In fact, Kudumbayogams are quite common among Christians in Kerala and they all write their histories. An interesting thing about those ‘histories’ is, especially among the Syrian Christians, somehow most of them try to trace their roots back to Saint Thomas the Apostle. These family groups do play a very positive role. They keep generations in touch. Younger generations who would otherwise not even know each other get to keep in touch. Like in our group, there is a lot of mutual help happening. We give scholarships and even built a house for one of our lesser fortunate family members. For funerals of family members, the Kudumbayogam officials make it a point to be present. They visit the sick, whenever they can. Overall, these groups are very Christian in attitude and behaviour. However, I had a shock when recently the family WhatsApp group started sending ‘Islamophobic’ materials. To one of those I responded: ‘This is hate speech. Should the Family group promote such hate speech?’ While two people seemed to agree with me, pat came another reply saying, ‘Kudumbayogam members are free to promote anything?’ Are they really? Maybe they are. But, are we Christian when we promote hate speech? In a world full of hate speech, taking the following advice is good not only for Christians, but for any sensible person: “ In this time of social platforms that influence millions, pausing before we speak and taking
The initiative that the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace (FORUM) took to organize a webinar on ‘Religious conversion’ on February 5 was laudable. Two legal experts Kalpana Kannabiran and Robin Christopher enlightened the participants on the constitutional and political dimensions of the issue and suggested ways to prevent and manage the crisis the Christian community faces from the Hindutva forces these days. It was encouraging to notice that about 500 participants joined the webinar. However as usual, the majority of the participants were women religious. Not a single bishop was present. There were only a handful of priests. Why didn’t the leaders of dioceses and congregations make it a priority to join the discussions on such an important and urgent issue affecting the whole Church? The input sessions were informative. There were suggestions to engage all political parties to get their support for this issue. Another suggestion was to make a mass movement against the violation of fundamental rights. It was also suggested to approach the courts to get justice. In all our discussions we fail to take note of a few vital points: 1. Failure of the church to introspect on the past when aggressive ways of evangelization with atrocities committed against Hindus and their culture, destruction of their temples and constructing churches on those temple foundations took place. 2. Welfare activities done to uplift
The message of Pope Francis on the day of Consecrated Life has heartened a number of women religious in India. It is based on his prayer intention for the month of February: “Let us pray for religious sisters and consecrated women, thanking them for their mission and their courage; may they continue to find new responses to the challenges of our times.” “The Pope is very sensitive to the contribution of women religious to the church. He is well aware of the discrimination and abuse that victimize sisters. He may not be able to do much to change the situation but his words give us the space to mobilize opinion and take action,” said Sister Philomena Thomas, a religious of Assumption Sisters. Yes, women religious are the ones who by and large give the Catholic Church the credibility it enjoys in India and the world. The video message had clips of sisters working in various mission areas. The one that caught my eye was a sister climbing a steep hill to reach someone in need. The video ended with the iconic picture of Sister Ann Rose Nu Twang kneeling before the soldiers of the Myanmar military junta with her hands raised, begging them to kill her instead of the children. A picture that speaks a thousand words and sums up the image of a sister in the Catholic Church – powerless in the eyes of the world, yet owning a spiritual power that could halt a gun that had already caused much death and suffering. As Pope Francis pointed out in his message, wo
When our kids were quite small they regaled visitors to our home with this story. “There were three friends named Somebody, Nobody and Mad. One day Somebody killed Nobody so Mad went to the police station and blurted out that Somebody had killed Nobody. The inspector was not amused and shot back – Are you mad? Yes I’m Mad said the complainant”. Imagine the exasperation of the police inspector. I was reminded of this seemingly innocuous story after reading about the acquittal of Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar in the alleged case of rape of a nun, formerly the superior general of a congregation under his diocesan jurisdiction. If nobody was raped by somebody then I too am mad. I have been following this story for the last few years and had even petitioned the Papal Nuncio for the protection of the witnesses. I have also read several articles and “comments” on the “acquittal” of him who I had nick-named Frightening Franco. A friend also sent me the 289-page judgement that I have not been able to read fully for paucity of time. Before going into the nitty-gritty of the judgement I have a few apt observations, more allegorical than argumentative. There is an old English proverb – Don’t miss the wood for the trees. Wood here means a forest. A fan of National Geographic TV wanted to see a tiger in real life; having seen so many graphic images in the comfort of his sitting room. He spent a large amount
Mumbai, Jan 10, 2022: ‘Unity in Diversity’ has been a major phrase which I picked up during my school days. Enjoying Ramlila for ten days before Vijayadhami ran parallel to seeing the Tazia processions, to the Jains processions with slogans Vande Viram (Hail Lord Mahavira), the celebrations of Dalits on the day when Babasaheb Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, and the celebration of Christmas with college friends. The experience of diversity was deeply rooted in the celebrations of different festivals; it was experiential and not just in the realm of theory. Indian society’s diversity dates as back in time as one can imagine. Christianity is older in India than in many Christian majority countries. Right in seventh century Islam became a part of this land. Shaka, Kushans, Huns, Greeks added their own flavor to our culture. How did the diversity become deeply rooted in our psyche? While there was ethnic strife, Shia-Sunni, Shaiva-Vaishnav conflicts, overall the social atmosphere was rooted in peace and harmony between diverse religious streams. Edicts of Ashoka ask for mutual respect between diverse religious streams (that time Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikas in particular). Much later the likes of Akbar promoted Deen-E-Ilahi and Sulhe Kul, While Dara Shukoh went on the describe India as a vast ocean made of two seas (Hinduism and Islam) in his book Majma Ul Baharayn. Running parallel to the same was the grea