Unfortunately, I did not have the privilege of knowing Fr. Demi as well as many of you did. However, I've always heard lots of good stuff about him. Priests like him are hard to come by...outspoken, dynamic and always striving to do the right thing. He will, undoubtedly, be greatly missed by many...especially those who worked with him and knew him well.
Patsy Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا <[email protected]> wrote: >A Liberal, Caring and Justice-Driven Face of Goan Christianity > > >FN > > >Someone reading him online once accused Desmond de Sousa of > >being an "angry young priest", possibly even a young upstart who > >was critical of the Church in Goa. But Demi, as he was known > >to his friends, clarified, without missing the irony: "Let me > >assure one and all, I'm 73 years old this September [2012], > >54 years a Redemptorist and 46 years a priest.... Among my > >many illustrious students who have become my superiors over > >the years are bishops, including the present Archbishop of > >Goa, with whom I enjoy a very cordial relationship." > >[http://bit.ly/1ZZ8xAg] > > >Demi came from a priviledged background, yet he spoke boldly > >and without mincing words -- like the prophets of old -- > >against injustice and for the poor. His family has played a > >prominent role in village affairs in Saligao (I remember the > >'Saligao Bulletin' sold for 15 paise in the 1960s and a book > >called *Floreata Saligao* authored by his septuagenarian dad > >C. Hubert de Souza). And yet he was one of the few priests at > >the frontlines of the ramponkar agitation in the 1970s in Goa. > > >If you saw him cycling along the humid roads between Porvorim > >and Saligao (as he did till a few years back), you would > >hardly guess that he had been the globe-trotting Executive > >Secretary of the Office of Human Development (OHD) of the > >Federation of Asian Bishops (FABC) for over 10 years during > >the 1980s and co-ordinated the Asia-Pacific national offices > >of Caritas Internationalis. > > > Demi passed away suddenly and without any > > prolongued illness on May 14, 2016, on the > > operating table, during emergency angioplasty, > > after suffering a massive heart attack just a few > > hours earlier. "Those of us who knew him well and > > met him often are in shock at how suddenly and > > unexpectedly it all happened," wrote Mario > > Mascarenhas, activist who had been an associate of > > Demi decades ago. > > >He was a friendly, concerned, helpful and outspoken man. When > >he had something to say even about the Church, he said it > >without mincingi words; you would scarcely guess that the > >criticism came from a man of the cloth. In a 2012 article he > >wrote for Goanet Reader [http://bit.ly/1TdilrN], titled 'The > >Challenge to the Church in Goa: Revivalism or Renewal?' Fr > >Desmond de Sousa CSsr acknowledged the colonial roots of the > >Goan church and wrote: > > > ...The clergy generally find it extremely difficult > > to accept a more participative, co-responsible and > > socially committed Church with the laity.... The > > laity however, are deeply divided about the pace > > and direction of change that renewal demands. A > > paradigm shift in faith formation is needed. They > > need a more inductive reflection on the daily > > realities of life to discover the challenge of God > > acting within these realities, rather than the > > traditional deductive process of learning abstract > > truths of faith by heart. > > > ...Some of the more enlightened laity support and > > participate in the renewal process as a genuine and > > necessary expression of the Catholic Church in Goa. > > But the vast majority are caught up in the > > revivalist spiritual awakening that is sweeping Goa. > > > ...Will the Church in Goa continue to operate as a > > decrepit, colonial Church or become transformed > > into a vibrant, indigenous Church? Renewal of the > > Church or Revivalism in the Church -- that is the > > question. The caliber of the Church's leadership > > will be severely tested by the question of whose > > perspective will ultimately triumph! > > >He worked at the grassroots and on picket lines, and he > >understood it. Elsewhere, Demi narrates his experiences in > >meeting the young Matanhy Saldanha, the > >activist-turned-politician who ironically played a crucial > >role in helping the BJP return to power in Goa in 2012. He > >says: "In the early 1970s during a retreat to college > >students in Belgaum, I first met this rather shy, aloof, > >silent 20 plus-year-old, who immediately struck me as > >different. His friends made fun of him because he had dreams > >of entering politics when he returned to Goa. Which > >20-year-old is so focused in life?" > > >"Immediately I recognized his rather unusual name when > >reading the news about the leader of the agitation against > >Zuari Agro Chemicals polluting the land and then the sea > >around Velsao. In 1975, when I was transferred to Goa, I made > >it a point to renew our acquaintance. By 1977-78, I was > >heavily involved with him in the Ramponcar agitation." > >[http://bit.ly/1WBQnq7] > > >Some time around 1980, Fr Demi motivated a group of about > >half-a-dozen young nurses, many if not all trained at the > >prestigious St Martha's of Bangalore known for creating > >nurses with a commitment. He got them to take their skills to > >the rural area of Pernem in northernmost Goa. In those times, > >health care facilities were even more unequally spread out > >over Goa, and transport was not easy to come by either. > > >Some of these nurses still recall the times they put in > >there. Their mission was not to push for religious > >conversions, which Christians often get accused with in > >today's Indian discourse, but to take succour to the poor. > > >Writes Sr Dorothy pbvm from Patna: "In his later years, being > >at Porvorim, Goa, he was disturbed with influx of young women > >as domestic help from a remote district of Odisha, Gajapati. > >So passionate was he about this phenomenon that he began to > >explore the reason for it. He personally visited Gajapti and > >found out that there was utter poverty in the villages which > >forced the parents to send their daughters for work in other > >parts of the country and the involvement of agents in > >trafficking women and girls to the cities. With the help of > >a religious sister he began to organize the women who were > >brought to Goa and look into the menace of trafficking. He > >began to rescue young women and put in place a system at both > >the entry and destination points to check