RSSPANAJI, India (UCAN) — For the seventh year running, the Indian navy has denied pilgrims access to an old church on an island near Goa.
On Feb. 2, some 300 Catholics and Hindus from Goa and neighboring Karnataka state tried to visit the island of Anjediva which houses Goa’s first church.
The Portuguese built the church 10 years before they conquered Goa in 1510. Since then, people have celebrated the annual feast of Our Lady of Springs on Feb. 2 here, some 120 kilometers south of the Goan capital, Panaji.
But things started to change in 1991 when the Goan government gave the 370,032-hectare island to the navy to build a 13 billion-rupee (then some US$268 million) naval base.
The navy had agreed to allow civilians to visit the church twice a year, for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which is also on Feb. 2, and the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi on Oct. 4.
But in 2004, a Hindu group claimed it had the right to celebrate a Hindu feast on the island. The group threatened violent protests if Goan Catholics were allowed access.
Authorities later barred all access.
Anthony Martins, a Catholic from Goa, said this year some 300 pilgrims turned up seeking permission to pray at the church. They included some Hindu fishermen from Karnataka’s Karwar region, who traditionally also pray at the church.
Godfrey Gonsalves, a layman spearheading Catholic efforts to gain access to the church, said there were rumors the navy had agreed to allow entry this year.
On Feb. 3, several people attended a meeting which called for the ban, imposed by the deputy commissioner of Karwar, to be lifted.
Gonsalves says the ban is illegal since Karwar’s commissioner has no jurisdiction over the island, which is still part of Goa.
Karwar is in Karnataka state.
Devidas Harikantra, a Hindu fisherman from Karwar, criticized the navy’s “hegemonic” attitude. “This island is of great importance to people of all religions,” he asserted.
ID08721.1587 February 4, 2010 32 EM-lines (327 words)
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