1. Introduction: Context

When there are two entities, an A and a B, the options are: i. A or B; ii. A but B; iii. A and B; and iv. Neither A nor B. When it comes to the Church and the Society options i and iv could be easily ruled out since the Church emerges in a society. The choice is between ii and iii. We cannot say we are the Church but there is the society – Jesus said: You are the salt and the light of the society (Mt 5:13f). Hence our option is Church and society. In other words, the Church cannot be a mutually exclusive entity from the society. The Church is the subset of the society, but the Church is the dynamic force of transformation (Mt 13:13) in the society. Recently one of my students in the Scripture class (Yes, we teach Catechism, the Scripture etc at Loyola) turned in the assignment on ‘the parables and the social relevance today’. He has given the title ‘the good seed’ (what he wrote was about the parable of the sower). When I read the assignment my reflection was: all seeds are good but the milieu (social context such as path, rock, thorns, good soil etc) varies. The Church is to change the society for the better – The choice again is whether through conformity or contradiction. Is the Church the light of the world or does the Church stand in the shadow of the society? [Just an example: Bishop’s letter in Sri Lanka – Pray for the souls of Sri Lankan soldiers!]

There is yearning for renewal in the Church and among religious Orders/Congregations through ‘seeking the roots’ and ‘creative fidelity’ in order to translate the vision of the founders of the Church and of the Religious Orders/Congregations through theological, social and pastoral reflections especially based on the current events in the Church.

In a world of social and moral evolution, Christianity came about as a paradigm shift. The world is full of contradictions filled with tension and struggle: the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the ruler (affluent) and the ruled (downtrodden), the discriminator and the discriminated, the suppressor and the suppressed, the educated and the uneducated, the literate and the illiterate, the vociferous and the voiceless etc. The economic development of the world itself is seen as an uncomfortable coexistence of economic increase and decrease with the outcome of the mutually exclusive opposites leading to mutual hatred and disharmony.

Walking through the faith-lane one faces the contradiction between Christian faith and practice and one realizes how the Church stands today as an anti-value and anti-witness to Christ and His teachings, through discrimination and marginalization. And at the same time one is invited to see the ray of hope of better tomorrow amidst contradictions in reality.  When the broken and the afflicted say: ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely’ (Ez 37:11) the Lord of the Universe assures them: ‘When I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people, I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act’ (Ez 37:13).

2. Jesus: Fulcrum of Unity

When Jesus proclaimed, ‘I am the Truth, the Way, the Light, and the Life’ (Jn 14:6 and Jn 8:12), He opened up a new meaning of mission and ministry. It was a way different from ‘eye-for-an-eye’ (Mt 5:38) but a way of holistic redemption with human dignity. It was a life different from ‘love-your-neighbour-but-hate-your-enemy’ (Mt 5:43) but it was a sinner-oriented and socially-discriminated-centred mission. In a nut shell he would tell his followers: ‘You have heard…’ (Mt 5:21) but would then add ‘not so with you’ (Mt 20:25) or ‘but I tell you’ (Mt 5:22). From the concept of conformity to class-distinction, he brought out a dynamic contradiction where people mattered and all are equal and the discriminated in the society are more equal. The rich Joseph of Arimathea (Jn 19:58), the influential Nicodemus (Jn 3:1), the powerful Roman Centurion (Lk 7:2), the learned Pharisee Simon (Lk 7:36), the sinner Mary of Magdala (Mk 16:9), the blind-person C/O road-side (Lk 18:35), the leper/s at the outskirts of the villages (Mk 1:40, Lk 17:12),  the paralyzed of 38 long years (Jn 5:5), the Samaritan woman at the Jacob’s well (Jn 4:7), the dog-eats-bread-crump-from-table Canaanite woman (Mt 15:27), workers who came to work in the vineyard at the eleventh hour and those who came early in the morning (Mt 20:8) etc are all the same for him. But his heart went out for the needy – the two-copper-coin widow (Lk 21:2) is a model of generosity since ‘blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 5:2); the crying-and-wiping-feet-with-hair sinner (Lk 7:38) is a role model to be proclaimed all over the globe since ‘the pure in heart will see God’ (Mt 5:8); the ignored Lazarus at the door-step of the Millionaire (Lk 16:20) is the ultimate winner since ‘the meek will inherit the earth’ (Mt 5:5) and the heaven as well. Jesus preached what he believed and lived out what he preached – That is why he could preach and teach with authority (Mt 7:29). He eliminated the contradiction between his preaching and his practice. He expects the same today with respect to the Church and the society – Let us focus on the discrimination and marginalization in the Church which is a reflection from the society.

