A few years back when the then Bishop of Kuwait spotted a young Goan girl asking donation in the Church compound for the heart surgery of her poor neighbor in her village in Goa, costing 5 lakhs of rupees, the Kuwait Bishop asked her, “Can’t your Church in your locality do this job instead of doing in Kuwait? Why can’t your Parish priest with the consent of your Bishop create a fund for the poor in your locality by devoting one Sunday’s collection every month for this purpose?”.
In my Church in Candolim, on an average every Sunday’s collection reaches to Rs. 40,000/- and common persons do not know finally where it goes and whose account and for what purpose. It would be nice for the Church authorities to elaborate on this so that doubting Thomasses doubts are cleared.
According to Kuwait Bishop, Goa Church is very rich needing no donations from Kuwait and if needed Goa Church can collect any amount for the benefit of the poor thus preventing collection from Kuwait.
In view of this, I appeal to the Bishop of Goa to issue a Circular to all the Parish Priests in Goa to create a “Poor Persons Fund” in their parishes thru the contribution collected from the Sundays collection as mentioned above. By supporting the poor persons we will surely support the poor and ultimately we will serve the poor as advised by the present Pope Francis.
If in our parishes our parish priests can raise funds in lakhs of rupees from the faithful in the Church for the constructions of Our Lady of Fatima’s Grotto and Statue of St. Jose Vaz, why in the same manner our parish priests cannot collect fund for the benefit of the poor? As it is many of our parish priests are going on pleasure trips to UK, FAR East and other places by spending money from whose pockets? Can these same priests declare the source of the money they spend for their trips abroad? And can the Bishop of Goa throw some light on this trips and funding?
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.