Verghese V Joseph –
This week, I had three calls that set me thinking. They were:
- What, in your opinion, is the church’s stance on assaults on churches and religious institutions, as well as the tragic Manipur incidents?
- What do you make of the Archbishop of Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias’ remarks regarding the occurrences in Manipur?
- Thirdly, why has there been a dramatic increase in fake forwards on social media against the Church in India and the community?
The response to the first one is that the church as a whole takes no position about the crimes committed against its organizations and the community. Fair enough, there have occasionally been cries for attention and a few legal recourse taken. Generally speaking, the church’s silence on most matters affecting its institutions and community has been deafening!
Despite the persecutions, the Christian community is clamouring for the prophetic voice of its leaders, and they must be seen to be true and faithful shepherds by speaking up for justice and truth.
Regarding the second issue, Cardinal Oswald Gracias stated in a recent video message that the Manipur crisis was a tribal war rather than a Hindu-Christian one. The statement that “(the situation in) Manipur was given a religious twist but it is not a religious conflict, this is a tribal conflict” has not gone down well within the community.
The Cardinal said, “Churches have been demolished, but temples have also been damaged when speaking about the vandalism that shook the entire nation. Though there are more churches than temples, we must aid in their reconstruction.”
This was in stark contrast to the Imphal Archbishop’s denial of the cardinal’s assertion that the cardinal was “not well aware of the ground reality.” As evidence of deliberate attacks on Christians, Archbishop Lumon also pointed to the destruction of churches and other Christian institutions.
Cardinal Gracias’ remarks were quickly lapped up by right-wing media to advance their cause. This seemed to be a let down for the community, especially because it came from one of the eight members of the Council of Cardinals that Pope Francis appointed to assist in controlling the Catholic Church and overhauling its administration.
I say this without any malice, but the communication advisers to the church authorities in most dioceses of India appear to be totally out of depth, devoid of any plan, and reactionary. The media industry has advanced significantly. Currently, content is consumed through digital media at a breakneck pace, and the church in India is yet to join the Digital Media bandwagon.
I recall when a diocesan church was attacked in 2021, a press conference was called to discuss the church’s position on the matter. Of course, the media was present in full force. The PRO took pride in claiming that his connections with the industry had attracted a lot of media attendance. He needed to be kindly reminded that the media was just there for the juicy details and had nothing to do with his supposed relationships. The media had a field day back then.
Moreover, the community has been negatively impacted by the recent alliance of Kerala Bishops with far-right ideological groups, despite their knowledge of the horrors committed against Christian communities. There are instances of how the in-power regime has hammered influential Church organisations to submission; the underlying posturing is that ‘nothing will happen to you if you join (or are with) us; if you do not do so, then we will destroy you.’
Addressing the third point, as communications professionals dealing with the corporate world, we are well aware of we handle crisis communications of any sort — be it drawing up situational analysis, or putting in place a communications and media strategy besides employing Digital/Social Media outreach. The idea is to get the right message of the church across first!
More importantly, the time has come for the church to highlight its contribution in the field of education, healthcare and social services, strengthen the laity, besides nurturing professionals in a variety of professions and advocacy organisations.
A couple of times, I’ve spoken at Diocesan Public Relations Conferences in India on the imperative need to build and strategise the church’s communication outreach initiative to squarely face today’s challenges. We must also remember that with the 2024 elections coming up, the church needs to brace for more targeted media glare.
About two years ago, at its request, I presented a detailed Crisis Communications and Digital Media Strategy with budget costing to the Catholic Bishops Conference of India’s Media Apostolate, to counter the negative narrative against the church and its institutions. Haven’t heard anything on it till date.
During a laity convention in St Xavier’s College Auditorium on Sunday 9th July 2017 on the topic “Current Political Scenario Affecting Christians in India,” Derek O’Brien, TMC MP from Rajya Sabha rightly summed saying all persecutors know that the maximum Christians can do is to hold candlelight processions with laity and nuns in front and nothing more.
That aside, I believe the lay Christian community too must rise above partisan views and stand up for the church in its prophetic role to help the poor, marginalised and neglected.
The reason that the hierarchical church has become so powerful its easy access to foreign funds. Added to that are money spinning educational institutions. They then live in ivory towers in splendid isolation. They have conveniently forgotten gospel values, Vatican II ecclesiology and even the living example of Pope Francis with his smell of the sheep.