Mumbai: The women’s commission of Bombay archdiocese has asked a Catholic priest to stop preaching until he undergoes a course it conducts in gender sensitivity and interreligious relationships.
Redemptorist Father Neville Fernandes upset a section of Catholics in a parish during children’s Mass on Sunday when he allegedly made some sexist remarks. He reiterated his statement on “boys being more intelligent than girls” three days later during an evening Mass. He asserted that girls have more emotional quotient while boys have more intelligence quotient.
Fr Fernandes told The Indian Express on Wednesday that he had meant to empower women by “putting sense in them.”
“I’m trying to empower women. You can empower them only if you put sense in them. Women are spoiling boys bringing them up as retarded, which is why these rapes are increasing. If the mother doesn’t differentiate between their children, then nothing will happen,” the priest said.
During Wednesday’s sermon, he added, “God has made boys intelligent but girls outshine them because they are hard working. The mother pampers the boy and makes the girl do all the work, but that is love. She doesn’t know it but that girl then becomes like gold. My niece got very good marks and she says it is because of hard work and agreed with my statement saying boys in her class are geniuses. Women are women’s worst enemies.”
The Bombay Archdiocese had on Wednesday asked the commission to look into Fr Fernandes’ sermon on Sunday.
“I am shocked at (Fr Fernandes’) arrogance on the one hand and ignorance on the other. It’s a shame that priests like Fr Neville Fernandes in one sermon undo all that we have been struggling to achieve, with their loose comments. But hopefully people like Fr Neville are in a minority, in our church,” said Marcia D’Cunha, executive secretary of the Archdiocesan Women’s Commission.
Fr Fernandes during the sermon said he can take on any women’s associations because he stands for justice and is pro-woman.