[Goanet] Feast Day of Saint Joseph Vaz

[George Pinto]

>From the Joseph Naik Vaz Institute ...

January 16 is the Feast Day of Saint Joseph Vaz (Patron Saint of the 
Archdiocese of Goa and Daman) and January 15 is Martin Luther King Day. As 
America celebrates the life and work of the great human rights activist, Martin 
Luther King Jr., let us remember and celebrate the struggle St. Joseph Vaz led 
in Sri Lanka for freedom of religion and worship. 

Joseph Vaz was a missionary born on 21 April 1651 in Goa, India. He died on 16 
January 1711 in Kandy, present day Sri Lanka. He was an Oratorian missionary 
priest. He arrived in Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) during the Dutch 
occupation. The Dutch had expelled the Portuguese who had introduced 
Catholicism to Sri Lankan. The Dutch then went on to impose Calvinism as the 
official religion in Sri Lanka. Father Vaz traveled throughout Sri Lanka, 
bringing the Eucharist and Sacraments to clandestine groups of Catholics. He 
would sometimes disguise himself as a beggar in order to facilitate his 
mission. Later, he founded a shelter in the Kingdom of Kandy where he 
intensified his missionary work of ministering to both the minority Tamil and 
Sinhalese ethnic groups. By the time of his death, he had managed to rebuild 
the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. He was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II 
on 21 January 1995, in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, and canonized there by 
Pope Francis on 14 January 2015.

Invitation from the Joseph Naik Vaz Institute, California - Offering Masses for 
the Beatification and Canonization of our Indian and Sri Lankan Saints since 
1978

2018 Annual St. Joseph Vaz Feast Day and our Indian and Sri Lankan Saints Day 
Mass
12:30 p.m. on Sunday Jan 28, 2018 at St. John the Baptist Church
1152 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito CALIFORNIA 94530 (near del Norte BART station)

Come and celebrate our native Saints!

St. Joseph Vaz,  Apostle of Kanara and Sri Lanka and honoring new native born 
saints and candidates for sainthood and recent models of sanctity and service

Special Intention: Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo of Pilar

For more information email us at: josephnaik@gmail.com

We invite you to volunteer and serve the needy, the homeless and disadvantaged 
as our saints did and for today’s social justice issues like environmental 
protection, housing, health care

Happy Feast Day.

Joseph Naik Vaz Institute
http://josephnaikvaz.org/

[Goanet] Fwd: Alfred Braganza Funeral Announcement and Bio

[goansofamerica]

Hi All,

Forwarding you information on Alfred Braganza's Funeral Announcement.

The GOA LA thanks you for offering the S.A.T. award to the 11th and 12th grade 
scholars for 19 years, and for also being the pioneer in our community out here.


R.I.P. Alfred the GOA LA will miss you! 



Thanks, 

Selma





-Original Message-
From: Roy Braganza 
To: goansofamerica 
Sent: Sat, Jan 13, 2018 2:24 pm
Subject: Fw: Alfred Braganza Funeral Announcement and Bio












- Forwarded Message -

From: Roy Braganza 
To: Roy Braganza 
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2018, 2:22:38 PM PST
Subject: Alfred Braganza Funeral Announcement and Bio





Please see click on the attachments below.
Thank you,
Roy Braganza

[Goanet] 'Even pregnant women were not spared from assault'

[Marshall Mendonza]

Roland Francis:
All I am saying is even in democratic and hospitable India, you have to
watch your back and tread carefully.

Response:
Perhaps if you read Arun Ferreira's autobiography you will get a still
deeper understanding of how kafkaesque the Indian judicial and justice
system operates.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/india/prison-diaries

Regards,

Marshall

[Goanet] (no subject)

[Aires Rodrigues]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/cabinet-ministers-should-speak-up-
like-sc-judges-yashwant/articleshow/62486378.cms

-- 

Aires Rodrigues

Advocate High Court

C/G-2, Shopping Complex

Ribandar Retreat,

Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372

Office Tel  No: (0832) 2444012

Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com

 Or

   airesrodrig...@yahoo.com

You can also reach me on

Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues

Twitter@rodrigues_aires


www.airesrodrigues.com

[Goanet] 2018: The Year of living Dangerously (original text) Times of India, 12/1/2018

