By Fr Mathew Thankachen O. Praem. –
Ideologies change the world. Probably, the Communist and BJP know this better than the Catholic Church. History proves that any social transformation is an outcome of ideological conversion and hence, the adage, ‘pen is mightier than sword’. Plato’s philosophy was called, ‘the world of ideas’.
Jesus lived and preached the ideology of the ‘kingdom of God/Heaven’ to be concretely realized in the lives of men and entrusted this task to the 12 Apostles, to be carried out through the missionary activities of the Church, although they were more engaged in proclaiming the ‘Resurrection of Christ’.
Also read: Church is Not the Enemy of Democracy and Secularism
It is noteworthy to recall the French Revolution and the consequent secularization as the result of brainwashing of the public with ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’ expounded by Rousseau. The Church needs to take this seriously especially in the context of deteriorating vocation and rival ideologies propagated by the vested groups like LGBT, pro-abortionists and even some sections of electronic media.
To counter them, the Church may adopt a ‘reconciliation mode’ against which St. Paul warns in Romans “not to be patterned on the standard of the world”. It is probably in this context that Pope Benedict XVI said, “Clericalising the laity is as dangerous as secularizing clergy”.
Making the Church Sacred
Unlike any philosophy of life propounded by human agencies, the Church proclaims the person of Jesus Christ and his message of the Kingdom of God that is eternal. Even Jesus found so hard to convey the values of the kingdom to his hearers that we see him using ‘parables’ and ‘anecdotes’ taken from the ordinary experience of his time.
Hence, it is not a matter of ‘Democratizing’ or ‘secularizing’ the Church in the modern political context, rather going back to the ‘root’ to imbibe the ‘Holy Spirit’ he promised and to re-emerge to convey the person and message of Jesus Christ to the contemporary world through the Church. By this he was ‘Sacralising (making sacred) the Church and the world, the hidden gem of the kingdom of God as envisaged in the scripture, tradition and the Second Vatican Council.
Recently, Pope Francis at Vatican, “The charity done by the Church is not a mere philanthropic activity, but seeing the very person of Jesus in the neighbour”. It is true the Church in India does a lot of charitable works through ‘Caritas’, but somehow the beneficiaries are not able to perceive the ‘Human face of God’ in them.
Although democracy is a ‘Greek’ contribution and the Biblical root (Septuagint) often goes back to the Hellenistic culture, we don’t find any direct inference to democracy in the Bible. Despite the fact that Bible was written in the Monarchical context where God’s word was the final and unquestionable one, (Covenantal form) we find some vague sort of democratic institution like the ‘Sanhedrin’ that functioned like a legal court, if ever copied by the Jewish monarchy from any existing gentile system. If the very word “Demo Cracia” (GK) meant “power with the people,” the Biblical world seems to understand it as a “shared power” from God, for God alone was the ‘sole power’, a dogmatic position held by the Islam, “Allahu Akbar” (God alone is powerful, Great, Almighty).
However, the power of God as the ‘manifestation’ of political and religious hegemony under ‘khalifa’ and ‘khilafat’ is simply a misconception of the nature of God transposed on religion and culture. It is this power sharing of God to man as ‘heredity” that culminated in Monarchic and monolithic system until the French Revolution, that made the kings least responsible to the subjects under them and it affected to a great extent to the administration and life –style of the post Constantine Church.
To Accomplish His Mission
Jesus in his life time has shown that this power sharing is ‘from God ‘and is ‘participatory’. His communing with God the Father viz. Baptism in the Jordan, fasting in the desert for 40 nights and days, before and after every miracle, prayer at the Gethsemane and finally at the Cross, “Not my will but thy will be done” were great moments of receiving and sharing power from God. He shared it with the world freely and fulfilled the promise of his eternal presence through the Holy Spirit. He even elected a ‘community of apostles’ to accomplish His mission.
His ‘concept of the Children of God of the same Father’, calling His apostles “Friends”, “revealing all what He heard from the Father”, “the Father communicating to the Wise and the little children alike”, “raining down equally on the saints and sinner alike”, “the first will be the last and the last will be the first”, the “washing of the feet of the apostles, etc. vindicate the psychological bend of mind Jesus had on Democracy and socialism.
The Gospel of John is filled with such allusions. Even in the Old Testament, we find the power sharing from Elijah to Elisha. We find Jesus selecting a band of 12 Apostles (Mt,10, 1ff’ Mk3, 13ff;) and 72 disciples (LK6, 12ff) to continue his mission on earth. In the Acts, Mathias is elected casting lot. The Pope for the Universal Church and the religious heads in the orders are elected by the members. All these developments from the Biblical period indicate there was a sort of ‘Democracy’ existing in the intrinsic administration of the Church in spite of its hierarchical nature.