Archbishop Anil Couto has started a political firestorm in India. The Archbishop of Delhi recently published a pastoral letter arguing that attacks on minorities threatened India’s “democratic principles and secular fabric”. He urged Catholics to join a prayer campaign ahead of next year’s general election, when, he said, “we will have a new government”.
A Hindu nationalist politician accused the archbishop of following “an order from Italy” (sic), just as other fifth columnist followed orders from India’s sworn enemy, Pakistan. “The day will soon come when the Hindus understand this and smash both to save India,” he tweeted. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) claimed that Indian Catholics were colluding with the Vatican to sow “distrust” in the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Such accusations would be laughable if they weren’t so damaging. The campaign group Open Doors documented some 600 examples of anti-Christian persecution in India last year. “Under Modi, religious freedom violations against Christians – such as social exclusion, abuse and imprisonment – have spread unchecked,” the charity concluded.
Persecution is inspired by the belief that Christianity is a foreign import and that Catholics’ ultimate loyalty is to Rome rather than New Delhi. This prejudice ignores the deep historical ties between the Catholic Church and India. The nation’s Catholics trace their origins back to the Apostle Thomas, and history records that an Indian bishop visited Rome during the 12th-century reign of Pope Callixtus II.
The incendiary reaction to Archbishop Couto’s letter suggests that Church leaders can’t even discuss growing persecution with their own flocks without being accused of betraying India. What can the Church do in such a toxic climate? It could try to rally international support. But in the West, at least, there is little sympathy for persecuted religious minorities. And besides, this would only reinforce the narrative that the Indian Church is an agent of foreign powers.
The only option, then, is for Church leaders to petition India’s politicians. Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai has reportedly been trying to stamp out fires following Archbishop Couto’s letter. Still, there is no guarantee that the government will listen to him.
It would not be surprising, therefore, if many Indian Christians were considering following their relatives overseas. The Catholic Church in this country has been strengthened considerably by new arrivals from India. But we should not simply take without offering anything in return. We ought to consider supporting charities that help the country’s Christians. We should also ask Indian Catholics here how we can best support those for whom emigration is impossible.
While direct political pressure might not work, we must find other ways of letting this beleaguered minority know that we truly care about them.
More religion, please
The latest research on young Catholics and their faith, published this week by the Catholic Youth Ministry Federation (CYMFed), gives some cause for optimism. It concludes that more young Catholics are going to Mass on a regular basis, and that religious belief among young Catholics has grown stronger. But it also shows that young Catholics are finding life more stressful than ever.
This last finding is hardly surprising. We live in a highly anxious world, and financial constraints, ever since the crisis of 2008, must have contributed to this overall sense that life is a daily struggle. It is always possible that the pressures of daily life are what is drawing more young people to religion.
All this represents both a challenge and an opportunity to the Church. If there is a hunger for faith among the young, then the Church needs to provide for their spiritual needs, bearing in mind that it has to do so amid the strains of modern life. Gone are the days when religious practice could harmoniously fit in with the challenges of work and raising a family.
In practical terms this may mean something as simple as quicker Masses or Masses at more accessible times for the young, as well as setting up social groups for mothers and young children. It also requires that parishes and schools cooperate more fully to provide for the needs of young families.
But it goes deeper than this. If the young are becoming more religious, then what they need is more religion – a more profound spirituality, based on the riches of Catholic tradition. There can be no substitute for a deeper theology and a greater availability of prayer and devotion.
Given that the Church is soon to hold a synod to discuss the role of the young in the Church, all must hope that this gathering does not just propose more of the same, and rely on models of the past which have either failed or had limited success. Faced with the needs of the young, the Church has to up her game.
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