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ST ANNE’S CHAPEL—VIII Highlights of the Committee of 1908 to 1914. A)The Committee sent appeals to people at home and abroad asking for funds for the reform or re-structuring of the Chapel. Income received till 1910… Rs.5402: 8 tangas: 7 Reis. Expenditure for the reform of the Chapel R 5377:2tangas: 4. 1/2reis B)Approval of the Statutes or Compromisso( Rules) of the Confraria de Santa Ana. These were approved on: 4th January, 1910. Archbishop D. Mateus D’Oliveira Xavier approved the Constitution of the Confraria of St. Anne in the Chapel of the same name by a Decree dated 4th January, 1910. The Decree 'interalia' says; The Constitution or Statutes consists of 4 Chapters and 14 Articles. 1.The feast in the chapel should always be celebrated. 2.The Rev. Vicar ‘pro tempore’is the Spiritual Director with faculty to aggregate confrades of both sexes and he should do the crowning. 3.The names of the Confrades should be written on a book called" Catalogo da Confraria" 4. 100 days of Indulgence is given to all confrades who say 5 Hail Marys before the image of St. Anne that is venerated on the altar. 5 Any modifications in the statutes should be sent to the ecclesiastical authority for approval. 6.This decree be wholly written in the proper book at Saligao Church and the original handed over to the Confraria da Capela de Santa Ana. Given at Paco Patriarcal in Panjim, on 4th of January, 1910 under Our sign and seal+ Matheus, Archbishop Primate, Patriarch of East Indies. The Statutes are written in Portuguese and were approved by Patriarch D. Matheus on 4th January, 1910 as said above.. In Saligao ,the various confraternities in Chapels and Church( Confraria de Mae de Deus), have their own compromisso(rules)which are approved by decree No. 74 of May 6, 1909: also that of Our Lady of the Victory, of the extinct chapel of the same name and Confraternity of Children(sic)and written in the book of the Church. They are the particular rules for each Confraria. The Confraternity of Santo Caetano and of Our Lady of Flight( Fuga) of Arrarim has its compromisso( rules) approved by the order No. 1795 of 17-7-1933 and published in Boletim Oficial( Official Gazette) No. 62 of 1933. . A word of caution: No Confraternity can be reduced to an Association and no rules( compromisso) of the Confraternity can be changed without the approval of the Archbishop. Now new rules regarding General Statutes of Confrarias’( rules) are approved according to the draft sent by the Diocesan Authority to Confrarias in the Archdiocese. The Confrarias were also asked to send their "particular compromissos"( particular statutes)based on a model(draft) sent to the confrarias and were asked to send their 'compromisso' to Archbishop’s house by June 2004. Quite a number, I believe have not sent, so the date is extended till October 2004.Hence the previous ‘particular compromissos or rules’ which are unique to Confrarias still stand till they are approved by the Archbishop. There is a proposal that the various ‘confrarias’ in the churches should come under one Confraria namely under the patron of the church or chapel So far they have not come under one banner, but there are exceptions and Aldona is a pointer. The Synodal documents has recommended to have one confraternity in each Church of the name of its Patron or Patroness. But it is a hard nut to crack in some Churches when there are more than one Confraria and hence the delay. I feel. No other body including the parish Councils, can ask the Archbishop for modification of rules of a particular confraria. If need be the modifications of the rules should come only from the ‘confrades of that particular confraria and such modifications should not be done in a hurry and hence the authorities have extended the date. A proper study by all confrades of that particular Confraria is a must and every detail should be made cle explained clearly and approval taken and a time set, (in this case, it is October 2004)for the approval by the Bishop as the final authority of this modification or suppression is only the Archhbishop and without his approval no Confraternity can be suppressed or reduced to an Association and made public before Archbishop’s approval. As a rule all the confrarias with its’ compromisso ‘are approved by the Bishop and their statutes are asked to be written in the Church Book and original handed to the respective confraria of the church and chapels and made public thereafter The Rev. Vicar is the Spiritual Director of the Confraria and not its President. However he is the head of the Fabrica which is another body of the church with its own rules and Regulations. Parish Council is another body, but cannot meddle with the functions of the Confraria nor Fabrica as such In our new set up after Vatican II and Synod of Goa such changes are recommended . Therefore they are to be properly explained before sending for approval by the diocesan Authority and to become law binding. Therefore the Archbishop has set up a Diocesan Pastoral Secretariat( DSP) and its Statutes approved provisionally for three years on 30th April, 2004 , " to effectively coordinate, monitor and evaluate all the pastoral plan programmes and activity of our Archdiocese". This is a very important step taken by the Archdiocese. Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas. |