2.1. Struggle for Justice:

In world of contradictions the Church took roots and spread her wings: It is a universal phenomenon that largely the poor and the socially discriminated embraced Christianity since it promised a society with a difference where what you have matters nothing but what you are matters everything. The Church grew out of poverty but she seems to have today distanced herself from the poor. The foundation stones of the Church were the neglected in the society, namely the poor and the downtrodden, but today the socially discriminated are sidelined and ignored in the Church. Jesus did not say in vain: The stone rejected by the builders would become the corner-stone (Mt 12:10). Today we are in the turning point of time where the people, especially the marginalized and the discriminated, would reject those who proclaim themselves as the builders and stewards of the Church and they would found a Church anew based on the original model of Jesus, namely a Church of the poor, by the poor, and for the poor.

During the recently concluded 12^th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome the Asian delegate Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati said:

“Missionaries have remained creative and kept entering into new areas of work. Their services in the fields of education and health are greatly esteemed. […] They are active in the struggle for justice for oppressed groups; in the work for social change, cultural promotion, protection of environment, defense of life and family; in advocacy on behalf of the weak, downtrodden and the marginalized, and giving voice to the voiceless. […] Even where the Gospel is resisted most, the evangelical witness of socially relevant works find welcome.” (Cf. Zenit.org, Oct 7 ‘08)

We could reflect on how much the Church in Tamil Nadu has been active ‘in the struggle for justice for oppressed groups’ and how much progress has been so far made ‘in the work for social change’, since as Martin Luther King would put it: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

2.2. Towards the Parousia:

We could reflect where we come from and where we are heading to. We revisit the facts that the missionary spirit has frozen into institutions, the dynamic spirit of seeking for truth has become static in comfort, and the parousia of Jesus, when he would ask for an account of our life, mission and ministries, appears to be conveniently sidelined and seems to be a long forgotten concept (which is perhaps taught in our theologates for academic exams). There is an urgent need for renewal in the liberative fundamentals of our faith, especially when a lot of misconceptions and deliberate distortions are let loose opposed to the integral emancipatory efforts of the marginalized. In the words of Martin Luther King: they are not satisfied, and they will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24).

3. Contradiction of Mission and Ministry:

The mission entrusted by Jesus to his followers was to go all over the nations and proclaim the good news to the poor and to set free the oppressed (Lk 4:18). This freedom and liberation is holistic: the economically crippled should be able to walk, the socially timid and dumb should be able to speak voicing forth their rights and attain their dignity, the eyes of those blinded by prejudices and hatred should be open, to bombard those who turn a deaf-ear to the cry of the needy and the suppressed. He insisted that the quality of the tree of mission would be judged by the fruits of the ministry of liberation. When disciples of John the Baptist came and posed the question: Are you the one or should we look for someone? Jesus asked them to decipher for themselves what he was doing for the people, namely curing individual diseases, challenging social sicknesses, addressing political evils (Lk 7:21) – He said: go and tell John what you have SEEN and HEARD (Lk 7:22). And he set the ‘doing’ and not mere ‘preaching’ as the criteria on the last day (Mt 25:31-46).

Today we need to see around how much we talk and how much we walk the talk. The Church, especially the hierarchy with the claim as the direct successors of the Apostles of Jesus, should stand for the poor and the oppressed. Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we see God taking the side of the poor and the exploited and Jesus sharing the lot of the poor and the discriminated. Yahweh made out of the slaves of Egypt a great and powerful nation – It is for that he brought them out of slavery ‘with mighty hand and outstretched arm’ (Dt 26:8). The outstretched arm was to protect the Israelites and the raised hand was to smash any obstacles or threats on the way to the Promised Land. And today we need to reflect on our own mission and ministry in the Church of Tamil Nadu and see if Tamil Nadu Church has extended this ‘outstretched arm and raised hand’ to all its people and especially the weak.  We could, for example, revisit the recent incidents in one or two places in Tamilnadu between the Dalits and the dominant caste people. This is just the tip of an ice-berg that is found hidden in the hearts of the Christians of Tamil Nadu in general and the Church authorities and Religious Superiors in particular. Hence this deserves a theological analysis in itself. Is the Church a counter-culture to the society of suppression and neglect of the marginalized or is the Church the replica of the social evil we experience in day to  day life?

