A very good one indeed. If only we keep can keep an open mind, we wouldn't be in the mess we are.
****************************************************************************** At 7:39 AM -0800 11/14/02, D Deka wrote: >A beautiful article by Karan Thappar > > > >Dil Deka > > > >========== > > > >I first met Father Terry three months before my marriage. Nisha, a Goan >Catholic, wanted a church wedding and although that was fine by me I >bristled at the prospect of three formal �instructions� prior to the >event. I suppose the terminology put me off. �I�m damned if my kids will >be forced into Catholicism,� I would declare with misplaced passion. I >can�t recall how Nisha assuaged my temper but when I met Father Terry for >the first of these sessions I was irritable to say the least. > > > >He offered sherry. I was taken aback. It was six in the evening and >although I�m not averse to a tot I had not expected it from him. Our >conversation flowed, like a river in torrent, sometimes loud and forceful, >sometimes full and serene, occasionally like the rapids, short, sharp and >staccato. We covered a range of subjects but religion or Catholicism was >not amongst them. I enjoyed myself. Father filled my glass frequently and >I drank without care. > > > >The hour passed swiftly and when we rose to leave Father asked if next >month on the same date would be convenient. I nodded. We were almost out >of the door when his voice stopped us. > > > >�I�ve a question and I wonder if you would answer it next time,� he began. >�Why aren�t the two of you living together?� > > > >The fact was we were. We had lied when we gave Father Terry different >addresses. Both Nisha and I thought the truth best kept secret. After >all, you don�t tell a Catholic priest you�re living in sin. > > > >That was Father�s disarming way of telling us he knew, or had guessed or >couldn�t care less. I�m not sure which it was. But it sealed our >friendship. I was still 26 and for me he became the most enlightened man >in the world. > > > >Despite the fact Nisha was marrying a Hindu, Father agreed to a wedding >with a full Catholic mass. At the time I didn�t appreciate how unusual >this was. I even failed to grasp the significance of his suggestion I >should choose from the Gita one of the two readings. Not knowing the book >I did not. So he chose one from Khalil Gibran. I asked if this >cross-cultural ecumenism was permitted by the Church. I can never forget >his reply. > > > >�It�s not where it comes from that matters,� he said. �It�s what it says >that counts.� > > > >Six years later when Nisha was dying and I struggled to do what she would >want I knew I had the answer when I remembered Father Terry. After a month >in coma with encephalitis the doctors had declared her brain-stem dead. I >agreed they could switch off the machines at 5.00 p.m. on Sunday, the 22nd >of April. As the painful last hours and minutes ticked by, it was a sombre >group that gathered around her hospital bed. > > > >I won�t say Father brought hope but when he walked in at 4.30 p.m. he >brought a sense of light. The gloom lifted even if it did not dispel. He >held Nisha�s hand as the machines wound down and her life ebbed away. >From the day we first met, drinking his sherry whilst hiding our secret, >she had admired, respected and grown to like him. > > > >Today I realise Father Terry�s Catholicism is different to the Pope�s. But >he�s the only priest I�ve ever known. Perhaps there are more like him. May >be they are all the same. Yet each time religion becomes a source of >conflict � and God knows that happens all too often in our country � I >think of him. It helps restore the balance. > > > >Do you Yahoo!? > <http://rd.yahoo.com/hosting/mailsig/*http://webhosting.yahoo.com>Yahoo! >Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site
