Dear Filo & George,
Warm thanks, Filo, for understanding my viewpoint and explaining yours.
I am well aware that you & George have worked hard to elevate Fr Vaz to
sainthood - whatever that means in the Euro scheme of things.
You both went all the way to the Vatican to plead with the pompous
white clerics to promote Vaz's cause but didn't get far enough.
For the white guys in authority want first & foremost to assert their
authority; the notion of humility & accommodation is alien to them.
Did they care to learn Vaz's history, appreciate his toils in the
colonial context & the Hindu-Buddhist culture of the region?
File & George were regarded as mere supplicants and brown ones at
that.
I'd like to comment here with fundamentals. Does the notion of
sainthood have any intrinsic meaning?
The holy white guys of Europe decided at some point that those
individual Catholics who have in their adult life conformed to the
rules of 'holiness' laid down by certain whites in authority need to be
formally recognised as Saints. And a certain legal process was set up to
this end. Curiously, the guys deciding on the merits of a candidate need
not be themselves saints. They claimed that a heavenly fellow called the
Holy Ghost guides them in their deliberations.
Brown persons were reluctantly accepted as candidates for sainthood
but they must be subject to the rules of the holy white guys in Rome.
So, Filo & George, Vaz was finally allowed to be a Saint by the
Vatican. So what has he since done to make his presence felt and to help
his Goan followers? Nothing, it seems. Where can he be contacted?
And what's the point of promoting him to Patron Saint - a title
invented by the holy whites of Rome?
Is there an assurance that he will be more helpful as Patron?
Let's be honest: how many Catholics believe in & bother with saints?
Indeed, how many care for this ritual called the Mass? The Whites tell
us that Christ instituted the Mass.
Did he? It's far from clear.
And in any case, how has Mass helped? Are Catholics likely to get more
holy as a result of Mass attendance??
Then there is this thing called Eucharist or Communion.
They are receiving the body & blood of Christ. They should be
transformed.
Seems more like a Vampire ritual.
The priests & Bishops are supposed to celebrate Mass daily & receive the
Eucharist. So what is the record of their behaviour?
Many have succumbed to sex abuse.
Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick: He becomes the first U.S. cardinal and
only the second U.S. bishop to be criminally charged with child sexual
abuse. In addition to his alleged abuse of seminarians and priests, the
ex-cardinal is accused of sexually abusing at least 13 children. See our
detailed summary of the McCarrick case below.
===================================
As of July 2021, BishopAccountability.org has identified 86 Catholic
bishops worldwide accused publicly of sexual crimes against children and
42 Catholic bishops worldwide who have been accused publicly of sexual
wrongdoing against adults only. The names of those accused of abusing
minors are marked in red; those with names in black are accused of
sexual abuse/sexual misconduct with individuals age 18 or older only.
====================================
Filo in her email commented:
"Where are the "Browns and Blacks" like Eddie? Do they raise money,
send Petitions and sign Petitions, and support prizes and competitions
as paths to recognition and for preservation of the memory of those who
gave extraordinary service for mankind?
Why don't they make Saints and Patron Saints, give Nobel Prizes and
Pulitzer Prizes, have the Olympics, and other honors and competitions?"
Please, Filo, forget about Saints, petitions and such.
I'd like to suggest that you CONSIDER AN EDITORIAL JOB AT NCR, the
premier Catholic weekly in the US and run by lily white Editors.
I had asked the Chief Editor Heidi Schlumpf to recruit some Brown or
Black. She did vaguely said she would but nothing happened. And I have
tweeted a number of times.
I'd like to take my suggestion further. I will write to NCR and ask them
them that you are a well qualified candidate who has done doctoral
studies including Theology.
Please agree to consider the position. Thereafter, I'll write to NCR .
