Maharashtra Govt. takes serious note of attack on priest

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, AUG. 8. The Maharashtra Government has taken ``serious note'' of the attack on a parish priest, Fr. Oscar Mendonca, by Bajrang Dal activists in neighbouring Thane on Monday night and instructed police to apprehend the assailants even as the Archbishop of Bombay, Rev. Ivan Dias, expressed his ``sincere appreciation of the personal interest taken by the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Chagan Bhujbal'' in dealing with this ``sacrilege'' and ``unfortunate incident.''

The alleged attackers, including the Thane chief of the Bajrang Dal, Mr. Sudhir Ranade, had earlier gathered for a memorial meeting outside the Thane railway station and distributed pamphlets, condemning the killing of four RSS activists in Tripura allegedly by Christians belonging to the Baptist and Presbyterian churches.

The attack on the Christian priest has sent shock waves among the minorities with priests of various dioceses protesting the incident and expressing concern at the development which they said ``hurts the tolerant fabric of our country's society.''

A church spokesman told The Hindu that the incident had ``extremely disturbed'' the community ``dedicated to service and education'' in the country.

The Maharashtra State Minorities Commission sought ``stringent action'' to curb this ``activity of extremists.'' Mr. Abraham Mathai, a member of the Commission, called on the attacked priest. What has irked the Church here is not so much the attack but the pre-meditated manner in which Bajrang Dal activists, rushed to the St. John the Baptist Church and picked Fr. Oscar Mendonca - an assistant priest who was ordained about three weeks ago. The attack was said to be in `retaliation' to the killing of the RSS activists in Tripura.

The Church wanted the Government's ``firm determination'' to punish the culprits. The Archbishop opted to ``pray for those who persecute'' and asked, at the same time, that all the Catholic schools remain closed on Monday, August 13,

as a protest a day after he himself conducted a mass at the spot in the parish rectory to ``purify the place where this sacrilege was committed.'' Since the attack was pre-meditated, ``it was more sacrilegious than an attack in a church, temple or mosque.''

All other Catholics, he suggested, in other institutions and in the Church, ``wear a black tag as a sign of silent prayer and protest the shameful incident.'' He described the incident as ``senseless and barbaric'' and called for prayers for the ``perpetrators of the criminal act so that they may be touched by God's grace and be led to change their lives for the better.'' The Archbishop said the attackers ``struck Fr. Mendonca on the head with a flower pot and beat him up badly, giving him a black eye and causing large bruises on his chest and back.''

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