INDIA: Missionary Spirit Decreasing

Vatican Official Notes Decreasing Missionary Spirit In Indian Church

June 8, 2007

BANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- A Vatican official and other Church people say the missionary spirit in the Indian Church has been declining, but an effective evangelization way to help reverse the trend is life witnessing.

At a colloquium held May 28-31 in Bangalore, southern India, Father Theodore Mascarenhas, who heads the Asia Desk at the Pontifical Council for Culture, offered this view. "Many priests and religious have conveniently forgotten their basic missionary vocation," the Vatican-based priest said.

Several Catholic missioners have no time for missionary work, he also said, because they get so "immersed" in establishing schools, colleges, hospitals and "business complexes," buildings that are let out to shops and offices.

According to Father Mascarenhas, a member of the Goa-based Society of Pilar, the "main threat" to the Church is "from within," and several participants told UCA News they agree with this assertion.

Tony D'Mello, a lay leader from Vasai diocese in western India, said today's missioners lack a "living role model." In the past, he noted, "we had several missioners from abroad who were burning with the passion of Christ. That is why we are Christians today."

In the layman's view, Protestant Churches in India attract more people than the Catholic Church because "our priests and nuns have hardly any time for missionary work." D'Mello also observed that most Church workers are now involved in schools, colleges, hospitals and other institutions.

Father Lawrence Lakra of Rourkela diocese in eastern India said that many young priests and nuns at first actually opt for missionary work. However, they begin doing education, social and health care services and eventually "get stuck as managers and directors" of the institutions in which they work.

Father Joseph Puthenpurackal, a Salesian from Shillong in northeastern India, said Catholic missioners are now more "conscious about what others say about them than what they are supposed to do."

The Church "cannot exist in isolation, but only in dialogue with others," the 68-year-old priest asserted. Being missionary, he said, does not mean "only preaching or converting people, but introducing Jesus to others." Even so, he said that he agrees "many of our institutions are closed to real evangelization" and engage only in educational and health services.

According to Father Chinnappa Sebastian, some Church-managed schools in his region of West Bengal in eastern India even refuse to teach catechism to their Catholic students, on grounds that most students are of other faiths. "What use is it to call them Catholic institutions when they do not spread Christian values?" asked the priest, who directs Baruipur diocese's Board of Education.

Father Mascarenhas later told UCA News the Church must not run schools if it cannot witness and give the message of Christ to students and parents. He said the message of Christ is love, and this cannot be negated "by any group."

He advised the colloquium participants, "Give love, preach love and be love yourselves, wherever you are." Stressing that the most powerful tool for "evangelization is witnessing," he said, "We should proclaim Jesus by our lives in schools, colleges and health centers if we want to call them Christian institutions."

The recent colloquium came in the wake of the 2006 Asian Mission Congress held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The Office of Evangelization of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) organized the meeting in Bangalore, along with the Commission for Proclamation of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India. The conference comprises Latin-rite bishops.

Reproduced by Konkani Catholics with permission from UCAN (www.ucanews.com)

INTERVIEW: Oscar Fernandes, Mangalore

May 30, 2007

UCAN Interview - 'My Faith Sustains Me In Politics'

MANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- Compromising one's values will not advance one's political life much, according to Oscar Fernandes, a successful Catholic politician in India.

The 66-year-old federal minister from Mangalore, in the southern state of Karnataka, says his Catholic faith has sustained him during his 35 years in politics.

During that time, he has guided his Congress party as its national general secretary. Recently, he shared with UCA News how he lives his Catholic faith as an Indian politician. The interview follows:

UCA NEWS: What motivated you to enter politics?

OSCAR FERNANDES: It was my Catholic faith that motivated me. I was one of 12 children in my family, and I grew up with a strong Catholic background. As a child I was an altar boy, and as a youth I was active in Church activities. This active involvement with the Church really helped me to think bigger and get into politics. Moreover, I had over a dozen votes in my house itself (he laughs).

As a public figure, do you see yourself more as a Catholic or a politician?

I am both. I never separate my Catholic identity from politics. My faith is personal, and I never had to sacrifice my Catholic identity in politics. However busy I was, I never missed my family prayers, although I miss Sunday Mass sometimes. I believe that my religious identity is more a being and living, and it has been inseparable from my public life.

Has being a Catholic in a predominantly Hindu country helped your political life?

I feel, yes. India is a great nation with secular ideals. Here people do not discriminate against you in the name of religion; only politicians do. People are carried away by how you live your religious and personal life, rather than which god you believe in. I never hide my religious identity anywhere and never felt let down because of this. In fact, political life has been smooth and progressive because I believe in Jesus.

Who is Jesus for you?

Jesus has been a hero for me. He has been the greatest public servant, a revolutionary leader and selfless social activist. He is my role model and motivator. My religion believes in giving rather than receiving, sharing rather than bearing, and helping rather than being helped. I believe my political career was a special call and vocation for me.

Politics and politicians are generally disliked. How can you make a difference in Indian politics?

I believe in witnessing rather than preaching. I hardly preach Christianity, but the people of India know that I am a Christian. They see me praying, they see me happy and content, and they know that I love them. My principles are based on Christian values and I live them. I came into politics in 1972 by winning municipal council elections, and ever since I have lived a Catholic life and political career.

Christians are, by and large, apathetic about politics. But of late, thanks to the efforts of Catholic Sabha (council), hundreds of Catholics have contested panchayat (village council) elections and won. Quite a number of Catholics from various states have also come into national politics. So their thinking is changing.

What is Catholic Sabha? What were its objectives and what has it done so far?

I was one of the founders of (Mangalore diocese's) Catholic Sabha, which has completed some three decades. It was started to protest an anti-conversion bill introduced in parliament in 1979. Later, it became one of the strongest Catholic lay movements. It has provided a platform for many Catholics to enter politics. It has helped many youths to get into civil service, encouraged Catholics to contest panchayat elections and get involved in other social-service activities. We now manage a special school and rehabilitation center for mentally retarded children. Though I am more active in national politics, I have never ignored the Catholic Sabha, my first step in politics.

What are the challenges a committed Christian faces in politics?

It is embarrassing to be amid politicians who believe in mere politics and compromise without scruples to further their political future. But I have neither compromised my Catholic identity nor sacrificed the values I inherited from my devout parents. And those values have been my strength. In politics, if you do not assert your identity, you will get nowhere.

Christians now face persecution in India. As a Catholic minister, how do you respond to this?

I think Christians are luckier and safer in India than in any other country. Indians are so accommodating and hospitable. India has welcomed and supported different religions and faiths. How can we say India is a bad place for Christianity? The problem is politically motivated and never culturally rooted. It is caused by aggressiveness from both sides -- politicians looking for an issue for vote banks and some Christians acting like a politician to push their faith. Both are not correct.

Christianity has to spread through Christian witnessing rather than street preaching. I survived in Indian politics for the past three decades as a practicing Catholic. I was never persecuted for my faith.

You always appear in public with your wife, never alone. Does this ever hinder you?

It is never a bother, but my strength. We have been married for 25 years and never have we stayed separately. She is with me in all my success and failures, good days and bad days. Is it not Christian witness?

I am what I am because of my parents and I want my children also to say that. So we are together and we nurture our children with a good Catholic background. Children will get settled and they will go. But a wife can never leave like that. I believe if we are successful in our family life, we will be successful everywhere. And if we pray together and are strong in our faith, we can move mountains.