[V M]

https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F01%2F13=Ar00408=D55E291A=text

Just a few days into the New Year, and it is already clear this is a
critical juncture for Goa. Ever since the new millennium dawned nearly
two decades ago, India’s smallest state has been buffeted by immensely
powerful changes but still managed to retain a recognizable quotient
of its natural wealth, character, integrity and identity. All that is
now at risk, as a perfect storm of outside pressures, internal crises,
and deeply cynical governance has become entrenched, with devastating
effects on society, culture and the environment. None of this is
sustainable. We are now at the point of no return. History will not be
kind to the generation in power as it presides over the rampant
destruction of its own heritage.

Even as dawn broke on the coastline on the first day of 2018, evidence
was everywhere that tourism has gone fatally wrong. Garbage was strewn
everywhere in an unbroken blanket from the northernmost beaches of
Pernem right down to the remotest stretches of Canacona. At Miramar in
Panjim, revellers left mounds of trash right down to the waterline,
including hundreds of bottles. At both Colva and Calangute, hundreds
of domestic tourists used the sands as toilets, leaving a stink that
has lingered for days. There was no oversight, no law enforcement,
totally absent crowd and traffic management. Anarchy reigned right
through the early hours of January 1.

Even as the state barely began to try to limp back to normalcy, Goa
was devastated to realize the latest threat to its ecological lifeline
of the Mhadei/Mandovi river basin. This comes in the purportedly
magnanimous offer to divert water to the drought-affected parts of
Karnataka “on humanitarian grounds”. It should be noted this
politically-motivated “generosity” is on extremely shaky legal
grounds, and will most probably never happen. But the brazenness of
the idea itself correctly set alarm bells ringing in the minds of the
state electorate, as it learned once again that every single natural
asset is under threat from the current crop of irresponsible political
elites.

In this regard, two hugely unpopular, unwanted and unnecessary scam
infrastructure projects pose a particularly grave existential threat
to Goa and Goans, and both of them are being fast-tracked in collusion
with some of the most notoriously shady corporations in the world. The
so-called “coal hub” relentlessly touted by the state cabine, is
backed by Jindal, Adani and Vedanta, each one of which is guilty of
egregious environmental violations in multiple locations around the
world. Just last month, after highly successful lobbying by Australian
civil society, Chinese banks refused to back a highly controversial
Adani coalmining plan, due to overwhelming concerns about the
company’s record on the environment.

In Goa, civil society is just as outraged about the coal plans, but
here the state government seems implacably determined to ignore the
extraordinarily bad track record of all parties involved, including
the consistently disgraceful Mormugao Port Trust. There is a similar
single-minded focus on the egregious “second airport” project at Mopa,
which is being rammed through despite risibly crudely falsified
environmental impact assessment reports, as well as the oft-repeated
canard “Dabolim will stay open”. That “promise” is exactly like “the
casinos will soon move out of the Mandovi river” repeated ad infinitum
for three years, to the point it is not even funny.

There are positive trends in Goa, which deserve to be built upon.
There are many star performers in every sector of the economy, to put
the state on the national and international map. The state’s students
are doing better than ever before, by every national standard.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens here still enjoy a
remarkably blessed quality of life, and high index of human
development, along with relatively high levels of safety and security
accompanied by communal harmony that still has a lot to teach the rest
of the country.

But all of that is the legacy of previous generations, and the
collective wisdom of collective forbears who worked hard to burnish
their birthright. That marvellous heritage is now in the hands of a
largely shameless, short-sighted and irresponsible cadre of political
and economic elites, who themselves pose the greatest threat that the
state has ever experienced. From water to land to the air itself,
everything is being degraded at an astonishingly rapid pace. Remember
that 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in India. This is
the writing on the wall for Goa, unless 2018 brings a change.

Re: [Goanet] The Emperor's New Airport (Times of India, 11/1/2018)

[Bernice Pereira]

If I’m not mistaken something similar happened in Kuala Lumpur.

