TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Insisting that the appointment of a priest to any ecclesiastical post or his transfer is exclusively the competence of the local bishop, the archdiocese has reacted strongly to demands by parishioners of Guardian Angel Church, Sanvordem, demanding the reinstatement of Fr James Torres e Silva as their parish priest.
Responding to the “peaceful and prayerful dharna”, as described by those leading the parishioners, at the Archbishop’s House in Altinho-Panjim on Tuesday morning, the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media (DCSCM) issued a statement clarifying that “the matter of a priest’s appointment to any ecclesiastical post or his transfer thereof is exclusively of the competence of the local Bishop. The archbishop is the only competent authority to send a suitable priest to any parish in the archdiocese or to transfer him from there, as per the needs of the Church. Consultation with the respective parishioners has never been part of the process.”
“Conversely, the priest too may ask to be relieved of his duties, for personal reasons to be approved by the Bishop,” the DCSCM stated.
Commenting on the specific case of Fr James, the DCSCM stated that Fr James had approached the archbishop in July and revealed that he would like to be relieved of his responsibilities as parish priest of the Sanvordem Church.
“Subsequently on August 1, Fr James submitted a written petition to the Archbishop, requesting to be relieved of his duties with effect from August 10 and stated the reasons for his request.”
“After giving serious consideration to what was written by Fr James, the Archbishop granted his request and relieved him of his duties with effect from August 10. Fr James collected the relieving order and went to the United States of America, for which he had already obtained prior permission from the Archbishop,” the DCSCM stated.
The DCSCM added that this order was not taken kindly by some parishioners of Sanvordem, who decided to hold a meeting in the compound of the Church, following which a memorandum was handed over at the Archbishop’s House.
“A response to this memorandum was communicated to parishioners of Sanvordem through an announcement during Masses on Septmber 14 and 15,” the DCSCM stated.
“Fr Lucio Dias, Episcopal Vicar for South Zone of Goa, was deputed as the Archbishop’s representative to make the announcement to the parishioners of Sanvordem. Fr Dias has since been appointed also as a provisional In-Charge or Parochial Administrator of the Parish of Sanvordem.”
“The announcement that the Episcopal Vicar read out ended with an appeal to parishioners to accept the mind of the Church, to extend their willing collaboration to the new priest who would be assigned by the Archbishop to the parish of Sanvordem and to maintain peace and harmony in the parish,” stated the DCSCM.
“However, it is highly regretted that some parishioners gheraoed the the Archbishop’s official representative after Mass on September 15, insulting him and holding him hostage for almost three hours, thereby creating an unnecessary law and order situation.”
“We fail to understand why some parishioners of Sanvordem have the above demands, while Fr James himself sought to be relieved of his post out of his own free will,” stated the DCSCM.
Action sought for holding church official hostage
PANJIM: Unhappy with a group of parishioners from Guardian Angel Church, Sanvordem, for holding a senior church official hostage for nearly three hours on September 15, the archdiocese has requested the deputy collector to identify those parishioners responsible for the incident and to take firm action against them for having created a law and order situation.
Replying to Deputy Collector Prashant P Shirodkar, who had directed the archdiocese to depute its representative for a meeting on September 24, to resolve the law and order situation in Sanvordem/Curchorem on September 15, Chancellor of the Archdiocese Fr Manuel Dias conveyed that the archbishop “appreciates the initiative taken by you ‘to defuse the law and order situation’ at Curchorem, at the request of Curchorem Police Inspector.”
Pointing out that the Archbishop had declined to send his representative for the proposed meeting ‘to discuss the issue regarding transfer of Fr James’, Fr Dias informed the deputy collector regarding the diocese’s position regarding the issue of relieving Fr James from the parish.
Fr Dias regretted that some parishioners had gheraoed the diocese’s official representative, Fr Lucio Dias on September 15, “offending him and holding him hostage for almost three hours, thereby creating an unnecessary explosive law and order situation.”
“It is expected from you, as the deputy collector, to identify those responsible for gheraoing the priest and accordingly, to take suitable and firm action against them for having created law and order situation so that, in future, such things may not repeat in the parishes,” stated Fr Dias.
“It is hoped that your intervention will create a peaceful environment in Curchorem for our priests to exercise their ministry freely in the parish of Sanvordem,” he added in his letter.
