VASCO
Parish Priest of Baina Fr Antonio Cotta passed away on Friday. He was 71.
According to reports, Fr Cotta had sustained grievous injuries after a fall in his residence about three days ago and was being treated in a private hospital in Vasco, where he breathed his last.
A Mass will be celebrated for the departed parish priest at the Baina Church on Saturday at 11.30 am and the final rites will take place with a Mass at the Holy Spirit Church, Margao, on Sunday at 4 pm, to be presided over by Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao.
Fr Cotta was born in Margao on May 2, 1949, and was ordained a priest on April 27, 1975. Incidentally, his brother, Fr Mariano, is also a diocesan priest.
Fr Cotta served in various parishes and institutions in the archdiocese of Goa and Daman, beginning as a prefect at Saligao Seminary in 1976.
He then served as assistant parish priest at Mapusa and Immaculate Conception Church, Panaji. He also served as chaplain at the then Holy Family Chapel in Alto Porvorim in the mid-80s.
As a parish priest, Fr Cotta served in the parishes at Agonda (1995), S. Matias, Divar (1996), Cuncolim (2001), Santa Inez (2010) and Baina (from 2017 till date).
He was also deputy director of the Diocesan Family Service Centre and a member of the Diocesan Commission for Sacred Music, where he served as president of the commission from 2011 to 2020.
Fr Cotta is the second parish priest in the archdiocese to pass away within barely two weeks, following the demise of Raia parish priest Fr Conceição D'Silva (65) on February 7.