trafficking." > > >He held a Master's degree in Social Work, and taught Church > >History, Social Analysis and Catholic Social Teaching. > > >In the 1990s, he became the Executive Secretary of the > >Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism (ECTWT), now > >called Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT), a coalition of > >continental Catholic and Protestant churches. During his > >tenure he participated in the setting up of ECPAT, formerly > >known as the global network, campaigning to End Children > >Prostitution in Asian Tourism, now renamed End Child > >Prostitution and Trafficking. > > > Interestingly, the Goa government and some in the > > tourism trade saw the protests in Goa of the 1980s > > as a result of conspiracies seeded by touristic > > rivals like Sri Lanka or Malaysia. The more likely > > inspiration, at least in part, came from elsewhere. > > It was men like Demi whose work helped concerned > > citizens in Goa to understand what Protestant > > groups were doing to study and cope with the impact > > of modern mass tourism (including on the > > environmental and economic fronts), rather than > > just see it from a moralistic perspective alone. > > >He was a friend of Goanet too, as a search for his name > >online would show. Most readily he would come along for our > >meetings and share his insights, catching our attention with > >interesting stories and experiences. Some years back, not > >long ago, he was at the annual Goanetters meet. He offered a > >perspective to counter the tendency of seeing the Goan past > >with rose tinted glasses. > > >This is how I reported what he had said then: > > > Redemptorist FR. DESMOND de SOUSA gave another take > > on "the past was better" logic that one often hears > > about Goa. Their family lived in Bombay and "we > > used to hate to come to Goa", he pointed out. > > "There were two Customs posts to cross, at Castle > > Rock and Collem. The old carreira took one from > > Collem right home. Saligao of course had no > > electricity." He said a rupee coin pressed into the > > palm of the Customs cleared everything, something > > he noticed in his childhood days. > > > He came to Goa as a young priest in 1969. "It was > > still very difficult, because things were very > > traditional. In society. And in the Church. > > Everybody wanted to poke their nose and tell you > > how to run your life in a certain way, because that > > was how it was done in the past." > > > But after his 1969-71 stint, he returned in 1975, > > only to see Goa with new eyes. "I saw it as a > > challenge then. There were youth movements taking > > place, and protest movements. We really began to > > hope that people's power would change things in > > Goa," he said. "I am still hopeful." > > > "The problem with people's power is that it comes > > up only in fits and starts, when the people are > > fighting some issue, or have their backs to the > > wall." > > > After 13 years as the secretary to the Asian > > Bishops Conference, he visited almost "every > > country in the world". > > > Giving the example of the Cook Islands, the > > largely-Maori 15 small islands that comprise the > > "self-governing parliamentary democracy in free > > association with New Zealand", he pointed out that > > their population is below 20,000 (probably more > > earlier). He says when he asked students there how > > big they thought India was, they felt it could be > > 50,000 or maybe 100,000 inhabitants strong. "If you > > think small, you're going to see everything else as > > small," he suggested. > > > He said other countries often "seemed to have a > > better impression of us Indians rather than what we > > have of ourselves." He wanted to come back home, he > > said, because he was tired of being termed an > > outsider everywhere. > > > DeSouza argued the challenges faced here is > > something many other countries had gone through > > "till a time comes when (it is no longer acceptable > > and) things start working out and change for the > > better takes place". > > > "I've eaten raw fish, snake and what not in > > different parts of the world I've been to," he > > said, suggesting that change is the key to > > surviving and understanding others. "I've eaten > > everything except balut, in the Philippines," de > > Souza mentioned. (A balut is a fertilized duck or > > chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside > > that is boiled and eaten in the shell.) > > > He dramatically narrated how he just couldn't > > stomach the idea. One day, at a bishop's breakfast > > table, he was asked how he managed to cope with > > balut, also commonly sold as streetfood in the > > Philippines. "I told him I didn't eat it. Till the > > bishop said I just had!" It was a battle to resist > > throwing up on the spot! > > >This is a video of Demi which I just noticed today, quite > >like him, making very deep points packaged in seemingly light > >comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMVsZEDfcFA > > >You don't feel sad when someone like Demi passes away. You > >feel privledged for having known the man! > > >### > > >Rev Fr Desmond de Sousa C.Ss.R (Porvorim/Saligao) b. > >27-07-1939 d. 14-05-2016. Beloved son of late Hubert and > >late Julia (nee Saldanha). Brother/brother-in-law of Neville > >Joseph (Joey)/Mena; Thelma/late Maurice Britto; Greta/late > >Raymond Noronha, a great uncle and friend. Passed away > >suddenly on the 14th of May 2016. Body will be brought to the > >house of the Redemptorist Fathers in Alto Porvorim at 11 am > >on Tuesday 17th of May 2016 and will be taken at 3.30 pm to > >Our Lady of Mae de Deus Church Saligao, for the Eucharist > >Celebration and last rites at 4.30 pm. > > > > >-- > >_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ >_/ >_/ Frederick Noronha http://about.me/noronhafrederick http://goa1556.in >_/ P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Fcbk:fredericknoronha >_/ Hear Goa,1556 shared audio content at https://archive.org/details/goa1556 >_/ >_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > >-- >-- >Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net >To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >To unsubscribe email [email protected] > >--- >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >"Saligao-Net" group. >To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >email to [email protected]. >For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe email [email protected] --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. 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