Holy Family Church, Marcela-Goa

                 The expectations of the Diocese of Goa, from the Religious as mentioned in the Synodal Documents (S.D.S. 108) is that Religious be authentic and exemplary communities, rooted in a deep God experience…be imbued with the Diocesan Pastoral Vision and gear their ministries towards it, to contribute ever more generously and zealously to the building up of Parish Communities… Based on these views INM has launched into another venture of taking up a Parish in Goa. Though we were in Goa from 1964, we did not have any extension besides the Apostolic School. It was a felt need for the expansion of our ministries in the Diocese.

                 The Bishop had offered many choices regarding our preference of taking up a Parish. We focused our attention on Marcela, a place in the Ponda Taluk around 32kms from our Seminary. The Parish has around 200 Catholic Families. It also has an Outstation at a place called Banastari.

              Fr. Innocent Fernandes, been appointed as Parish Priest. The handing over of the Parish took place on 1^st June 2003. The Church was full with a large assembly of people. There were 12 priests among whom 8 were SVD’s. The Episcopal Vicar for Religious, Fr. Kyriel D’Souza, SFX, welcomed the Congregation for the Ceremony and the newly appointed priests to the Holy Family Parish, Marcela, on behalf of the Bishop. Fr. Simon Fernandes, the Outgoing Parish Priest, welcomed the Newcomers with bouquet of flowers and introduced them to the Congregation.

                 Fr. Caetano took the Oath as the New Parish Priest. He was then handed the keys of the Tabernacle as the symbol of handing over of the Parish. The SVD INM Provincial, Fr. Gregory Pinto, on behalf of the SVD Society, thanked the Bishop and the Diocese as well as the Parishioners and presented the newly appointed priests to them.