TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
OLD Goa: The first ever convention of the Small Christian Communities (SCC) was inaugurated Tuesday at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa with bishops, priests and delegates from India and abroad and a proposal by the Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao to adopt Blessed Joseph Vaz as the patron for the SCCs.
The convention is being held at the Basilica of Bom Jesus a year ahead of the decennial exposition of St Francis Xavier.
Bringing blessings and wishes from His Holiness Pope Francis, the Apostolic Nuncio Rev Salvatore Pennacchio highlighted the importance of SCCs and how they helped promote unity within the Church. “Communion is the essence of trinity and the sincere way of living the new command of love,” he said.
Seventy five bishops, priests, religious and the lay people from 160 dioceses around India were seen at the event with a total attendance of two thousand delegates from outside Goa.
Governor Bharat Vir Wanchoo, Goa chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Deputy CM Francisco D’Souza, who were there as special invitees, officially inaugurated the event.
Bishop Ferrao said SCCs have been in developing in Goa since 1980.
“Most of the 165 parishes already have SCCs although in some places we are still struggling to set them up. It is hoped that this first convention of SCCs will help us to chalk out a realistic roadmap that will help the Church in India to grow in the love of God, to reflect on the human problems and to gradually build a society,” Bishop Ferrao told the over 7,000 delegates from around the State and the rest of the country and from abroad that are present for the convention that will conclude on Thursday. Around 2,000 national delegates are residing with Goan families.
Bishop Emeritus Fritz Lombiger of South Africa and Bishop Bosco Penha from Mumbai were some of the religious that were felicitated by the National Service Team.
A tribute was paid to Fr Paul Puthanangady SDB who is considered the steel man for SCCs for the Church of India. The second day of the convention will be spent around deaneries in Goa with a focus on exchange of experiences and prayer.
Rev Selvister Ponnumuthan, Bishop of Punalur spoke on the power of SCCs to evangelise the neighbourhood.
“SCCs when powered by the word and the Sacrament can become privilege locus of faith formation and evangelization of the faithful,” he said. He suggested that the communitarian celebration of the sacraments can transform the SCCs into a vibrant group of disciples of Christ in the Church.
Also citing examples of the power of SCCs, Bishop Ponnumuthan said that there were people from other religions who converted to Christianity and faced problems because of it. Sharing of personal experiences by lay people was also part of the first day.
Ignacias Murmur from the village of Shriharpari, Jharkhand shared statistics of how parishioners from her village increased from 6,250 to 8,390 because of these SCCs while also sharing how it changed their lives. Bishop Bosco Penha, Aux Bishop Emeritus from Mumbai spoke on SCCs as an antidote to a culture of Individualism, competition and consumerism.