3.1. Voice against discrimination:

Instead of taking action against the perpetrators of violence and social discrimination the hierarchy seem to lament that the Church is helpless since it has only a spiritual power (Interestingly the Code of Canon Law states: ‘The power of governance is divided into legislative, executive and judicial power’ – Can 135/1). Walking down the corridors of time we could see that the Church authorities resorted to legal force to establish human dignity and equality, just to cite two examples, Pastor Bartholomaeus Zieganbalg in Tranquebar Mission and Archbishop Leonard of Madurai.

3.2. Assertion for equal Rights:

Whenever the marginalized and downtrodden tried to assert their rights and struggled for independence they were suppressed. Everywhere the poor and the marginalized are suppressed since they should not ask for their rights. The background of the violence against Christians in Orissa, in spite of the Maoists taking up the responsibility of killing of the Hindu Swamy, is not ‘conversion’ as they say but the fact that the Dalits and Tribals are given education which would empower them in the society and that should be sabotaged. It is with the same attitude that the power centres in the Church try to suppress the marginalized who try to come up through education and who open up their eyes to the reality of suppression and discrimination and who begin to raise their voice for their dignity and equality.  The education and development of the Dalits and the Tribals will make the caste hierarchy crumble and the ‘dominant castes’ can not sit at the top of social and administrative ladder and lord over or master them. Some along the ladder of administration do not want to see the poor and the marginalized come up in their education and take part in the decision making bodies of the Church. So they lament and accuse them of so many baseless allegations. They are only afraid that their fort is already crumbling and the false images that they maintain and propagate among the ‘pious’, ‘innocent’ and ‘obedient’ Christians are fading away. Dominant-caste Catholics destroying Dalit-Catholics is worse than Bajrang Dal destroying the Dalit and Tribal Catholics!

4. Anatomy of Humiliation:

In India the caste system, known as Varnashrama Dharma, is based on discrimination. Initially the fair-skinned invaders from the north drove down to the south the dark-skinned natives of the land (This is the Varnashrama – Origin of colours and social status) and later when the invaders became powerful they introduced the caste system and added an appendix: out-of-caste group.

4.1. Caste-system:

The unwanted appendix to the caste-system but necessary for life, namely the out-of-caste, are the untouchables (also known as ‘Panchama’, the fifth category). As Narendra Jadhav puts it:

They were denied human rights and were forced to scrape together a living from denigrating chores such as carrying human manure and removing the carcasses of cattle. They were powerless to change their caste-based social status. There was no scope for a revolt. How could mere mortals challenge a structure ordained by God himself? Social and religious sanctity had ensured unquestioning perpetration of the age-old system…. A person belonging to a sweeper caste had to dutifully carry human excrement on his head with the hope that he could look forward to bettering his lot in the another life (Cf. N. Jadhav, Untouchables, New York: Scribner, 2005, p.4).

Since they do the ‘unclean’ works they are polluted but the produce of the land, fruit of the labour of the untouchables etc are not unclean! These are the exploited group without any human dignity – They do not enjoy human rights nor equality. They are just ‘commodities’, like the slaves, employed as ‘bonded labourers’. (At least a slave could be set free but these out-caste-people can never be freed from untouchability!) According to this ‘dharma’, a Dalit once born a Dalit would die a Dalit! – This is the social outlook but does the Church has an alternate teaching or practice?

