Diamond Jubilee Mass at Cranford draws thousands as Archbishop of Goa’s week-long UK tour closes with Mass at St Vincent de Paul, Osterley
Archbishop of Goa, Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, spent a week in the United Kingdom from 31 July to 8 August, presiding at Masses for Goan communities across London, Swindon and Southall, and calling on the faithful to measure success not by career alone, but by character, compassion and discipleship.
The centrepiece of the visit was the Diamond Jubilee Mass of the Goan Association (GOA UK), celebrated before thousands at Cranford Community College grounds in Hounslow on 2 August, the opening day of the “UK Goan Festival”. The Mass was concelebrated by Pilar Fathers serving in the UK — Fr Lucas Rodrigues, Fr Renato Andrade, Fr Feroz Fernandes and Fr Stephen Dias — alongside visiting priests Fr Patrick D’Souza and Fr Francis Rosario, and Fr Alexander Da Costa Fernandes OSB, a Benedictine from Worth Abbey.
In his homily, drawing on Isaiah’s invitation, “Come to the water, all you who are thirsty,” Cardinal Ferrão reflected on the experience of migration that shapes so many Goan families in Britain. “Wherever Goans have gone, they have carried something precious: their faith, their family values, their love for the parish community, their music, their generosity, and their joyful celebration of life,” he said.
But he was equally candid about the cost of that journey. “Migration inevitably brings opportunities, but it also brings challenges. Living in another country means learning another culture, raising children in a different environment, balancing different identities and, for people of faith, ensuring that material success does not come at the cost of spiritual depth.”
Turning to the younger generation, the Cardinal urged families to model a fuller understanding of achievement. “Your children need your witness more than your words,” he said. “They need to see parents who pray together, grandparents who pass on stories of faith, families who gather for Sunday Mass. They also need to see young adults who understand that success is measured not only by career but also by character, compassion and discipleship.”
Reflecting on the Gospel account of the feeding of the five thousand, the Cardinal encouraged the community not to dwell on scarcity but to offer what they have. “Jesus does not ask us first what we lack. He asks us what we have,” he said, listing the gifts already present among Goans in Britain: “a strong faith, a tradition of prayer, respect for family life, love for the Church, hospitality, musical talent, a willingness to serve” and “professional skills in many fields.” Placed at the service of Christ, he said, these gifts “become food for many.”
He called on Goans to carry that same missionary spirit into their new home: “Be bridges between cultures. Be witnesses of reconciliation in a divided world. Be voices for the poor and forgotten. Be joyful disciples whose lives attract others to Christ.”
Beyond Cranford, the Cardinal’s programme took him across the dioceses of Westminster and Clifton: Konkani Masses at St Michael and St Martin’s, Hounslow (3 August), Holy Rood Church, Swindon (4 August), and St Anselm’s, Southall (5 August); an English Mass back at Holy Rood for the Feast of the Transfiguration (6 August); and, finally, Mass at St Vincent de Paul, Osterley (7 August).
Over those eight days, Cardinal Ferrão covered some 770 km across England, celebrating Mass for Goan and parish communities and, more often than not, staying on afterwards to meet, listen to and encourage the faithful to keep the fervour of their faith alive.
Despite that global standing, parishioners noted how readily the Cardinal engaged with them one-to-one. He brought to the visit a wealth of experience — as President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), and holder of two recent Vatican curial appointments as a Member of the Dicastery for Evangelization and Member of the Dicastery for Communication, as well as a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod — yet was glad simply to meet people after each Mass.
For the communities that welcomed him, the visit was a rare chance to encounter the Archbishop of Goa not simply as a guest, but as a shepherd speaking directly into the lived experience of migration, family and faith that so many parishioners share. His closing words at the Cranford Mass, drawn from St Paul, remain a fitting summary of the message he leaves behind: “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
