A multimedia presentation of faith events celebrating their jubilees this pastoral year of 2010-2011 enthralled an audience of 3,000 people filling to capacity the vast compound of the Holy Cross Church, Sta. Cruz which played host to the event through the good will of its Parish Priest , Fr. Cristovao Caldeira and support of its parishioners. Held on February 26, 2011, the celebration commemorated 500 years of the First Holy Mass celebrated on the Goan soil on 25 November, 1510. It is from this central celebration that other feats were achieved for Jesus and His Kingdom: the IV Centenary of the building which now houses the Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol, the cradle for so many priests who went far and wide around the world launching foundations for new communities for Christ, III Centenary of the phenomenon that Bl. Joseph Vaz is, and the I Centenary of the other phenomenon that Mother Teresa of Kolkatta is.

Early in the programme, H. E. the Archbishop-Patriarch of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman,, M. Rev. Filipe Neri Ferrão, who presided over the function, addressing the assembly spoke about the centrality of the Holy Eucharist for the Church and reminded how the Christians, down the centuries, drawing a power from this source could witness to Jesus present in this Most Holy Sacrament; and Rachol Seminary, the personality of Bl. Joseph Vaz and his ministry specially in North Kanara and Ceylon, Sri Lanka now as well as the person of Mother Teresa of Kolkatta coupled with the unrelenting zeal for the poorest of the poor in the streets of Kolkatta are some of the shining achievements of this power. He illustrated this with an incident from the life of Mother Teresa who expressed her determination that, in spite of the urgent work with the wounded in an hospital, her sisters would have to spend one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament without which the sisters would not be able to offer unrelenting services in that hospital. And that one hour of adoration is one of the rules of her order.

While the parishioners of Sta. Cruz, under the direction of Mr. Peter Barbosa, enacted with aplomb the episodes of the First Holy Mass and the vocation and the ministry of Mother Teresa of Kolkatta, the Seminarians of the Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol, doing their graduation at St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa, under the guidance of Fr. George Ratos, expressively the various facets of human, Christian and priestly formation in the seminary – a formation which would lead them to witness to Jesus; Fr. Robin Rodrigues, Parish Priest at Candolim Church and for long years Rector of the Bl. Joseph Vaz sanctuary, made a convincing case for the sanctity and heroism of this great man Goa can rightly be proud of, Bl. Joseph Vaz. Mrs Adolfina Thamm and Sr. Joly together with  Viva Goa Group situated these jubilee events in time and space through choreography.

Fr. Ralin D’Souza, sdb, who, together with Mr. Antonzito Gomes, conceptualized, planned and executed the event for the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, under the aegis of the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, welcomed those present stressing that the celebration is not just a memorial of the past but a challenge to be inspired by it and march forward in this journey of faith creating a space for Jesus. Fr. Francisco Caldeira, while thanking those present, the various groups who take pains to stage the episodes under their responsibility, and those who contributed to give colour to the event, said that the journey of faith is always a journey through the bumpy roads of life; it is so that that St. Thomas, the Apostle and St. Francis Xavier reached these Indian shores; it is through such roads that they witnessed effectively to Jesus; and added that even staging of this celebration was a journey through the same bumpy road of hesitation, vagaries of weather as to create frustration; it is a sense of solidarity and faithfulness of all that the presentation was a success. He also thanked Mrs. Victoria Fernandes, MLA of Sta. Cruz constituency, and Mrs Rosie Fernandes, Sarpanch of Sta. Cruz for giving us the privilege of their presence.

Contributing towards the success of the night one would have to mention Fr. Antonio Albuquerque and Mr. Peter Barbosa for compering the event, Assis and his team for enhancing the presentation with the sound and light effects, Mr.         Fernandes for the arrangement of refreshments and other well wishers who had a role to play for the smooth running of the event and Mr. Agnelo Lobo and his team for the videography and photography.