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Looking Glass 9
Dateline Dec 1, 2005
December
3: The feast of St. Francis Xavier
(1506-1552)
On December 3
for the past several centuries, Goans and many Catholics around
the world have been celebrating the feast of St. Francis Xavier,
the co-founder of the Jesuits.
Without a shadow of a doubt, St. Francis Xavier is the main
reason why so many Goans are such fervent Catholics today. He is
also the reason for India having top notch Jesuit institutions.
These institutions continue to offer high level education
especially to the poor and disadvantaged; the main reason why
the Casteists have it for St. Francis. If only he had
not come to Goa, the Jesuits would not have established
themselves in India. And if the Jesuits had not come to India,
the "lower caste" folks would never have received top level
education, and there would be no competition for the "upper
castes".
Of course, if
the Portuguese had not come at all to India, the racist
Casteists would still be
happily practising their
Caste System
, and burning widows alive in a property-competition-elimination
program called Sati.
TGF pauses to think about the recent harassment of Catholics in
Goa by the communalist Hindu Right. Every year, these anarchists
set about systematically trying to malign St. Francis. They use
every opportunity
blame him for the excesses of that horrible Inquisition, even
though St. Francis died several years before the Inquisition
ever began. Of late,
in a curious but not entirely unexpected turn of events, the
Hindu Right agenda is being tacitly supported by some casteist-Catholics.
Violence is never the solution to any issue. Besides, the cyclic
nature of events means that violence always begets more
violence. TGF hopes that the rare common sense will prevail
among Goans. No one among us can undo the past. We can
pretend that "we" were good, and "they" bad. But pretence and
hypocrisy is all it will be; for, every single major religious
group, be it Hindu, Muslim or Christian, has brutalised others
in Goa,
under the cover of religion.
It is time to shun the senseless violent ways of our
forebears, and build on the good they did.
Vandalism may be good catharsis for the anarchists. It is still
wrong. About time the Hindu communalists and their Catholic
apologists understand this, and behave accordingly.
TGF
December 1, 2005
The life and times of the Patron Saint
of many Goans, Francisco Xavier:
The co-founder of the Jesuits,
and one who the communalists love to hate.
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