As a close collaborator of the recently deceased Archbishop Raul Gonsalves and having shared with him the same roof for several years, my admiration for him only grew over the decades. Here is then my humble farewell tribute to him.
First of all, I thank God for the gift of Raul Gonsalves as the very second Goan Bishop to govern this great Archdiocese. This wonderful gift was given to us on March 5, 1967. After serving the Church in Goa and Daman as an Auxiliary Bishop for five years, to help ageing Bishop Francisco da Piedade Rebello, who was the first Goan Bishop to serve this Archdiocese as an Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Raul took over as the Apostolic Administrator in 1972, shepherding this Church on behalf of the last Portuguese Archbishop, José Vieira Alvernaz, who was still in office, although absent from the Archdiocese.
The seat of the Archbishop fell vacant after the retirement of Archbishop Alvernaz in 1975, upon which Bishop Raul continued as Administrator of this Archdiocese sede vacante, i.e. in the vacancy of the chair.
It was only on March 5, 1978, that Goa had the joy of seeing the first Goan Archbishop of Goa and Daman and Patriarch of the East Indies take charge of this Archdiocese. And the obvious choice for the post was Bishop Raul Gonsalves!
It is not an easy task to govern this Archdiocese, with its glorious traditions and complex problems as well. The responsibility that Bishop Raul took upon himself must have certainly weighed on his shoulders. More so, because he had to shoulder it at a time of a great crisis, particularly in the political and administrative spheres.
We all know that, in December 1961, Goa had to wake up to a new political identity as part of the Indian Union, after having been ‘Portuguese India’ for more than four centuries and a half. This overnight change brought about serious challenges to a Church which was left ‘headless,’ as the last Portuguese Archbishop returned to Portugal in 1962 and the next Bishop, a simple Apostolic Administrator, followed only a year later.
The challenges were mainly politico-economic in nature. If Bishop Rebello had to take the first, most difficult, steps to help Church administration find its bearings, it was Archbishop Raul who deftly steered its course towards the economic stability that it enjoys today.
Raul Gonsalves was ordained bishop less than two years after the Second Vatican Council concluded in Rome. The herculean task of helping the Church in Goa adapt herself to and integrate herself in the global process of church renewal set up by the Council fell, in its greater part, to the strong shoulders of Apostolic Administrator and, later, Archbishop, Raul Gonsalves.
With the help of the right kind of collaborators, Archbishop Raul laid down a strong diocesan infrastructure, consisting of Episcopal Vicariates and various consultative bodies and, on the executive front, almost twenty Diocesan Centres, Commissions and other Bodies established mostly according to the norms and recommendations of the Second Vatican Council and giving impetus to the various apostolates in the Archdiocese, like Bible, Liturgy, Catechesis, Family, Laity, Youth, Ecumenism, Inter-religious Dialogue, etc. It was with such a far-sighted vision that Archbishop Raul guided the destinies of our Archdiocese, helping her tread a cohesive way of being Church in those early years of uncertainty and challenge, and slowly paving the way, year after year, for the “new way of being Church,” to which the Archdiocese is now committed.
Various were the stellar decisions and steps that Bishop Raul took in the 37 years of his active episcopal service to our Archdiocese. For the sake of brevity, I shall limit myself to say that he drew up some momentous diocesan policies and authored various Pastoral Letters and Circulars addressing critical and pressing issues on the life of the Church and also of the people of Goa in general, sometimes in open confrontation with the local government; he invited or permitted various Religious Congregations of men and women to begin work in this Archdiocese and thus promote further the cause of the Church and the society in Goa, particularly in the social front; he erected several new parishes and educational as well as other church institutions; devised a few, time-bound, Diocesan Pastoral Plans, with focus on the establishment of Parish Pastoral Councils and Small Christian Communities.
He was a no-nonsense man, who was often feared by lay persons and priests alike. But deep inside he had the heart of a father and of a shepherd, which was manifest, especially to those who, like me, lived under the same roof with him.
Towards the end of his pastoral ministry, almost as his swan’s song, Archbishop Raul prepared the ground for and convened, in 2002, the historic Diocesan Synod of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, based on whose recommendations the Catholic community in Goa and Daman continues its march towards ever greater and more holistic renewal, working, in solidarity with followers of other faiths, for the building of a ‘New Society.’
One cannot forget here the sincere and valuable collaboration that Archbishop Raul received, during his last ten years in office, from his Auxiliary Bishop, Filipe Neri Ferrão, now our Archbishop.
Archbishop and now Cardinal-elect Filipe Neri Ferrão has inherited a strongly-built edifice, thanks to the dedicated and long-standing pastoral leadership of his Predecessor.
(The writer was the Secretary of Archbishop Gonsalves during the first two and the last eight years of his tenure as the Archbishop of Goa and Daman)
