Church getting Anglicised, alleges Fr

PTI, PANAJI | 28 May 2012 19:05 IST

Fr Mosen Ataide

Adopting English as medium of instruction at primary level would lead to Anglicisation of the Church, feels a Roman Catholic priest, who has voiced out his view against the authorities.

 

Expressing apprehensions over preference of English over Konkani, Fr Mousinho Ataide, who is attached to Rachol Seminary says "supporting English in primary education would result in ceasing of church services in Konkani as younger parishioners will not understand the local languages".
Incidentally, the 61-year-old priest had rubbed his shoulders with the leaders affiliated to organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) last year when the medium of instruction (MOI) controversy raised its head under the erstwhile Digambar Kamat government.
Fr Ataide's stand has surprised the institutions like the Diocesan Society of Education and Archdiocesan Board of Education that hail English as the MoI over Konkani for elementary education. 
"Who will learn amchi bhaas (our language i.e Konkani) if English education is funded by the state government? Next generation will not even be able to talk in Konkani. If the church services will be held in English, the young parishioners will understand only that language and not Konkani....It will be anglicisation of the Church," he told PTI. 
Likening the move in support of English as MOI to the incident in 1680 A.D, the priest said the then church authorities had also tried to impose upon the people to abandon Konkani and learn Portuguese. 
"The attempt of 1680 failed as people continued with Konkani," he recalled.

 


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Goeant Konkani bhaxek voir ienaxe zaite amche aiz

kamkortat mhonnieta.

konkani toxem her bharati bhaso aiz naka zaleat.englix

bhaxecho mog vaddla.amche konkani yadnikporeant englixeant uloitat chukonte eka meka konkanint uloinant.tor her lokan koxi ulounchi?

- Naveen Kulshekar, Mangalore | 31 st May 2012 14:23

 

WE ALL have right for free speech and so Rev. Mosen and we don’t have to agree with each other. What right he got to criticize the Catholic Church in GOA and distorting its image? It was and is not the Catholic Church who preserved, protected and taught a vast Konkani Literature in our Church Archives? And what is wrong if the Faithful opt to celebrate their liturgy had been Anglicized or Americanized? We grew up with other Languages other than Konkani and we never forgot to love, respect, speak and write in KONKANI. Our Tiatrist deserve a bow for their contribution all these decades of Konkani Struggle.

THE BJP Government never supported 100% to make Konkani as the Only Official Language of GOA, on contrary they belittled and many of them want to bring back old memories of Marathi into GOA, and so they were proud to take oath in Marathi when formed the New Government was convened. And as most of Goans know how the BJP used Rev. Mosen to play with them when the rest of Catholics want to keep English as medium of Education along with Konkani as compulsory language.

Let Rev. Mosen keep dreaming with BJP – and if THEY Truly Believe that KONKANI is the Language of the Land let’s verify their record that they do what they preach. Let the Diocesan Society of Education continue the good work they had been doing all these centuries, particularly after Goa’s Liberation.

GOANS should be Standing Alone to look after Ourselves and for Our Children. In politics we say ‘ ‘We Got Crooks Around Us’ and they would do anything to get elected. PARENTS have their rights and they know the BEST what to choose for their children.

- Thom, Perier | 30 th May 2012 20:27

 

THE FRENCH are fiercely PROUD of their mother tongue like no other.....late Manoharrai Sardessay ,the konkani poet,writer once narrated his stay in France [ Sorbonne university ] during his education. He said ,the language is very very sweet and more refined than the rough and downtrodden English .The elite in Europe took pride in learning and flaunting their FRENCH more than any other language.In fact in 16th/17th century England the English gentry NEVER spoke or converse in English but only in FRENCH....they spoke English ONLY with their BUTLERS/maids/coach Drivers....remember The BORDA GOANS...doing the v same here with their CREADES ? Manoharrai added that the the French was the unofficial lingua Franca of then European Elite. to prove the point Manoharrai gave the example of the a la carte menus all over Europe including Britain and across the Atlantic ..The Americas ! All the mMENU CARDS ALL OVER THE WORLD but CHINA/JAPAN/ KOREA /RUSSIA are in FRENCH and NOT IN ENGLISH ! Manoharrai also added that the language of medicine is/was FRENCH ! So why are we OBSESSED with ENGLISH ! I am extremely SORRY TO POST THIS IN ENGLISH !!!

