Every Sunday and on every feast day in our Churches money collection is done and this collection comes to some thousands of rupees as per the weekly announcement in the Churches by the priests. Earlier it was not announced but since a few years back this is done and it is a nice habbit for which Goa Church should be applauded. However, to maintain the full tranparency of this collection, the Bishop House at Altinho Panaji should issue a notification to all the Churches in Goa to declare openly how and where this collected money is spent. Thru this open declaration the faithful will clearly know how their money they gave to the Church are utilised and also whether it was utilised for constructive purpose.
When faithful give their money to the Church they expect the priests to make good use of it and when the priests declare the utility of this collection in a proper manner then the faithful become happy. Moreover, the priests are duty bound to declare to the faithful the proper account of this collection otherwise unnecessary doubts are creeping into the minds of the faithful thereby making them lose their trust not only in the priests but also in the Church as a whole.
Recently I have returned for good from Kuwait where according to my information this type of collection comes to a very big amount which in many cases utilised for luxuries of the priests. Inspite of the instruction of the Pope to curtail the use of luxurious cars by the priests nobody listens to Pope's advice. The priests and Bishop there live in pompous manner and this trend has been increased since a few years back when the Kuwait Church administration was given into the hands of Capuchin Society who are like extortionists charging the faithful fees for every Church service. Earlier it was not like this when Kuwait Church was in the hands of Carmelites. This is required for the Sankistao, Deacon, Priests and the Bishop to live a luxurious life which is against the teachings of the Christ.
In Goa according to my information, on the strenght of the weekly collection money some of the priests are living a sinful life thereby bringing bad name not only for them but also for the Church as a whole. Some priests on the strenght of this money are travelling the globe not to study soething good but to indulge in sinful luxuries. Recently, one friend of mine while on tour to Manila, came accross one Goan priest roaming in the Red Light area and when he asked the priest "Fr., where are you here?", replied Fr. saying "I lost the way". If our Gurus lose their way in this manner then the Catholicsm will also lose its direction in Goa making the Believers and other such sects to create a strong dent in our midst.
One of the reasons for the mushrooming of non-Catholic Sects in Goa is the greed for money and sex by the priests. It is very difficult in Goa to get an upright priest.
In Goa, most of the priests are sex maniacs and they have concubines not in ones and in twos only but in dozens because too much money without too much efforts and in too short time is going into the hands of too many priests who are a disgrace on Christianity.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.