AS I See It

THE CHURCH FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

Valson Thampu Remember the notice on the forehead of the Nativity Narrative: ‘There was no room in the inn’? That banner sat in brooding silence grinning at the Holy Babe in Bethlehem. This seemingly matter-of-fact detail points, in the larger context, to a perennial truth. Institutions, including the church, that function ‘inn-like’, will have no […]

THE SPIRITUAL DUTY TO UNDERSTAND

Valson Thampu Discernment is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, though it is rarely mentioned and hardly valued by us as Christians. We covet dramatic and profitable gifts like healing, speaking in tongues, and prophecy. We discount the need for understanding and discernment. It is necessary to wonder why. The secular counterpart to […]

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WAR ON CORRUPTION

Valson Thampu There seems to be a curious parallel between the war on terror and the war on corruption underway in our country. Both presuppose faith in the efficacy of might. Consider the war on terror. The perversity of terrorism is that it reposes faith in violence alone. The war on terror too does likewise. […]

The Thorn in a Thamara

Valson Thampu It is sensible to evaluate the seductions of immediacy from a long-term perspective. Those who marry the spirit of the times become widowers in the next. What seems advantageous and smart in the present, that is to say, becomes a future liability. The logic for this is easy to see. To act under […]

Modi, Hospitality, And The Easter Question

Valson Thampu At the time of writing this, Prime Minister Modi is reported as intending to visit the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi on the occasion of Easter. It is a welcome gesture of good will. On the face of it, there is no occasion better than Easter to undertake it. The Christian community […]

AN UNSOLICITED ADVICE TO RAHUL GANDHI

Valson Thampu I fear for Rahul, though I am not a camp follower of the Congress. I fear that he is going the Stan Swamy way. It is all right to grand-stand one’s commitment to truth and democracy in India. I am not prejudiced enough to suspect Rahul’s sincerity of purpose. But a question arises […]

A REQUIEM FOR FRATERNITY

Valson Thampu The French Revolution gave humankind three immortal ideals: liberty, equality, fraternity! Liberty, said Martin Buber, went westwards, domesticated itself in North America, and degenerated into license. Equality went east words, made Eastern Europe its home, and produced the faceless collectivity. Fraternity, Buber laments, ‘had no takers’. It was this concern for humankind’s inherent […]

SOME URGENT ISSUES IN RELIGION : If only because they can no longer be denied…..

Valson Thampu We are going through a period of apprehensive religious bewilderment. It is unhelpful to deny this. Denial breeds disability. Those who refuse to read the ‘writings on the wall’ are sure to be overwhelmed by what they refuse to read. They are caught off-guard in the hour of crisis. I have been engaged […]

Eviction-facing Indian Catholics to fight Muslim charity’s claims

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica