As a follow up of the Goa Mission Congress that was organized in February 2009 at Pilar and in preparation for Easter 2011, the recently inaugurated Diocesan Centre for Missionary Animation is planning to hold similar Mission Congresses in eight parishes of Goa during this Lent, open to all. They will be held in Taleigao from 13-15, Siolim from 24-26, Curtorim from 28-30 March, and Navelim from 5-7, Merces from 9-10, Santa Cruz from 12-14, Fatorda from 16-17, and Moira from 18-20 April, always from 6.00 p.m. to 9.15 p.m. except at Merces and Fatorda where the program of the second day, which is a Sunday, will be from 3.30 p.m. to 9.15 p.m..

The purpose of these Mission Congresses is to bring the Message of the Goa Mission Congress at the grassroots level and help the people to understand their faith better and deepen it so that they can witness that faith in their day to day living both as individuals and as members of a community.

The Goa Mission Congress taught us that Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father as His Missionary par excellence to manifest His love toward humankind. Jesus expressed that Love eminently through his life full of compassion, especially for the poor, through his many cures aimed at restoring people to the wholeness of life, and through his teachings, giving it full expression in His Passion, Death on the Cross, and Resurrection. Jesus, in turn, commissioned His disciples to continue that same mission of Love of God to the whole world (Mt 28:16b).

The Goa Mission Congress told us further that “every faithful is called for a daily witnessing of Christ. When this witnessing cannot be done through words there is always the possibility of doing it in deeds of love and service. We need to do it at our workplace, especially in our educational and healthcare institutions and in the politico-financial-cultural-social field through an exemplary life witnessing to Christian values. We need to create such an atmosphere in our homes and Small Christian Communities. It is particularly imperative that we take people of other faiths into confidence in this task and foster reconciliation and peace amidst conflicts. Let these efforts contribute towards formation of more and more Small Human Communities.”

It is hoped that these efforts will contribute to revive the faith and make all our actions genuine expression of love and service towards all, contributing thereby to eradicate or at least lessen to the extent possible the many evils of our society.