4.2. Pro-active response:

Buddhism came into existence as a pro-active response to the caste-ridden Hinduism but Hinduism saw to it that Buddhism was ‘expelled’ from India – Buddhism instead spread to other countries via Sri Lanka, Japan, China etc. Christianity which claims that ‘there is nothing unclean created by God’ (Acts 10:15) could not make inroad with regard to the first three category of the caste-system. It is the Sudras and the Dalits (with the Dalits as the majority) who embraced Christianity with the hope that this religion would free them from the caste oppression under which they have been suffering for centuries. Even according to the Bishops Council of Tamil Nadu, the Dalits make at least 65% of the Catholic Church in Tamil Nadu (Cf. Minutes of TNBC 1992-meeting). Christianity could not go beyond about 3% of Indian population –Neither could it break the caste-barrier in India in spite of the fact that about 85% of schools are run by Christians in India. The Catholic Church in Tamil Nadu, as in India, has produced efficient clerks and middle-level work-force but did not set eyes on forming political leaders, business magnates, social or religious reformers. The followers of Christ in India are mostly the sudras and the untouchable Dalits and the ignored Tribals but now the Church authorities prepare the future generation, ignoring the poor and the Dalits, in the society. This is so because the Church also holds on to the caste-system. The Church authorities see to it that the mission and the vision of the Tamil Nadu Church do not go beyond schools and a few colleges. And there is no evolution of farsighted projects to bring these people, who are the artery of the Catholic Church, into the mainstream of the nation through employment. They were, instead, made to be dependent on the Church hierarchy all through their life. The discriminated are more discriminated and the exploited are more exploited. The proclamation of Jesus in the Synagogue of Nazareth, namely ‘good news to the poor’ (Lk 4:18) still remains a distant echo in India. The echo, namely ‘integrated liberation and holistic dignity for the Dalits’ remains only a talk (and an empty slogan) but the Church in Tamil Nadu is yet to walk the talk.  Vatican II clearly spells out the need and meaning of human dignity:

“We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than

brotherly fashion, for all men are created in God’s image. Man’s relation to God the Father and man’s relation to his fellow-men are so dependent on each other that the Scripture says, “he who does not love, does not know God” (I Jn 4:8). There is no basis, therefore, either in theory or in practice for any discrimination between individual and individual, or between people and people arising either from human dignity or from the rights which flow from it” (NA 5).

If this is true and if we believe in it, why then there is discrimination and segregation in Church?

4.3. Evolution of Church-structure:

There are separate church-buildings for the dominant castes and for the lower castes. Even until recently the Dalits were not seated together in many a parish Church in Tamil Nadu. Even though they were able to take part in the common liturgy, Holy Communion was first distributed to the caste people and only then the Dalits could take part in the banquet of the Lord. Even the altar boy who helped in Communion distribution would be from the caste people for the caste people and a Dalit boy for the Dalit Catholics to take part in the Communion. Even at the Lord’s banquet there has been discrimination. In the words of Paul people ‘come together not for the better, but for the worse’ (I Cor 11:17)!

4.4. Present-day Casteism:

Even today in many places when the Parish Patron/Patroness feast is celebrated the car-procession would not go into the area of Dalits lest the patron-saint should become polluted. And the Corpus Christi Procession would not see the light of the Dalit streets. The Dalits are discriminated even in death. There are, in most places, separate cemeteries for the caste-dead and the Dalit-dead and even the vehicle used to take the dead bodies to the cemeteries would be different: one for the caste Catholics and one for the Dalit Catholics. Even death cannot part with untouchability. We have to wait and see whether there would be a caste-heaven and a Dalit-heaven! Not only the dead-Dalits are skirted off from others by a wall but the living as well: In Uthapuram, near Madurai, there is a wall separating the Dalit houses from other houses. One wonders which side of the wall the Catholic Church and the hierarchy stand. And the Church hierarchy have not taken any efforts to break-down this social evil since they claim they are only spiritual power. The hierarchy cannot offer spiritual solution to human rights violations. In other words, the spiritualistic (superficial) model of the Church has failed. If one is truly spiritual he/she cannot but play the prophetic role in denouncing whatever is unjust. Jesus was truly a spiritual person completely immersed in the Abba experience (of the universal father-/motherhood of God and therefore the universal brother-/sisterhood of the people) since each one was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). In the words of Vatican II:

All men are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God’s image; they have the same nature and origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality between all men and it must be given ever greater recognition (GS 29).

4.5. Vocation Promotion:

Regarding vocation promotion, under the pretext that the candidate should hail from ‘good families’, Dalits were turned out. The fifth Provincial Council of Goa (1606) stated:

‘For the dignity of the priesthood and the respect due to ecclesiastical persons, low castes should not be admitted to orders. Only sons of higher castes, for example Brahmins, Prabhus, should be ordained. The Synod instructs Rectors of Seminaries not to teach Latin to non-Brahmins. But all Thomas Christians, being Christians of long and noble standing, may be admitted to all sacred studies and to Latin’ (Accao Terceira, Decreto 40, December 4 – See J. Saldanha, ‘An Historical Note: Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin’, In: Indian Missiological Review (September, 1996, p. 55).

God created all human beings in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26) – This implies each one, whether Dalit or non-Dalit, is a potential genius. But taking Dalits into seminaries and into many religious congregations is a recent phenomenon. Even when a few were admitted into the seminary, they are counted as: i. intellectually inferior; ii. emotionally reactionaries; and iii. morally weak. Most of the Dalits were sent away  saying they did not have vocation while boys and girls from dominant castes were retained saying they had vocations as they hailed from ‘good families’. The fact that a few Congregations, especially women congregations, were founded mainly for the Dalits is an indication that they were not even tolerated in other Congregations. [Cause of Fr Albert Diedrich founding anbahams]. This raises the question whether the ministry of the Word is exclusively for the caste Catholics. A theological question comes in: When a Dalit priest pronounces the words of consecration, during the Mass, will there come down a Dalit Christ transforming the wheat-bread into his Body? Even the religious resist Dalit leadership in their Congregations. What has the Tamil Nadu Church done about this so far?

When a Dalit fails, fail he/she will because he/she is human, he/she will be a Dalit failing. Even if they are successful in administration their names would be smeared by negative criticism, misinformation, non-cooperation, and character assassination. All attempts would be made to discredit the person. Not only they would not be appreciated but rather their mistakes would be blown up. A Dalit has to work 200% percent in order to get perhaps 10% recognition or approval or appreciation. But for others it is the other way about.

Gutierrez would tell the rich, who accuse the poor to be immoral and therefore they have no right to demand their equal rights, that ‘the poor are not saints but they are loved by God because they are exploited and discriminated by humans.’ The Church hierarchy need this basic theological understanding.

4.6. Sharing the lot with the Marginalized:

The fast changing social consciousness is able to affect the secular Governments, both in the Centre and State, and even the public sectors but not the Catholic Church. There is more and more awareness as well as demand for affirmative action in public and private sectors but the Church is busy blocking or twisting the affirmative action for the socially marginalized. Universally there are efforts of ‘Affirmative Action’ to atone for centuries of discrimination. In India the Government has reservation for the BC, SC/ST as the Dalits fall in one of the categories but the Church of Tamil Nadu has not come up with a clear policy with regard to admission as well as appointment in Church run institutions. When people-movements question the temporal administration of the Church authority it is branded as interference in the administration of successors of the Apostles.

Even when our Church leaders go abroad, as we hear from the funding agencies and Church organizations, they speak only about poverty but they deny the existence of casteism and caste-discrimination in Tamil Nadu. Even the funds raised abroad in the name of the Dalits have not been spent for their upliftment: As per the Foreign Contribution Regulation 2005-06 accounts the Church has spent only 0.12% and 0.32% for SC and ST welfare respectively (Cf. The Hindustan Times,  September 15, 2008). Fortunately, Jesus did not belong to the caste system here. Otherwise only his caste people would have followed him with conviction. Jesus, who not only broke himself for the unity of his Church, remains broken into pieces of caste-groups in Tamil Nadu. The One, Catholic, Apostolic Church is fragmented into multi-, casteistic-, broken-Church. If Jesus were to come to Tamil Nadu Church today he would take up again the whip of assertion to fight for human rights as well as human dignity and equality since as Martin Luther King would put it our ‘churches are again centres of big business’. And of course, Jesus would be excommunicated and crucified again for taking the side of the discriminated [Cf ‘Marupadium’ by Mark Stephen].

5. Multiple Discrimination of Dalit Christians:

Kushwant Singh, former editor of Illustrated Weekly of India, writing in the Hindustan Times (dated Oct 03^rd 08) indicates, in the context of recent incidents of violence and vandalism against Christians and their Churches in Orissa and elsewhere, that in India the ‘largest number of converts come from communities discriminated against’. He cites the examples of Dr Ambedkar ‘who led his Mahar community to embrace Buddhism because they were discriminated against by dominant caste Hindus’ and ‘Indian Muslims whose ancestors being lower caste embraced Islam which gave them equal status’. This is true also with regard to Catholic Church. The International Conference held in the Hague in Nov 2006 also discussed the discrimination of the Dalits, especially of women. The Dalits are socially discriminated, religiously neglected, and politically ignored – As a consequence they are mostly economically poor. One can change one’s nationality, one can change his/her religion, and one can climb the ladder of economic affluence but one cannot change one’s caste. Religion is like the shirt but the caste is like the skin! Once someone is born a Dalit even the Ganges waters cannot wash him/her off his/her untouchability and even the baptismal water has not removed the stigma of one’s Dalitness though it could wash one off original sin. Dalitness is much stronger than the original sin! It looks as though Christ redeemed people from all sins except the sin of being born a Dalit! And it seems that we could even ‘renounce’ satan in baptism but we are not able to ‘renounce’ the evil of casteism and untouchability in the Catholic Church!

5.1. Dalit – indelible Stigma:

The Dalits are not respected for their talents and capabilities but they are branded as ‘Dalits’ meaning Dalits cannot and should not become leaders of the society. Just to cite one or two examples, when R. K. Narayan became the President of India he was not appreciated for his decades of statesmanship and diplomatic services in many countries but he was just introduced, in the media especially in the dailies, as the Dalit President. When the present Chief Justice of India assumed office there was no singing of his praise, as done for others, but simply it was noted that the Chief Justice of India is a Dalit (none of his credentials would matter). If this is how the President of India and the Chief Justice of India could be treated, what about other leaders? A.R. Rehman is more appreciated outside of India – In India he is accused of ‘treason’. It is because he a minority! One could imagine how the Dalit-people of God would be considered and treated. When a caste person assumes office his/her glory and merit are highly praised but when a Dalit assumes office his/her only ‘label’ seems to be that he/she is a Dalit!

5.2. Atrocities against the Dalits:

State Adidravida Welfare Department (2001) has indicated that every hour two Dalits are attacked, every day three Dalit women are raped, every day two Dalits are killed, every day at least 2 huts of Dalits are burnt. Every year hundreds of cases of atrocities against Dalits and untouchability are filed. Even now in many villages there is the two-tumbler system. In some rural tea-shops: caste people use glass-tumbler for tea/coffee whereas the Dalits use either aluminum-tumbler or coconut-shell (and they themselves have to wash it after use). In Tamil Nadu in about 100 parishes the practice of untouchability, in one form or other, is still there. Everywhere as Dr Ambedkar would say: There is ascending order of reverence and descending order of contempt. This is because the Dalits are considered to be children of a lesser god!

It is to be noted that the Sangparivars, in Khandamal (Orissa), did not attack the big and reputed institutions, educational institutions of higher learning. Instead they pillaged orphanages and schools in the villages. That means that they do not want the Christians to educate the poor and the downtrodden. Educating the dominant caste and class would be very much welcome. The allegation used by the fundamentalists to justify their attacks is that ‘Christians force conversion of Hindus’ but according to the Indian Episcopal Conference it is “merely a strategy developed by vested interests in order to prevent Christian services of health, education, poverty alleviation and development on behalf of deprived communities” (Cf. Zenit.org, Sep 30^th 08). Once the discriminated communities are empowered they would become the leaders in the society which would not be acceptable to the caste people. The same attitude seems to be unfortunately found within the Church as well. If the Dalits in the Catholic Church are educated and effectively employed, through affirmative action, they would become empowered. They, who have been the untouchables, should never touch the reign of power and leadership in the Church and society since it is not acceptable for the dominant caste leaders and hierarchy. One is born a Dalit and hence he/she is ‘untouchable’ for ever. Do we need the Church to maintain this attitude?

6. Contradiction of Word and Worship:

Jesus was born ‘Immanuel’ – to be with us and he stayed on with his people in the form of the Eucharist. He incarnated as Word of God and he became the healing ‘Word’ of God and this ‘Word’ of service was broken on the Cross. Today the Cross is our model and inspiration since it was there that the Word became our Way of Life. The Cross is a unifying force and Jesus prayed for unity – The unity he wanted was not less than the unity between his Father and Himself. But today the ONE, Catholic and Apostolic Church is fragmented in India and divided on caste-lines.

We are called to worship the Lord but the Lord is broken – We no longer worship the ‘Word became flesh’ but we worship our own flesh of power and position. The Word of God and our practices seem to be oil and water – Word of God to be read in the Liturgy but our practice could be anything – aggression, suppression, discrimination. We say that we are born in an unequal society but we should take upon ourselves the mission to make it the society of equality. We have to reflect on the impact of the Word of God in the Bible in our life of mission and ministry.

