By Matters India Reporter
Jalandhar, Aug 31, 2022: The diocese of Jalandhar has decided to close all its schools on September 1 to its concern over the attack on a church at Patti near Tarn Taran in the northern Indian state of Punjab.
“We call upon everyone to work towards peace and harmony between all religions,” says a August 31 message from Agnelo Gracias, apostolic administrator the diocese.
The school closure comes a day after some unidentified miscreants attacked a statue of Pieta kept outside the Infant Jesus Catholic Church in Patti, some 50 km south of Amritsar, the place that holds Sikhism’s holiest shrine. They also torched the car of the parish priest that was in the church compound.
Sectarian tension flared after the incident that occurred around 12:45 am on August 31.
The attack occurred after the Akal Takht Jathedar, head of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, issued a statement against “forced conversions” of Sikhs by Christian missionaries. Nihang Sikhs had also protested against the issue two days ago.
There are few facts we should keep in mind:
Christian religious, especially priests, do not command respect as they used to some 10-15 years back. There are many reasons for that – most of which are self made;
Christian educational institutions once dominated the educational sector in the country. The situation is different now – other religious organisations and private trusts run large number of quality educational institutions all over the country.
Other religions once accepted whatever criticism Christian religious made on other beliefs. Especially on idol worshipping. Now others are not ready to accept somebody criticizing their belief; even subtle way of introducing these through moral science classes.
Christian religious are no more symbols of simple life, moral life, or modest life.
Space for their activity is shrinking.
Let’s change and regain our respect among people of other religions.
All such opposition is already foretold by the Lord himself. Let us continue to witness to the Gospel in loving manner. Our only response to such attack must be that of the first (early) church – PRAYER.
Any attack on a church building or a priest/pastor/nun provokes the Christian community. When hundreds of houses were bulldozed in various parts of North India, including the capital city of Delhi, was there any protest from the Christians???
It is high time for the church authorities as well as the laity to realize that a western (Roman) culture is presented in India through palatial church buildings, religious symbols, festivals, rituals and ceremonies. Another important area of introspection is the luxurious lifestyle of the priests and nuns. There could be a small percentage of this group leading a simple lifestyle and also trying to present Jesus and his message as per the local culture (as encouraged by the second Vatican Council).
We should not use innocent children who are unconnected with the incident as our frontline warriors. Can we not think beyond our educational institutions?
It is good to protest the desecration. But closing schools could be counter productive, moreso since in almost all Catholic schools across north India Catholics constitute even less than 2% of the students.
Such fools those accusers are! Is their faith so fickle that they can be forced to ‘convert’?
The ruling AAP and the Minister concerned about the places of worship in Punjab must explain. Ther Sikh religious leaders must call upon its faithful or followers not to do or say anything that will damage the peaceful atmosphere in the state. Nobody is forcefully Converting anyone in this country. It is a very old false propaganda of BJP/RSS against Christians. They have absolutely no proof of any forceful conversion but occasionally keep repeating the same message to incite its followers against Christians. Christians being a peace-loving people never react to their claims and Vandalism carried out by their followers at Christian schools, churches, convents, hospitals etc except complaining to police. Prosecution never happens or very rarely happens or culprits convicted or any compensation paid for the loss. Let us hope this time immediate action will be taken against the culprits.