By Mr. Jacob Punnoose IPS (Retd) –
Continuing the series on the theme — The Catholic Church of India — the Church, as harbinger of Hope, must assert the nationalistic identity of its members. An Indian Christian is as Indian as any Indian of any other Faith. Faith is not antithetical to nationalism.
Minorities are an integral part of the culture of India; they are not aliens. They have contributed much to its beauty and variety. When Fear eclipses Hope in their minds, it will snuff out the Spirit of India.
Also Read:
The Catholic Church in India: The Harbinger of Hope
The Catholic Church in India: The Salt of the Earth
The Catholic Church in India: Evolving New Paradigms for Hope
None can say that “nothing else except my faith; my dress; my food; my customs; my art; is Indian and all else are anti Indian”. But each can rightfully claim that “mine is also Indian in the same way as his is Indian”. Culture is not the monopoly of those who presume to be its defenders. Despite foreign occupation, famines, epidemics, wars and mayhem over thousands of years, Indian culture emerged relatively unscathed; and now as a sovereign nation, able to protect itself, the nation does not need vigilantism or exclusivist redefinitions to protect its culture.
Christ-Like response to Violence
In our opposition to vigilantism and terror, we must strive to overcome evil with good[1]. We do not ape the lawless; nor do we condemn the sagely traditions of India which respected all forms of life from time immemorial.
The vigilante, who attacks a Christmas Carol, is not true even to his own professed religion. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the people of India are against their wanton depredations. We are against none. We stand commanded to love even the enemy. We love all; therefore we do not seek to insult, condemn or destroy by confrontation. We respect authority and support institutionalised justice[2].
We assert our rights to do what we ought to do – to enrich communities with love and mercy in witness to our faith. We seek remedy under the law; we beseech the intervention of the courts; we seek the protection of the functionaries of the realm who are sworn to uphold the Constitution. In the land of the Mahatma, we do not doubt the efficacy of non-violent resistance which early Christians had practiced to turn Rome, the tormentor into Rome, the protector.
Commune With People of Goodwill
We must also distinguish the vigilantism of the few from the goodwill of the vast majority. “Minority”-ism is no answer to exclusivist vigilantism. Violence by a few and should not goad us to shut our doors. We must neither adopt the porcupine model of aggressive self-protection nor should we go into ghettoised isolation. The Church must present its faith by being in dialogue with the variety of religions existing in our country[3]. We must keep the dialogue open, commune with the sensible; make people aware that no nation has achieved greatness by persecuting its minorities.
When the majority spends its energy on eliminating the minority and the minority spends its time on countering it, much creative energy for nation building would be lost; and the nation will suffer. Therefore we network with all who share goodwill, allegiance to rule of law and human values[4] to make India better for all. Our strength comes, not from any power that we wield with our hands, but from the love that fills our hearts.
Increase Access to The Poor
As Catholics, we must be the Hope of the Poor. As Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed, the Church must be for the Poor. The poor, the marginalized and the neglected have always been at the centre of the Catholic Church’s attention[5]. For India to grow, we must get freed from illiteracy, malnutrition, disease, ignorance, exploitation, violence, inequality and discrimination. It is our duty as a church of the poor to discharge – and assert-our vocation to teach, to heal and to comfort and to rightly highlight the role played by us in building a new India.
For several decades, the Church has been in the forefront of these activities, enabling hundreds of millions to discover and realise their own strengths and assisting them in breaking the stranglehold of circumstances which had victimised them for generations. All who love India and Indians must necessarily support this. We must continue our service to the nation in education, health and social services through our network of institutions with an added focus on providing greater access to marginalized communities.
We must make a conscious decision that in our institutions, particularly those engaged in school education and primary healthcare, we do not exclude the poor even unintentionally and that a fair proportion of the facilities is availed by them also, however high the social and economic status of those others who regularly patronise those institutions. In our mission of mercy and witness, we must also enthusiastically participate in all efforts to attain the universally mandated Sustainable Development Goals.
To be continued tomorrow…
Mr. Jacob Punnoose IPS (Retd), 1975 batch, is former DGP & State Police Chief of Kerala, India and Vigilance Director. He was instrumental in starting the People Friendly Janamaithri Suraksha (community policing) Project of Kerala as well as the vastly popular Student Police Cadet Project which is now nationally adopted.
Footnotes
[1] Romans 12:21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
[2] “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God; and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” Romans 13:1.
[3] St. John Paul II (addressing representatives of other Religions and other Christian Confessions in Delhi :1999 visit): “To choose tolerance, dialogue and cooperation as the path into the future is to preserve what is most precious in the great religious heritage of mankind”.
[4] “As believers, we also feel close to those who do not consider themselves part of any religious tradition, yet sincerely seek the truth, goodness and beauty which, we believe, have their highest expression and source in God. We consider them as precious allies in the commitment to defending human dignity, in building peaceful coexistence between peoples and in protecting creation.” Pope Francis: Evangelii Gaudium: para 257
[5] Pope Francis in his call for the First World Day of the Poor: “everyone, independent of religious affiliation, is invited to openness and sharing with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity.