Editorial

The Catholic Disconnect

Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Aug-2023

Since May 3, 2023, Manipur has seen unprecedented lawlessness, resulting in the murders of over a hundred individuals and the destruction of several homes and places of worship—an ethnic cleansing mayhem likened by many to the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in Rwanda many years ago. When the situation showed no indications of change and the state devolved into a battleground, people from almost every Indian state gathered in prayer and solidarity with Manipur. Candlelight vigils, prayer services, talk shows, discussion programs, interviews, and other events were held to urge state and federal governments to restore peace.

Everyone, especially those representing the national and international media, was perplexed by the convoluted and complicated development of this little state in India's north east region. Unable to comprehend the complex processes at work behind the eruption of violence, various views have emerged, depending on which side of the divide their hearts lean. Others wanted to be politically correct, so instead of speaking accurately, they stuck to a particular point of view - whether out of ignorance or otherwise. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai and former President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, is among them.

The Cardinal remarked in a 4.28-minute video address to his Mumbai Archdiocese, "It is given a religious twist, but it is not a religious conflict between two religions, but a conflict between two tribes." In doing so, the Cardinal made two critical errors: first, the Meiteis are not the tribe he chose to characterize, and second, he overlooked why numerous Churches, including those not belonging to the Kukis, were burned down or destroyed. 

A few days from this not very accurate statement by the Cardinal, his compatriot, Archbishop Dominic Lumon of Imphal Diocese was interviewed by Karan Thapar for the wire.  In that, the shrewd anchor confronted him by quoting the Cardinal’s remarks and question how the Bishop in his June 15 report said as many as 249 Churches belonging to the Meitei Christians were burnt down during the first 36 hours of the violence.  His answer was, “the Cardinal was not well aware of the ground reality”, and supplemented by citing the destruction of Churches and institutes as proof of the incident being exploited by elements to target Christians. The Archbishop, who is on the ground and first-hand witnessing the carnage, also warned that the cardinal was probably well aware of how his opinions would be misconstrued by the ruling political party.

The remark proved to be prescient. The Cardinal has been regularly quoted by BJP spokespeople and the RSS to demonstrate that the Manipur mayhem was just an ethnic clash with no intentional targeting of Christians. This is despite the fact that all of the churches and institutes attacked and destroyed were not run by the Kukis, who the majority Meiteis are in conflict with. The Cardinal's views have not been well received by many Catholics, but the more important concern is, how can a person of his position and standing chose to make a statement without first seeking confirmation from his counterpart who is in the middle of things?

In recent years, we have seen Catholic shepherds speak without considering the long-term consequences of their words. Such a lack of mental application is detrimental not only to their own community, but to the populace as a whole, because wrong facts help no one. In the presence case, the correct course of action would have been a few minutes of phone conversation between the two Bishops prior to finalization of the video. It would have prevented the Catholic Church from being red-faced on account of presenting an erroneous fact. Above all, instead of being perplexed by the two versions, the citizens of this country would have known the truth had the Cardinal or any of his priests took the trouble to cross-check. 

---

---

Visitor comments

---

Leave a comment