Building of the Santo Sebastião Igreja - at Aquém-Alto, Margão.

The Santo Sebastião Capela better known as "Pandava Capela", as it stood
adjacent to the cave built by the original inhabitants called "Pandovs". This
Chapel elevated into full fledged Church in last November, 2002. The first
Padre Vigário being Fr. James Torres e de Silva originally from Raia village.

The Santo Sebastião is a recognizable name to Goan household, and many Goans
have taken this name after this Saint e.g. Sebastião or in Konkani "Bostião".

There are quite number of Saint Sebastian Chapels in Goa, matter of fact, I was

born close to the range of Saint Sebastian Chapel in Comba, Margão. I'm not aware
of any Church named after St. Sebastian in Goa. I can be corrected.

The new Church will be built adjacent to the Chapel, it's edifice will face
the main street, the road leading to Margão. The façade of the new edifice
will match the centuries old church architecture of Goa, the East of Rome.

The existing Chapel will remain in place untouched. The existing buildings
that of Escola Primaria, basement garages, residence of Padre Vigar, Padaria
and rental properties of the church will be demolished.

The new parking lot and ancillary support spaces of the church will be built around the church. The Church level will stay above the street level. The Church will have
provision for future air conditioning.

The Request for proposals (RFP's) to obtain from the Goan Architects has been
advertised. The selected Architect and the Contractors shall be Goans only.

The estimated Construction Budget will be about Rs. 2 crores.

Fund Raising

The Church belongs to the laity. And it's the responsibility of the laity to
build the church. All Goans from Aquém-Alto and the sons of the soil who are
abroad will be requested to chip in. Padre Vigar Fr. James and the Parish
Council is assigned this enormous task of raising funds. Fr. James will
approach everyone possible including the government of Goa to collect contributions to the fund.

I (Agnelo Gomes) have assured Fr. James to go ahead to begin the ground
breaking, while Fr. James had visited me last week at my residence in Voorhees,
New Jersey. The Church will be built with my assurance. And, there should be the
sign indicating that the church built by funding of Agnelo Gomes and others.
However, my wife said I know that you're an honest Agnelo of the soil, and that
you can provide funding, but you cannot order them to engrave the stone that
the Church is built by "Santo Agnelo!!!". It seems she's right the funding has
to come from all sources, after all the church belongs to the laity.

Fr. James soon will inform us where to send the check, at what address,
payable to what fund name. The account is controlled by 3 signatures.

Agnelo Gomes
former Resident of Aquém-Alto

USA