Mumbai: East Indian Community Asks Archbishop Of Bombay To Use Marathi Dialect In Church Services

Mumbai: Members of the East Indian community have asked Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Gracias to incorporate the use of the East Indian dialect of Marathi in religious services at churches.

Members of the Mobai Gaothan Panchayat (MGP), which represents the original inhabitants of the villages that have been incorporated into Mumbai city, met Gracias at his office in Archbishop's House, Colaba, on June 15. The community traces its origins to religious conversions by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries. The group speaks a dialect of Marathi that is influenced by Portuguese.

The meeting was arranged to promote the community’s East Indian Samaj Archdiocese (EISA) Policy that seeks to promote their culture and economic interests. Apart from the use of their dialect for mass and hymns, other issues were representation of their members as leaders in the clergy, parish groups and associations, the revival, preservation, and promotion of East Indian religious and cultural traditions and promotion of devotions to St Gonsalo Garcia, a Roman Catholic saint who is from the community.

The community has also asked for an ‘East Indian Bhavan’ at the seminary at Goregaon, simplified OBC certification process (the community has reservations in jobs and education), mention of community name in baptism certificates, housing schemes on vacant church land, preservation of crucifixes and gaothans or villages.