By Irudhaya Jothi
Kailashahar (Tripura), Nov 13, 2021: Dalits are demanding Indo-Dalit individual Church and Rite when the Church in India is celebrating Dalit Liberation Sunday on November 14.
Dalit Liberation Sunday is celebrated every year since 2007 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in collaboration with the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI).
As per the guidance from CBCI, it is celebrated on the second Sunday of November.
This year’s theme for the celebration is “God says ‘NO’ to Caste Discrimination” (Acts 10: 28.)
One wonders why the Church celebrates Dalit Liberation Sunday officially. Does it mean, the Dalit Christians are yet to be liberated?
The Dalit Christians are triply exploited and annihilated.
Firstly, they are considered untouchables in the caste-ridden Indian Society, they are deprived of equal status in society.
Secondly, under the Indian Constitution, they are denied the proactive measure of reservation in education and employment in government institutions meant for the scheduled Caste categories only because they are Christians. However, these provisions were extended to Sikhs in 1956 and Buddhists in 1990.
Thirdly, the Dalit Christians are not treated equally even in the Catholic Church and are considered sub-human by the church hierarchy which mostly is controlled by the higher caste clergy in India.
Therefore, they designed this definitive and affirmative action by the official Church in India to observe as Dalit liberation day, to awaken our consciousness to be the voice of the voiceless and to stand with the vulnerable Dalits in society.
By doing so, the Church clearly accepts the virus of caste prejudices and practices, but it has not shown any interest in tackling the burning issue of the majority among the Catholics today.
The Dalit leaders both lay faithful and clergy say, enough is enough, of these piecemeal initiatives and fruitless celebrations without doing anything to alleviate the sufferings of the Dalits. Hence the call for a total change.
Dalit Christian organizations in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have demanded a separate Rite for Dalit Catholics as a solution to caste-based discrimination in the Indian Church, called ‘Indo-Dalit Rite.’
The logic is very simple, says Father Cosmon Arockia Raj, a former executive secretary of Scheduled caste and Backward Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. Among India’s 19 million Catholics, 12 million are Dalit and the rest the so-called higher caste.
Father Raj questions in an interview on a YouTube channel Damaaram, why India has only 11 bishops from the Dalit communities that make the majority of the Catholic population. More than 170 bishops are from the 7 million Catholics.
Dalit Christians now demand that Pope Francis give them a separate Rite like that of Kerala-based Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches. They believe this would end the caste-based discrimination in the Church to a great extent.
They made it loud and clear at a seminar organised by the Dalit Christian Liberation Forum held near Chengalput on October 15 that the time has come for their departure from the unjust treatment.
A noted theologian Father Felix Wilfred’s road map on ‘Towards an Indo-Dalit Individual Church and Rite’ paved the way for a serious reflection among the Dalit rights activists, journalists, teachers, nuns and priests with a strong youth group.
The Dalit have their own art, music and expression of faith which is not always understood and appreciated by clergy belonging to other castes, the Dalit leaders assert.
Hence Father Raj says that the Dalits will work on music, language and liturgy along with discussion and debates on the proposed new Rite.
Another former executive secretary of the CBCI Office for Dalits and backward classes Father Z. Devasagaya Raj thinks that Catholics of Dalit origin are different from the Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches. Their socio-political realities, culture, traditions, practices and way of life are different from those of Catholics belonging to dominant communities.
As the crucified body of Christ, the Dalit Christians’ demand for a new rite is a just call to Indian Church to reflect and take a proactive measure.
Since the benevolence to the Dalit Christians has not yielded any desired fruit until now, Dalit Christian liberation Sunday reflection, discussion and debates on the new rite would make sense.
It is very sad to note that today’s Christians are DEVIATING from the message of Jesus. A Christian is called to FOLLOW Jesus and not WORSHIP Jesus.
A separate rite would be of no use. Historically the catholic church has done injustice to Dalit Christians. Nothing better could be expected in future. Dalits are discriminated in Hinduism. It is the same in Catholicism. An exit en mass from the church only would be the best option. Jesus too was a castist when he said, the food on the table is only for the children and not for dogs. Exit and go back to worship Kadan, Madan, Madurai Veeran the deities of the fore fathers. It makes no difference. At least the reservation provided by the government would be of help. If the dalits can convert to Catholicism, they also can return their roots.
Multiplication of rites is absurd. We should have just one rite in India with flexibility for local languages and customs.