Dear Goanet Readers
Where can I start, Religion has been the fountain of all our education, when it
comes to Church accountability I have to agree with fellow participant on
goanet Ms Ana Maria Fernandes, where is the collection money going, does anyone
dare ask? The Padrigar through his office is the most important and
busiest figure in village life however the infrastructure attitude of the
Church is more geared to collection of revenue and in this paperless world with
time
constraints it would be difficult to list how the revenue collected is spent on
the Church Notice Board and any good causes that arise. Around the world you
will always find our people involved in thankless unpaid Church work. It would
be nice to see the church as a club working in partnership with the
community instead of Pay as you Go services with the clergy having to get by
with the new selfish and mannerless community we have in Goa. Fr
Desmond de Souza launched a resource book The Concerned Face of the Church in
February 2012. Any lessons learnt can be like a blunt pencil -
pointless as none appear to be applied.
In February 2013 having had to go to Bishops House at Altino Panjim, this was
an opportunity to view the splendid building and gardens. The records kept
look immaculate covering every village stretching to the days when Goa was an
overseas province of Portugal. Today some Goa villages have been
converted to overseas dependent terrorities as people have abandoned their
homes and formed settlements abroad without any Government
involvement. This facilitates the free flow of foreign exchange reducing the
opportunity to develop local commerce and creating a self sufficient
employable workforce. Business must be bad even Western Union has reduced its
charges.
My visit was to get the signature of my Parish Priest at Candolim verified by
the Padre at Bishops House before the collectors office in Panjim for a nominal
fee could process my documents. As you enter Bishops House a very polite man at
reception pointed me in the right direction to a waiting room with all
round seating. Having lived in Great Britain (GB) for many years and got used
to characteristics such as manners (e.g. please and thank you, standing in
a line to be served), I found our Goa Catholic educated people extremely
mannerless ignoring the pleas from the really hard pressed administrative staff
to take a seat to no avail. I then asked where the end of the line was and duly
took my place only to find another three people walk past to go to the front. I
found this unacceptable and asked the administrative staff if they had any
system or book where people could put their names and form an orderly line.
They said there was nothing they could do and asked me to contact the church
authorities. With time running out an executive decision had to be made, I
resorted to swear words in Konkani slightly garnished with English but with
respect to Goanet I am unable to repeat these.
At Bishops House, I felt like a sheep dog barking at our flock of village
people with pea brained intellect and herd mentality. There was no shepherd
with a
stick, after my swear words the line soon assembled. At the front of the line
is a small table with two chairs and a priest beavering away like an OCR reader
(optical character recognition - as found on cheque books/bar codes) as though
he was on a time schedule to process so many an hour - no human even
a priest should work under these conditions even for the fee of rs20- (rupees
twenty) I fear for his eyesight. Can I take this opportunity as an open
letter
to Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão to look into this
matter and give directions to make this daily routine a happier work station
both for the staff and their customers. Can I also ask the Sirs who work in
public offices to give directions to their staff as customer care is totally
lacking
in Goa. The Indian High Commission in London, England would not tolerate this
behaviour, I witnessed a similar occurrence here where the line was from
all parts of India gathered in a gaggle the 4ft high young lady at the counter
announced in a real Indian female high pitched accent that unless a line was
formed immediately the counter would be shut, it was very effective as a line
formed with lightening speed, perhaps Bishops House and other Government
Offices can do similar, the administrative staff are looking for direction from
their shepherds all over Goa.
The Public Records office at Mapusa has a similar situation - that's another
story.
I hear that the Monestary at Pilar is celebrating its 400th birthday on 17 July
2013. Something must be right in church matters.
Melvyn Fernandes
Thornton Heath, Surrey
8 July 2013
