By M L Satyan
Bengaluru, May 15, 2020: The recent death of a woman religious candidate in a convent in Kerala came as a shock to many.
Some of the questions raised were: “Was it a suicide? Did she fall into the well by accident? What time did she fall into the well? Was she a victim of any sexual abuse? Did she leave any ‘suicidal note’? Why did it take four days to get the autopsy done? Why priests do not fall into the well?”
We need to add some more questions? Why young nuns/candidates meet with untimely death in their own convents? During the last three years we have seen young priests committing suicide (by hanging from ceiling fan, jumping in front of the running train) in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. What compelled them to take this extreme step? Did such deaths occur in the past in other countries too? The frank answer is a big YES. Unfortunately, such news rarely surfaced.
Church History has seen murders of Popes and ‘untimely death’ of Cardinals, Arch/bishops, Priests, Nuns, Seminarians and Candidates of religious congregations. Such deaths remained mysteries. A few years ago, the Rector of St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru was murdered. The cause of the murder is still not known to the public.
There are three specific areas in the Catholic Church that still remain ‘mystery’. They are Wealth, Wine and Women. Let us look at these areas separately.
Wealth: During the first three centuries, the Christians retained the innocence of the apostolic tradition; although the Church’s wealth had become substantial, they managed to act in harmony with Christ’s injunction about poverty. The apostolic tradition of poverty was eventually abandoned.
The Catholic Church thus gradually became the custodian of wealth acting as its distributor and administrator. Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity in AD 313. The State became the protector. With this came not only power, but also wealth. Accumulation of the latter was no longer regarded solely for the purpose of helping the poor. It became a visible testimony to her newly found status; a necessity which went with her prestige and mounting strength and power.
The establishment of the Papal States provided the Roman Catholic Church with a territorial base of paramount importance. From then on it enabled her to launch upon the promotion of a bold policy directed at the accelerated acquisition of additional lands, gold, status, prestige and power that went with them. By virtue of the Donation of Constantine, the popes loudly claimed to be the feudal lords of all the islands of the ocean, and started to dispose of them according to their will.
This financial expedient proved abundantly productive with other popes for long periods. Such measures were not sufficiently methodical to yield a regular income. Hence the creation of regulations, the enforcement of which resulted in a steady flow of riches into St. Peter’s coffers. Some common voluntary practices were the oblations or offerings at mass or during certain feast days. This custom eventually became so widespread that the clergy treated the collection of oblations, not only as a duty on the part of their parishioners, but as a right of the clergy.
Right from the Vatican to a small parish, there is ‘lack of transparency’ in money matters. The details of wealth owned by a diocese or a religious congregation are known only to a group of privileged persons. Other members do not have any idea about it. If this is the case among priests and religious, then, what about the laity? The lay people never get an opportunity to understand the mystery of church’s wealth.
Wine: The common mindset among the laity is that ‘all priests are Alcoholics’. It is true partially. There are also priests who do not have the habit of ‘smoking and drinking alcohol’. It is sad that many priests are ‘insensitive’ when it comes to consumption of alcohol. They think that people do not notice their drinking habit.
A few classic examples: In a parish, the priest goes for family visits after drinking alcohol. This seems to be a regular affair. Mostly he goes to the liquor shop to buy and sometimes a parishioner buys for him. In another place, a liquor shop owner is one of the donors of the parish. The parish priest visits that liquor shop regularly. Once his friend asked him about his regular visits to the liquor shop. The priest answered jokingly, “Well, the liquor shop is filled with evil spirits and I go there to bless the shop and drive away the evil spirits”.
Can we imagine a birthday party or a jubilee celebration of a priest or a bishop without liquor? When international donor agency representatives come for the project visit, a lavish party, with varieties of liquor, is offered to them. This seems to be a common practice in many places.
If a ‘proper survey’ is conducted among the clergy, then, we will understand the percentage of those who are addicted to alcohol, occasional drinkers and non-drinkers. It will be a great revelation. Till then, this subject remains a mystery.
Women: In the Church History we find that there were married Popes. Concubines were present in the Papal palace to entertain the Popes. From the earlier period to till date, women have been sexually abused by the clerical groups. A few cases come to the surface now and then like some former bishops (Goa, Jalandhar, Kadapa) who had illicit sexual relationships, the priest who impregnated a minor girl in Kerala and the priests who sexually abused a woman by blackmailing her with the confessional secret in Kerala.
The above incidents are just ‘drops in the ocean’. Even today, millions of nuns, women and young girls all over the world, are victims of clerical sexual abuse. Various types of injustice are done to them. Women empowerment is still a distant dream. The role of women in the church and their relationship with clergy remain a mystery. It is time for introspection.