Email/clarification received just now from Bishop House (Upon request) updated blog http://joegoauk-pointofview.blogspot.in/2013/10/whats-going-on-in-sanvordem-parish.html
Quote: The case of the resignation of Fr. James Silva (Sanvordem) A Clarification On behalf of the Archbishop of Goa, the following clarification is being issued regarding the matter of the resignation of Fr. James Silva as Parish Priest of Guardian Angel Church, Sanvordem. 1. The matter of a priest’s appointment to any ecclesiastical post or his transfer thereof is exclusively of the competence of the local Bishop. The Archbishop of Goa is therefore the only competent Authority to send a suitable priest to any parish in the Archdiocese or to transfer him from there, as per the needs of the Church. Consultation with the respective parishioners has never been part of the process. 2. The Bishop may also transfer a priest from time to time, considering the pastoral needs of each parish. Conversely, the priest too may ask to be relieved of his duties, for personal reasons to be approved by the Bishop. The specific case of Fr. James Silva a. Fr. James Silva approached the Archbishop in the month of July 2013 (without any prior appointment) and, across the table, revealed to him that he would like to be relieved of his responsibilities as Parish Priest of Sanvordem Church. The Archbishop tried to elicit the reasons for such a request. b. Subsequently, on August 1, 2013, Fr. James submitted a written petition to the Archbishop, requesting to be relieved of his duties with effect from August 10, 2013 and stating the reasons for his request. c. After giving serious consideration to what was written by Fr. James, the Archbishop granted his request and relieved him of his duties with effect from August 10, 2013, as per the wish of the petitioner. Fr. James collected the relieving Order and went to the United States of America, for which he had already obtained prior permission from the Archbishop. d. Incidentally, it has come to our knowledge that the parishioners were made to believe that Fr. James was forced by the Archbishop to tender his resignation, if he wanted permission to go on vacation abroad. The fact is that the Archbishop had already granted him permission to go abroad on 27th June, 2013, while the request to be relieved came from Fr. James only on the 1st of August. e. It is also being disseminated in Sanvordem that the Order of the Archbishop amounts to Fr. James being divested from his priestly state. This is a false propaganda, since the Order of the Archbishop only states that Fr. James ceases to be the Parish Priest of Sanvordem with effect from August 10, 2013. f. It is clear that the announcement of this Order was not taken kindly by some of the parishioners of Sanvordem, who decided to hold a meeting in the compound of the Church, following which a memorandum addressed to the Archbishop was handed over at the Archbishop’s House. In that memorandum they even threatened that “if (their) demands are not met within a period of 8 days, the parishioners will march to the Archbishop’s House and hold a dharna and go on a chain hunger strike until the demands are fully met.” The memorandum is dated 9th September 2013. g. Since the memorandum did not indicate any person who could be contacted, a response to this memorandum was communicated to the parishioners of Sanvordem through an announcement made during Saturday/Sunday Masses on 14th and 15th September, 2013. Besides conveying the response of the Archbishop to the memorandum, the purpose of this announcement was also to enlighten the parishioners concerning the mind and the norms of the Church with regard to the appointments/transfers of priests and appointments of the committees assisting the priests in the administration of the material assets of the Church. Both these points had been raised in the said memorandum. h. Fr. Lucio Dias, the Episcopal Vicar for the South Zone of Goa, was deputed as the Representative of the Archbishop to make the above mentioned announcement to the parishioners of Sanvordem. Incidentally, Fr. Dias has since been appointed also as a provisional In-Charge or Parochial Administrator of the Parish of Sanvordem. i. The announcement that the Episcopal Vicar read out ended with an appeal to the parishioners to accept the mind of the Church, to extend their willing collaboration to the new priest who would be assigned by the Archbishop to the parish of Sanvordem and to maintain peace and harmony in the parish. j. However, it is highly regretted that some of the parishioners gheraoed the official Representative of the Archbishop on the 15th of September, after Mass, insulting him and holding him hostage for almost three hours, thereby creating an unnecessary law and order situation. This was followed by frequent press statements, ending up today with a march to Archbishop’s House, in order to press for their demands. We fail to understand why some parishioners of Sanvordem have the above demands, while Fr. James himself sought to be relieved of his post out of his own free will. Archbishop’s House, Panjim, Goa, October 1, 2013. Issued by the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media [email protected] for Goa & NRI related info... http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/GOAN-NRI/ For Goan Video Clips http://youtube.com/joeukgoa In Goa, Dial 1 0 8 For Hospital, Police, Fire etc
