Dalits deliberately ignored in bishops’ appointments: Webinar

By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Sept 5, 2020: The Catholic Church has deliberately sidelined Dalit priests for the appointment of bishops and other major posts, an online conference has alleged.

Suitable Dalit priests are purposefully discriminated in the process of selecting bishops in the Catholic Church, says a press release from the September 5 webinar jointly organized seven Dalit Christian organizations from across the country.

More than 200 people attended the webinar that lasted four hours from 10 am, Franklin Caesar Thomas of the National Council of Dalit Christians, one of the organizers, told Matters India. It was moderated by Father A X J Bosco, the first provincial of the Andhra Jesuits.

Thomas says their press note was an appeal to the Universal Church to help bring justice to Dalit Catholics in India who face discrimination in society as well as in the Church.

Although the Indian Church has ordained thousands of Dalits as priests, it does not consider them suitable for the post of bishops, the press release regrets. According to the Dalit groups, many priests from their community, who are above 50, enjoy people’s high esteems as they are “outstanding in strong faith, good morals, piety, zeal, wisdom, prudence and human virtues.”

Many have doctorates or licentiate degrees in sacred scripture, theology or canon, a criterion for the bishop’s selection. However, they are sidelined when it comes to selecting bishops, Thomas says.

“Why doesn’t the Apostolic Nuncio receive such qualified Dalit priests’ names for bishop’s selection, when he seeks opinions from bishops and priests of a diocese? Why he doesn’t he compile a ‘ternus’ – list of 3 names – of Dalit priest candidates and present it, with his views to the Holy See?” the press release asks.

Thomas and other Dalit leaders say caste discrimination in the Church and the “untouchability mindset” of its leaders block “divine justice” to the Dalit Catholic community.

“We strongly condemn such biased discriminatory and untouchability-oriented visible and invisible form of bishop candidates’ selection process,” the press release says.

The press release says such discriminatory practices violated the laws in the country and the Church as well as international conventions that the Church has endorsed.

“The Holy Spirit never motivates the hierarchy to select and elect only the dominant or upper caste candidates as bishops. If the hierarchy sheds its untouchability mindset, the Holy Spirit will automatically allow qualified Dalit priests’ names to be sent for the Pope’s approval through the Holy See representative in New Delhi,” the statement says.

The Dalit organizations point out that the Vatican or its representative in India has no casteist mindset, but they are manipulated by the upper caste bishops in the country.

Among 188 bishops in the Latin rite, only 11 are Dalit, although the community forms nearly 60 percent of its members. In Tamil Nadu, only one among 18 bishops is a Dalit, although the community accounts for 80 percent of Catholics, the press release points out.

The Indian Church has four cardinals, but none from the Dalit community. None of the 31 archbishops is a Dalit, the press note points out.

The Dalit organizations assert that bishops and cardinals from their community could help curb “the obnoxious form of untouchability and illegal discriminatory practice” in the Church.

The press release quoted Pope’s Francis October 26, 2015, address to gypsies to support their demands: “The time has come to put an end to age-old prejudices, preconceptions and mutual mistrust that are often at the base of discrimination, racism and xenophobia. No one must feel isolated, and no one is authorized to trample on the dignity and rights of others.”

The Dalit groups also cited Pope’s June 3 address where he asserted that the Church “cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”

The Dalit groups also point out none of the bishops in the Syro- Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches is a Dalit.

The two Oriental Catholic rites, they claim, have hundreds of Dalit priests “who are outstanding in solid faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls and prudence, have a good reputation.”

Strongly condemning such “visible and invisible form of the caste discrimination,” the Dalit groups appeal the hierarchies of the two Churches to curb such “inhuman” practices stemming from human error and prejudices.

The webinar asserted that the future of the Church in India will be Dalit.

Besides Thomas, the press note was endorsed by E D Charles, the general secretary of the National Council of Dalit Christians, M Mary John, president of the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement, Reverend Vincent Manoharan, national convener of the National Dalit Christian Watch, Kudanthai Arasan, founder and president of the Viduthalai Tamil Puligal Katchi, G. Mathew, coordinator of Christian People’s Forum and Arun Masilamani, founder and convener of Ambedkar andPeriyar Social Justice Workshop.