Sadbhav, an initiative to foster interfaith relations and communal harmony of the Society of Pilar, Goa, India, organised a celebration of Christmas with members from different faith communities to promote communal harmony on December 23.
The Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier, based in Goa, the Southern State of India, is commonly referred to as the Society of Pilar.
Governor of Goa, P.S. Sreedharan Pillai was the chief guest. In his keynote address, he congratulated the Society of Pilar for organising the event and lauded them for dedicating their lives for a cause of humanity.
“Christmas itself is a sadbhav. Followers of Jesus, whether they belong to any denomination, they never kept aside Sadhav. Christmas is celebrated throughout the world to create and proclaim sadbhav,” said Pillai.
In the run up to December 25, India have being experience attacks on Christians from right-wing Hindu organizations.
The governor said that “For the whole of human beings love, peace, joy and happiness was the message proclaimed at the birth of Jesus and that is followed in our country as well.”
He acknowledged that he is grateful to the Christian community for rendering selfless service to humanity through education and medical institutions.
“If there is anything that can unite us, it is God; not wealth, not power, not ethnicity, not class; they divide, God unites,” said Father Sebastiao Mascarenhas, the Superior General of the Society of Pilar.
A panel discussion was conducted on ‘Walking Together – Challenges and Opportunities. It was moderated by Pramod Acharya, the editor-in-chief at Prudent Media.
The panelist included Dr. J. Alexander IAS (Former Chief Secretary and Former Cabinet minister for Tourism, Government of Karnataka), Shefali Kale (Asst. Prof. Dept. of Philosophy, St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa-Goa), Azmina Sameer Laljee – (President, Council for Goa, Ismaili Muslims) and Gursharan Singh – Senior Veteran Indian Navy, Secretary, Gurdwara Mangoor Hill, Vasco- Goa).
Father Elvis Fernandes sfx, the Convenor of Sadbhav, said, “Sadbhav Christmas has strengthened our bonds as one human family and expressed his wish to make Sadbhav a movement that will permeate every space of Goa and beyond.”
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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