Eddie
------ Original Message ------
From: "Filomena Giese" <filomenagi...@yahoo.com>
REPLY from Filomena Giese <filomenagi...@yahoo.com
I want to make a few points in response to Eddie's post:
This post by Eddie is understandable. We are all against the
injustices and cruelties of colonial conquest to gain territories and
impose white superiority over native peoples, AKA "Browns and Whites" in
Eddie's post.
1.But his objections to George and me trying to gain a high honor for
one of us from the white order that reigns over the world, sounds a bit
hollow from a Brown who left his native land where he should have stayed
to better serve the interests of his own Brown people, instead of
migrating to the capital of imperialism to fully enjoy the comforts and
benefits of that imperialistic system.
2. Where are the "Browns and Blacks" like Eddie? Do they raise money,
send Petitions and sign Petitions, and support prizes and competitions
as paths to recognition and for preservation of the memory of those who
gave extraordinary service for mankind?
Why don't they make Saints and Patron Saints, give Nobel Prizes and
Pulitzer Prizes, have the Olympics, and other honors and competitions?
If Eddie can tell us where to apply for a similar high honor as
"Patron Saint" to be given by Browns and Blacks, we'll be happy to apply
for one for St. Joseph Vaz.
3. Until he and other Browns and Blacks can do that, we are left to
participate in a white establishment system of publishing, movies,
competitions, and honors and get the Nobel Prize of Sainthood, the
Patron Saint title, for one of the most outstanding and brilliant Goans
- not just most saintly - that ever lived.
My question to Eddie and those who think like him is: would you also
tell Goans not to support a fellow Goan who is nominated for the Nobel
Prize, because it is established and funded by whites, or compete in the
Olympic Games which was established by whites?
We don't see any Browns and Blacks boycotting the Nobel Prize or the
Olympic Games so far. Why should we boycott the "Patron Saint" honor
for one of our own?
4. Another twist to this argument is that what we we're doing is
getting the White Establishment to in effect honor and recognize the
achievements of a Saint of Color:
By forcing the whites to recognize him, we're highlighting that they
did the exact opposite of what he did, USE FORCE and CRUEL EXPLOITATION
to spread the Gospel. He gave alms, he didn't touch or accept money
even for Masses. Making him a "Patron Saint" brings to the world's
attention that, unlike the whites, he came without arms and colonial
power to plunder and kill, he recognized the high worth and civilization
of us Browns and Blacks, our languages, our traditional names, our
literature, our unique spiritual path of Yogic renunciation and
Meditation, and integrated them into the Gospel message of unconditional
love.
5. Thanks to Adolfo for saying that he cares for the memory of our
Brown Saint Joseph Vaz and supports our initiative. My sister and I
have been working for the just recognition of our Brown St. Joseph Vaz,
and asked for recognition of his Goan Oratorian Companions, some Sri
Lankan lay Catholics who helped him, our Martyrs of Cuncolim since 1978.
George has worked with us since the year 2000 when we petitioned for his
Canonization for the Grand Jubilee of Christendom in its 2000th Year.
Jesuit Fr. Olvin Veigas S.J. from Mangalore has given his wholehearted
help since 2016.
But there has been next to help and support from our fellow Brown
Catholics.
It is very difficult because the main job of our own local Church
leadership is to promote white saints. St. Joseph Vaz takes a back
seat in their thinking and not the front seat in the brainwashing of the
faithful.
It is very difficult to get a Brown saint recognized when the Goan
faithful and other people of color are promoting white saints and models
of sanctity and spirituality, celebrating their feasts with great gusto
while ignoring our own Brown saints.
6. Eddie may not realize that until someone in the white leadership
recognizes St. Joseph Vaz and tells the Browns and Whites that it's O.K.
to venerate him as a Saint and a Patron Saint, our own Browns and Blacks
won't recognize him either.
Eddie is blaming us, the only people trying to go against this system
of brainwashing?
If we stopped promoting our Brown and Black Saints, where would they
be? Where would we Brown and Black people like you and me be?
