Subject: The Challenge to the Church in Goa: Revivalism or Renewal? (Fr Desmond
de Sousa CSsR)
Dear Fr Desmond
I have given your article some serious thought and feel that it is not an
either or situation. Perhaps the question to be framed is who is to request
changes and if it is at all correct for the hierarchy to put forth ill advised
changes as we have sadly seen in the New Community Bible project or changes to
come from the laity. Post VC II apparently for all the talk of laity
empowerment in fact it is the heirarchy who have taken upon themselves to act
in a destructive manner with venerable customs and novenas which enrich the
Catholic faith. The focus on psychology and new age in the literature
availabkle in Catholic bookstoress is sadly illustrative of the above
statement. One would be hardpressed to obtain a copy of any unabridged work of
St. Alphonsus, Butlers lives of saints, Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ and Louis of
Granada.
There are several things that I feel are sadly lacking in the Catholic church
as it is in India and among them in no particular order:
a) A celebration of our Martyrs, Sister Rani Maria, Fr Bernard Digal (Odisha),
Fr Thomas P (AP). Not even a photograph is put up in any parish office to
remind us of them. A fraction of the effort and energy in this direction
(rather that effort put in terms of what is currently put in for yoga classes,
introduction of Indian scriptures in the NCB etc.) would deepen our Catholic
faith manifold.
b) The danger in revivalism is I consider marginally less than ill-advised
changes made to the liturgy and literature by those who want to push particular
changes like adaptation to Indian culture. Here unfortunately what passes for
culture often has deep spiritual significance for Hindus (and therefore what
passes for adaptation is considered by many as a sin against the first
commandment) and in addition to estranging Catholics, I believe annoys
fundamentalist among the majority.
Goan Catholics in particular have no need to be apologetic of their Catholic
faith, but need to be apologetic of colonialism and the deep wounds inflicted
on the Hindu community, and there is a very marked distinction here, which is
confused or perhaps easily misunderstood (by me) from your article. Revivalism
is not necessarily Charismatic, it also comes from a heartfelt conversion to
the truths of our faith.
c) I had touched upon this point earlier as it is very close to my heart, there
have been converts to Catholicism earlier. In the case of John Henry Cardinal
Newman, it was on account of reading Athanasius and Augustine among the other
fathers of the Church and his tract which he wrote at 44-45 literally forced
him to resign his office. In fact when he became a Catholic at 45 he scarcely
knew any Catholics. The power of religious reading is totally discounted in
India. St. Pauls, ATC, Anand Press and Clarentian publication publish many
sources but please scan the books available in stores in Bombay, Goa etc.
It is most difficult to find a book which is written by a master of spiritual
life like any of the Ascetic works of St. Alphonsus, Athanasius, and modern
mystics like Serv. Of God. Benigna Consolata, S. Josefa Menendez. How then can
we get one Newman into the Indian Church, or an Ignatius, a St. Augustine, or
so many other notable converts.
Your Holy Founder, emphasises this point in is work Selva "For the spiritual
reading he may use the Knowledge and Love of Jesus Christ by Father St. Jure,
or CHRISTIAN PERFECTION BY FATHER RODRIGUEZ, books that are filled with piety
and unction. He may also read other works; but let him, above all, read the
lives of the saints, as the life of St. Philip Neri, of St. Francis Borgia, of
St. Peter of Alcantara, and the like. In the books that treat of spirituality
we see virtues in theory, while in the lives of the saints we see them in
practice; and this will stimulate us more efficaciously to imitate the saints.
St. Philip Neri never ceased to exhort his penitents to read the lives of the
saints. How many saints, such as St. John Colombini, St. Ignatius Loyola, St.
Teresa, have been induced by the reading of such books to consecrate themselves
entirely to God !"
So why is it surprising that the faith and our religion is in self-destruct
mode, books like the Great Promise attached are no longer in print, and I feel
it is deliberate as I have provided soft copies of books, (to so many) to St.
Pauls who published it, right upto the 70's. How can you castigate the laity
for being anti-intellectual when they have not tasted the sweetness and unction
of the Catholic faith. Nature abhors a vacuum the space left empty is filled
but by what?-New Age, Yoga, attempts at inculturation, heresy and sects.
Before the "seeds of God's Word" in other faiths is learnt, perhaps, just
perhaps, our faithful need to be acquainted in at least a perfunctory manner
with their own.
I thank God sometimes I live in Bahrain and not exposed to incultration. One
mass I attended in Christi Seva P. Ashram in Pune the nuns read the Upanishads
instead of the readings from Scripture. I felt like asking them "‘Is there not
a God in Israel, so that you would go to consult Beelzebub?" (2 Kngs 1:3)
Priests like you, who are Goan, well known and strong in faith should indeed be
the ones raising the points above. We are lay people, our jurisdiction, our
vocation, is primarily that of our circle of friends and family.
We have no authority to influence, no authority to speak and are frequently and
contemptuously ignored, but not so with you, you have the charism, the unction
and the authority by virtue of your vocation.
God bless
Derrick
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Subject: [Goanet-News] Goanet Reader: The Challenge to the Church in Goa:
Revivalism or Renewal? (Fr Desmond de Sousa CSsR)
The Challenge to the Church in Goa: Revivalism or Renewal?
Fr Desmond de Sousa CSsR
desmonddeso...@hotmail.com
Society in Goa is passing through an unprecedented metamorphosis akin to a
caterpillar becoming a butterfly.Like other institutions in society, the Church
in Goa isconvulsed by the need for radical change to fulfill her mission in
society. The Goa Church Synod (February 2002)
articulated the direction of renewal. But has the renewal lost out to
revivalism?
