The Committee for the Apostolate of Inter-Religious Dialogue in collaboration with the Sadbhav of the Pilar Society on Thursday organised the Jubilee of Inter-Religious Dialogue at Old Goa in the pandal erected for the Novena and Feast of St Francis Xavier, near the Basilica of Bom Jesus.
The theme for the day was ‘Messengers of Peace, Rays of Hope’. The main aim of this event was to celebrate the rich cultural diversity, communal harmony and to foster unity among people of all faiths in the archdiocese, irrespective of their caste, creed and religion.
Symbolising unity in diversity, people of different religious traditions together with Auxiliary-Bishop of Goa and Daman Simião Fernandes joined hands in planting a sapling in a vase. Fr Tomas Lobo, Episcopal Vicar of North Zone and Incharge of the Apostolate of Inter-Religious Dialogue, extended a cordial welcome to everyone present.
Noted Konkani composer, lyricist and singer Alison Gonsalves delivered a soul-stirring message wherein he recalled passionately about the harmony that once defined Goan ethos.
However, he said that this oneness is now alarmingly diminishing and attributed this growing disharmony not to ordinary people but a few divisive forces organisations and influencers.
He called on the audience, which mainly consisted of students and teachers from various educational institutions of Goa, to join hand in rooting out the evil of religious discrimination and disharmony and promoting a peaceful and united society.
In his message, Bishop Fernandes reminded the young audience that true unity does not imply uniformity, but it flows from a shared longing for fostering peace and hope across religious traditions.
He said that this jubilee celebration is “a grace-filled moment for each one of us to come together as one human family”.
“While languages, rituals, festivals may differ, our sacred traditions converge beautifully in one common mission: to become messengers of peace and rays of hope,” Bishop Simião added.
Well-known artistes, Rajdeep Naik and his wife Suchita Narvekar, in a pre-recorded video message amused the audience with their humour but at the same time, on a serious note called on the students and teachers’ community to be vigilant of the divisive forces which are strenuously working to instil in our peace loving and harmonious Goa the seeds of discord, suspicion, fear and communal disharmony. They both called on everyone present to be messengers of peace and rays of hope in the society so that we build bridges of love, care and fraternal well-being.
Quinie Monteiro, teacher at St Aloysius High School, Benaulim, Shamika S. Barve, teacher at St Anthony’s High School, Panchwadi, Iram Shaikh, student of St Joseph High School, Aquem-Margao and Gargi Shirodkar, student of Rosary Higher Secondary School, Navelim, sharing powerful, touching and inspiring experiences of their inter-religious encounters in their day-to-day life invited everyone to become messengers of true love, care and well-being transcending all barriers.
The celebration also included a musical performance by the special children of St Xavier’s Academy, Old Goa, Sing-a-Song performances by students of St Andrew’s ICSE school, Vasco and by students of Nirmala Institute of Education, Panaji, Musical Presentation by the Crescendo Community Centre for Music at Mapusa and photography presentation by students of different schools and colleges.
Fr Elvis Fernandes, Convenor of Sadbhav, Pilar Society, led the audience to take a solemn pledge to become messengers of peace and rays of hope in our present society. Mariano Valadares, proposed the Vote-of-Thanks, while Alisha Da Cunha was the compere for the Jubilee Celebration.
