The church is part of society because it is made of people. The mission of the church is directed towards human beings as individuals as well as groups. The church carries out her activities in the world for the wellbeing of human beings. The church has the mission and also the right to be concerned about social problems. No one can accuse her of interfering in the social order because the social order is in realm of her field of competence.
In the recent past, many church leaders in India were accused of polarizing votes in one direction or the other. These leaders were exercising their pastoral duties of explaining the rights and obligations of every Catholic in nation building. The Catholic Church in India has been cautious in the past in taking an active role in bringing political awareness among her faithful. Unlike the other churches in the country, the Catholic Church has always maintained her independence from the State.
The need has arisen for our active contribution in the social and charitable fields; our participation will not only help us but our community needs some representation in the fields of civil administration of our country as well as in government. Although efforts have been made at the national level to create this awareness but these efforts have not proved to be sufficient.
The church cannot propose technical aspects or some system to counter this situation. She has not done so in the past but she proposes formation of people’s conscience. I would like to propose few suggestions that would help the Christian communities to bring about change in their approach while dealing with the new situation in our country as far as our relationship with the civil administrator or political leaders are concerned.
- Parental initiatives:
There is no other grace filled community in India than the Christian. We have the best education institutes. Some of the politicians and journalists have studied in our catholic institutes. But when you see the percentage of Catholics in these fields, we can count them on our finger tips. Here I understand that the parents play a vital role in inspiring their children. Our Catholic parents in general take the safest path in choosing jobs for their children. The bright children are guided to be engineers, doctors etc. and the average students are sent for hotel management or on the ships. Does that mean our children are not capable and smart? Parents can play the role along with educators in shaping up the future of our children. I feel that our parents can take initiatives in this area. They can discuss at home political situations, social problems and solutions to resolve their social issues. They can talk about the ideologies of different political parties, whether these ideologies reconcile with Christianity? Our parents can encourage our children to take part in debates, elocution competitions, etc. They can also inspire them to be leaders in the schools and colleges.
- Parish Administration:
Parish pastoral plans should make provisions where the lay faithful come together to discuss political and social concerns. These activities should not be dependent on the parish clergy but could be coordinated by a lay person who is not affiliated to any political party. This structure should be established to provide a forum to discuss with other civilians of the society who can make their voice heard.
There is yet another area that we need to pay attention to. We find our parish houses/ offices/convents well decorated. The statues and portrayals of the saints, Our Lady, Jesus make their presence prominent. It is very good and it should be done because our work gives witness to their lives. But what about the photos of our leaders, Presidents, renowned scientists who have made us proud in the world. Will they make any difference in our administration? I am of the opinion that they do make a difference if non-Catholics or government officials pay a visit to our parishes and institutions. Their presence will make these officials feel easy in our offices.
Thirdly, our parishes or the dioceses can start a tradition of celebrating Christmas, Easter or the diocesan major feasts with politicians and government officials. Such celebrations help in building fellowship with the local politicians and government officials. The diocesan Bishop or the parish priest should make every effort to present a report of the diocesan or parish activities with the help of religious congregations.
We can visit these politicians, the civil officials on their religious festivals, birthdays; sending them appreciation letters or inviting them to a parish celebration will definitely create harmonious relationship with them.
- National Celebrations in a Parish Liturgical Calendar:
The Indian church celebrates independence day, republic day. But often we find that these celebrations are not obligatory in nature as we celebrate the feasts and solemnities. The attendance for these masses is very low. Sometimes they are planned without any preparation. These celebrations are not given additional focus, as a result the day is not seen as a one of the important celebration in the parish pastoral calendar. There are so many other days that we can highlight the patriotism such as Hutma Din, Gandhi Jayanti, anniversaries of Christian freedom fighters, feast of Mother Teresa, etc. Our emphasis on these celebrations will put our contribution back in the focus.
- Media Coverage about our Work:
The church has made tremendous progress in the field of media. But when I think about the coverage given to our activities related to national celebration it is very poor. Our contribution in the field of education, charitable work is immense but is it collaborated and displayed in the media? I hardly find anything in our Catholic magazines about our work. Our work goes silently behind the curtain without getting it noticed in the main stream media. The local media can make a difference. Our diocesan-parish-institutes’ magazines should take up the initiatives to highlight our local activities. There is so much goodness done at the local level but it is not projected.
Secondly, we need to create media personnel in our communities. They need to be trained to be alert and sensitive in promptly responding to national disasters or major happenings in our country, state or at the local level. I would like to make a mention of Bp. Theodore Mascarenhas, the General secretary of CBCI. He has been very vocative in responding to such situations in media. Such initiatives will help the church to better her image in the media.
- Seminarian Formation:
Everyone knows that the priests are the back bone of our communities. If we have an active priest in our community, then the whole community becomes alive. Having known this truth, seminaries need to pay attention to the formation of our future priests. They are going to play a significant role in achieving our desired goal. These seminarians should be trained well in the administrative skills of handling these new emerging challenges. It’s need of the hour that our young seminarians need to learn to deal with politicians and their political ideologies. This training will help them when they represent our communities while dealing with political and government officials.
Conclusion:
The Catholic Church has always maintained its position about the pontifical standing. It is well expressed by His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracious in his address on 14 March 2019. He makes it clear that the Catholic Church doesn’t identify herself with or side any political party. This is the policy of the church. However, it is the responsibility of every pastor to guide his faithful. This will get us involved in bettering the direction of our nation. The Church in India is awaken in our socio-political situation to bring awareness among her faithful. My reflection on the building our relationship with the politician and government officials is an honest effort to create awareness among the Christ’s faithful. It should not be confused that I am proposing a nationalist church but the church that reads the signs of the time and takes necessary steps in bettering her image in the Indian society.
