Dear Fr Ivo,
To a large extent I agree with Cornel -- in my experience I have found:
1. Priests and Nuns have become very commercial and materialistic
(basically they are human beings and have the same temptations) but because
of their positions in charge of large funds / institutions these temptations
are far greater than those to which we lay Christians are exposed --
consequently the example set by these very conspicuous Christians is used
by the majority Hindu community as a stick to beat the entire Christian
community
2. It is still a fact that we Goans (lay folks as well as Priests and Nuns)
still consider the original Hindu Caste, to which our fore-fathers belonged
four hundred years ago, very important particularly at the time of
arriages -- Till quite recently "The Examiner" in its matrimonial columns
used to state "Brahman" or "Chaddo" etc -- Navhind Times still does --
maybe other newspapers in Goa still do -- I have not recently been reading
the matrimonial columns in Times of India or Indian Express, maybe even in
these papers "Christian Castes" are mentioned.
3. In addition, I have personally seen the huge discriminations practised
by Nuns and Priests in their own religious orders against others in their
communities who belonged to what was seen as "backward groups" (tribals,
from uneducated / non-social families -- or Goans against Mangaloreans,
Anglo-Indians, Keralites) -- Surprisingly most foreign nuns and priests do
not discriminate against their fellows on the base of colour or origin.
4. Do we CATHOLICS really consider other Christian sects -- Baptists,
Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans -- CSI or CNI, Jehova's Witnesses,
Mar-Thomites, Syrian Christians, etc -- as fellow CHRISTIANS?
Do we react as strongly when Christians, other than Catholics, are molested
or persecuted by militant non-Christian groups?
If after 2,000 years of CHRISTIANITY in India we are unable to express the
basic tenet of CHRISTIANITY -- i.e. LOVE, can we really call ourselves
Christians?
We of the Catholic Church (Roman rite) really need to evaluate our "FAITH"
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards,
Aloysius D'Souza
