Bp Thomas Dabre

You are a retired bishop, your life is a vocation of God, and how did you live up to the call as you see?
I joined seminary just to become a priest. I decided to love Jesus and do His will all my life. Now the will of God is concretized in our specific situation. There are different demands and challenges as a seminarian, priest, Professor and Bishop. As Professor of Systematic Theology I tried to be faithful to the teaching of the Church. They found me too conservative. That is why it was hard and I was not popular. As Bishop I followed Vat. II and papal documents. Most priests were cooperative but some were hard to deal with. I have excellent experiences with the laity.

The German philosopher Heidegger said, “alles ist innig” “Everything is sincerity” which he means sincerity to one’s won interiority. What is your interiority and how must one live that authenticity?
I have always avoided duplicity, hypocrisy. I do my examination of conscience twice a day and go for regular Confession. As priests we must be sincere and authentic otherwise our ministry and life has no meaning.

St Augustine prayed in his autobiography, “Lord you were within me, I was outside.” How did the Lord lead you?
I have followed a strict spiritual regimen. I have realized that as a priest I must be a man of God. All kinds of external and internal temptations are there. But by the grace of God I try to overcome them.

What is prayer for you? Is it listening? (Hear, O Israel, Psalm 81:8-13) whom and what? How do you relate this concept of prayer to liturgy?
Prayer for me is living in conscious communion with God. For this I visit the Blessed Sacrament several times daily. My desire is to live in the house of God for ever. During the day I say ejaculatory prayers. And there various other Biblical and other methods of prayer which I employ. I try to unite with the Holy Trinity. Mother Mary, Saints and Angels. Of course In prayer I derive strength to relate well with people and to help the needy.
The Liturgy is the source and summit of our life. So that for me is the highest source of joy and I try to pattern my life on Jesus CRUCIFIED AND RISEN. The word of God is also at the centre of the Liturgy. And so I try to the word of God well.

Do you think that there is a theology for Democracy? The documents of the Vatican on Synod never use the word democracy, but do you think the spirit is there? How does the spirit of democracy reflect in our country’s democratic process?
For the civil society democracy is a good political system though it has its existential and inherent limitations. Truth is not necessarily with the majority as we know from what is happening in our country. Democracy and populace can be manipulated and misled particularly in a country like India where at least 20% people are illiterate.
Besides the Church is a supernatural community of faith which has its own norms and models where secular categories like democracy, majority-minority do not apply. We try to discern the will of God in all circumstances of life in the Church and in society, guided by sensus fidelium. The Pope has said the synod is not a parliament or for pushing one’s own agenda. One culture and uniform civil code etc. need to be carefully analysed. Good names or titles do not mean wholly credible concepts. As St Paul teaches, we need a sense of discernment.
There are some who are diehard critics of the Pope. So they now criticize synodality. It is not for taking you away from Christ and to make you popular at all. It is to make you more like to fulfil His mission. The Pope has only rediscovered and reemphasized the lost spirit of synodality. He has made it clear that it is not parliament or to score victory over others. It is to walk ahead TOGETHER.