Articles
Fails, Ails & Travails
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 26-Mar-2025
These words are not just a rhyme; there is reason behind them – fails, ails and travails. I use them in the context of the church in India and more specifically the Catholic Church. Looking at its grandiose institutions, wealth and prestige one could wonder if they really apply to the church in India.
Ealier, Amitabh Bahchan was known as the angry young man. Now that he is well into the last quarter of his life, he has been reduced to sitting and asking questions, as in Kaun Banega Krorepati. I too have been angry about many things that I saw happening or not happening around me, in both church and society. Amitabh was a few years senior to me in our rival boarding school in Nainital. I too have now entered into the final quarter of my life. Can’t run around too much. But I can ask questions, hopefully relevant and possibly provocative ones. Questions that merit answers.
So what ails the church in India? Has it failed in its mission? Is it like a woman in travail, or is it still born? The word travail is often used to describe a woman going through birth pangs. Even Jesus used the expression. In his final discourse he compared his departure from his disciples to such a scenario (cf Jn 16:21). St Paul uses the same expression. “I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19).
Though a lesser mortal, I too feel similar pangs. It is not so much about the Church’s acts of commission as that of its acts of omission. There is so much that the Church could and should have been doing, but it isn’t happening. This is largely because of its huge institutional wealth and prestige. It cannot see or think beyond that. For this reason I see such institutions as counter-witnesses.
They may have begun with the noble intentions and charism of their founders; but they have now been reduced to mechanical functions, like teaching maths and geography. What does this have to do with preaching the Word of God? Precious little. Yet we seem unwilling to read the writing on the wall (cf Dan 5:5). So we turn a blind eye to reality. We are missing the wood for the trees. We are also missing the bus because we are usually riding the school bus.
Vatican II (1962-65) sensed that this institutionalization had become a counter witness seeking a return to a more people-oriented and Spirit-filled ecclesia. Sadly, after the initial euphoria about church reforms, we collectively fell back to the comfort zones of an institutionalized church.
Pope Francis may bang his head against a wall, calling for the smell of the sheep. But the pervading smell is that of some expensive after shave lotion. The Synod on Synodality began with a bang and ended with a whimper. I don’t see any signs of participation, communion and mission as envisioned by it. Maybe this is why, despite advanced years and failing health, Pope Francis is determined to journey on.
His extended period of hospitalization may have strengthened his belief that his task of church reform is far from over. Despite leading by personal example, vast travels and a flurry of encyclicals, his impact on a well entrenched hierarchy and clergy has been minimal. After his death, that many are looking forward to, they will hasten his canonization. Done and dusted, now close the chapter.
Just look at the agendae for recent meetings of the bishops of India – migrants and the environment! Legitimate, but not central to the church’s primary concerns. Most of the migrants in India are job or opportunity seekers. Even most of the clergy and religious outside the deep south are migrants; as we have failed to build a Local Church with local vocations.
Those who merit our attention are the Internally Displaced Persons, ravaged by natural calamities or mining barons. Reaching out or standing up for them would be truly prophetic.
How can we talk of the environment when every church function is littered with disposable cups, glasses, bottles etc? Priests commuting alone use SUVs instead of a scooter or a cycle. This is sheer hypocrisy.
Let me now address the core issue, the inability of the Church to make inroads into Indian society. Till Independence, the Syrian Christians remained confined to Kerala for 2000 years. St Francis Xavier’s impact was limited to about 25% of Goa. Christianity did spread across the rest of India in colonial times, but no thanks to the British. The first British missionary, William Carey, came surreptitiously on a Danish ship in June 1793 and reached the Portuguese settlement of Bandel in Bengal. The British were apprehensive about missionaries bringing morality and education that would empower the people, making it difficult to govern them.
Barring the deep south and Konkan coast, Christian missionaries were able to pervade two classes of people, the dalits who had been despised by their own Hindu community and the tribals who had their own animist religions and community bonds. I daresay that it was this tribal sense of community that dove tailed neatly into Christianity.
Post Independence, the Church grew exponentially, driven by magnanimous foreign aid and a plethora of educational institutions. But too much of a good thing can become counter productive. With the present government’s clamp down on FCRA funds and its hostile attitude towards so-called “forced conversions”, Christianity in India seems to have come to a dead end. This, despite the often aggressive evangelization by small independent churches.
Not just India, most of Asia has deeply entrenched religions of its own. The Philippines is the only Christian majority country. South Korea experienced Christian growth led by the laity, as did Arunachal Pradesh in India. I see these as exceptions that confirm the rule.
I feel that foreign missionaries, for all their fervour, came with a European model of Christianity that didn’t cut ice here. Their missiology was based on Christ the Redeemer, the forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of Jesus and his miracles; though the last was abjured by Jesus himself. Let’s address these one by one.
The Christian understanding of sin is based on the moral code of the Ten Commandments and the “original sin” of our first parents. This concept of sin and the need for redemption is common to the monotheistic Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But it is foreign to the Hindu psyche. For them sin (paap) is either a relict of a previous birth or something to be addressed in the next birth. If there is no clear concept of sin then there is no over riding need for a Saviour!
Christianity’s second USP is the Resurrection of Jesus and life everlasting. This too doesn’t appeal to our Hindu brethren. They believe in multiple births (reincarnation), which is a long (yawn) process. So again it doesn’t merit urgent attention. There is also the figure of Mritunjay, or conqueror of death, attributed to Lord Shiva, so this too doesn’t attract.
What of miracles? There are a dime a dozen godmen and women who claim divine or miraculous powers. Count Satya Sai Baba, Radhe Maa, Asaram Bapu and Baba Ram Rahim among them. So it’s my miracle against yours. As children argue, “My Dad is bigger than your Dad”!
Paul the great evangelist made this statement. “While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness” (1Cor 1:22). We are back to square one.
Let me now think out of the box. My experience tells me that most people, of whatever religious persuasion, basically live in fear – fear of divine displeasure, of the unknown or the future. It is here that we must enter with this beautiful assurance: “In love there is no room for fear, because fear implies punishment and whoever is afraid has not come to perfection in love. Let us love then, because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:18-19).
Can this be our missiological approach – presenting Jesus as the great Lover? Which human being does not crave for love, understanding and companionship? I see this as a genuine way forward. I conclude with the words of wisdom from an anonymous source:
“You are writing each day a gospel
Take care that the writing is true
For the only gospel some will read
Is the gospel according to you”.
So let us write and live our own gospel of love to overcome fear and all that ails, fails or travails the human heart. It transcends both rhyme and reason.
_____________
(The writer is the Convenor of the Indian Catholic Forum. Views expressed are personal)
Leave a comment
