PANAJI
Defending the involvement of the Church during elections, Chicalim Parish Priest Dr Bolmax Pereira on Saturday stated the Church plays the role of researching, sharing and guiding its flock.
He was speaking on “The role that the Church has to play in the run up to assembly elections” at an online session as part of a series of talks on ‘Election Fever’ organised by the Collaborative Learning Café, a project of the Jesuits and Friends of the Jesuits of the Goa Province.
“The Church has a role to make the community aware of the reality, the burning issues and the danger to the various rights. Hence, forming the conscience of the community so that they decide to vote for after being well informed and having a proper judgement is also a part of this role,” said Dr Pereira, who is also assistant professor of Botany at St Joseph Vaz Science College, Cortalim.
“In this context, the Church here plays the role of learning, knowing, researching, sharing and guiding the flock. While the Church appeals to all to come out in big numbers and vote, we should also not vote on None Of The Above (NOTA).”
“We also appeal to voters not to elect defectors who get elected on our votes and then take our votes for granted. The Church also advices not to fall prey to the evils of election by accepting money and gifts in exchange for votes.”
“To be objective, look at the bigger picture. Voting is not the time to pay back favours but we are responsible to the society as we vote,” Dr Pereira added.
Speaking on the Ministry of the Church, Dr Pereira said when the Church talks about its role in elections, it is focused on the three roles of Christ as a priest, prophet and king.
“The Church is exercising the priestly ministry through prayer. In fact, the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) of the archdiocese prepared a prayer after a proper reflection and a ground reality.”
“The Church is exercising her ministry of being a prophet, the prophetic role of Christ and thus preparing the people to exercise their franchise in a better way. This prophetic role is exercised through awareness and guidance by trying to prepare the candidates to exercise their kingly role through service.”
The event was followed by a question-and-answer session with the participants.
