SOME OF FELLOW GOANS MAKE ME CRY by Praxy Fernandes, sanquelim

While studying in London during 2006-08, I was cheated by a British citizen of Mauritius origin to the tune of £2000 (Two Thousand British pounds). As the local police there were not at all helpful I wrote emails to Keith Vaz, the British MP of Goan origin and Dr R. Phillip, H.E. Archbishop of Canterbury. And inspite of being a Goan Catholic neither Vaz nor Archbishop gave me any help or support. But when Indian hindi actor Shilpa Shetty in order to gain sympathy votes from the Indian community there made false allegations of racism against her fellow British competitor enabling her to win a reality programme through, both the above made hue and cry and personally met her to assure her of all type of support. When the Archbishop crashed his car in drunken state I or for that matter the local Christian community could have easily cast aspersions on his character by writing in newspapers. But neither of us did; I realised British Christians owe their allegiance to the British Queen and so are allowed to enjoy the materialistic lifestyle. And the British Christian community they used the official forums available to them to express their views. I am highlighting these incidents not to expose the MP and the Archbishop, but to show my disgust at the way my local Goan Catholics are behaving and some even describing the Priest as “after all only a man in a white dress” (see ‘The other side’ in Herald 9th January); such undignified ex-pressions should make us hang our heads in shame. While many others have been professing democratic ways of advising the victim to file defamation case or approaching the courts for reliefs, etc. may I ask them as to why nothing is said about the perpetrators of crime? Here in Goa I find that even a rape victim is viewed as a criminal through our opinions, by our law enforcement agencies and our judicial system, while the actual criminal goes scot-free either by avoiding arrest or by using money power. Some self proclaimed messengers use the teachings of Christ to easily tell others not to resort to vengeance but who has given the permission to people like Calvert to use CDs and tiatrs to defame our spiritual leaders and Church administrators, thereby instigating the parishioners. If Calvert has anything against Micky Pacheco he should have the guts to question him on face or have an open debate on the sands of Colva, why involve the parish priest. I know for certain that Church administration in Goa has well defined forums to address any problem faced by the community, so why use means which incite the community. It is easy to write anything against the priest but knowing the sacrifices they have to undergo we should be grateful to them and also protect them. Defending perpetrators of crime and giving communal overtones to peoples response has only certainly advanced the cancerous growth of hate and disrespect in our society.