By M K George
Rome, Feb 11, 2024: With a rare kind of lucidity, courage and prophesy, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in early February, decried the rising polarisation in the Indian society and called for the upholding the secular ethos of the nation.
They showed the audacity to condemn the socio-political situation of the country highlighting the ever-increasing polarisation, weakening of democratic institutions, attacks against minorities and unemployment. They committed themselves to respond to these crises in the path of non-violence, healing, justice and reconciliation.
Now to the critical question: Will the priests, religious and laity listen and act?
Need for a Self-Examen
In the Christian tradition any change begins with acknowledging our brokenness, asking pardon and being converted. If the Indian Christians need to respond to the call of the bishops, then they should begin with a real examination of themselves, especially their culpability in three areas: scandalizing disunity among the Christians, naïve social analysis and conflicting leadership.
The disunity among Christians is not just between various churches, but also within each church itself. Look at the number of groups among the Christians, the numerous litigations and the violence that is perpetrated in the name of Jesus, the advocate of love. Called light-heartedly, sheep stealing, converting among Christian groups is becoming a point of disunity.
The naiveté of social analysis of the Church becomes sharper with this CBCI statement. If the CBCI really believes that the ruling party is leading the nation to polarization, why would their bishops and lay leaders encourage the faithful to join the party and make them win elections? The Church cannot anymore, if they want to be honest with themselves, even condone its members aligning with the ruling party.
The crisis of leadership is not just in the Church, but also all over the world and in every human group that we know of. One of the crudest examples would be the drama going around the past president of U S, Donald Trump. If a good number of Americans still think Trump can lead them, then the very concept of leadership has undergone tragic mutations.
The Catholic Church leadership has been pathetically weak. They have been occupied with peripheral issues and but for a recent exception of this statement, been issuing contradictory statements.
Exceptional times call for exceptional actions
The Indian Christians are living through exceptional times, of crisis, lack of clear leadership and because of these clear confusion. We need leaders who will articulate for ourselves what needs to be done. We do have such leaders around. Unfortunately, due to the prevailing clericalism, they are neither recognized nor called upon.
As Pope Francis has repeatedly been saying, we need to learn to live synodally. Discernment in common, more prayer and action in common are going to be the way to go ahead. In this context, the CBCI statement is an appropriate point to start, on a process healing, reconciliation and Justice.
Where to begin?
The authenticity of this statement will be in following this up to the last point of the Church, resulting in concrete action. Will this statement remain in the archives or will it reach every Christian and every Indian citizen who will be concerned about the future of the nation?
The Litmus test
Therefore, the litmus test for the commitment to the follow up of this statement would be for the following:
1. Every bishop will form a high-power committee, consisting of priests, laity, religious, other churches and other civil society actors, to study this statement, translate them into local language, and propose a viable action follow up plan. They will also oversee the follow up action, encouraging, supporting and networking.
2. Every parish, every group – youth, pious associations etc. – will study the statement and see what each one can do at their levels.
3. A consolidated action plan for the whole diocese would emerge
One can ignore the perilous clouds over the Indian nation in terms of the dangers listed by the CBCI statement at one’s own peril. The leadership of the bishops, eminent laity, priests, religious and other men and women of good will across all political and religious affiliations need to be tapped.
The statement inspires when it says, ‘We will journey together with all people of goodwill, sharing in each other’s joys and sorrows. We will conscientize the members of the Church to build bridges with their brothers and sisters of different faiths through Inter-Religious Dialogue and neighbourhood communities.”
Dear Bishops, Priests, Religious and Laity, this is the time to walk the talk.
(Jesuit Father M K George is a Rome-based Indian social scientist.)
With reference to the writer’s suggestion of three action plans under Litmus Test, under point 1, the phrase “Every bishop will form a high-power committee, consisting of priests, laity, religious, other churches and other civil society actors, to study this statement, translate them into local language, and propose a viable action follow up plan,” has two sub- points.
(a) The phrase “high-power committee” is traditional top-down approach and goes very much against the ethos of the Synodal Spirit propounded by Pope Francis. He has insisted no one is high or low. Bishops have to listen to all faithful, especially at the grassroots level and walk the talk along with them. So the obsession with “high-power committee” is totally out of place. The writer has not yet got over the euphoria of the Roman Empire!
(b) To study this statement, translate them into local language, and propose a viable action follow up plan:
(i) Firstly what is “this statement?” The report does not give this. It has also not given any link to the “Statement.”
