Varghese Alengaden

Fr Varghese Alengaden is the Founder and National Co-ordinator of the Universal Solidarity Movement of Value Education for Peace since 1993, he is an office bearer in a number of social organizations. He is the President of National Peace Movement to promote peace and harmony in the country. At present he is the president of Indian Society of Authors, Indore. He is the past president of Rotary club of Indore and holds the responsibility of Chairman of peace and fellowship, Rotary International Dist 3040 since many years. Interview with him follows:

1. Your Universal Solidarity Movement is to work for peace and solidarity in the world.

Yes, Universal Solidarity Movement (USM) of Value Education for Peace is a proactive response to the chaotic situation existing in the country due to rampant corruption, communal divide, conflicts in the name of caste, creed, culture, region and other petty identities. The Movement was launched as a prophetic action after the demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992 and the serial bomb blasts in Bombay in January 1993 which killed hundreds of people.
Upset by the indifference of the Church leaders and their failure to act as peace makers, I felt that it is better to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness. This gave birth to Universal Solidarity Movement on 16th July 1993. Since its inception the Movement has been making all efforts to promote peace and include people of all faiths and walks of life in its mission.

2. Pope in his encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, speaks of “God is acting in all religions.”

Seeing the functioning of all institutional religions and the way of life of the members of these religions, it is very visible that God is not acting in and through them. All religions have drifted away from its original teachings and ways of their founders. The truth is that God is absent in these religions because of their deviations and distortions. Religions are misusing the name of God and running a business in His name. In every religion there are distortions. Religions are commercialized and politicized. God is not present in the temples, churches, mosques and other worship places. He is living and acting through human beings. Human beings don’t require religions and religious rituals to become spiritual. That is why Jesus told to the Samaritan woman, “Woman, you will neither worship God on the mountain nor in the Jerusalem temple; you will worship Him in truth and spirit.” Genuine spirituality goes beyond temples, mosques, churches and other worship places. Rituals and places of worship generally cause conflicts.

3. Taking the position of ‘Good Samaritan”:

Presenting the example of the “Good Samaritan” Pope Francis is presenting the wounded person as “stranger in the road.” If we follow the teachings of Christ the wounded person in the road is not to be seen as a stranger, but our own brother. God is dwelling in him. By breaking his routine schedule when the Samaritan opted to serve the wounded man he was worshipping God whom he encountered on the road.
The priests, religious and all Christians who are obsessed with worshipping God in the tabernacles of the churches, should have come out like the Good Samaritan to serve the millions of migrant labourers who were walking in the summer heat during the lockdown. If we could recognize God in those men, women and children we would have opened the doors of the churches and welcomed them to provide food and shelter. That is worshipping God in flesh and blood of the “strangers in the road.”

4. Why is inculturation abandoned in India?

Among the various revolutionary reforms which the Second Vatican Council brought about inculturation was the most significant and radical one. This was an effort to abandon the colonial legacy of the Church which had created much hostility from the Hindutva forces. However, this reform gradually was abandoned because of the dominance of the fundamentalist forces influenced by the Pentecostal model of preachers. Many retreat preachers succeeded in brainwashing the women religious and the simple laity with the drug of religiosity. Instead of following the legacy of Christ, the way of life Christ suggested, they are promoting the Jewish legacy in matters of liturgy, Roman legacy in matters of administration and Greek philosophy in the formation system. The hierarchy also was eager to keep up the old traditional ways (old wineskin) instead of adopting ‘New Wineskin’ model which Christ had proposed.

Instead of following the legacy of Christ, the way of life
Christ suggested, they are promoting the Jewish legacy
in matters of liturgy, Roman legacy in matters of
administration and Greek philosophy in the formation system.

Despite increasing attacks by Hindutva forces on the priests, religious and the Church institutions they are obsessed with the colonial way of thinking and acting. There is neither introspection nor desire to know ‘what do people say about us, our way of life and our work.’ Ignorance of the socio-political scenario and self righteousness make the hierarchy, clergy, religious and laity blind to the realities and challenges around. They fail to contemplate and ask the question, ‘what would Jesus do if He were here?’

5. Do we accept and honour the holy dimensions in the Scriptures and lives of the tradition that is living with us?

The minds of Christians in India are conditioned by the colonial legacy. Because of the superiority we felt under the patronage of colonial rule and the recognition we got from the public in the past due to our institutions we developed a superiority complex. With this colonial patronage and conditioning during the formation we condemned the religious practices and traditions of the people of other faiths. The dogma, ‘there is no salvation outside the Church’ is still dominant even after all clarifications by the Second Vatican Council.
If they contemplate on the life and teachings of Christ it will be very easy for His disciples to accept, appreciate and promote diversity; diversity of religions, customs, food habits, temperament etc. Jesus was pluralistic in His teachings and actions. He followed an inclusive way of life. The Jews, gentiles, samaritans, tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor and the rich were part of His mission.
If we abandon our exclusive ways and integrate ourselves into the mainstream like ‘salt,’ we can play a significant role in preventing and resolving conflicts and divisions in the society.

6. At present the Hindutva looks to be defending Hinduism. How do you relate the two? What will be the future of Hinduism?

