Goa Archbishop leads prayers for abducted Salesian

Mangalore Today News Network

Panaji, Mar 23, 2016: Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao and Catholics in the archdiocese of Goa and Daman prayed for the release of Salesian priest Rev Thomas Uzhunnalil, whom suspected Islamic militants kidnapped in Yemen.

In a statement issued by the diocesan centre for social communications media, archbishop Filip Neri expressed grief over the violent death of the four missionaries of charity nuns, one of them an Indian. The nuns were killed by extremists in Yemen, along with ten civilians.

"Invited formally by the government of Yemen, the sisters were rendering yeoman service, taking care of lepers and the elderly. We pray that God may grant them eternal rest," the centre’s director Olavo Caiado said.

"The Church in Goa also prays for the release and safe return of Uzhunnalil, SDB, another son of our country, whose whereabouts are not known. The Salesians of Don Bosco had completed 25 years of their presence and service in Yemen in the year 2012," the statement noted.

The diocese also prayed for peace to return to the war-torn region of the Middle East and Northern Africa, from where millions of refugees are risking life and limb to reach freedom on the shores of Europe.

"The bishops in those regions are expressing anguish that populations there do not have another option but to leave the land of their ancestors. We earnestly pray that good sense prevails and peace is restored in that region," Caiado said.

Equating the refugee crisis to the season of Lent and the Holy Week, the archdiocese said that innocent lives were being tortured and condemned once again amounting to a travesty of justice.

"We are approaching the holiest of the weeks in the Christian calendar, when we contemplate Jesus being sentenced to death and trudging his way up to Calvary, under the burden of his Cross: a sentence unjust, and with no recourse or reversal possible.

"Today in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world, the innocent are once again condemned. Justice is trampled as men and women are done to death or tortured simply for standing up for their faith,". Caiado said.