MANUEL VAZ
OLD GOA
With barely two months for the Exposition of the Relic of Saint Francis Xavier and anticipating about 50-60 lakh pilgrims to attend the decennial celebration, the Church in Goa has chalked out special programmes to make this Exposition a meaningful event.
“The Church is all set and ready to host the Exposition at Old Goa from November 22 to January 4, 2015,” Convenor of the Exposition Fr Alfred Vaz informed Herald.
“After devotees kiss of Relic, they can visit a big pandal as a follow up to their faith journey, which will be divided into three parts: witness of faith, exhibition of faith and challenge of faith, to give the devotees a truly spiritual experience.
“Besides there will also be counselling services and a prayer line inside the pandal,” he added.
“Another feature that we have added this time is the vigil prayer service inside the Se Cathedral from 7.30-9.30 pm every Saturday during the Exposition,” Fr Vaz said.
“These vigil prayers will be based on different themes like childless couples, unemployed youth, sanctity of the faithful, etc. This has never been done in the past,” Fr Vaz added.
“For this Exposition, we are expecting around 50-60 lakh pilgrims due to better communication and publicity facilities,” Fr Vaz said.
He informed that the Church had already finalized the main celebrants for the inaugural ceremony, feast day of St Francis Xavier and the concluding ceremony.
“For the inaugural ceremony, Archbishop of Mangalore Aloysius D’Souza will be the main celebrant (November 22), while Archbishop of Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias will be the main celebrant on the feast day (December 3). Papal Ambassador Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio will be the main celebrant for the closing ceremony (January 4),” he informed.
Fr Vaz then added that as part of the spiritual preparations, the Church has already come out with two books ‘Ekcharachem Jivit’ and ‘Somudhaiecho Mellavo’ and these books have already been distributed in all the parishes.
“From next Sunday, 150 volunteers will be given training to effectively communicate and render service to the pilgrims,” Fr Vaz said, adding that the training will be held at Mary Immaculate School, Panjim. “Later, NSS volunteers will also be trained,” he added.
When questioned about the government’s response to the successful holding of the Exposition, Fr Vaz expressed deep gratitude to the government.
“The government has agreed to set up temporary tents for the accommodation of pilgrims. One of the tents will be put up near the office of Se-Old Goa Panchayat, while the other one will be put up opposite the Divar ferry,” Fr Vaz said.
“Pilgrims will also be accommodated inside the structure behind the St Francis of Assisi Church and also at the Khuris Milagr Retreat Centre, which will be completed in October. A total of 1,700 pilgrims will be accommodated at all the four places,” he said.
“The government has begun work on construction of new roads while also repairing and widening the existing ones,” Fr Vaz said. “An elaborate parking plan has been chalked out by the Traffic Cell of the Transport Department, so that devotees are not inconvenienced during the Exposition.”
Meanwhile, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been undertaking conservation work at the Se Cathedral, where the Relic of St Francis Xavier will be kept during the Exposition.
Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Shripad Naik had recently met the ASI officials, to review the preparation for the Exposition. Naik had interacted with ASI Director General Rakesh Tiwari, Director (Monuments) Dr Nambi Rajan, Regional Director Dr Satya Bhama and other officials.
Naik had informed Herald that the meeting had focused on the progress of conservation work undertaken by the ASI in view of the forthcoming Exposition of St Francis Xavier’s relics.
