.Pinto, I was laughing when I read that priests embrace priesthood for different reasons, "including mothers wanting their sons to be Bishops, and possibly Pope". We do believe in vocation for priesthood, as well as in the providential love of God. I know that you too believe that. Today being a Bishop and Pope is a real burden. I do not think that many want it. Some may aspire to it. But then someone has to be a Bishop and a Pope. That is also God's call. Today many mothers may not want their children to become priests and nuns in this hedonistic society. They may think differently. But the reality is also not much pleasant... There are also priests coming form one-son families. It is a divine vocation. We have to be sure today more than ever about the priesly identity. It is a vocation within the Christian vocation. Thanks for being so much concerned about the Church in Goa.
In general, people are not gracious. I have often told my idiotic acquaintances, idiotic friends, and idiotic relatives and family--to choose grace over uncalled for harshness. But also to have that ready in some measure. But this needs discernment. It happens over time. By that point we will be in our late 60s--those among us who are alive. I am strictly talking of my friends, relatives and family.
***I am also feeling it to be funny that you find "idiotic friends" everywhere. There are always good and bad friends. As Napoleon Buonaparte was praying: "Lord, deliver me from my friends. From my enemies can I deliver myself". As you admit, we all need discernment "in the Spirit". Regards. Fr.Ivo
From: CORNEL DACOSTA [email protected]
<<Hi Venantius
Ever so well said below that?I can't resist this GoaNet post. Venantius, may I suggest that you could add one more point in your key?first paragraph below.?Belief in and practice of caste is ipso facto?racist and of course, racism?is?abhorred in any civilised society let alone a Christian one. That the Catholic Church in Goa has been complicit in?it for half a millennium and that so many of?the clergy?across its hierarchy in Goa and the Goan Diaspora uphold this foul creed?and never say anything against it surely doesn't say much about the integrity of this religion.?And Vasant, if interested, please see GoaNet archives where I have, over six years at least, written extensively and critically on several dimensions?of caste among the Catholic Goans. I have also done so?elsewhere and continue to do so.? Cornel DaCosta
