Dear Catholic Bishops of India,

Greetings and good wishes to each one of you, as you gather together today (12 February 2020) for your 34th biennial plenary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) at St John’s National Academy for Medical Sciences in Bengaluru. I am writing this letter (to each one of you) after much personal discernment and discussions with some, including those who have encouraged me to do so. It is not easy because I would like to be concise yet substantial; however, let me begin…

Dear Bishops, millions of our sisters and brothers in our country are crying out for a more humane, just and equitable society; they are crying because divisive, discriminatory, draconian law and policies are threatening their very citizenship; they are crying because they are being targeted because of their faith; they are crying because they are poor and vulnerable; they are crying because they are Dalits and Adivasis, women and children, unemployed youth and beleaguered farmers; they are crying because they want to be listened to, to be in dialogue with, to be accompanied!

Dear Bishops, so where do we stand as Church in India today? To put matters in perspective, some Bishops have come out in the open, joined protest rallies and have issued unequivocal strongly-worded statements asking for the repeal of the CAA and a stay on the NRC/NPR; several priests, religious and laity all over the country, have been responsible for organizing protests and/or have joined with other concerned citizens in protests, rallies, sit-ins etc. All this is heart-warming and certainly goes a long way in our witness to the person and message of Jesus in India today!

But dear Bishops – this is just a drop in the ocean; definitely not enough! We have to do much more unitedly and immediately. There are some things that hold us back, that prompt us to be more ‘diplomatic’ and ‘cautious;’ that seem to legitimize a ‘silence’ for apparently a ‘greater good.’ These include Fear, Ignorance and Exclusiveness. All these are sinful! Jesus and His teachings are about exactly the opposite. Jesus says to us “fear no one; I am with you!” When we have no courage to take a stand for justice and truth, because those who rule us may take away our possessions, privileges, power, position whatever – we are in fact sending a stronger message which is contra-witness: that our faith in Jesus is shallow, mere lip-service; that we really do not believe in Him; that our treasures are with the rulers of this world! Ignorance is never a value: Jesus Himself warned us about our inability to “read the signs of the times.” Yes, many of us suffer from a serious CCM illness (Church/Convent Compound Mentality); our approach is hardly inclusive; we tend to ghettoize; often forgetting the Jesus-style to reach out to the lost, the least and the last! When we stick our necks out, we may lose everything, we may be persecuted: we will be hounded and harassed and God knows what more. That is the core of our spirituality: the crib and the cross before the resurrection! But when we don’t stick our necks out we will perhaps still lose everything, but also our own credibility and be a betrayal to the person and message of Jesus.

Yes, dear Bishops, you owe it to our faith, to the Gospel of Jesus, to the people of our country and above all, to the sanctity of our Constitution. There might not be another chance! In India, our Church is still very hierarchical and patriarchal: the laity and the people of India look up to you for a Christ-centred, selfless and servant leadership. Please do not disappoint them or the future of the country. Speak out today against the unconstitutional CAA/NPR/NRC through a strong public statement (cfr. www.wethepeopleofindia.net; https://cjp.org.in/). Just as you did some years ago, come out onto the streets of Bengaluru NOW, in order to demonstrate your stand for the secular and pluralistic fabric of our country and Constitution! Many from Bengaluru will surely join you and millions more throughout the country and the world, will be made aware that “your light shines!”…

Dear Bishops, on 12 March 1977, Jesuit Fr Rutilio Grande was killed by the regime of El Salvador. Presiding over the funeral Mass of his dear friend, Bishop (now Saint) Oscar Romero said, “The government should not consider a priest who takes a stand for social justice as a politician or a subversive element when he is fulfilling his mission in the politics of the common good;” brazenly adding,” Anyone who attacks one of my priests, attacks me. If they killed Rutilio for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.” Three years later on Sunday 23 March 1980, in a powerful homily, Romero minced no words as he castigated the Government and the military of his country, “I would like to make an appeal in a special way to the men of the army, to the police, to those in the barracks. Brothers, you are part of our own people. You kill your own campesino brothers and sisters. And before an order to kill that a man may give, the law of God must prevail that says: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God. No one has to fulfil an immoral law. It is time to recover your consciences and to obey your consciences rather than the orders of sin. The Church, defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity, the dignity of the person, cannot remain silent before such abomination. We want the government to take seriously that reforms are worth nothing when they come about stained with so much blood. In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people whose laments rise to heaven each day more tumultuously, I beg you, I ask you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression!” He was assassinated the very next day!

Dear Bishops, I have written this (as I said earlier) after plenty of soul-searching and consultation. It has not been an easy exercise. I did not want to be too long; but I needed to substantiate my arguments – totally based on what you have said, what the Pope is saying, what Jesus expects us to be doing. Above all, this letter has been written professing my unflinching loyalty to Jesus and His Church; and my sincere commitment to protect and promote the Constitution. My prayer and hope are, that it is accepted with the same openness and positivity with which it is written.

Finally, I cannot help recalling those immortal words of the German Pastor Martin Niemoller, “Then they came for me, and there was no one left, to speak out for me!” Craving your blessings and prayers and with an assurance of my prayers for you, dear Bishops.

Fr Cedric Prakash SJ
cedricprakash@gmail.com