7. Contradiction of Power:

Lord Jesus founded His Church upon the least in the society – The poor and illiterate and downtrodden and socially looked-down were his close circles of friends and disciples. It was to a social sinner, at the well of Jacob, he revealed for the first time that He was the messiah (Jn 4:26) and revealed the highest form of prayer, namely ‘God, who is a spirit, can be worshipped in spirit and truth’ (Jn 4:24). It was the socially discriminated and looked-down Samaritan who was cited as the example of selfless service to one’s neighbor (Lk 10:34). Jesus said: do like-wise (Lk 10:37). He empowered the discarded in the society – The socially rejected ‘stones’ became the ‘corner’ stone of His Church. And today where does one find the power of the Church? – Definitely not on the side of the downtrodden people. It is time that the people are empowered.

7.1. Lay Collaboration:

Lay collaboration is the crying need discussed everywhere – The Religious Congregations explore the possibility of sharing powers with the lay collaborators in their institutions. So far they have been working for the laity and now they are coming to reconcile with the fact that they have to work with the laity but they are scared of the future when they would have to work under the laity. There is coming in a paradigm shift in the power-grid of the Church – People of God are more and more becoming aware of their rights and their collective power. The French revolution broke out since too much power was concentrated on the authorities, both secular and religious. There is silent revolution going on, starting with the exodus from Catholic Church and soon the people of God would begin to assert their rights. The people’s movement is the need of the hour to rebuild the Church founded by Jesus on the foundation stone of the lay people.

7.2. Affirmative Action:

It is high time for the hierarchy to realize that affirmative action is the need of the hour. Even the secular Governments and profit-making corporate bodies are more and more becoming aware of the importance of affirmative action. But the Church of God needs to learn from the children of the world.  Helping the poor and the marginalized to get educated, especially from the rural areas, should be the priority of the Church authorities (Cf. All India Catholic Education Policy, 2007, especially Chapter Three). Once effective and employable education is given, the marginalized and the discriminated would go up the economic ladder and consequently they would become empowered.

8. Contradiction of Concepts:

The whole world is fast changing. The scientific and technological changes that have taken place within the last 20 years are more than the changes in the last 20 centuries. But the sociological changes, especially with regard to casteism, seem to be on a snail-speed. We need to rethink about our Church, our concepts and our practices. The contradiction between our faith and our life should be ever narrowed down.

8.1. Empowerment of the Powerless:

We need to rethink whether the Church is only a spiritual power which dispenses only with the sacraments or whether it is the transforming yeast (Mt 13:33), as Jesus would expect it, to bring about social change of unity starting with union of hearts and minds. There is need for critical thinking about the existing Church model of hierarchy: The shift should tilt towards the empowerment of the people – Jesus came not to the socially affluent but the socially discriminated and neglected. He was surrounded by the socially discarded people and even in the beginning of the Church it was the poor and the socially discriminated (eg. Hebrew widows versus Greek widows – Acts 6:1) that were given the priority and importance. Down the centuries and all over the globe it is the socially downtrodden who embraced Christianity. And now, among the caste people there is discrimination about the casteless. If the Church does not address, or does not know to address, or is not willing to address then the present model is a fiasco. There would be socio-religious revolution within the Church which would bring about equality on social level and the religious factor would be discarded. The powerless should be given priority in authority-sharing and their merits and talents should be recognized without any social or religious bias.

9. Towards Annihilation of Contradictions:

There is need for soul-searching in the Church of Tamil Nadu. We have to examine our conscience how the marginalized are treated at all levels: Their role in the Parish Councils, their empowered participation in Diocesan commissions, the power-sharing in dioceses and religious congregations etc should be consciously and without prejudice reflected. There should be a grievance committee in every parish and diocese to address the social and religious discrimination and marginalization and every form of discrimination. And a road-map for the Church of Tamil Nadu for the holistic liberation of the people, especially the broken, should be worked out and executed with time-bound programmes assisted by effective monitoring.

