[Gulf Goans] REFLECTIONS: Broken Crosses !!!

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   REFLECTIONS:          
                   Old Habits Die Hard ! 


                                       
 

 
                                BROKEN CROSSES 
 
We are very sad to learn about the desecration of Lord Paikdev deity at Bhati, and that the incident was repeated at other places the next night.
Desecration is a very serious act and nowadays people relate such vandalism to politics.  Perhaps, it is true.  However, this is not the first time that such desecration has taken place in Goa.
In the early sixties, there were hundreds of crosses broken all over Goa in one single night.  
The cross behind my house had its top part broken.  The cross in St. John's Chapel compound, opposite my house, was broken in the middle, and the third cross which was inside a little chapel (kopelin) about two hundred meters from behind my house was missing its right side (this kopelin does not exist now). .  None of the pedestals on which the crosses stood were damaged.  These three crosses are located in Gaumvaddy, Anjuna, on the main Siolim-Panaji road.  The vandals did not go into the interior of villages or towns but they destroyed practically every cross located on main roads.
The incident took place sometime in November/December that year because I remember the weather was cool.  Though there was hardly any media in those days, the news of desecration was carried from place to place by word of mouth and it spread all over Goa like wild fire.  The rumour was that anti Christ had arrived in Goa!  All Christians were scared.





 



 
The very fact that the vandals did not break the crosses into pieces proved that they used a heavy object, perhaps a hammer, to hit the cross only once and run away from the site before anyone could see them.  Since nobody was caught, at least not to my knowledge, it was a well-coordinated and executed plan.
The atmosphere was very tense.  The parish priests all over Goa requested parishioners to keep calm and to be vigilant.  I remember we said special prayers in those days. 
Does anyone remember this incident?  Perhaps some elderly priests may be able to throw some more light in this regard.
 Moi-mogan,
Domnic Fernandes
Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA
 
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