Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 108

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Today's Topics:

   1. Geopolitical reflections on escalating West Assia crisis
      (Nelson Lopes)
   2. Read: "The Goan priest who helped save Catholicism in Sri
      Lanka" (Vivek Pinto)


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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 07:57:35 +0530
From: Nelson Lopes <[email protected]>
To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!"
	<[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Geopolitical reflections on escalating West Assia
	crisis
Message-ID:
	<CACCOymKjy+iS1KjkS+A9sCkAmRBgWP_J_WSAh16wwxNjmgDRkQ-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Geopolitical Reflections on the Escalating West Asia Crisis

It is indeed ironic that Donald Trump, who once promised to end wars, was
simultaneously perceived as pursuing the Nobel Peace Prize. The unfolding
crisis in West Asia raises complex questions about global power dynamics
and strategic intentions.

Israel, with its powerful international lobby, considers Iran a declared
existential threat to its national security. Iran?s nuclear ambitions,
missile capabilities, and regional influence remain central concerns.
Economic distress within Iran and episodes of domestic unrest may have
created conditions that facilitated external strikes.

While the United States may have limited direct stakes, it has extended
strong support to Israel. The declared objectives?regime change, halting
uranium enrichment, and limiting missile production?constitute a formidable
and ambitious agenda. History demonstrates that regime changes in countries
such as Iraq and Libya required prolonged military engagement and ?boots on
the ground,? suggesting that such outcomes are rarely swift or simple.

Iran?s Revolutionary Guard remains a formidable force, deeply loyal to the
theocratic regime. Despite reported obliteration of segments of leadership,
the second line of command appears resilient. The rapid escalation of the
war theatre across West Asia indicates determined resistance from remaining
leadership structures committed to defending Iran?s sovereignty.

Theoretically, Iran poses a broader regional danger through its support of
armed groups such as Hamas and Houthis, which have contributed to
instability and conflict in the region. Notably, Iran?s missile stockpiles
remain operational, with some reportedly penetrating Israel?s advanced
defense shields. This capability could become a decisive factor in the
event of a prolonged war.

The Strait of Hormuz?a critical maritime passage for global oil
supplies?may emerge as a key bargaining lever. Reports of ships in the
region catching fire underscore the volatility of the situation.
Furthermore, any attack on a United States aircraft carrier, long regarded
as virtually invulnerable, signals Iran?s intent to project strength and
deterrence.

The situation remains fluid, complex, and fraught with consequences not
only for West Asia but for global stability.

  Nelson Lopes
Chinchinim

Nelson Lopes
Chinchinim
https://lopesnelsonnat.wordpress.com


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 17:24:43 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "The Goan priest who helped save Catholicism
	in Sri Lanka"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9xdf9CvJX0m_xTTYcTx95zwdZUmmaAuQUF5N8FjL_+HVg-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Ajay Kamalakaran
Published in: *Scroll*
Date: March 2, 2026
Source:
https://scroll.in/magazine/1091111/the-goan-priest-who-helped-save-catholicism-in-sri-lanka
In 17th-century Ceylon, as Dutch rulers drove Catholics underground, Joseph
Vaz slipped onto the island and rebuilt a shattered church.

In January, as Sri Lanka continued to draw Indian pilgrims tracing the
Ramayana trail, another group crossed the Palk Strait on a different
spiritual journey. A delegation of 125 Goan Catholics arrived in Kandy to
mark the 315th annual feast of St Joseph Vaz, popularly known as the
?Apostle of Sri Lanka?.

For the pilgrims from Goa, the journey carried a special sense of
connection. Vaz was born in 1651 in Benaulim, a village in south Goa. Yet
it was across the Palk Strait, in what was then Ceylon, that he would leave
his deepest mark. He spent 24 years on the island, leading a revival of
Catholicism, which had been severely repressed after the Dutch seized
Portuguese possessions on the island by 1658.

His life is still celebrated by Sri Lanka?s Catholic community, now
estimated at around 1.6 million people. Much of what is known about the
missionary comes from church records preserved on the island. The website
of the Archdiocese of Colombo notes that Vaz showed a deep interest in
prayer as a child and was nicknamed the ?Little Saint? in his youth.

Ordained at 25, Vaz first moved to present-day Karnataka, where he built
churches and schools. Various missionary groups were active across southern
India at the time, ministering to small communities. While in Karnataka, he
received news of the persecution of Catholics in Ceylon under Dutch rule.
Common enemy

The Dutch first arrived in Ceylon in the early 17th century, by which time
the Portuguese had already been established on the island for nearly a
hundred years.

When the Dutch attacked Portuguese strongholds, they were backed by the
Kandyan kingdom. The Kandyan royalty, bitterly opposed to the common enemy,
had long accused the Portuguese of using aggressive conversion methods,
similar to those employed in Goa.

In 1638, the Kandyans and the Dutch signed the Westerwold Treaty, forming a
formal alliance to drive out the Portuguese. One provision of the treaty,
signed by King Rajasinha II and Admiral Adam Westerwold, called for a
clampdown on Catholicism.

Article 17 of the treaty stated: ?The King was not to tolerate any Roman
Catholic priests, monks, or other ecclesiastics, but was to do his best to
exterminate them, they being the cause of all commotion, dissensions and
disturbances, wherever they were, who also set up the inhabitants of the
country against the King.?

By 1658, the Portuguese were completely expelled from the island. As RG
Anthonisz, the chief archivist in Colombo, wrote in his 1929 book *The
Dutch in Ceylon*, the Dutch ?eventually drove away the Portuguese from
their fastnesses and settlements, and in their turn, held dominion over the
sea-board provinces of the island for a hundred and fifty years?.

