Indian priests in demand for Catholic missions in the West >From Devika Sequeira DH News Service PANAJI, Aug 16
Criticism from saffron lobbies against Christian missionaries apart, a quiet process of reverse evangelisation is on, as more and more Indian priests of Goan origin are heading abroad to fill up a vacuum left by declining vocations in the West. The Society of Pilar, which is one among many Catholic missionary orders in Goa, has in recent months sent out over a dozen priests to Europe and the USA at the request of the Vatican, says Fr Peter Raposo, editor of Pilar's weekly Konkani paper “Vauraddeacho Ixtt” (The Workers Friend). Rome has now asked the order to also depute priests to Africa and Russia where parishes have been left without priests. In Germany, Italy and England, Goan priests from Pilar are helping out in the chaplaincy. In the USA, they will be setting up new parishes, says Fr Raposo. The over 100 years old Society of Pilar (also known as the Society of Missionaries of St Francis Xavier) is also in the process of setting up a mission in Nepal. The order, headquartered in Goa, has 300 priests and 68 units spread across India. Its missions are concentrated largely in India's backward tribal areas. While the Church in the West, and more particularly the USA, has been gripped by scandal over accusations of child sexual abuse by the clergy, it is caught up equally in a crisis over the diminishing numbers of priestly vocations. This, intriguingly, is not the case in Goa, where 40 Catholic priests on an average, are ordained every year. The Pilar Society alone ordained 12 priests last year, 19 in 2001 and 18 in 2000. “We have scholastics (those studying to become priests) from Bihar, Mangalore and Chennai,” says Fr Anselmo D'Souza who teaches theology at the Pilar Seminary. But Goans account for the largest group of seminarians, he says. Is the resurgence of the Chirstian faith in India an outcome of the surge in religious fundamentalism in this country? “The recent attacks against the church and the constant persecution has made people more conscious of their own religion. It has made the lay people more spiritually active and also deepened their faith”, argues Fr D'Souza. The priest, who has spent 14 years working with the tribals in Dadra and Nagar Havelli, says their "apostolate is not to convert", and no religion is taught in the schools which abide totally by government rules. The Pilar missionaries who pioneered education in Dadra and Nagar Havelli, set up a network of 15 schools and eight hostels which serve 1,500 children in this extremely backward area which forms part of the Union Territory of Daman and Diu. "Everyone has been educated through our schools. But there is a distinct bias against our institutions. We have till today been denied the grant-in-aid by the government," says Fr D'Souza. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################