By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi: Dalit Catholic groups in Tamil Nadu have expressed dismay at the Vatican appointing a non-Dalit as the bishop of a predominantly Dalit diocese in Tamil Nadu.

Pope Francis on May 31 appointed Father Arulselvam Rayappan, a seminary professor from the Vanniyar caste, as the bishop of Salem.

Dalit groups have been demanding a bishop from their community that forms 60 percent of Salem diocese’s nearly 87,000 Catholics.

Father Devasagaya Raj, former secretary of commission for Dalits and Tribals under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), points OUT THAT Dalit people have for a year requested the apostolic nunciature in New Delhi and the Vatican to appoint Dalit bishops in vacant dioceses in Tamil Nadu. “It is sad, and the Dalits feel disappointed as their just plea has been ignored,” Father Raj told Matters India on May 31.

Jesuit Father A X J Bosco, advisor to the National Council for Dalit Christians, terms the new appointment as an injustice. “Although more than 60 percent of Catholics in Tamil Nadu are Dalits, they have only one bishop. There is no just representation of leaders in the Catholic Church,” bemoaned the former provincial of Andhra Jesuits.

According to him, every small group in other parts of the country has representation “but in Tamil Nadu the Dalits with the majority have been ignored and their just demands have been rejected.”

Father Kulandai Nathan, secretary of Tamil Nadu Bishop Council’s commission for Dalits and Tribals, says the appointment of a non-Dalit has upset Dalit Catholics throughout India.

Sister Sujata Jena, a Dalit human rights activist in Odisha, said she was pained to learn that Tamil Nadu has only one Dalit bishop. “It is unfair and unjust from the part of the Vatican to continue to ignore the rights of the vast majority of Catholics in Tamil Nadu as well as in India,” the lawyer nun told Matters India.

The appointment was not unexpected for Capuchin Father Nithiya Sagayam, a renowned retreat preacher. “This appointment is the result of sleepless nights and hard work of some persons. We can’t deny that,” added former executive secretary of CBCI’s for Justice and Peace Commission.

Sister Robancy Helen, who had served the CBCI Office for Dalits, bemoaned that the Vatican pays no heed to the cry of the Dalits. The numerous appeals to the Vatican and the nunciature are of no use. “Jesus listened to the cry of the poor and the oppressed but what about the Church?” asks the member of the Religious Institute of Christ the Redeemer.

“The Dalit Christians in India demand their rights inside the Church as they always believe in the Church principles of justice. “But the appointments of the bishops from the so-called dominant castes have disappointed them again and again,” she said.

Caste, she added, is a more dangerous and dreadful virus than coronavirus in the Indian Church. “Who will liberate us?” she asked.