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| A group of Goan devotees attend the canonization of St Joseph Vaz in Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 14, 2015. |
13 FEB 2015
PORVORIM
It was a month ago that over a thousand Goan devotees and pilgrims had participated in the historic canonization of St Joseph Vaz by Pope Francis in Sri Lanka.
But the joy of witnessing their illustrious son of the soil elevated as Goa’s first saint in the Roman Catholic Church on January 14 was also accompanied with a tinge of sadness.
There is a growing belief among a number of priests and people, who attended the canonization ceremony and those who witnessed live coverage on TV and internet here in the State, that Goa was sidelined to a considerable extent at the Canonization Mass at Colombo in Sri Lanka.
Incidentally, the only contribution allotted to Goa – a Konkani hymn dedicated to St Joseph Vaz – was sung well after the Mass had ended and the pope and his entourage had left. Not many may be aware that the hymn was included at the last moment and that too, only after the persistent intervention of a prominent Goan tour operator.
Some have pointed out that Goa’s Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao did read out a short biography of St Joseph Vaz, but a priest told Herald that it was not an option left before the mass organisers.
“Archbishop Ferrao had to read out the biography as a necessary requirement during the rite of canonization, especially since the Goa archdiocese had jointly postulated the cause for the beatification and canonization of St Joseph Vaz,” said a senior priest, who spoke on anonymity.
“More significantly, there was no commentator who identified Archbishop Ferrao before he presented the short biography of St Joseph Vaz. As a result, the multitude of Sri Lankan devotees did not even know the identity of the bishop addressing the Holy Father at the time,” the priest added.
The only mention to the Goan presence at the Mass was a brief acknowledgment of Goa by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith towards the end of the mass.
When contacted, some priests and laity attending or viewing the canonization ceremony insisted that Goa should have been given a more prominent role in the Canonization Mass, given the fact that Goa had also promoted the cause for the canonization of St Joseph Vaz.
Many of them claim that Goa’s contribution to the life and times of St Joseph Vaz could not, and should not, have been forgotten by Sri Lannka.
Consider their arguments in favour of Goa’s contribution: Goa gave Joseph Vaz to Sri Lanka and even sent a number of Goan Oratorian priests, including two Goan bishops, to serve the Catholic community in Sri Lanka. Besides, Goa played a key role in the cause for canonization of Joseph Vaz and had actively promoted the veneration of St Joseph Vaz.
In fact, the cause to promote the beatification, and subsequent canonization, was officially described as the ‘Kandyan or Goan Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Joseph Vaz, Priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri (1651-1711).’ In this sense, Goa had as much a role to play in the canonization of St Joseph Vaz, since it too had a vice-postulator to promote the cause, just like Kandy.
Goa has maintained and preserved the original places of Joseph Vaz, even attracting many Sri Lankan devotees to Sancoale, Benaulim and Old Goa all through the year.
Goa gave the first and only miracle officially attributed to Joseph Vaz, but there was no mention that the ‘Miracle Child’ Fr Cosme Costa was present at the Mass, even though he was a special invitee to the occasion.
Incidentally, Sri Lankan twins from Connecticut (USA), whose births were attributed (though not officially recognized by Vatican) to a miracle through the intercession of Saint Joseph Vaz, were also given a role at the offertory procession.
“It would have been wonderful had there been some mention to the million-odd packed congregation that the ‘Miracle Child’ Fr Cosme Costa was in their midst on this special occasion. After all, Fr Costa’s miracle birth had led to the beatification of St Joseph Vaz, propelling him on the road to sainthood,” remarked another priest.
Paul Siqueira of Zion Tours and Travels narrated his involvement that had enabled the Goan hymn to be sung after the Canonization Mass.
“Since I was responsible for sending over 500 Goan priests and lay devotees to Sri Lanka for the canonization ceremony, I had gone to Sri Lanka last month to inspect all arrangements, including hotels, tour guides and travel arrangements,” said Siqueira.
“During my trip to Sri Lanka, I met church officials in Colombo and requested them to involve Goa in some part of the canonization ceremony, given Goa’s immense contribution in the life and times of St Joseph Vaz, as well as in his beatification and canonization.”
The Sri Lanka church hierarchy politely declined efforts to involve Goa in any part of the Canonization Mass, on grounds that all arrangements had already been finalised and that no change was possible.
“Finally, I urged them to consider giving Goa the chance to sing a Konkani hymn at the end of the mass. Some days later, I was told that a Konkani hymn would be permitted only after the recessional hymn,” said Siqueira.
The last minute addition of Konkani hymn had had its consequences. Goan viewers were disappointed that the TV cameras did not capture the Goan singers performing the Konkani hymn Zuze Vasa, Amchea Bhava at the end of the Canonization Mass.