Once in control, the Dutch rulers moved to consolidate power. ?Having
possessed themselves of Negombo, Galle, Kalutara, Colombo, and Jaffna, and
acquired dominion over some of their surrounding country, the Dutch next
turned their attention to the establishment of a proper civil government,
and to the administration of justice among the people who they found among
their territory,? Anthonisz wrote. ?These consisted mainly of low-country
Sinhalese ? so called to distinguish them from the King?s subjects in the
hill country ? who had been a century-and-half subject to the
Portuguese...and had...intermarried with them and adopted Portuguese names
and the Roman Catholic religion.?

The Dutch, looking to establish the Dutch Reformed Church, banned Catholic
priests and rituals while appropriating their churches and converting them
to Dutch churches. The Catholic community was forced to go underground and
European missionaries barred from reaching the island. To mock Catholicism,
the new rulers called it ?Popery?.

?The Dutch might have been religious liberals in Holland, but not in Sri
Lanka,? noted Sri Lankan anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere in an essay in
the 2017 book *Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History*.
Miracle rain

As reports of persecution reached southern India, Vaz decided to secretly
go to the island.

?In 1687, he courageously travelled to Sri Lanka, disguised as a labourer,?
the Archdiocese of Colombo says on its website. ?Upon his arrival in
Jaffna, he secretly ministered to the faithful, reviving Catholic
communities that had been deprived of priests for decades. His tireless
work included administering sacraments, celebrating Mass in secret, and
training local catechists to sustain the faith in challenging conditions.?

His activities soon drew the attention of the Dutch and the Kandyan
aristocracy. In 1692, five years after his arrival in Ceylon, Vaz was
arrested by the authorities in Kandy on suspicion of being a Portuguese
spy. However, King Vimaladharmasuriya II, the son of Rajasinha II, was
convinced that Vaz posed no danger and released him.

In 1696, Kandy was struck by severe drought and famine. ?Many traditional
rituals were performed but they failed to get rain,? historian Ramesha
Jayaneththi wrote in a 2019 paper in Rajarata University?s *Journal of
Studies in Humanities*. ?Some Catholics in the royal court suggested to the
king to request Fr. Vaz to pray to his god. He accepted it and according to
the Catholic sources in the Biblioteca de Ajuda in Lisbon, a miracle
happened. Then the king and lay Buddhist people admired Fr. Vaz as an
ascetic person.?

Church accounts claim Vaz?s prayers led to ?torrential rains?. After this
?miracle?, he was permitted to continue his ministry in Kandy and later
built a chapel in the city.

?Between 1698 and 1710, Fr. Vaz and his fellow Oratorian priests tirelessly
built churches, schools, and social centers across the island,
strengthening the Catholic faith,? the Archdiocese of Colombo says on its
website. ?He traveled extensively, ministering to Catholics in Colombo,
Negombo, Mannar, Trincomalee, and beyond. His devotion to the Blessed
Virgin Mary led him to expand the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, which
remains a major pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka today.?

The Dutch continued to monitor him, but other priests from Goa joined his
efforts, assisting him and helping translate Catholic texts into Sinhala
and Tamil.

In a 1974 lecture, Edmund Peiris, Bishop Emeritus of Chilaw, said Vaz
?revived the drooping spirits of the downtrodden Catholics?. He described
Vaz and the priests who followed him as instrumental in preserving
Catholicism in Sri Lanka, arguing that their efforts secured the Church a
place in the country?s cultural life.
Flourishing community

Not all missionaries were viewed in the same light. Vaz?s disciple, the
Goan priest Jacome Gonsalvez, was not as revered by the wider Sri Lankan
public as he used his knowledge of idiomatic Tamil and Sinhalese to pursue
a more ?militant? form of missionary activity, according to Obeyesekere.
Vaz, by contrast, came to be seen as a bridge-builder between Catholicism
and Buddhism.

?During his missions, Fr. Vaz faced many hardships, including tropical
diseases, harsh travel conditions, and continued suspicion from Dutch
authorities,? the Archdiocese of Colombo says. ?Yet, his unwavering faith
and resilience allowed him to persevere. His missionary work extended to
the far corners of the island, reaching villages and towns where
Catholicism had nearly vanished.?

By the time of his death in Kandy in 1711, Vaz had helped establish 15
churches and 400 chapels in a country that had an estimated 70,000
practising Catholics.

King Vimaladharmasuriya II?s respect for Vaz, and his tolerance of
Catholicism, also played a role in preserving the religion in Sri Lanka.
?Father Vaz?s missionary outreach embraced a vast area, and there is little
doubt that today?s Catholic population in the Kandyan kingdom and much of
the low country owe considerably to the toleration of this apostolic work
by the Kandyan kings,? Obeyesekere wrote.

Since Vaz?s time, Sri Lanka?s Catholic community has flourished, producing
prominent figures such as filmmaker Lester James Peries, cricketer Chaminda
Vaas and musician Sunil Perera of the band Gypsies. The community spans Sri
Lanka?s linguistic divide, with Catholics in both the Sinhalese-majority
south and the largely Tamil north.

After the British expelled the Dutch in 1796, Catholics were not directly
targeted again until the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

Vaz was beatified by Pope John Paul II during his 1995 visit to Sri Lanka.
Twenty years later, he was canonised by Pope Francis. More than three
centuries after his death, his legacy continues to link Goa and Sri Lanka.

*Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer, primarily based in Mumbai. His latest
book, *Colombo:
Port of Call*, has been published by Penguin Random House.*


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 108
***************************************