(ii) “Propose a Viable Action Plan” – The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) has already commenced the
Diocesan phase of the Strategic Planning which it plans to conclude in April 2024. CCBI aims to publish the
Strategic Planning document in May 2024, incorporating input from over 35,000 stakeholders across the national,
regional, and diocesan levels. Whose plan – CCBI’s or CBCI’s – will be considered “viable?”
The above report exhorts Bishops, Priests, Religious and Laity “to walk the talk” in view of certain observations recently made by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), namely (1) Rising polarisation in the Indian society (2) Weakening of democratic institutions (3) Increasing attack/atrocities on minorities (4) Increasing unemployment and (5) The need for upholding the secular ethos of the nation.
The report does not give any statistical evidence of points 1-4. Despite allegations of attacks against minorities, our institutions are doing pretty well. With more than 90% of student population – especially in Kolkata colleges & universities – being from `other communities’ (and not Christian students for whom our institutions were primarily founded), the heads are laughing all the way to the bank! Christians are a minority in their own institutions in self-financed honours courses. Most students face an Entry Barrier, due to high admission and quarterly fees. The direct fallout is that our institutions are not producing top-notch Christian professionals; and the professionals who are making full use of our institutions are party to anti-minority policies to put behind bars prophetic human rights activists like late Jesuit priest Stanislaus Lourduswamy. Will the heads of our institutions acknowledge their brokenness (lopsided policy) and ask pardon?
The writer is dead right that `there is a crisis of leadership – Catholic Church leadership has been pathetically weak.’ The reality is the Indian Catholic Church is very allergic to `Prophetic Lay Leaders’ who call a spade a spade. Unable to behead them as was done to John the Baptist, the church totally sidelines them, including putting a total blockade on publication of their views in church media.
In view of the author’s observation on the disunity among Christians and conflicting leadership, the annual Unity Octave has become just a tokenism. How can our church leaders dream of `One Spirit of Unity’ when they can’t share the same Eucharist?
Regarding the writer’s strong objection to the lay faithful joining the current political dispensation, it is best left to the free choice of the lay faithful. CBCI Bishops should take a hands-off policy in this matter. Pope Francis himself said, “Given today’s `throwaway’ culture and so many problems unfolding in the world, do I as a Catholic watch from my balcony? No, you can’t watch from the balcony. Get right in there (politics)!” He added that individual Catholics must get involved and “embroiled” in politics, because it is one of the “highest forms of charity” since it seeks the common good. (Source: National Catholic Reporter 01 May 2015).
The bishops should have raised their CBCI resolution points during the “Christmas Breakfast diplomacy” with Modi instead of showering praises and glorifying him.
Another point I wish to mention here is: the headline of this article/write-up reads – “Bishops have spoken: Will priests and laity listen?”
My frank questions:
1) Are the bishops dictators?
2) Should priests and laity listen and follow “whatever” the bishops say?
3) Is “blind obedience” expected from priests and laity?
4) Are the priests and laity supposed to be like three monkeys – not to see corruptions prevalent among bishops; not to hear the cries of the victimized priests, nuns and laity; not to speak against the corrupt and criminal bishops?
5) Where is the “participatory approach” in the Catholic church?
Well said!
Surely he is talking if all this taking place in the India after the new Lok Sabha ha been constituted in May 2024. It would take the most conscientious bishop three inthe to go through the steps the dear Jesuit has listed. I fear the statement will be infructuous in the fait accompli of the election result. By the way, ,what will do with Cardinal Oswald whose Christmas party You-tubed paens to the greater glory of Mr N Modi deeply dissspointed the Catholic community and embarrassed them in the eyes of civil society
Writer’s statements:
“With a rare kind of lucidity, courage and prophesy, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in early February, decried the rising polarization in the Indian society… They showed the audacity to condemn the socio-political situation of the country highlighting the ever-increasing polarization, weakening of democratic institutions, attacks against minorities and unemployment.”
Just one question to the writer:
Incidents:
The same bishops NEVER-EVER opened their mouths to express their serious concerns when Modi visited the Catholic Cathedral during last Easter and when Modi hosted a Christmas Party in his official residence.
Question:
DO YOU CALL THIS COURAGE OF PROPHESY?
In my view, the writer must have the audacity to question and condemn the “deaf and dumb” Catholic Prelates in India.