Completely in the dustbin of history?
7. We have powers of observation and common sense. We observe that
we can get recognition for St. Joseph Vaz only from the white system and
establishment.
We can't get any recognition for St. Joseph Vaz from any Brown and
Black quarters because none exists.
No Eddie d'Sa is going to stop us from getting that recognition and
having his memory celebrated in the only system of world history we
know.
8. Meanwhile we appeal to Goans to follow the response of Adolfo who
gets the point, and support our Petition with Signatures from Goans
worldwide.
Filomena
From: Eddie D'Sa <gdig...@btinternet.com>
To: GOANET <goanet@lists.goanet.org>; George Pinto
<georgejpi...@yahoo.com>; Adolfo Mascarenhas <adca...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 8, 2021, 10:54:17 AM PDT
Subject: Re: Help a fellow Goan ...
George wrote:
Help a fellow Goan, Saint Joseph Vaz, become the "Patron Saint of
First
Responders" during this pandemic and Covid crisis.
If you already signed the petition, thank you. If you have not, only
15
seconds of your time can help a fellow Goan. Please sign the petition
to
Pope Francis at this link https://josephnaikvaz.org/ (the petition is
half-way down the page).
Your signature to our Petition - and your help in collecting
signatures
today by forwarding to others and posting on social media - can make
the
difference as to whether or not Saint Vaz is made Patron Saint.
We have petitioned Pope Francis, asking that St. Joseph Vaz be made
"Patron Saint of First Responders" because of his care of the
abandoned
victims of the smallpox epidemic in seventeenth century.
I notice that Adolfo endorses your petition. I am afraid I don't.
This is 2021 and we (the Browns and Blacks) are still begging the
(Holy)
Whites for favours.
And what pathetic favours! "Making Vaz Patron Saint of First
Responders."
Who has cooked up this title? Hardly a Goan, I guess. Must be some
Holy
White guy.
We Goans still seem helpless to move forward without approval from the
Whites - even in the spiritual realm.
George & Adolf - let's drop our self-imposed inferiority . I say again
-
it is 2021.
Why are Goans still cowering before the Whites? They have become used
to
our subservience over the ages and expect the same attitude.
Take this Pope Francis fellow.. He claims to come from Argentina. He
is
merely an Italian who (or his ancestors) migrated to that region of
South America for better prospects.
And what did these Euro migrants do when they encountered the Natives
(Indians they called them):
They systematically slaughtered them, children and all - this is all
recorded by scientist Charles Darwin who was travelling in the region
at
the time.
Pope Francis should publicly tell us about the origins of Argentina
and
apologise but will he? These holy White s rarely do.
For that matter, the US Anglos slaughtered some 50 million of the US
Natives and then grabbed the entire land & turned it into Europe 2.
Please read the book "The New Age of Empire" by Prof K Andrews (2021)
to
learn more.
In Australia, the Anglos did the same thing: slaughtered the Natives
and
grabbed the whole continent.
The Whites have always been driven by Greed and Racism.
-------------------------------------
May I move on to the main Catholic periodicals of the West?
They are the National Catholic Reporter, a US weekly and the Tablet,
UK
weekly.
I have been in touch with both and over the years I noticed that the
Editorial Boards of both periodicals are entirely WHITE.
For both, Catholic means white and mostly IRISH.
I have requested the Editors to recognise black and brown Catholics
and
appoint non-white editors but they won't even respond !!
The Tablet even calls itself an "International Catholic Weekly" -
there
is little international news in the weekly and I pointed this out but
they are not moved and won't answer.
And there is our George Pinto begging the Holy Whites in Rome to make
our Fr Vaz a Patron Saint!!
======================================================
In conclusion, I 'd like to propose that GoaNet be re-structured into
two Parts: Goa-based items (with the traditional nostalgic/historical
Section) and a Section on items of interest to overseas Goans.
Eddie D'Sa
