It isn’t often that outstation bishops visit Porvorim, but when two bishops from different states and representing two different rites of the Catholic Church interacted informally with parishioners of one zone at Holy Family Parish in Porvorim, the excitement was palpable.
Many bishops from the country who attended the recently-concluded first national convention of Small Christian Communities (SCC) at Old Goa had opted to spend some time in different parishes.
Auxiliary Bishop Raphael Thattil of Trichur diocese, a prelate from the Syro-Malabar rite of the Catholic Church, stayed at a relative’s house in Porvorim and had agreed in advance to address a special SCC meet of Zone 4D (PDA colony and Nova Cidade colony) of the Porvorim Parish.
“Shortly before Bishop Thattil could arrive at our meet, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that another prelate, Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore diocese, was in the house of a friend, very close to the SCC meet,” said a parishioner, Lino D’Silva.
Accompanied by Bastora Parish Priest Fr John Fernandes, Bishop Thottumarickal was returning to Bastora from the convention, when he called on his Goan friend, Evaristo Mascarenhas, who had spent over 50 years in Indore.
“Seizing this golden opportunity, we met Bishop Thottumarickal and invited him to spend a few minutes at our SCC meeting. He readily agreed to do so, even though parishioners of Bastora were awaiting his arrival,” D’Silva added.
The SCC meeting now had two special guests and the 40 elated Zone 4D parishioners were eager to listen to both bishops, who shared the geographic, historical, cultural and spiritual dimensions of their dioceses, as well as their views on SCCs.
Stating that his geographically large diocese with 19,073 sq. kms (compared to Goa’s 4,286.8 sq kms) has a relatively small Catholic population of 19,319 (compared to Goa’s 5.25 lakh-odd Catholics), Bishop Thottumarickal narrated the challenges in his diocese, which has a significant tribal population.
Turning to the SCCs, Bishop Thottumarickal emphasized the importance of ‘caring’ in Small Christian communities. “You don’t need a community to pray to God, as you can pray in private and have a personal relationship with God. However, the essence of SCCs is ‘caring’ whereby SCCs should ‘reach out’ to people in their community,” he advised parishioners of Zone 4D. Bishop Thottumarickal and Fr Fernandes then left for Bastora, while Bishop Thattil led the prayer service at the SCC meet.
Describing the salient features of his large Catholic diocese of Trichur (4.54 lakh Catholics in 2,000 sq kms) and the Syro-Malabar rite, Bishop Thattil said, “In our Syro-Malabar rite, laity plays a central role in the church. They have a right to know how, where and when their hard-earned donations have been utilized. Openness, transparency, accountability and responsibility are the hallmarks of our parishes, as espoused by our Pope Francis. Priests have a maximum tenure of three years and are accountable to the laity. A priest is expected to visit each family in his parish at least thrice in a year, as he’s expected to know his flock well.”
Bishop Thattil finally advised the Zone 4D parishioners to restructure their SCC meets, so that they could also attract children and youth to actively participate in these SCCs.
As a parting gift, Bishop Thattil blessed and distributed rosaries and relics of Blesseds Euphrasia Eluvathingal and Maria Theresa Chiramel, two illustrious nuns from Trichur diocese, to the parishioners.
“It was an eye-opening interaction, while the simplicity and openness of the two bishops was remarkable. We were also impressed by the Syro-Malabar rite, which emphasizes the centrality of the laity in the Catholic Church,” remarked a parishioner.
