INDIA The old chapel of Daman is in danger due to the construction of a soccer field

The local council, led by the BJP, proposes to tear down the sacred building from the Portuguese era to make room for a recreational facility and seeks the consent of the faithful. The Catholic community opposes it: people of all faiths pray here for comfort and relief in times of difficulty and anguish.

Mumbai () – Demolition of a Catholic chapel with more than 400 years of history to make way for the expansion of a soccer field. This is the bewildering proposal that the local Catholic community received from the Daman City Council. This Indian enclave city is within Gujarat, and as a former Portuguese colony it is an Indian union territory with its own jurisdiction, along with its neighbor Diu.

The church in question is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and dates from the Portuguese period. In recent days, local Catholics have launched a public campaign against the request, which was notified last November. The president of the Daman municipality, Sonal Patel – a member of the BJP, the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – responded to the initiative by promising a meeting with local priests and faithful and assuring them that the demolition would only take place after get your consent.

“The government has not yet made the decision”, confirms Fr. Anselmo D’Souza, superior of the Daman mission. “When they asked us about the social impact of the project, we replied that we are not satisfied and that we will not give up the land. About 600 people live in the vicinity of the chapel. In September, on the feast of Our Lady, people from other areas also come. In this church people pray to ask for comfort and relief in moments of difficulty and anguish: people of all faiths come to it”.

“We are sure”, reads an official letter sent by the Catholic community to the Daman city council, “that the government authorities will take our point of view into account and we hope that they will not proceed with the acquisition of the land and the religious monument”.