Church named after India’s first saint attacked

Vandals have desecrated a church near India’s financial center Mumbai, named after the nation’s first saint.

The alter of St. Gonsalo Garcia Church under Vasai diocese, around 45 kilometers from Mumbai city, was defaced, its statues thrown to the floor and the hymn books were scattered around when they entered the church in the afternoon of Aug. 11, the parish priest said.

“We ... did not realize who came and what happened until we came to the church at 5.30 p.m.,” Father Peter Almeida told UCA News.

The desecration drew swift condemnation from the local prelate.

“The incident of desecration and vandalism of statues and religious articles” deserves condemnation “and I do condemn it,” Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai said in a statement the next day.

“This episode has hurt the religious sentiments of Catholics and the Diocese of Vasai and can be harmful to our fraternal relations between citizens of our country,” the prelate added.

Catholic lay leaders said that it was a “systematic and planned attack.”

“Police must arrest the culprits,” Godfrey Pimenta, a trustee of the Watchdog Foundation, told UCA News.

St. Gonsalo Garcia, a lay Franciscan brother from Vasai, was the Catholic Church's first Indian saint.

In 1509, the Portuguese came to Vasai and built their first church in the region in the Vasai Fort in 1535. Born in Vasai, St. Garcia accompanied the Franciscan missionaries to Japan when Vasai (then called Bassein) was part of the Portuguese colonial settlements in India.

He along with 26 was falsely accused of sedition and crucified in Nagasaki in Japan in 1597. He was declared a saint in 1862. St. Garcia is the principal patron of the Vasai diocese and the second patron of Bombay archdiocese.

The Bombay East Indian Association, a Catholic organization, in a statement condemned the attack on the church.

“St. Gonsalo Garcia is not only a revered figure in the Christian faith but also a symbol of unity among different cultures and religious beliefs,” the association said in a statement.

“St. Gonsalo Garcia holds immense significance for the local community and beyond,” it added.

 “We must ensure that those responsible are held accountable," the association said.

Ranjit Andhale, senior inspector at Manickpur police station, where the complaint was lodged by Father Almeida, told the media that police were investigating.

 “The absence of CCTV is proving a hurdle," he said.

The church has since decided to install security cameras following the incident.

On Aug.6 a Protestant pastor was attacked in Vasai after around 15 people disrupted a worship service.

The pastor is still recovering in a hospital.