- Lina Vaz, Betal batim | 30 th May 2012 09:56

 

The mother tongue of Jesus was not English or Portuguese...and not in the LEAST LATIN ! Although Jesus was born in Bethelhem,he grew up and spent most of his life in the north ...in Nazareth ...in GALILI ! The language there was not Hebrew ...but ARAMAIC...so he spoke only ARAMAIC...and Aramaic is not the dilect of Hebrew ,but an independent language closer to Arabic and not Hebrew ...even today it is spoken by about 6500 people in the north of Israel and Syria .Jesus called God "ELI"..which in Aramaic is GOD ! Even Latin that we Goans used to RECITE as children for our religious activities was never the language of the our religion ....our religion is NOT EUROPEAN BUT ASIAN like ALL GREAT RELIGIONS ! After many centuries our religion reached Europe and our good old religion was EUROPEANISED OR WESTERNISED and the new languages were introduced especially LATIN ! Similarly we and our children are made to falsely believe that the ALIEN lang English IS OUR LANGUAGE ! the JAPANESE /CHINESE / KOREANS / RUSSIANS made tremendous PROGRESS IN virtually EVERYTHING without ENGLISH ! WHY CAN`T GOANS ????

- Lina Vaz, Betal batim | 30 th May 2012 09:39

 

father you are a good soul and we like u. problem is not with the people its with the politicians. If i have understood correctly the medium issue is " out of 4 subjects taught at primary level whether 3 be taught in english and 1 in local language or 3 in local language and 1 in english (rest of education from secondary onwards is to be in english). congress supported english. Bjp menifesto says local. But parrikar has not made any public declaration. Both groups should force him to take a stand instead of fooling people. Afterall he is cm and education minister both.

- peter, margao | 29 th May 2012 16:08

 

as long as our children will have English as the medium of instruction/learning,our mother tongue has absolutely NO FUTURE ! its not Marathi that is the No.one enemy of Konkani...but ENGLISH.!..as the Portuguese KILLED the mother tongue Konkani of our Bamon and Chadde kiristaos during the 17th/18 th/19th 20 th century...NOW ENGLISH IS KILLING OUR MOTHER TONGUE of the remaining Catholic downtrodden ...the SUDIRS ! I was brought up in a Bamon quarters of Margao and in the 60s our elders spoke broken Concanni with only the CREADES...it was the language of the CREADES then !everybody conversed ONLY in PORTUGUESE ! Now,it is happening with the rest of the population...a bitter truth !go to ANY catholic function ...one wd only hear ENGLISH !

- Lina Vaz, Betal batim | 29 th May 2012 15:51

 

Dear Father,

I do respect you , and please do not put obstruction for something good is going to happen ,

i do study in local school in my mother tongue and Mharati , but where i am working i need ENGLISH .

And you know very well in own church all documents in English , will you please show us if you have any documents in Konkani , Every GOAN speak thier mother and WE ALL RESPECT OUR MOTHER TONGUE. BUT WE ARE PEOPLE OF GOA LOOKING FOR GREAT FUTURE FOR CHILDREN AND CHILDREN OF GOA.

- elffy velho, oslo | 29 th May 2012 15:16

 

Fr. Ataide the onus of preserving Konkani language is not only with the Church. It is also with the government. Also, is it only the poor who has to preserve our mother tongue and not the rich ?. And are you trying to tell us that only Christians forget our mother tongue and not the Hindus who use Marathi /Sanscrit in their religious rites.The majority in Goa are the Hindus and its time they shoulder the burden of preserving our mother tongue Konkani and not patronize Marath. With the policy of grants to regional languages the government is trying to bring in Marathi from the back door. I and rest of Goans will support your views ONLY IF KONKANI IS PROMOTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND NOT MARATHI & OTHER LANGUAGES

- A. Pinto, Olaulim | 29 th May 2012 13:48

 

Dear Fr.

I too have done my education in English right from Nursery but i stil love my konkani and participate in Konkani mass and also speak konkani though i reside out of Goa. I love my Goa and konkani. So please allow MOI to be in English. It facilitates a lot.

- Sheral, Mumbai | 29 th May 2012 09:27

 

thanks for reminding the incident of 1680 A.D.

when will we understand that this is not only about any language or any script.

sustaining our mother tongue is about sustaining our "GOAN IDENTITY".

our goan dance, folk, music, food, culture, nature, language, etc., is vanishing day by day...

today we are into special efforts to protect these..(imagine that which was our way of life, and our daily chores, created our own goan life and identity)

special efforts to prevent that?

language seems to be our last resort to sustain our own goan identity, in the future...world

- manoj sinai talauliker, margao | 29 th May 2012 06:41

 

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