A question of whose perspective
Was colonization of Goa by the Portugese (1510-1961) an asset or a liability
for the Church in Goa? The native Americans protested the 500th anniversary of
Columbus' "discovery" of America (1992) that established the faith in the
American continent. They perceived colonization as an unmitigated disaster.
Actually, from their perspective, they "discovered" the explorer on their
beaches. He thought he had reached India. In return for their naïve
hospitality, they received plunder, rape and near extinction. A question of
whose perspective!
The 500th anniversary of the Portugese colonization of Goa (2010) and the
establishment the Latin Catholic Church was celebrated without much fanfare.
From whose perspective was it perceived?The Portugese colonizers transplanted
the same imperialist, triumphalist, Christendom model of the Church from Europe
to Goa. The burgeoning faith of the new converts was saddled with sophisticated
Roman Canon law, the imported, emotionally-charged, southern European, popular
devotions and novenas to the saints and an elaborated belief system expressed
in abstract, Greek philosophical categories. As one foreign missionary priest
after many years in India and seeing the number of Goan priests and bishops all
over the entire sub-continent and beyond remarked, "Those Portugese kicked the
faith into you Goans. They did a good job all the same."
Over the centuries, the faith of the converts made them like little Davids,
burden with Goliath's mighty armour. Instead of their faith blossoming from the
soil of their deep Hindu religio-cultural heritage that is still very much
alive today, and in solidarity with their non-converted Hindu brothers and
sisters in Goa, they were transformed into aggressive, arrogant "colonials",
alienated from their brothers and sisters of other faiths and infected with the
"holier-than-thou" attitude of the colonizers.
Catholic Goans are much more comfortable in the West than in Goa. Whether the
content of faith and the operating model of the Church brought by the
colonizers is an asset or a liability today, is a question of whose perspective
one listens to in the Church.
Continuity or discontinuity with the past?
Since the renewal process of the Church initiated by the Second Vatican Council
(1962-65), many serious efforts to break with the colonial past have been
attempted. But studies show that the greatest blocks to genuine renewal are the
traditionalism of the clergy and the lethargy of the laity. Both these blocks
are consequences of their colonial past.
The clergy generally find it extremely difficult to accept a more
participative, co-responsible and
socially committed Church with the laity. This is understandable, since the
"older" model of the Church and the content of faith has produced a Blessed
Joseph Vaz (1651-1711), a Venerable Fr Agnelo D'Souza (1869-1927), both totally
indigenous priests and many eminent clergymen. Both by tradition and training,
they are deeply attached to the pyramidal model of the Church, with its
rituals, traditions, devotions and practices, which is the only one they know.
The laity however, are deeply divided about the pace and direction of change
that renewal demands. A paradigm shift in faith formation is needed. They need
a more inductive reflection on the daily realities of life to discover the
challenge of God acting within these realities, rather than the traditional
deductive process of learning abstract truths of faith by heart.
Their faith, befitting their minority status in Goa (about 25% of 1.6 million),
demands an appreciation of the "seeds of God's Word" present in other faiths,
so that they grow in understanding and respect for them. Further "Action on
behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of
the world as a constitutive dimension of faith" (Synod on
Justice in the World, 1971), is largely absent.
Some of the more enlightened laity support and participate in the renewal
process as a genuine and necessary expression of the Catholic Church in Goa.
But the vast majority are caught up in the revivalist spiritual awakening that
is sweeping Goa. Initiated by the Catholic Charismatic Movement (CCR) more than
twenty-five years ago, revivalism is fuelled by the retreats at Potta in Kerala.
Revivalism or Renewal
Revivalism is a highly emotional, anti-intellectual movement of Christian faith
deeply influenced by American Protestant Pentecostalism. It stresses a
profound, emotional, religious conversion
experience and an "other-worldly" attitude that
basically ignores any faith-based social
commitment. The spirituality underpinning the
Social Doctrine of the Church is neglected because
it demands involvement in what is considered, a
"sinful world."
While the present Church leadership is committed to renewal,
the vast majority of laity and a growing number of young
priests are committed to revivalism. They emphasize strongly
emotional prayer sessions, whole night vigils and clamor for
miraculous healings from self-appointed "healers." There is
very little intellectual content to their faith and
practically no social commitment or respect and appreciation
for other faiths.
The real danger is that while the leadership of the Church
and the enlightened section of the laity move towards a
better understanding of the pace and direction of renewal,
the vast majority of the laity are moving the opposite way,
from revivalism to fundamentalism. There is a proliferation
of fundamentalist "believers" groups and an eruption of
believers sects formed around charismatic lay preachers, who
claim to be directly appointed, like the Apostle Paul, by
God. They have no scriptural or theological training and
refuse to be accountable to anyone in the Church.
The budding crisis in the Church in Goa is a moment of danger
and opportunity. The danger is the fragmentation within and
disintegration of the Church which will be gradually reduced
to irrelevance in genuinely continuing Christ's life-giving
mission to the world. The opportunity is to transform an
ancient, creaking, largely irrelevant European model of the
Church into a genuinely vibrant, inculturated Goan Church,
rather than a European Church in Goa.
Will the Church in Goa continue to operate as a decrepit,
colonial Church or become transformed into a vibrant,
indigenous Church? Renewal of the Church or Revivalism in
the Church -- that is the question. The caliber of the
Church's leadership will be severely tested by the question
of whose perspective will ultimately triumph!