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Goa Worries About Catholic Decline
By Bosco de Souza Eremita
Regarded as a Catholic stronghold and the best Indian state to live in, Goa is ironically loosing its Catholics. So fast that some consider its identity being threatened.
A woman who died recently at the age of 88 and who, in her lifetime, had given birth to 16 children is a shining example of faith worthy of emulation, a priest has told Catholics in Goa. During a remembrance Mass for Clementina Menezes Gama, Father Eremito Rebelo called on Catholics to follow her example of procreation and adherence to Christian values.
The seminary professor's homily came against a backdrop of growing concern in Church circles over the decrease in the percentage of Catholics in the population of the western state. The concentration of Christians in Goa, a former Portuguese enclave, was placed at 26.68 percent of the state's population in 2001, down from 29 percent a decade earlier. In 1960, the year before the Portuguese left Goa, its Christian population stood at 38.07 percent. The former Portuguese colony is regarded as a Catholic stronghold in India.
Meanwhile, Hindus in Goa increased from 59.92 percent to 65.79 percent of the population between 1961 and 2001, and the Muslim population jumped from 1.95 percent to 6.84 percent. The recently published Economic Survey of Goa attributes the increases in these two communities to immigration since 1961.
In search of "magic"
Several Catholic priests attributed the decline in the Catholic population to the exodus of Catholics from Goa and the trend toward two-child families among those who have stayed. According to Father Rebelo, "learned people" and the "Catholic cream" now prefer to settle overseas. Catholic youth, he said, are not willing to take up menial work at home, preferring to migrate overseas in search of "magic." Similarly worried is Father Almir de Souza, a priest in charge of a parish near the state capital of Panaji, 1,910 kilometers southwest of New Delhi.
A Portuguese law has encouraged the exodus by entitling those born in Goa before 1961, along with their offspring, to Portuguese citizenship. Thousands of Goans now queue at the Portuguese consulate in Panaji to process citizenship papers. Portuguese citizenship entitles them to travel throughout the European Union under the Schengen agreement.
"Parishioners come for birth certificates. I try to tell them that India holds a future and that, one day, people will return. They say they are just making the papers and keeping them for their children's benefit," Father D'Souza said. "They have everything. What else do they want? But the grass is always greener on the other side." According to a recent national survey on quality of life, Goa is considered the best Indian state to live in.
Fear of fanatics
Another reason Father Rebelo cites for the Catholic decline in Goa is the government's family-planning program which discourages couples to have more than two children. "The one- or two-child norm is worrisome. In another 50 years, most of our large churches will remain deserted," the priest warns. Father E. Miranda, another parish priest near Panaji, has observed fewer baptisms taking place in Goan churches.
Father D'Souza said he is worried that the "dwindling Catholic population" will rob Goa of its Catholic atmosphere, "Goan identity and our values." In his analysis, the Catholic influence will last "as long as the influx (of outsiders) is in a smaller group, because they too absorb our way of life and values." If in the long-term Goans leave, he says, "it will be a pity."
What worries Father James Torres, a priest working in the Catholic-dominated Margao area, is the sale of Catholic properties in Goa. "Our last bastion -- land and houses -- are being sold off by those aspiring to emigrate. Businessmen from north India purchase old Portuguese-style mansions, repair them and sell them to foreigners at a premium."
Father Jose Dias of a parish near Margao worries most that Catholic influence and prestige will decline along with the number of Catholics in the state. "Catholics held prominent positions in Goa, and despite it having more Hindus, it was regarded as a Catholic state. We had money, property and the position to decide the future of Goa. Now all that will go," he lamented. The priest clarified that he is not concerned so much about Hindus taking the reins of government as he is about religious fanatics taking over.
Arnaldo Dias, a fisherman who is trying to emigrate, says he is leaving for Europe because countries there pay by the hour. He said he could earn in one month what he earns in one year now in Goa. "I'm not sure whether I'll return home. For the moment I am going with the hope of returning, but if things are OK, I will take my children and eventually settle down there, hopefully."
UCANews
St. Francis Xavier
The "ecumenical saint"
One of the greatest missionaries of all times, he is the patron of missionaries. He evangelized India, Japan, the Moluccas islands and the Malacca peninsula. He had contacts with the Philippines and wanted to go as far as China, but he died on the night of 2 December 1552 on the island of Sanchiang at the outfall of the Pearl River, a few km from Canton. The man is St Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary born in 1506 in Navarre (Spain today) whose incorrupt body lies in a church in Goa and attracts crowds of Catholics, Hindus and Muslims.
The pilgrimage is constant but reaches a climax when the Church displays his remains kept in a crystal coffin. His respect for all cultures and religions is not enough to explain such a widespread devotion. His message of religious tolerance, his love for Asia and his role as a pioneer of inter-religious dialogue have been known through the centuries and have made him an "ecumenical saint."
To mark the 500th anniversary of his birth, the General of the Society of Jesus, Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach launched in the end of 2005 a jubilee celebration that will continue throughout 2006. The jubilee is getting under way with two pilgrimages: one to Navarre, the birthplace of Francis Xavier and the other to Goa, the city where the saint′s remains are conserved. A novena of preparation was held in Goa, centered on the family. The theme was "Family illuminated and fortified by the Eucharist, sent to build a new society".
Pilgrimages and celebrations are under way in Jalan Banda Kaba (Malacca) too, with thousands of believers going there from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. At the beginning of the jubilee, the body of the saint was exposed, as well as the relics which are kept in Rome and Macau, another Portuguese enclave which, like Goa, was used for half a millenium to spread the Gospel in Asia (Macau used to be an autonomous territory but since the end of the 20th century, it has become a part of China.) Anniversary events are also under way in the Philippines and Japan.
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