Thanksgiving for 2014; the church is slower to awaken – John Dayal
Source: CCRInt'l
Greetings in thanksgiving for 2014.
For me at a very personal level, it was Annus Horribilis. For matters of health, mostly.
For my country, India, it was worse, as we saw the rise of religious nationalism to political power in government in the Federal and provincial levels. This has immediately resulted in massive persecution of the Muslim and Christian religious minorities, specially those from Dalits, the former untouchable castes, and Tribals, the Indigenous people of Central and North east India.
But there have been moments of hope.
Civil society has woken up to the threats to democracy, human rights and freedom of faith.
The church is slower to awaken, its leadership, as always, seeking personal peace with the government and the fundamentalists in Hinduism, not for reasons of dialogue, but to buy a few more moments of ownership of institutions.
The Catholic Laity, which had been been silent when the Woman Catholic in India sought equality in the church, is perhaps stirring just a little
The Laity kept quiet as the Hierarchy made a mess of the Family Survey ordered by the Vatican, some filling up the blanks by themselves in a coterie of clerical bachelors. Some said they had experience of family because they born in one.
But several Lay groups challenged the Bishops, conducted their own surveys
They could not, for obvious reasons, make an impact at the 2014 Synod.
But they learnt several lessons.
Companionship with you has been greatly instrumental in this journey in empowerment.
Thank you all for that
God bless you all in 2015.
It could, with the Holy Spirit leading, be the year that makes a difference.
John Dayal
New Delhi
India
