Tuesday, March 13, 2018
“I want to see a Catholic”
Scrolling across a WhatsApp
Group, one of the messages read “I want to see a Catholic CM, a Catholic PM and
a Catholic President of India before I die”. The message lingered and questioned
in my mind, of how communally frog welled and microscopic brained at times,
even ‘intellectuals’ can be. Firstly Catholics by itself is a microscopically
atom sized population in India, and then to dream of having one of them on high
governing post is not a bad dream, but definitely a dream. Then dreaming of
seeing one before death, is like either wishing oneself for a long life, or
wishing for resurrection after death, to nurture the hope to see a Catholic
governing India.
India happens to be one of the
few countries where after the death of Christ, it had an immediate disciple of
Christ, St. Thomas, who came and evangelized the word of Jesus. Right from the
time of St. Peter who is considered by the Roman Catholic Church as the ‘First
Pope’ anointed by Christ and all successions to the post of Pope have been
mostly (practically all) white. Though there have been Black Popes in the early
years of the Catholic Church, hoping to see one in the new millennia may be a
wait till the ‘Second Coming’. Only hope the ‘second coming’ is black. Racism
in the Catholic Church is inherent, to the extent even pictures of Christ is
depicted as a white, when statues of Mother Mary and Jesus have been with black
features, and are older than white images and sculptors of Michelangelo and
artists from the Renaissance period.
There could be many Catholics like
me in India who want to see a Catholic CM, PM and a President of India, at the
same time have no qualms showing allegiance to a white man in Rome, but not
hoping, wanting or demanding to see an Indian as a Pope. Strange dichotomy, we
want a person of a Catholic faith to govern a country and don’t want to have an
Indian as a Pope. It’s time Catholics remove the log in their eye, before they
remove the thorn in India’s eyes. At the same time when Catholic Priests
decides to contest an election they are not permitted https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Catholic-priests-in-fray-Church-fumes/articleshow/33883616.cms
Jesus himself was ‘Political Religious Leader’ as law of the land during his
time were governed with religious doctrine. One end you want to dream of a
Catholic in leadership position of governance, and at the same time have a
problem with a Catholic Priest wanting to enter into politics. If entering
politics is with an intention to serve and weed out corruption, Catholics
should start looking inwards and show courage to question their religious leaders
in India. Why is the Church collecting money called ‘Peter’s Pence’, claiming
it is for the expense of the Pope’s office? When did Vatican need contributions
from a microscopically minority of Catholic Community in India? At the same
time the Vatican Bank scandals can shock the faith of the community from its
leaders. Why is money collected for ‘African Missions’? Are Indian Catholic
community so affluent in India? How is this money siphoned off to the Vatican
and Africa? The way the Church displays its Bible and books of Mathew, Mark,
Luke and John in public domain, wish it displays its books of accounts in the
public domain, of the millions that it collects, and who are the beneficiaries?
When euthanasia gets a legal
approval in India, Catholic leadership has a problem claiming it is not aligned
with its faith. Fr. Stephen a spokesperson of the Catholic Church states, “No
one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a
foetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering
from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying.” Jesus himself was a
victim of assisted or intended suicide. Why did a man give up his life to be
crucified and killed, when he knew about it? If his dying was so that we may
not be burdened of our sins, similarly many would like to die than be a burden
on their family. In a country where one cannot live in peace, here comes
Catholic moral brigade to dictate that they cannot even die in peace, when
there are cases of people killed and lynched to pieces in India. The Catholic
Church if it is so genuinely concerned and caring for life should in that case
give its community such health facilities, which the community can be proud of,
but instead Catholic Hospitals are nothing but business institutions.
Politicians in our country we can presume are corrupt and cheat our taxes and
use it for medical treatment abroad, so does a Cardinal in Bombay who gets his
medical treatment in America. Taxes we have no choice but pay, but donations to
Church are given with a hope the needy and the marginalized get it, and not a
‘religious medical insurance’ for a Cardinal and his lavish lifestyle. If
Catholics are so keen to improve and govern India, they could start with their
front yard, i.e. the Church.
Why can we not look forward to a
‘clean man’ being a CM, PM or President, as that is what India needs desperately,
and not a Catholic, Hindu or a Muslim. This divisive religiously racial mindset
is what political parties in India has been exploiting and we are paying the
price. The only Catholic one can associate as an Indian in power is Sonia
Gandhi, who anyways is not an Indian by origin but an Italian. Strange
coincidence though most of the Popes have been Italian. Indian communities want
to see their people either in positions of power or in positions of quota,
meaning reservations for the community. Catholics also want to know why there
are no quotas for Catholics in India, so it is if we cannot be forward to rule,
can we treated as backward as be given quotas. The Catholic Church is amongst
the richest, biggest land owners, and also now racing with their leadership to
be amongst the most corrupt. Land scams and many other corruption matters are
there in the public domain that when one Googles ‘Catholic Corruption in
India’, one would wonder whether “Catholicism is religion in India or a cartel”? To make it more shameful if one Googles
‘Scandals of Catholic priests in India’, one would even doubt if nailing them
legally could be considered, as they can resurrect again with the Indian legal
system, where it is not only easy for a camel to go through an eye of a needle,
but even Noah’s Ark could pass through it. The irony is microorganisms will not
go through this eye of the needle, who are the poor and marginalized people, as
justice to the rich and powerful in India is given easier and faster than
ordering a pizza over the phone. You just dial your contact in a high place and
that’s it, you are out on bail, or a live like a king in jail or fly out of the
country like Air Mail.
One does not need to be a
Catholic to govern a country, instead one needs character, virtues and honesty
to govern a country. On the contrary in India one can never make it to
positions of governance if you have any of the mentioned qualities, but you
just need to be corrupt to the depth of your bone marrow. So it is better to be
a Catholic in India with qualities character, virtues and honesty, so people
who see a Catholic associate them to be ‘Christ Like’. If there are any like
this, “I want to see a Catholic, before I die”.
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