Hindutva which is promoted by BJP-RSS has nothing to do with Hinduism. In fact the Hindutva forces are distorting Hinduism in the name of protecting and promoting their political agenda. Hindutva is aggressive nationalism for capturing political power by communal polarization. On the contrary, Hinduism is a way of life which promotes inclusive and pluralistic vision of making the whole world a family, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
Any religion when it is hijacked by political and market forces and misused will gradually disintegrate. Christianity is the best example for this disintegration. The way of Christ was distorted and misused by the hierarchy with the patronage of the kings and emperors from the third century, and it became a powerful institutional Church and expanded its empire all over the world. Today we have a mighty Church without the soul of Christ. Christians are like salt which has lost its saltiness. Hence the Church is experiencing rejection, opposition, alienation and elimination. The same thing will happen to Hinduism if the fundamentalist Hindutva forces continue their control over Hinduism. It will remain a powerful institutional religion without the soul of Hinduism with its noble values and universal vision.

7. There is Africanised liturgy in Zaire, why is there no such attempt in India?

Though there were initiatives to evolve a liturgy and lifestyle suited to Indian culture and context after the Second Vatican Council, those initiatives were discouraged now. There are several reasons for this setback:
• The dominance of fanatic evangelical preachers who are supported by the fundamentalist groups, such as ‘Opus Dei,’ from abroad, which were opposed to the Second Vatican Council reforms.
• Orthodox/traditional groups who received a lot of support during the time of St Pope John Paul II.
• Lack of visionary leaders / bishops who understand the soul of India and their failure to respond to the socio-political context of India.
• The obsession of clergy, religious and some sections of laity with the outdated, unproductive routine practices.
• Defective formation of clergy and religious without developing critical thinking and scientific temper.
• Unwillingness of the clergy and the church leaders to experiment and explore the ‘new wineskin’ methods of evangelization and being the Church.

8. How do you understand Mission in today’s anti-conversion hostile atmosphere?

Church at the national and local level doesn’t have free and frank evaluation. Evaluation needs a vision frame. The basis of this vision frame should be the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The basic reason for the present hostility is drifting away from the way of Christ. At every stage of any activity or decision making personally and collectively we need to ask: “What would Jesus do if He were here? What is the mind of Christ? What is the heart of Christ?”
Jesus has summarized all His teachings into one commandment, “love one another as I have loved you.” That was His last will to His disciples. Love was the uniform or the ID Jesus gave to His disciples. After the initial years the Church abandoned His commandment and uniform. Canon Law, dogma, rituals, various types of fancy dress replaced the way of Christ. With the protection and patronage from the rulers, the Church started to recruit members by force and allurement. The Church expanded as an empire, but lost the soul of Christ. The way of Christ was abandoned. It is against this background the prophetic Pope Francis said that ‘proselytization is crime.’
It is true that Christ asked His disciples to make all people His disciples and baptize them. He wanted His disciples to be mentors (fishers) of people by adopting the way of Christ based on the values of love, forgiveness, justice, peace, dignity of individual, freedom and universal solidarity. When people are committed to follow these values they are baptized into the way of Christ and become disciples of Christ. It is in this sense a great philosopher Bertrand Russell said about Mahatma Gandhi, “I know only one Christian, but he is not a Christian”. The renowned social worker Baba Amte confessed, “I am a follower of Christ, not a member of the Church.” Gandhiji and Baba Amte lived Christ’s way of life authentically.
Indians, especially the Hindus, were hurt by the aggressive ways of evangelization in the past with the support of colonial rulers. Hindutva forces under BJP-RSS remember the atrocities committed by Christian missionaries by destroying their temples and attacking those who refused to become Christians in Goas. Now it is their turn and they legitimize revenge and hatred against Christians and Muslims.

9. We are living in a situation where there is a lot of hatred and envy, do the Christians fall prey to the same virus of hate and spite? What are you doing to create an atmosphere of brotherhood among religions?

Despite facing much hostility Christians are not analysing the situation and the causes for the hostility. Due to lack of serious evaluation we continue our colonial style of evangelization in places where we are strong numerically. Wherever we are a minority we behave like cowards to safeguard our institutional interest. Even when we are facing opposition from outside forces we are divided internally on petty issues of liturgy, language, caste and region. There is absence of visionary leadership in the Church. This is more visible in times of crisis.
It was a shame that Narendra Modi, who is heading a Government engaged in establishing an aggressive Hindu Rashtra, was approached to mediate between the conflicting groups of Orthodox and Jacobite factions. Why didn’t any leader from the Catholic Church take the prophetic initiative to bring peace and reconciliation before Narendra Modi came in? It exposes the spiritual bankruptcy and the failure of the leadership of the disciples Christ. Church has become noisy without any contemplation.
Though Universal Solidarity Movement (USM) is pluralistic in content and organization, it has experimented successfully to live the way of Christ. Since the last 28 years (from 1993-2021) USM has had a community mission with people of different faiths and walks of life with total transparency, total participation and total inclusiveness. From the very inception we had made an option not to own any land and building and working in rented premises. It has opted not to apply for funds from any agency. The USM has neither fixed bank deposits nor corpus fund. It follows the way of Christ trusting in the providence of God. Members work hard to raise funds through various training programmes. The total transparency and accountability have brought rich dividends in terms of trust and good will of people of all faith and walks of life. During the lockdown many people who belong to other faiths came forward with support for meeting the basic expenses like rent for the building, salary for the staff, electricity charge etc.
USM is an example of living like the early Christian communities, practicing New Wineskin way of evangelization, making thousands of youth, teachers and parents who belong to other faiths disciples of Christ without making them members of the Church. This is the strength of Universal Solidarity Movement of Value Education for Peace. This is the new paradigm of evangelization.
Hence I always say, ‘Each one should believe that nothing is impossible; the more the problems the greater should be our determination; the more the darkness, the greater is the need for us to be the light; the more the indifference, the greater should be our sensitivity; the more the revenge and hatred, the greater should be our commitment to work for peace and reconciliation.”

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