MARGAO
Tension rent the air at the Rachol Church after two youth, in their late teens, who were later identified as students of BITS Pilani, were accused by local parishioners for hurting the religious sentiments of the community by showing disrespect to the Holy Communion after the Sunday mass.
Prompt intervention by the Parish Priest Fr Eremito Rebello and his handling of the situation with tact with the cooperation of the villagers, saved the day for the two youngsters and averted an ugly situation, as the incident triggered anger and outrage amongst the local parishioners as they cried foul over what they called as sacrilege.
The incident is believed to have occurred when the two students, Sunny S Agrawal (Madhya Pradesh) and Bhajraj Singh (Maharashtra) entered the Church during the Eucharistic celebration to join the Holy Communion procession at the Sunday mass at 8 am. A parishioner Wilfred Gomes told the media that the duo took the Holy Communion and went out of the Church. “One of them threw out the Holy Communion from his mouth, while the other one took it in his hand and was taking a clip on his cell phone. One of them tried to cover it with his feet”, he said.
Angry parishioners roughed up the youth after the incident even as the duo pleaded innocence, stating they had no intention to show disrespect to the Holy Communion or hurt the religious sentiments of the Catholic community. They pointed out that they had come on a two-wheeler for sightseeing and made their entry into the Church like other Parishioners, but had no intention to commit sacrilege.
Fr Eremito pacified the parishioners with a plea not to harm the two youth and told the duo to call their warden before they return to their institute. Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourneco, who telephonically intimated the incident to the police, said such acts cannot be tolerated in a civilized society and in Curtorim. “Such incidents should not be tolerated. Let the police do their investigations and find out the background of the youth”, he said, while demanding action.
Around noon, Maina Curtorim police team led by PSI Alvito Rodrigues descended at the Church premises and searched the bags of the two youth. The police took the duo to the Police station and also invited a delegation of the Parishioners and the Parish Priest Fr Eremito for discussions.
Fr Eremito and the Parishioners later met the Chief Warden of the institute and other officials, wherein they apologized. The Chief warden also thanked the Parish Priest and the parishioners for forgiving the students. The two students also apologized to the Parish Priest and the parishioners in writing, that though unintentionally, they have hurt the religious sentiments of the community.
Fr Eremito said though the youth committed sacrilege, Christian values and teachings call for forgiveness. “We are presently in the Lenten season and we all decided to forgive the two youth for their action”, Fr Eremito said.
The Chief warden and the two youth later gave written apologies to the police.
PI Madkaikar said that since the matter was amicably resolved after the two youth apologized for their action, no FIR was registered by the police in connection with the case. He later told his sub-ordinates to thoroughly interrogate the duo before allowing them to head towards their educational institution.
