I have nothing against him neither I have anything common with him but as mentioned in Julius Caesar by Sakesphere, “the good that man doth often interred with the bones, the evil always remaineth after him”. May God forgive him of all his sins and may his soul rest in peace. During his last speech in the Assembly session of his last term, Vishnu Vhag was very angry on Diocesan Society when he said like a “Rhagist Ranatlo Vagh”, somewhat like this ‘’what Diocesan Society think, just because they built their schools they feel they can do anything? We can also build our own schools and show to them what we can do and we will build”. Poor thing. He never survived to challenge the Diocesan Society. But the anger against Diocesan Society he released from the advantageous platform of Goa Legislative Assembly hurt the feelings and sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Catholics in Goa.
In Goa, the Catholic Church and Diocesan Society is not a hindrance to any particular person or any organization or any particular community. Catholic community as a whole is peace loving community not bent on creating problems for others and according to its doctrine it cannot do any problem to anyone. Because of it’s peace loving doctrine there is peace and peaceful atmosphere prevailing in Goa since the advent of Christianity in Goa. Because of its non-belligerent attitude, Catholics do not fight with others as we see elsewhere in India where you see Hindu-Muslims riots. There is no Hindu-Catholics riots in Goa and will never happen as long as the ancestral and traditional bond built centuries ago by Catholics and Hindus/Muslimsremains intact. However, the only fear now is that of influx of migrants overwhelming majority of whom are non-Christians, who may sow the seed of discord between original Catholics and original non-Cathoilics because these migrants are carrying in their veins communalism.
In the Diocesan Schools not only Catholics study and work but others too without any discrimination and these schools are built by the donations mostly of Catholics. I don’t see any non-Catholic giving donations to the construction of Church Schools in our localities. In my village in Candolim when Fr. Alvito Vaz fell short of money in the beginning itself when he as the principal of under construction St. Theresa’s High School, approached with the begging bowl one local Hindu millionaire, in early sixties, that millionaire never gave a single paisa even though Fr. Alvito Vaz told him that in this school even your Hindu community students study. But he never cared however, we the locals especially the financially small people never neglected our responsibility and somehow or the other collected the required amount including from my Mocambique based sister and her husband, they gave 75 thousand rupees to overcome the financial calamity. In this way we the local Catholics shouldered our responsibility to erect that monument of learning where besides Catholics, others like Hindus, Muslims and now a great number of migrants as well study. Leave aside non-Catholics study there but so many non-Catholics males and females work in these schools not only as teachers but also in the administrative jobs and thus they earn their sustenance.
After the invasion of Goa on December 19th, in 1961, Church in Goa took the very good lead in spreading the education in Goa for all Goan children and because of this appropriate initiative the standard of education and manpower in Goa has gone high. Unfortunately, many of the critics of Diocesan Schools are those who do not belong to the Catholic community nor give any donation, even if you beg with them but they will come sprinting to register the enrolment of their children in the Diocesan Schools. Yet Diocesan Society does not harbor any revenge
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During the Portuguese era in Goa, Portuguese Governador Vassalo e Silva initiated the compulsory free Portuguese schooling for all Goan children attaining the age of 6, somewhere in 1958. The implementation of this compulsory schooling was put forward so vigorously that failure to follow this rule would make the erring students/their parents pay the fine of around Rupees 250/-. From here it is to be noted that Portuguese Governador was the pioneer in spreading education in Goa who was the pure Catholic just like Fr. Lyon who established first English High School of Goa at Arpora where not only the Catholoic studied but also a huge number of Hindus studied too.
A.Veronica Fernandes.