9.1. Capacity Building:

Capacity building for the powerless youth should be taken care of. Due to economic inability and social discrimination the drop-out rate among the Dalits is nearly 80% and they should be given adequate assistance to continue with their studies. Dioceses and Religious Congregations are running hundreds of English medium schools – It would be an eye-opener to see what would be the percentage of Dalits admitted in these schools and the percentage of Dalit teachers. It would be interesting to study when onwards Dalits were admitted into the seminaries and how many were allowed upto Ordination; and how many professors and administrators are there in the seminaries. As per the report of the General Body Meeting of the CBCI 1988:

The discrimination based on caste that is rampant in the rest of society continues also among Christians. Most Christians of scheduled caste origin are still deprived of economic opportunities, access to adequate educational facilities, leadership roles and participation in decision-making.

It would be good to reflect on this in the background of the Pope, during his visit to India, citing casteism and the statement of the CBCI accepting casteism in the Church in India. Pope John Paul II said, while addressing the Bishops of India during their ‘ad limina’ visit (Nov 17^th 2003):

Any semblance of a caste-based prejudice in relations between Christians is a countersign to authentic human solidarity, a threat to genuine spirituality and a serious hindrance to the Church’s mission of evangelization. Therefore, customs or traditions that perpetuate or reinforce caste division should be sensitively reformed so that they may become an expression of the solidarity of the whole Christian community.

The Church as a whole should also reflect how to annihilate the barriers to unity in the Church and to fight for human rights and human dignity and equality.

9.2. Equality-Consciousness:

Jesus had a dream that all should be united just like He and his Abba (Jn 10:30) were united. He wanted that all have life – life in abundance (Jn 10:10). He came to this world to lay down his life so that others have fullness of life. Jesus came to give His life as ‘ransom’ for people (Mk 10:45). And the spirit of commitment for the members of the Church brought in the spirit of ‘one in mind and heart’ (Acts 4:32-35). If we do not stop the bleeding of discrimination in the Church, the Cross of Jesus would continue to drip down with blood and there would be no resurrection of fullness of life for the Christians. St Peter’s counsel to the early Christian community was ‘Find a reason for your faith’ (1 Pt 3:15). The suppressed Catholics are trying to find a reason for their faith in the Church – If the reason is not human dignity and equality based on human rights, then the faith may be meaningless. For this the discrimination and marginalization should be abolished – then we could say with Paul, in remembrance of the Pauline year, that in God ‘we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). Then we would be able to see God in everybody and we could find everyone in God – Then there would be one Abba in heaven for us all. What is needed now is the conscientization of the people and consciousness of their dignity.

10. Conclusion: Hope in Contradiction

We are able to go to the Moon and return but we are not able to reach out to the marginalized across the road – We are able to split atom but we are not able to break-down our prejudice against the neglected. In the secular world Barack Obama could be elected the President of the United States but the status of the downtrodden in the Holy Catholic Church has not changed much. Perhaps a Dalit Messiah has to come to lay down his life again, on the cross of discrimination, for the liberation of the Dalits, especially of the Dalit Catholics! The other possibility would be, which might be more probable and practical, the struggling forces converge as a revolution to replace the existing system of class or caste hierarchy and to create a world of human rights, equality and dignity. This implies that the Gospel of Jesus needs to be re-interpreted (and truly explained as Jesus has stated in the context of the marginalized) from subaltern perspectives and the structure of hierarchy and administration in the Church needs revisit. Only when Jesus could get free from the cross of contradiction, there could be the resurrection of unity.

Christianity is a religion of hope: From the annihilation of the cross comes out the triumphant resurrection. The dream that one day “every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together” (Is 40:4-5) will become a reality. The good news of Jesus, namely liberation to the broken (Lk 4:18), is now germinating in the sufferings of the marginalized. The hope that the stone rejected by the Church would become the corner stone of the new Church (Mt 21:42) keeps them marching on. The ‘glorious rebel’ Jesus’ promise of equality and liberation is the dynamic force to keep going.  A change is needed in the Catholic Church and it has to come soon – Tamil Nadu could be the epicenter of the transformation. The challenge is not an easy one but let us be ready to start again – Let us have the courage to start from square one, rather than from, say, square ten. At square one, you have the whole board and the whole game ahead of you. Being at square one, at times, is far more powerful than being at, say, square ten. When you are at square ten, you do not have the earlier nine moves available and so you are limited and constrained to that extent. Learn the power of being at square one and then have the courage to keep going. Start the onward march of bearing witness to Christ today.

Francis P Xavier SJ

Loyola College

Chennai

Email: francisx@vsnl.com

(0001140309)