On the evening of 24th July 2025 the Parish of St. Francis Xavier Church, Chicalim was buzzing with activity and laughter as the Parish Priest warmly received the members of Diocesan Women’s Commission and the parish delegates for the inaugural function of their Parish Women’s Cell – the first one to be formed from among the 162 parishes of Goa.
Diocesan women’s Commission of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman is an organ of the Diocesan Center for Lay Apostolate in Goa. One of its goals is to establish sustainable women cells along with the empowerment of women in the Parish.
The SFX parish representative from the Mormugao deanery in the Diocesan Women’s Commission, with guidance from the Parish Priest, Fr. Bolmax Pereira and Fr. Francis Xavier Pereira got together strong, well-qualified and hard working women form the Parish to set up the Parish women’s cell. The team comprises of:
Coordinator – Dr. U. J. Wanda Viegas
Secretary – Mrs. Filomena Pereira
Treasurer – Mrs. Cynthia D’Souza
Two members:
Advocate Rochelle Rizzeria Roseline Pacheco
Mrs. Suzie Rodrigues
Spiritual member – Mrs. Saviola Fernandes (Consecrated Virgin)
The SFX parish women’s cell adopted Santa Rita de Cascia as their Patroness, for all women can identify themselves with her as a daughter, a wife, a mother, who was in an abusive marriage with all enmity around her, but with her deep devotion, perseverance in the face of impossible situations and her faith which led to miracles in hopeless cases she is called the Saint of impossible cases.
The prayer service was led by Filomena Pereira with a reading from the Gospel of John 20: 1-2, 11-18. This was followed by a thought provoking reflection by Fr. Francis Xavier on the reading about the Apostleship of Mary Magdalena who by following Jesus was the first one to see the risen Lord and to convey the news to the other Apostles. He called upon the women to also be Apostles like Mary Magdalene to deepen people’s faith.
The coordinator for the Diocesan Women’s Commission, Elaine Dias spoke on the vision, mission and goals of the women’s Commission and how we can empower women by reaching out to them, attending and conducting talks/seminars and organizing events to enrich each other.
The coordinator for the Parish Women’s Cell, Dr. U. J. Wanda Viegas introduced and welcomed the team of ladies of the Parish Women’s Cell. She addressed all the 30 ladies present at the gathering telling them about their Motto, goals and the way forward to go on with Parish Women Cell for the term of 3 years.
She called upon all the women present to work together with compassion to revive, rejuvenate and rejoice to spread happiness.
To break the monotony, Rizzeria organized a group game inviting all the ladies to join in and enjoy themselves and we had a winner of the game in Mrs. Filomena.
Memories are made and kept and photos are the best ones. Everyone gathered to have group photographs.
Finally delicious snacks prepared by the team members themselves helped to control the hunger pangs.
All in all a beautiful function unfolded itself this evening with all the ladies going away happy with a purpose and a resolve to help uplift other women. The feather in the cap is that, the first Parish Women Cell of Chicalim is formed for the 1st time in Goa during the 400 years celebrations of St. Francis Xavier Church.
