By Michael Gonsalves
INDIA – Thousands of Catholics walked from their parishes in the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman in western India to the Our Lady of Good Health Church in Sancoale as part of an annual penitential pilgrimage.
Father Barry Cardozo, director of the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, said this year being the Jubilee Year of Hope, the annual pilgrimage was themed “Pilgrims of Hope, Let Us Proclaim the Good News.”
“A special feature this year was the depiction of the images of the Passion of Christ and scenes showing Christ accompanying people in difficult situations,” he told UCA News on Mar 9.
The depictions were created by youth members of different parishes across Goa who participated in large numbers, offering penance and prayers.
“Over 28,000 men and women walked from Neura, Cansaulim, Bambolim, Verna, and Vasco to the Church, considered one of the pious places in Goa,” said Father George Ratos, convenor of the diocesan Lenten Walking Pilgrimage.
The pilgrims covered around 15 kilometers on foot from the five designated spots marked for the pilgrimage, the priest told UCA News on Mar 9.
“It was a sea of humanity. One had to see it to believe it,” Ratos added.
The pilgrimage walk started early morning, around 2.00am on Mar 9, and they reached their destination at 5.00am for adoration, followed by the Eucharist, Ratos said.
Tany Fernandes, a mother of two, said she covered 15 kilometers on foot with a group of 2,000 pilgrims. It was her first time participating in the event.
“We recited the rosary and sang hymns. The atmosphere was filled with the spirit of faith, and I stopped feeling the aches in my feet,” Fernandes said.
She had come to seek healing for her 53-year-old husband, Jefferino Fernandes, who is undergoing kidney dialysis.
Fraji Monteiro, who participated in the live depiction of the Passion of the Christ scene during the walk, said it brought him closer to God.
“I could personally feel to some extent the suffering and agony Christ went through,” he said, adding it was “a day of repentance and purification of heart” for him.
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, who led the Mass, invited the people to follow the example of Lord Jesus Christ, who walked as a pilgrim of hope in this world.
“In spite of all the trials and tribulations, he remained faithful to his mission of saving us from the slavery of sin and death and offered us new life and hope,” the prelate said.
He urged the penitential walkers to renew their lives and become “beacons of faith and hope to everyone.”
The pilgrimage began in 2019 in the archdiocese, which covers the tiny Indian state next to Daman and Diu to its north on the west coast of India.
Goa, a former Portuguese colony, has around 500,000 Catholics among its 1.8 million people.
It remains one of the main centers of the Catholic Church in Asia. – UCA News
