Gilbert Lawrence wrote: > Hi Mario: In fact, one could describe you as very hostile to anyone who may demonstrate an inclination to caste considerations as your post below and others suggest. > Mario clarifies: Gilbert, I am not hostile to "anyone" personally, but militantly and fundamentally opposed to any concept that forms opinions and takes actions for or against someone based on factors which they had nothing to do with, rather than on their personal achievements and the content of their character. Thus I oppose the caste system, period, and even more so among Catholics, where it goes against every tenet of Christianity. I have seen far too many very good people and families devastated by such discriminatory thinking regardless of how the perpetrators choose to sugar-coat it. > Gilbert says: > Yet, in your response and other posts, you have never claimed the existence of casteism in the Goa's Catholic Church in the period you grew up (and since) in Goa and Bombay. I hope Cornell who spent much of his life in East Africa and England will learn from you (and me) - individuals who were a lot closer to round zero. Now if some native Goans can provide statistics and factual patterns of behavior (not isolated instances, personal grudges or pre- conceptions), that may bring all of us up to speed on a subject that so far has raised more heat than light. > Mario clarifies: I grew up in Jabalpur where there were few Goans and so Goan Catholic casteism was rarely talked about. I have never lived in Goa and have never discussed casteism with any Catholic priest anywhere in the context of the Catholic Church. I took it for granted that they would be against the caste system. The term "Catholic caste" is an oxymoron, as someone said recently, and I would denounce any Catholic priest who did not denounce the continuing practice of casteism among Catholics.
I categorically denounce the necessity and reality of Dalit parishes in Kerala because Dalits are not welcome in "upper-caste" Catholic parishes, and I would do the same with regard to any parish in Goa that discrimintated against anyone based on their "caste" or color or any other basis other than their personal behavior. I don't see how statistics would affect any of this. >From my own observations and experience I KNOW it exists. I KNOW it is fundamentally at odds with Christianity. So what are statistics going to add to my knowledge of this subject, except if I were writing a treatise about it.
