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| 10 Aug 2008 |
 KCBC Continues the Protest Against Textbooks |
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Kochi: Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council decided to continue the protest against the controversial textbook prescribed for seventh standard, which glorifies atheism, communist ideas and violence. The Education Commission of the council prepared a workbook for the controversial textbook, which will introduce to all the Catholic schools in Kerala.
As part of the continuing protest, August 15 will be observed as a “Day of Protection of Faith”. Catholic faithful will take special pledge for the nation and religious freedom in Kerala.
The Council also decided to introduce special textbooks for Sunday class students to emphasise the need for children to grow in faith and the dangers of godlessness. There will be special prayers during Sunday Mass in Catholic churches in the State to save Kerala society from atheism and for society to uphold moral values.
The KCBC criticized a decision by the Kerala State government to reduce the percentage of reservation for Latin Catholics in degree and post-graduate courses in government, arts science colleges. Educational institutions run by the Catholic Church was offering four percent reservation to Latin Catholics.
Bishop Mar George Punnakkottil was appointed chairman of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council’s Bible Commission. A common pastoral letter will be read out on October 5th Sunday in all the Catholic Churches in connection with the canonization of blessed Alphonsa from Kerala.
Dr. Stephen Alathara
Spokesperson, KCBC |
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Category : KCBC |
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| 26 Jul 2008 |
| Drop Proposals to Legalise Euthanasia, Suicide: KCBC |
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Kochi: The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) has urged the Central Law Commission to withdraw recommendations to legalise mercy killing and suicide. The KCBC observed that the recommendations might cause far-reaching consequences.
“The Law Commission has brought mercy killing and suicide under human rights and it has recommended the legalizing these two. The Commission headed by Justice A. R. Lakshmanan has also recommended cancellation of Article 309 of the Indian Penal Code which makes suicide attempt an offence,” said Dr. Stephen Alathara the spokesperson of the KCBC.
Life is given by God and only God has the ultimate power on life. Humanity is honoured when a person lives up to his natural death. The government and society should take the initiative to provide more care and infrastructure for patients suing advanced technology while those who have the suicide tendency should be given counselling. The KCBC decided to submit complaint to Parliament and the Law Commission against the recommendations.
Dr. Stephen Alathara
Spokesperson, KCBC |
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Category : Ernakulam |
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| 03 Jul 2008 |
| KCBC Intensify Strike Against Textbook |
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The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council has instructed the lay faithful to continue and strengthen the programme of protest action until the Kerala State Communist Government withdraw the controversial textbook prescribed for seventh standard which glorifies atheism, communist ideas and violence.
The instructions from the apex body of the bishops in Kerala have gone out to the 13 Syro-Malabar diocese, 11 Latin dioceses and 5 dioceses under the Syro-Malankara Church. The KCBC instruction was to involve people from other faiths and believes including Hindus and Muslims in the protest against the seventh class social science textbook and to popularise the protest action. Rely hunger strikes, corner meetings, involvement of the laity and awareness programmes have been suggested by the KCBC. The bishops have also said that special training class would be conducted for those who teach the controversial seventh class textbook.
Dr. Stephen Alathara
Spokesperson, KCBC |
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Category : Ernakulam |
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| 11 May 2008 |
| Church has to promote quality education says Indian theologians |
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ALUVA - Indian theologians say the Church should not present itself as the "omniscient teacher" but rather work in today's changing society without claiming any special status.
The theologians proposed this in a statement they issued at the end of their April 26-30 annual meeting. Church's Engagement in Civil Society: A New Way of Being Christian Today was the theme for discussion.
The 31st meeting of the Indian Theological Association drew 64 theologians including five lay people and seven nuns. They gathered at a seminary in Aluva.
The Church in India exists in a society that is "getting increasingly polarized on the basis of religion, ideology, class and caste," and the need now is to assure everyone freedom, equal dignity and quality of life, they observed in their statement.
It says the papers presented and discussions held at the meeting helped clarify the Church's engagement in civil society and articulate a new way of being Christians in India.
"Our humble submission is that the Church play an appropriate role by engaging in civil society as one among equals and as an agent of prophetic collaboration with all who make up civil society," the theologians proposed.
They want the Church to engage other individuals and groups "not as an omniscient teacher but as a humble ally" who treats partners with respect and love in responding to current social issues.
With such a mindset, the statement says, the Church would look for answers while engaging "in the space" society allows it. The Church they envision "claims no special status and is willing to offer its beliefs, counsels and prophetic actions to all whom it encounters in (this) civil space."
Rather than professing doctrines and cultic identity, the Church would commit to build an egalitarian society "where all experience their true identity as God's children."
The statement clarifies that "the new way of being Christian" does not repudiate the past but involves "articulating human fulfillment for all peoples that the Church is called to serve."
The theologians underscored that to live in such a "civic space" would entail rewriting the Gospel for secular society. "This is certainly a hazardous task," they acknowledged, but "every challenge that is raised by civil culture is an opportunity to retreat into our own depths for regaining the lost spirit of the Gospel."
Their statement also says the Church has to promote "quality education," open more avenues for non-formal learning and strengthen India's pluralistic culture to make the Christian presence more effective in local society.
Citing another form of participation, it says Christians have a role to play in building a just society. But this should not be done by forming an "exclusive political party for the Christians, which will only split their political strength in India."
Furthermore, Church authorities have to "create a culture of partnership" by giving laypeople prominence in the official decision-making bodies, training them for top civil-service positions and assisting them in their political involvement, the theologians said.
In today's world, where "the laws of globalization and privatization" dominate, the Church can intervene with its social teachings that ask to share the "excess profit with others who are in real need," the statement says.
Referring to the media explosion in India, the theologians maintained the Church has to engage in the fields of media and information technology "to become the leaven of Christ in civil society." They want the Church to engage in "a fruitful dialogue" on issues and complexities "arising out of the Google-culture." It should use new technologies "in faith-formation," since they are "placed at our disposal to discover, to use and to make known the truth."
The new way of Christian engagement in society calls for a new ecclesiology that would focus more on the common baptism of all rather than stressing the importance of "Holy Orders" within the Church, the statement says.
It also calls for Church leaders to recognize and foster new ways in which groups of laypeople, clerics, Religious and secular institute members can respond to their Christian vocation. New Church structures that ensure gender equality and promote honesty and transparency are needed, it adds. |
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Category : Kottayam |
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| 11 May 2008 |
| Theologians Worry Indian Church Deviating From Original Christian Mission |
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ALUVA - Some theologians in India have expressed concern that the Church is deviating from its original Christian mission by neglecting the poor and needy in the country.
Such concerns and regrets were heard at the recent annual meeting of the Indian Theological Association.
Father M.K. George, an educator, presented a paper in which he regretted that Christian educational institutions are "increasingly focusing on cities (and) neglecting the village poor."
Of late the Church in India shows an interest in professional and higher education that demands higher investments and involvement, said the professor of a Jesuit college in Kerala state.
Church's Engagement in Civil Society: A New Way of Being Christian Today was the theme of the meeting held in Kerala at Aluva seminary. The 64 theologians who attended included five laypeople and seven nuns.
Father George says managing institutions for higher education "has become a lucrative business," and Christian educational institutions have joined "in the rat race and are now in the vicious circle of an exploitative structure."
According to him, the Church has concentrated its services in recent years on urban residents and neglected villagers despite several Church documents pointing out that more than 70 percent of "people in need of our help" are in villages.
The Jesuit priest pointed out that "globalization and market economy" have driven up the cost of education and health services, making even government services unaffordable and inaccessible to poor villagers.
"In a world where market forces and the state are equally oppressive ... the Church has to find a new way of being Christian in India today," Father George said, calling for a revaluation of the way the Church conducts its educational mission.
Another speaker, Jesuit theologian Father Michael Amaladoss, regretted that Christians do not actively engage in civil society and their presence in social issues is minimal.
The priest based in Chennai, capital of neighboring Tamil Nadu state, presented a paper titled Theological reflections of new way of being Christians in India today. The Church started as a movement of people who sold possessions and shared what they had, he said, but later it became institutionalized and the institution took over the movement.
Father Amaladoss noted "confusion among the Church ranks whether the Church community exists to celebrate sacraments or the sacraments are a symbolic celebration of its life in the world."
Stressing the need for more active participation in civil society, he said the "time has come when we should think of making the Church community again a social movement."
According to him, the clergy claim not only spiritual power but also economic, social and political power within and outside India's Christian community, which accounts for just 2.3 percent of the country's more than 1 billion people.
They should realize their God-given authority is to serve and not for domination, he continued, calling for more lay participation in the Church.
"Laypeople are not mere listeners. They have the right and a duty to participate in the discernment and planning as well as in the action. If they do, then we can look forward to a new series of social teachings that are more practical and oriented to action in civil society, Father Amaladoss said.
The theologian recalled the Church suggested some social changes that did not even work within the Church. "The bishops declared some years ago that the caste system was sinful, but they have not launched any credible movement to abolish it even within the Church," he regretted.
Redemptorist Father Thomas Kocherry, who has led a movement of fisher folk in India for the past three decades, told SMC News the discussions were "part of soul searching" and he found them "meaningful and encouraging."
"We have to bring new dynamics in society and understand different realities surrounding us," he added. As one suggestion, he said the Church "should sensitize the community about environmental degradation along with moral degeneration." |
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Category : Kottayam |
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| 11 May 2008 |
| Pontiff Encourages Proper Charismatic Renewal |
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Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging and praising the work of the Charismatic Renewal in its commitment to promote communion.
The Pope affirmed this in a letter sent through his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to the members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (Rinnovamento nello Spirito). The movement members are gathered near Rimini, Italy, for their 31st meeting. The annual celebration began Thursday and is focusing on the theme "Regenerated by the Word of God" (1 Peter 1:23).
More than 20,000 people are participating in the meeting. In Italy alone, the Charismatic Renewal has more than 200,000 members, among 1,900 groups and communities.
The papal letter stated that "His Holiness praises and encourages the commitment with which the Charismatic Renewal makes its own and carries forward the effort to promote communion and collaboration among the diverse realities that the same Spirit has brought about in the Church."
The letter emphasized that the Holy Father "always follows the journey of the ecclesial movements with special pastoral solicitude" and that he exhorts the members of the Charismatic Renewal always to "unite with prayer their effective attention to the world's needs and the good of men."
Leaven
In another message, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, hoped that "the themes of the meeting and the days that you will spend together will be a leaven for your renewed presence in families, society and human history."
The president of the Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, and the conference secretary, Monsignor Giuseppe Bertori, also sent a letter in which they recall the "horizon of joyous hope" in which the Charismatic Renewal's "precious work of evangelization" moves.
The national president of the Charismatic Renewal in Italy, Salvatore Martinez, told the Avvenire newspaper that the prophetic word that will inspire the meeting at Rimini "is St. Paul's confession of praise -- St. Paul, a man surrendered to Christ, reborn in him, who lived a new life to make the beauty and the power of the name of Christ known."
The national meeting, Martinez said, will in fact focus on the binomial "word-life" as a "meaningful answer to the great Christian challenge of every century: breaking down the division between faith and life, between that which we say we believe and that which we let the world ‘see' and ‘feel' of Christ."
"Word and life reciprocally answer, condition and complete each other," he said. "Without the word, life is emptied out; without a life -- ours -- in which the Word can take flesh, Jesus remains a mere history lesson or a hero to be commemorated."
On Thursday, Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice, presiding at the Eucharist, invited those present to be "witnesses of the power and the regenerative force that the Spirit of the risen Jesus never fails to make present in history."
Friday included "lectio divina" about the mercy of God, led by Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto.
On Friday afternoon there was a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's 1998 meeting with the ecclesial movements and communities.
In this context, talks were given by representatives of the Community of Sant'Egidio, the Focolare Movement, and Communion and Liberation on the theme "The Church Counts on Each One of You." |
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Category : Vatican |
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| 11 May 2008 |
| The Media should resist Monopoly and Manipulation - CBCI Communications Secretary Tells Journalists |
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"The mainstream Indian Media has contributed greatly to uphold democratic and secular values and done much to safeguarded the Rights of Minorities and the Marginalised. The Indian Media has also tried to liberate our society from the dark forces of communalism, casteism, corruption and crime" Bishop Elect of Bellary and Executive Secretary of CBCI commission for social communication Father Henry D'souza told participants at the inauguration of the at the Union Internationale de la Presse (UCIP) international Refresher Program in Bangalore May 7, at St. Johns College Auditorium.
Fr D'Ssouza urged Catholic communicators to put media at the service of dialogue between people of different cultutres, customs and religions, ushering in peace and harmony.
Fr D'Souza also emphasised on the need of promoting Biblical world -view which offers equal diginity and respect to human life at all stages of growth.
He added "Today the Media at times tends to interpret life in a limited and distorted way", " The communicators should also fight against monopoly and manipulation so as to give more scope for alternate Media where people can express their views". He congratulated the Indian Catholic Press Association for its contribution to the Media apostolate of the church.
Secretary Joseph Chittlipilly welcoming the delegates for the refresher course told the gathering why such a refresher course is organised"Journalists are the people who take information to society.During the First world war journalists came together to take news to people. That is how UCIP came to existence. UCIP was started in the year 1927 and was officially recognised by Holy See".
Fr. Henry D'souza was honoured by the UCIP with a citation in recognition for his commitment and dedication to the media apostolate in the Church. |
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Category : Bangalore |
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| 14 Apr 2008 |
| Benedict PP. XVI: Three Years of Papacy |
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Benedict PP. XVI is completing three years of papacy on 19th April. He was elected to succeed the late Pope John Paul II of venerable memory. To lead the Church pastorally and to serve the world morally, as the successor of a man whose memory continues to be a living reality, is sensible and possible with the assistance and in the plan of God.
In this write up I shall make a brief reflection based on what the papacy of Benedict PP. XVI appears to mean.
From 'Joseph' to' Benedict'
One might wonder, in the Shakespearean sense, what is so much in a name, especially in a world and society which despite the globalised closeness faces cancerous anonymity in terms of identity and need of one another. One gets the depth of the meaning of a name and its representative significance when viewed from the Biblical and Christian perspective. This is why the baptismal name means fundamentally a new awareness of identity for a Christian. In this way, whether it is Israel or Emmanuel, it means what it contains. Within this perspective 'Joseph' in both the Old and New Testaments stands for the mysterious guidance of God towards the realization of his plan. The Josephs are in both OT and NT are brought forcefully even beyond the logic of human reasoning and not without subsequent pain, to make blossom God's plan for the world. Young Joseph (Ratzinger) in his Bavarian childhood and adolescence was forced to witness the ideology and evil designs of Hitler's National Socialism. Even at a tender age in which one hardly understands the ideological affectations of social system, young Joseph saw his Bavarian catholic ambience and its popular festivals and parish schools becoming turbulent. I believe it is in these childhood experiences, his theological roots were born and his characteristically apologetic and intellectual defense of the faith and the Church.
If Joseph was a name not of his conscious choice, but willed by his parents, Benedict is a name the Pope chose for himself consciously. St. Benedict is the father of western monasticism. He is known for his rule of the monasticism which saw its birth in solitude, contemplation, mystical ecstasies and realistic human temptations. The Benedictine heritage serves as the Christian basis for Europe and he is, therefore, the patron saint of the continent. Therefore he is named the patron of Europe. Joseph Ratzinger, instead, was (is) a diocesan priest. Yet in choosing this name he seems to remind the Church in Europe first of all of its Christian roots, which should be substantially distinguished from fundamentalistically inspired nationalistic religious ideologies prevalent even in a country like India among a certain section of its people. Benedict here means calling one to contemplate experience and find the joy of Christian vocation. It is in this sense that, in his first ever radio interview (Radio Vaticana) following his election as Pope, he said, "It is beautiful to be a Christian." Simple words, they mean and convey both a personal and communitarian dimension for a Christian ponder over his baptismal dignity, beauty and duty.
Pastoral and Theological Appeal
His pastoral address to the Church began with his words "I am a humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord." In these words, carefully chosen and spontaneously expressed, he confessed that his primary responsibility as the Pope means a pastoral responsibility as the labourer of the Lord for his flock. In continuation with his pastorally diaconic leadership of the Catholic Church, Benedict PP. XVI presented his first and programmatic encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love). The first encyclical for a Pope certainly speaks much of him and his plan, of his present anchoring and prognostic orientations. In this sense, he spoke for the first time to the community of faith and appealed to them to rediscover and experience the unicity of Christ and the unicity of God as the God who is Love in essence and manifestation. His second encyclical Spe salvi (Salvific Hope) dwells further upon the fact that Love spurs us (humanity) to have hope, to live in and to live with hope. True hope is born only in God who is Love. And where there is Love, there is God (experienced and respected). His weekly catechesis is a further conscientious addition to the riches of his pastoral appeal. They are strongly concentrated on the wisdom and riches of the Fathers of the Church. The Fathers of the Church are the bulwarks of the Tradition and faith, who took their faith and God experience in Christ to secular, theological and catechetical levels of interactions which are yet mystagogical, apologetic, catechetical and liturgical. The church of his conviction in his catechesis and encyclical is the church founded on the principles of Kerygma (proclamation of faith)- Marturion (testimony out of faith and faith experience), Leitourgia (authentic worship), diaconia (commitment to service of neighbor) and carità (founded on Love). His language is not only intellectually stimulating, pastorally encouraging. For Benedict, PP XVI theology is a responsibility wedded to kerygma and pastorality. Theology seems to take on the direction for him as both a spiritual and rational utterance born out of a living encounter with God in Jesus Christ, something exactly that precisely reflects the petrine confession of Jesus as the Son of the Living God and the Thomasine (istic) encounter -confession after the resurrection, "My Lord and My God" . This seems to be the reason why he confesses in the preface of his book 'Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in Jordan to the Transformation" that his reflection in the book is born out of his personal contemplative journey to seek the face of Christ. This is the reason he says in the same book that behind the Nicene Creed, it is Peter confessing 'You are the Son of the living God." It is based on this faith experience that Benedict PP. XVI seems to seek the ecumenical koinonia in prayer and charity, beyond the years long followed discussions centred on theological and ecclesiological technicalities.
Secular Appeal
His secular appeal to the world is mainly reflected in the Urbi et Orbi (to the City and to the World) messages, without forgetting that this appeal has indeed strong reverberations also in his pastoral encyclicals and catechetical teachings. He has constantly called the world and its political frameworks to be attentive to justice and dialogue in order to resolve the problems facing and threatening humanity. Problems of poverty can be alleviated when the nations are attentive to a culture of love which accepts and respects the other and helps the world to walk on the path of hope. It is in this line that he has called even the different religions, while being respectfully conscious of their vibrant identities, towards joining hands for working out a culture of coexistence and a world minus violence in the name of religion. No religion can in this sense either justify or perpetuate mentalities or structures that caricature human dignity or advocate and inflict violence and discrimination upon segments of humanity just because they belong to cultures and faiths different from a nation's mainline religious or cultural ethos. It is based on the celebration of Life that he appeals to the nations to be responsible in constructing constitutional ideals which respect life in its fullness, instead of looking for convictions of convenience. This is all possible, according to Benedict PP. XVI, even when the circumstances are existentially and socially cloudy and dark, once humanity begins to experience God in Love and God as Love, which sets the world on the way of Spe salvi…
By Santhosh Sebastian Cheruvally
*Santhosh Sebastian Cheruvally is doing doctoral studies at Gregorian Pontifical University, Rome. |
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Category : Vatican |
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