TEAM HERALD
CURCHOREM: With their chain protest completing five days, agitating parishioners of Guardian Angel Church, Sanvordem-Curchorem, have decided to intensify their agitation if they get no response from the Diocesan authorities by October 20.
The parishioners, who are demanding the reinstatement of Fr James Alex Torres e Silva as parish priest of Sanvordem and the dissolution of the Fabrica committee, have further threatened an indefinite hunger strike and a demonstration at the venue of the national convention of Small Christian Communities in November, which will be attended by the Apostolic Nuncio from New Delhi.
In a joint press statement on Tuesday, Parish Pastoral Council Moderator Desmond Cardozo, Confraria President Anthony Menezes and former Confraria president William Fernandes stated that the strike that began on October 11 “has evoked tremendous response from the parishioners, with about 10 to 15 persons participating on a day-to-day basis. The strike begins at 7 am and ends at 6 pm.”
“A large number of visitors also visit the venue and express their support and solidarity to the movement by signing the visitor’s register. A number of Diocesan priests have shown solidarity with our movement,” stated the press note.
Accusing a senior diocesan official of interference in their parish, the aggrieved parishioners have demanded the resignation of the official, “failing which, the Archbishop, who we believe to be a person of integrity, should sack him immediately, before a revolution of priests erupts in the Archdiocese.”
In yet another bid to intensify their agitation, the aggrieved parishioners have also resolved to file a fresh case in the parish’s Rs 30 lakh lottery scam against diocesan authorities, a former priest of the Curchorem church, former Fabrica members and others.
