By Matters India Reporter
Chennai, Sept 5, 2020: Discrimination against Dalit Christians in the church must end, says Dalit Christian Activist.
“The Cross that the Dalit Christians carry following the commands of Jesus is made up of Iron. For that reason, we continue to face discrimination, while the Catholic Church denies the caste discrimination in India,” said S.S Waghmare from Pune.
He was speaking at the national webinar organized by various Dalit movements on Sept 5.
A virtual meeting was held on the plight of Dalit Christians, concerning the equal participation in the Indian Catholic Church hierarchy to undertake mission and ministry to serve humanity.
“We are always faithful to the Church. We have kept the faith by shedding tears and blood for the sake of Christ,” Waghmare added.
The Dalit activists from various movements supported the promotion of Dalit candidates to priesthood and appointments of Bishops.
“While the Church often denies Caste discrimination, we witness every day that the Dalit Christians continue to suffer from being the majority,” said Advocate Vimla Francis from Rajasthan.
The Christians in Rajasthan are very less and there are few priests from the Dalit community. This makes them vulnerable to take care of the Dalit Christians in Rajasthan, he said.
“If the Dalit Christians have the privilege to get an education we would be empowered,” argued Francis.
D. Seelam, retired civil service officer and former federal minister of State for Finance also reiterated saying, “I support the noble cause of promoting Dalit vocation to the priesthood and appointments of bishops.”
Dalit Christians suffer untouchability, exclusion and discrimination in the name of caste, both in the larger society and also within Church. This goes against the teachings of Christ and safeguards provided under the Indian Constitution.
Dalit Christian priests are denied sufficient positions in Indian Catholic Church hierarchy as Bishops, Archbishops, and Cardinals; despite above 50 years of different forms of struggle, said Reverend Vincent Manoharan, national convener of National Dalit Christian Watch.
“We all undertook at different places and scales which includes advocacy with the leaders of the Indian Catholic Church and the Vatican,” said Manoharan, former general secretary of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
Advocate Franklin Caesar Thomas cited the Indian Constitution Article 17 to point out that untouchability in any form is abolished and its practice is a punishable crime/offense, said Thomas who has been in this battle for years.
It is abominable that recently an archbishop from Tamil Nadu has callously denied the caste practices in the church which is both a sin and a crime to be condemned. It is deadly against the following appendix, own statement of the Church which was taken in the Church Standing Committee meetings collectively, he added.
“Therefore, there is a dire necessity now to raise our voice more strongly to challenge the caste hegemony that persists in the Church visibly and invisibly and to highlight our demands,” Thomas said.
A writ petition (180/ 2004) is filed praying for the deletion of Presidential order 1950 paragraph 3 by the Centre for Public interest Litigation in the Supreme Court for 16 years. But it is not known to many people.
“We need to seek the help of the overseas journalists to highlight our issues to the Vatican. We also have to seek the help of the Blacks who have created an impact worldwide,” says Gouthaman who practices law at the Supreme Court of India.
“We condemn the caste discrimination within the Catholic Church in India. If the Vatican is not in a position to grant justice by condemning the Indian Catholic Church setup, we urge the Pope to announce a separate Indigenous Dalit Rite or Dalit Church which could be separated from the racist, casteist and practices linked to discriminations in Indian Church,” said Gouthaman.