Bombay catholics remember pastoral leadership of Cardinal Dias
Jun 27, 2006
With prayers and best wishes, Catholics of Bombay archdiocese said farewell to Cardinal Ivan Dias, who goes to Rome on June 26 evening to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Mumbai (UCAN, June 26, 2006) -- In the last of a series of farewell functions, 2,000 Catholics gathered on June 25 at St. Stanislaus School in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Mumbai is 1,410 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. A prayer-dance, songs and messages of congratulations highlighted the function.
Cardinal Dias, who has led the archdiocese for nine years, is the first Asian to head the powerful Vatican congregation that administers mission dioceses, mostly in Asia and Africa.
Father Anthony Charanghat, the archdiocesan spokesperson, told UCA News that Bombay "is grateful" to the cardinal for giving it "a sense of united direction and spirited vision by his dynamic and uncompromising leadership."
Sister Sunanda of Uttan parish told UCA News at the last farewell program "we are happy for the cardinal" because he is embarking on a new mission.
Sister Asha, another nun from Uttan, said Cardinal Dias has "done a lot" for the city, and Catholics in Bombay archdiocese are happy he is called to "bigger challenges." She added, "We will continue praying for him."
Mercy Mathew, a laywoman, told UCA News the cardinal's visit to her Worli parish "touched our hearts and his presence among us made a big difference."
Thomas Lobo, archdiocesan pastoral council vice president, said the Church in Mumbai is indebted to Cardinal Dias "for the spiritual fervor he engendered in the archdiocese by the force of his own personal example of prayer and piety." Lobo noted that the farewell's venue was the same place where the prelate had been welcomed in 1997 as the new archbishop of Bombay. He became a cardinal four years later.
The layman cited the initiative of Cardinal Dias to convene the 2001 archdiocesan synod as one of the cardinal's achievements. "He has ensured a greater involvement of the laity in the affairs of the Church," Lobo said.
Other achievements, he said, include the cardinal's "strong advocacy" of the Small Christian Community movement, as well as establishing lay ministries and ordaining India's first permanent deacons in his archdiocese.
Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes of Gandhinagar and secretary general of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India attended the event. The Jesuit prelate said that upon their first meeting in 1997, Cardinal Dias impressed him as "welcoming and homely." He also said, "His zest for work is proverbial."
Cardinal Dias repeatedly thanked the people for their love and prayers. Then, alluding to allegations that the Church uses social works as ploys to convert people, the cardinal said that Church health-care, educational and social projects "have no ulterior motives and no conversion strings attached."
He also told the gathering, "I have a dream that India may have an abundance, not only of political parties, but also statesmen and women who are outstanding in moral integrity and are alert to combat the three evils - caste-ism, corruption and communalism."
During the previous week, the cardinal attended several other farewell and congratulatory ceremonies organized by various groups in the archdiocese.
One such event was at a remote parish in Raigad, where he launched relief and rehabilitation work after floods hit the region in 2005. Father Carlton Kinny of Mahad parish said, "We organized a small function for him" because he wanted to visit the area where "a lot of relief work has been undertaken."
The priest also pointed out to UCA News that when Cardinal Dias visited the area after the floods, he was upset to see the neglected and homeless tribal people. Father Kinny summed up his regard for the cardinal by saying he is "a firm leader and a good shepherd, and we will miss him."
Bombay catholics remember pastoral leadership of Cardinal Dias