“The foreign TV crew may not have been aware that a Goan hymn would be sung after the Mass. Else, I’m sure that they would have focused on the Goan singers, just like they did when the Sri Lankan choir sang during the Mass,” said the senior priest.
There were other instances where Goans may have also been sidelined at the Canonization Mass.
While the lay devotees were made aware well in advance that seating arrangements would not be provided during the Canonization Mass, Siqueira had requested the Sri Lanka church officials to allot a section for the 1200-odd Goan devotees attending the services.
“They agreed to allot space to the Goan contingent, but when the Goan devotees reached the site, they found out that nearly half of the space allotted to the 1200 Goan devotees had already been filled by Sri Lankan devotees. There was little that we could do. That said, we Goans should be proud that we finally have a saint of our own and nobody can take that credit away from us,” says Siqueira, a proud devotee of St Joseph Vaz.
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A Response…
‘Some priests expect too much...our Goans are always sussegad’
Fr Cosme J Costa
Pilar Theological College
Pilar-Goa
Goans should not have expected special privileges in the Canonization Mass, due to the fact that the Vatican officials wanted the ceremony to be short due to the health problems of the Pope, though the Church authorities in Sri Lanka wanted to have a long ceremony where Goans were supposed to be included in the offertory procession. The papal medical personnel advised the Pope not to have a hectic schedule on the Canonization day because on the same evening he had another program at O.L of Madhu Church in Mannar and the next day a long journey to Philippines to visit for four days the typhoon affected islands"
The Pope too wanted a short ceremony of essentials, as the people had come from 4 o'clock in the morning and by the time the Mass was over the hot sun was high up and the Pope did not want them to be in the heat.
I am sorry to say this: Some of our Goans, including priests expect too much. The President of Sri Lanka has referred to Joseph Vaz and Goa in his speech at the airport, The Pope has referred to him in his speech and homily at Mass. Cardinal Ranjith has spoken eloquently and thanked the Goa Church for the gift of St Joseph Vaz to Sri Lanka.
What more do we expect?
Who says that our Patriarch Ferrao's name was not mentioned? There were booklets distributed containing the whole ceremony in Sinhalese, Tamil and some parts in English. This booklet had it printed that the Archbishop-Patriarch of Goa would give a gist of the saint's life and that too was printed on the booklet in English!
I would also call your attention to the magnitude of the event that took place only five days after Sri Lanka came out of the troubled Presidential election. Had there been some untoward incident like firing or insecurity, what would we do? The whole program went so well, security was at its best. Is not that to be appreciated? The Church had planned the program well in advance and the Vatican officials had taken every minute detail in October and again in November. No last minute adjustments would be allowed. Please remember: generally Canonization ceremony is held in Rome, rarely in other places. And in the latter case, Vatican officials are fully involved in the planning well in advance. Would a thousand Goans get this opportunity to witness the Canonization had it taken place in Rome?
When Pope John Paul II came to Goa in 1986, two and half lakhs of people attended the Mass at Campal, Panjim. All buses were stopped. A second bridge was built at Patto to enable people to walk the long distance from bus-stand to Campal, early in the morning. In contrast, according to the lowest estimate there were at least 5 lakhs present for the Papal Mass at Colombo. Others have reported 10 lakhs. But I have reliable information from the security people that their CCTVs had counted 10.5 lakhs. What is a thousand Goans compared to this sea of humanity? And yet they were allotted two enclosures in the front facing the Pope.
But our Goans are always sussegad. People were admitted in the venue from 5 pm on the previous day (13th). Some came walking from distant parts of Sri Lanka. Many passed the whole night in prayerful vigil for the success of the ceremony. Our sussegad Goans went sight seeing the previous day, came tired and slept in their hotels, got out at 5 am and by the time they arrived at the Galle Face Grounds, it was already past 6 am. The security people had kept the two enclaves reserved for Goans; but being Sri Lankans, it was not possible to distinguish the Goans from others.
As the crowds swelled, some entered the reserved enclaves, and so by the time our sussegad Goans arrived they found a part of the enclaves occupied. Who can be blamed for that? I saw some Goan priests even coming in after the Mass started, and did not know where to go. On the Altar dais only 120 Cardinals, Bishops and selected priests had been pre-determined and asked to give their full details a month before the event. Only they were admitted. There were over 2000 priests who concelebrated and were accommodated in the enclaves on both sides of the altar and went to distribute communion among this mass of humanity.
I am replying to your blog so that whoever reads your blog, may also know the other side of things. We Goans need to have a deep introspection when we vent out our petty feelings. Let us ask ourselves: Will Goa be able to manage an event of such a magnitude as to accommodate a million people for a papal Mass like the one in Sri Lanka? Ten lakhs means a million!
Kindly share this with those whom you are sending your blog.
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