By Stephen Alathara
Bengaluru: Sept. 23, 2021: The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) has appointed coordinators for education, health, social service and media apostolates.
The appointment was made during the conference’s 87th executive committee meeting held September 21-22.
Salesian Father Joseph Manipadam, currently the coordinator for Education and Culture of Don Bosco Youth Animation for South Asia, is appointed the education coordinator. He was the former executive secretary of the Office for Education and Culture under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the national body bishops from Latin, Syo-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches. He is a member of the Salesian province of St John Bosco, Kolkata.
Father Prakash Sagili from Cuddapah diocese in Andhra Pradesh is appointed the coordinator for the health apostolate. He was the former associate director of St. John’s National Institute of Health Sciences, Bengaluru and the national director of Young Christian Students and Young Students Movement.
Father Bipin Kumar Pani, currently the regional director of social service of Jharkhand Bishops’ Council, is appointed the social apostolate coordinator. He belongs to the Jamshedpur diocese and holds an MBA with specialization in Rural Management from the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, and a diploma in Integrated Rural Development from Searsolin, Xavier University, Philippines.
Father Cyril Victor Joseph from the Archdiocese of Bangalore has been appointed the media coordinator. He is currently the secretary for the Commission for Social Communication and Director of Paalanaa Bhavan of the Archdiocese of Bangalore. He holds a licentiate and a doctorate in Institutional Communication from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and has worked for the EWTN TV in Alabama, USA.
The newly appointed coordinators will assist the conference in their respective areas and network with the 132 dioceses and religious congregations of the Latin Church in India.
The CCBI is the largest bishops’ conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world, with 190 member bishops. This conference animates the Church in India through its 16 commissions and four departments.
This is yet another classic example of “clericalism” in the Catholic Church.
There are lay Catholics who are “more qualified and experienced”. But…the church prefers only priests. Why?
Sadly, a vast majority of the laity are never or rarely bothered about these appointments.
Two days ago, I had mentioned in my comments about the unchanging pyramidal structure of the Catholic Church.
The clergy speaks and the laity listens;
The clergy is active and the laity is passive;
The clergy commands and the laity obeys;
The clergy rules and the laity is ruled;
The clergy is on the top and the laity is at the bottom.
Unless and until there is a real awakening among the laity, the pyramidal structure will never change.