Atanasio Francisco Lobo
I want to bring to the attention of the authorities, tourists and Goans about the pathetic state of affairs in the Bom Jesus Basilica at Old Goa and the total disrespect that I recently witnessed.
I visited Goa in December 2015 from Canada for Christmas and visited Bom Jesus Basilica.
While my wife and I were kneeling down and saying our prayers, in the enclosure for prayers, we were totally disturbed and angered by the following:
Although there are signs indicating that it is a place of prayer and silence is to be maintained, almost all tourists were indulging in loud talk; most visitors were wearing caps and hats in the basilica showing total disrespect to a house of prayer and behaving as if they were on one of Goa’s sea shores; taking photographs from areas which are clearly marked for prayer and flashing their cameras in our faces.
Some were arguing in loud voices with the Tourist Guides who were requesting them not to take pictures from certain spots and some Tourist Guides were shouting back at them in even louder voices.
In view of the above, our intended peaceful and prayerful visit to our ancestral saint and patron of Goa was totally disturbed and destroyed and we were totally appalled, dismayed and angered by the lack of respect from the tourists and visitors to a Church and the prayerful devotees who were in prayer at the time on their knees.