Bernice

Sent from my iPhone

> On 11-Jan-2018, at 12:28 PM, Gabe Menezes  wrote:
> 
>> On 11 January 2018 at 02:36, V M  wrote:
>> 
>> https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/
>> ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F01%2F11=
>> Ar01100=9E59B40D=text
> 
> 
> RESPONSE: I enjoyed the article. C.M. has his own vested interest and the
> interest on both sides of the House who have bought vast tracts of land
> around Mopa and will make a fortune.
> 
> If the Government really cares and the don't, they would give Mopa to the
> Navy and take over Dabolim. This will never happen because of vested
> interests.
> -- 
> DEV BOREM KORUM
> 
> Gabe Menezes.

[Goanet] JUDICIARY NEEDS TO ACT AS TRUE WATCH DOGS OF DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

[Aires Rodrigues]

The mutiny between the four brave senior most Judges of the Supreme Court
and the Chief Justice of India was long overdue. This must act as a warning
and an alarm to every Indian that our very democracy is in peril.



Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer had said “Even so, the creed of judicial independence
is our constitutional ‘religion’ and, if the executive use Article 222 to
imperil this basic tenet, the Court must ‘do or die’.



The Constitution of India is very clear on the distinct roles
of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. It envisages a free, fair and
independent Judiciary. The highest standards of judicial independence must
be ensured by warding off even the faintest trace of governmental influence
on the judiciary.



Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the sanctity of other
pillars of our democracy severely dented and having gone for a toss, our
only hope now remains on the Judiciary.



With the BJP wanting to overpower the Judiciary too, there is a very
disturbing disquiet over the slippery slope on which judicial values are
slithering. The highest standards of judicial independence must be ensured
by warding off even the faintest trace of governmental influence on
the judiciary,
which is the last hope for thecommon man.



Any direct or indirect interference by the politicians in the selection and
appointment of Judges is a threat to the very Independence of the
Judiciary. If the Judiciary is reduced to a mouth
piece of the government, the Courts will lose all relevance and end up also
as dens of chicanery and jugglery. The Judiciary should never be manned by
persons who are tilted or aligned to any political party. Judges should
have the spine to crack on illegalities done by all politicians,
regardless of how high positions they hold. It has to be ensured that
judicial accountability is maintained at all times with every Judge
conforming to the highest standards of uprightness and integrity. If Judges
cannot independently balance the scales of Justice, the Temples of Justice
become pointless.



Caroline Kennedy had also very rightly said “The bedrock of our democracy
is the rule of law and that means we have to have
an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the
political winds that are blowing”



To those very few outdated who have opined that the four Judges should not
have gone public,  may we remind them of what Lord Harry Woolf, a
former Chief Justice of England had said “Like old clocks,
our judicial institutions need to be oiled, wound up and set to true time".

Aires Rodrigues

Advocate High Court

C/G-2, Shopping Complex

Ribandar Retreat,

Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372

Office Tel  No: (0832) 2444012

Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com

 Or

   airesrodrig...@yahoo.com

You can also reach me on

Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues

Twitter@rodrigues_aires


www.airesrodrigues.com

[Goanet] DR WILFRED DE SOUZA HAD DIAGNOSED VIJAI SARDESAI'S GREED FOR WEALTH 20 YEARS AGO

[Aires Rodrigues]

In 1998 when Dr Wilfred de Souza formed the Goa Rajiv Congress Party he had
anointed Vijai Sardesai as the President of the party’s youth wing. But
very soon the renowned political surgeon that he was, Dr Wilfred de Souza
swiftly assessed Vijai Sardesai dubious traits.



“If power ever slips into the hands of this brat, he will sell Goa lock,
stock and barrel”, is what Dr Wilfred de Souza had to say about Vijai to
his close confidantes some of whom are still alive today.



How true and we are all witnessing today what the late Dr Wilfred de Souza
had rightly forecasted 20 long years ago. Vijai Sardesai along with his one
of the many collection agents Durgadas Kamat and others will ensure that
the remnants of Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn are swiftly laid to rest.



It is an irony that Manohar Parrikar chose to align with such a band of
political rogues, despite being fully aware of their tainted and awfully
soiled antecedents.



Aires Rodrigues

Advocate High Court

C/G-2, Shopping Complex

Ribandar Retreat,

Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372

Office Tel  No: (0832) 2444012

Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com

 Or

   airesrodrig...@yahoo.com

You can also reach me on

Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues

Twitter@rodrigues_aires


www.airesrodrigues.com