By Matters India Reporter
Chennai: The Madras High Court has set July 8 as the deadline for India’s Catholic bishops and federal and state governments to respond to a petition alleging caste based discrimination within the Church in the country.
The court on June 25 issued notices to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, the 18 bishops in Tamil Nadu, ministries under federal and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments.
The court on that day admitted a writ petition filed by Gnanapragasam Mathew, convener of the Tamil Nadu Dalit Christian Coalition, explaining various practices of caste-based discrimination among Catholics in Tamil Nadu’s 151 villages.
In his petition, Mathew alleges that Dalit Christians are forced to have separate churches, cemeteries, festivals, and funeral carts in Tamil Nadu. They are barred from church councils and denied participation in the choir and alter services.
No bishop has been appointed from the Dalit community, the petition pointed out.
Mathew pointed out that India has 174 Catholic dioceses, 18 of them in Tamil Nadu.
According to the petitioner, such acts of discrimination should be treated as intentional acts of oppression that violate the Indian Constitution and the UN Declaration on Human Rights.
The caste-based discrimination in the appointments of bishops has become a matter of concern in recent times, Mathew says.
According to him, only 10 of India’s 180 bishops come from the Dalit community that accounts for some 70 percent of the Catholics in the country. Tamil Nadu has only one Dalit bishop, he says.
India has four cardinals, but none from the Dalit community. Mathew regrets. Only two among 31 archbishops are Dalit.
Ten bishops were appointed in Tamil Nadu in the past 14 years, but none is a Dalit.
“This clearly illustrates that the Church is biased and caste-based,” bemoans Mathew.
Although non-Dalits form only 30 percent of India’s Catholics, they occupy majority of Church administrative positions.
“The Church that preaches justice and liberation to the downtrodden has been oppressing its Dalit members for decades. Several times in the past the Dalits have managed to apprise the Pope of this ground reality,” Mathew explains.
He recalls late Pope John Paul II as the first pontiff to address the caste issue in the Indian Church. In an address to the clergy, he said caste-based discrimination in the Church is detrimental to the values of Christ. Pope Francis also has called for the immediate removal of all forms of oppression in the Church.
According to Mathew, the best way to address caste bias in the Catholic Church is to get more Dalits involved in the Church administration. “One such progressive step would be appointing Dalits as bishops,” he asserts.
Mathew says bishops in Tamil Nadu and India have in the past three decades admitted the prevalence of caste-based discrimination in the Church. They also expressed their dismay over the Church’s negligence and failure to eradicate the practices.
🌷 Any sort of discrimination that tarnishes the image and dignity of the Church should be banned forthwith It is unfortunate that one has to approach the apex court to redress his grievances in this behalf ! Isn’t there any provision in The Canon Law on the point ? Being followers of Jesus Christ, we have to emphatically maintain equality amongst mankind irrespective of one’s caste, creed, colour and race, region or religion 🙏
Violation of Human dignity as well as direct and subtle discriminations are condemnable at any cost, even if done in the name of Govt or God.
Church in India has ample examples to be upset with her incapacity
Nieve arguments only depicts ones siding with such socio cultural sins.
-Nithiya ofm cap
When will we learn to break barriers and build bridges like our Lord and Master?
CBCI since a dacade or more are giving priority to the issued of venerable group called Dalit and tribals. I don’t think it was a sincere attempt by our holy Bishops on the basis of truth, justice equality and nature of kingdom of God. It was merely some tactics to divert some very important issues of bishop’s conference and it’s deficiency in dealing with evangelization, canon law and dignity of human life. This same conference never stood to say hazardous effect of legalizing LGBT and paralyzed church in India is neither cared to give required pastoral care to this group parish wise. Indian church is paralyzed like indian govt in matters of moral principles. Number of abortion from among church members are not a rare case. Even new Christian doctors are not given right information and strict orders to not participate in this most heinous act of abortion by any human person. I don’t believe the CBCI which is in great slumber will make any human act protect the church in india. Who will awake them? Only Indian courts may be or the new nuncio.
I find major church mechanism is prompt only to profit making institutions… Minority schools, Alopathy super speciality hospitals etc. Catholic church in present India has nothing to contribute improve the moral standard of the Indian community. It has become an eating church …thinks below the levels of NGOs of India
Those who like to practise the outdated and man made caste system and consider themselves superior or inferior to others should leave the Church and join their previous religion where the caste system is unfortunately prevalent. Let only those who follow Christ with the spirit of ‘love, brotherhood and service’ remain in the Church.
Many allegations are absurd.
Who said there is no dalit bishop in T. N, they are barred from the choir, altar servers etc?
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL No. 7065 OF 2008
K.P. Manu … Appellant
Versus
Chairman, Scrutiny Committee for
Verification of Community Certificate … Respondent
Judgment delivered by: Honourable Justice. Dipak Misra and Honourable Justice. V. Gopala Gowda
New Delhi
February 26, 2015
“25. Archbishop George Zur, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India in his inaugural address to the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, (CBCI) in the meeting held in Pune during December 1991, made the following observations: “Though Catholics of the lower castes and tribes form 60 per cent of Church membership they have no place in decision-making. Scheduled caste converts are treated as low caste not only by high caste Hindus but by high caste Christians too. In rural areas they cannot own or rent houses, however, well-placed they may be. Separate places are marked out for them in the parish churches and burial grounds. Inter-caste marriages are frowned upon and caste tags are still appended to the Christian names of high caste people. Casteism is rampant among the clergy and the religious. Though Dalit Christians make 65 per cent of the 10 million Christians in the South, less than 4 per cent of the parishes are entrusted to Dalit priests. There are no Dalits among 13 Catholic bishops of Tamil Nadu or among the Vicars-general and rectors of seminaries and directors of social assistance centres.”
Special Envoy of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples had emphasised the necessity for bringing more Bishops from the Dalit Christian Community, Pastoral visit to India, 9-16 February 2013, meeting with the Bishops – CCBI, Sunday, 10 February 2013:-
“A missionary-minded Bishop pays pastoral attention to all the categories of people present in his diocese, without regard for caste or ethnicity but focused upon the love of God and the spread of the Gospel. No ethnic group, low-caste group, or minority group, must feel side-lined, marginalized or left out from the initiatives or pastoral works in your Diocese – I am thinking in admission to the Seminaries, in promoting to important parishes and curial duties, and episcopal candidates.”
If the allegations are true, the church must make it’s stand in clear terms. If rectification are required, gracefully do it.
The church must introspect what was the need for Mr. Mathew to approach the court.
The Church does not sanction casteism. But some may practice it in spite of their faith in Jesus Christ. If I believe in superiority of my caste and refuse to sit near a so called Dalit ,what can the Church do ? I must realise that such divisive mentality is a sin and then only I can claim to be a Christian. But any proposal for maintaining separate church or cemetery on caste basis should be discouraged by the Church and serious protagonists of such unChristian attitude should be excommunicated if irreconcilable.
On no account appointment of bishops be on caste basis or on reservation for any group . It is totally against Jesus and His lofty Teachings. The Tamilnadu bishops must be united to project love of God to every human without any sort of differentiation. They are requested to suitably educate the faithful and to bring all downtrodden to the man stream.
This amounts to virtually taking the VATICAN to court! Tch tch! Not done!!
The courts may rule in specific cases but cannot impose its views in a general way.
Caste based discrimination in any church practice should be outright condemned. I would however question the claim that 70% of Christians in India are Dalit.
However appointment of bishops should be purely on merit and not on caste or ethnicity.