Louis Menezes IAS (Retd) & Dr Premila Menezes
It is a matter of anguish that with all the resources available to the Church, there should be a sizable number of Catholic families in want, in distress, in a state of insecurity.
Many of them live in very sub- standard dwellings and struggle for basic services like water. Our first question is, is the Pastor even aware of this?
Most large parishes in Chennai are fairly prosperous. There is enough money and more to be able to come to the rescue of such families. No special collections are needed. The Sunday collections and even the Dumb Boxes yield enough.
But there are preconditions. Transparency, meticulous maintenance of accounts, and close collaboration with such organisations like Saint Vincent da Paul Society (where it exists) etc.,.
There is another fundamental requirement which is a challenge to the Pastor. He must rope in professionals (especially retirees, always available in large parishes) who are ever willing to offer their services free. Our experience is that Pastors not only decline such help but, in some cases, have dispensed with such an arrangement that was working very well!
The solution may be painful to the Pastors. As followed in all Syrian Churches, including Syro-Malabar, all money matters are handled by a committee of lay people. They provide for all the needs of the Pastor, including TV, car etc., but the pastor never handles the cash. What is more, figures of how much is collected, how much spent etc., is announced at Sunday Masses. Detailed audited Accounts are available for parishioners to peruse.
In the USA, after setting aside cash for the Pastor’s needs, the Committee pays for the maintenance of the Church building and grounds, salaries of staff etc. The surplus cash is then used exclusively for the poor, education for children, meals for the elderly, groceries for poor families.
The existence of poor Catholic families in want is a sinful contrast to the lavish and wasteful spending of pastors in some churches on garish lighting(offensive to our eyes),expensive flower arrangements,and proliferation of statues inside and outside the church and totally unnecessary feeding of the whole congregation with Biryani on some occasion or another.
We cannot help citing two extremely sad instances in our Anna Nagar churches. An elderly woman parishioner was thrown out of her house by the family late one night. She went to the church(where else could she go?) and begged for a place to just lie down for the night. The priest refused. So she slept on the porch of the church. She was protected by Jesus, whose statue stood next to the porch, looking down on her with mercy.
The other tale is from the other church. A poor woman parishioner was trying to get a concession in the school fees,as she had three sons in the school in Don Bosco’s, Aynavaram. They told her that she came from a very rich parish, so could she not get the money from the Parish Priest? The PP made her run up and down 5-6 times asking for more information from the school.Finally, a parishioner gave her the money.
We are talking of a church which is disdainfully described by parishioners as “ Kalyanamandapam with shrine attached”. The fact that they charge around 1 to 1.5 lacsfora wedding reception, with no concession to poor Catholics, and incudes donation to some Paulist Trust and lot of cash payment (??? ) is another scandal. No accounts are given. Money that rightfully belongs to the Parish has been transferred in crores to the Provincial in Mumbai. This is robbery.A good share of this money as also surpluses from other prosperous parishes can be transferred to smaller parishes where money is in short supply. However, it is very important that the Parish Priest receiving this money should set up a credible Committee of parish members of good standing to oversee the assistance given to poor families. Accounts must be maintained and available for scrutiny of parishioners.
We must all ask ourselves with our heads bowed, “What are we all getting from the Bible, the Liturgies, the sermons, the unshakeable call of our Christian vocation?? What examples do the Pastors set? Do the poor Catholics see their church as their Refuge and their Hope and their Help?”
No amount of explanation in defence of these accusations can be remotely convincing in the face of the lavish spending on garish lighting, needless paving and repaving of parking spaces, expensive massive Flag Posts (seen only in temples). We have millions which we should be spending on poor Catholic Families. It is high time!
All parishioners put money in the Sunday collection and Dumb boxes,in the genuine belief that they are giving money to God. Therefore let that money be used for God’s poor and not to endlessly decorate and embellish churches.After all, it is our money,so let us have a say in how it is to be spent.
Thus, real community fellowship may be fostered as the whole Parish gets involved in helping the poor and knowing that their money is well spent.
If we are truly Christian, no Christian person in our Parish should be in want
(Louis Menezes, a retired bureaucrat, was earlier posted in the Prime Minister’s Office, and his wife is a doctor by profession. They are now settled in Chennai)