Good Friday processions will reflect Christians' anxiety over attacks

MUMBAI: The weekly signboard outside a church in Amboli reads, 'If you need violence to enforce your ideas, your ideas are worthless'.
An air of insecurity pervades the air as the Christian community prepares to observe Good Friday and Easter this weekend. Easter is the most important festival of the faith for it celebrates Christ's resurrection from the dead.This year the usual gaiety is missing owing to the incidents of violence witnessed in the past few months.
Holy Week commemorations began at Maundy Thursday with archbishop of Bombay Oswald Cardinal Gracias ceremonially washing the feet of underprivileged people at the Holy Name Cathedral in Colaba.
Good Friday sermons are expected to reflect the community's concerns. Cardinal Gracias will address a large gathering at Cross Maidan Friday evening.
Fr Ernest Fernandes, parish priest of St Stephen's Church at Malabar Hill, says, “Do you know what Jesus Christ's last words were? 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do'. He then asked God why He had forsaken him. Our message remains one of love not hatred. The authorities may say that not all recent incidents are communal but we do see a pattern in this.”
Fr Ernest is having to make several rounds of the local ward office for conducting Easter mass at August Kranti Maidan although the state government has permitted this ceremony.
Over in Kurla, Kalina and Santa Cruz Good Friday processions will also reflect anxiety. Joe Dias of the Catholic Secular Forum, whose walking pilgrimage is in its 28th year, says, “Our theme this year is persecution in India. We are praying for the government to act. Our community contributes so much towards education, healthcare and social work. Yet the government's apathy is prompting communal elements to target us. We will fast, and even as we pray for our persecutors we shall demand justice.”
In Kurla, the 430-year-old Holy Cross Church is one of the oldest churches in Mumbai. Fr Pascal Sinor says their Way of the Cross procession has come to symbolise communal harmony. “Around 10,000 people join us including members of the Swadhyay Parivar. They venerate the body of Christ as it is brought down from the crucifix and cannot bear the injustice done to him,” he says.