Goa church institutes fund for Uttarakhand rain fury victims

Goa Church has instituted a fund to help in the rehabilitation of flood ravaged Uttarakhand with Archbishop of Goa and Daman appealing the parishioners to contribute to the account generously.
"The church in Goa has been following this calamity with deep consternation and grief and expresses its solidarity and sympathy with the thousands of people who have lost their family members, homes and other enterprises," Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Fr Filipe Neri Ferrao, said in the circular issued to all the parishes today.
"We appeal to all to offer fervent prayers for the hapless victims of this disaster, particularly those who lost their dear ones, suffered injuries, were traumatised and lost everything," he said.

The Archbishop said that "in this hour of pain, we need to reach out to our brothers and sisters in distress, not only through our prayer, but also materially."
"The Church in Goa has been generous in the past, when natural calamities of this nature have created havoc in the lives of whole populations. Time has come to rise up again to the call of distress. Let us respond to this great challenge and help the Uttarakhand victims to reconstruct their lives and strengthen their faith in humankind," the circular said.
The circular would be read out during Sunday masses so as to make parishioners aware about the fund.