A critique on
your Pastoral Letter No. 001/2013/CL Dated 08.02.2013
titled “Thabasukaalam 2013” with a note to be read during Mass on 17th,
I Sunday of Lent.
At long last, you
have come out with the tip of the berg! It is indeed a good sign to begin with
the Lent. It is ‘better to be late than never!’ While appreciating this good
gesture, I would like to comment on some of your points.
The letter states
rightly that ‘a disciple is one who values Jesus more than anything.’ But the question
is: Who is this Jesus? Matthew 25:40 and 45 identifies the ‘son of man’/’king’ with
the ‘least of his brethren’. Is he/she not the ‘anawim’ of Yahweh, those denied
of justice?
You ‘being content
with what one has’ could be interpreted conveniently! The so-called ‘rich’
would mean this to be the meager ‘left over’ after their avaricious grabbing.
Here, it is good to remember what Gandhiji seems to have said: ‘There is enough
for everyone’s need but not to anyone’s greed!’ Birds seem to be contended as
they are not denied of their due like some unfortunate humans by the avaricious
ones. Jesus taught us to ‘pray for our daily bread’ and not to be anxious of
tomorrow. Praying could also mean laboring and daily bread, the necessities of
everyday life like clothing and shelter. Love also means caring and sharing.
Bread is to be broken and shared with the hungry.
You have presented
the national data on BPL, ill-fed children, illiteracy aggravated by inadequate
educational infrastructure, people devoid of shelter and other basic amenities,
besides potable water, poor health and hygiene paving way for contagious
disease and so on. But what are the situation in our archdiocese in this year
of Platinum Jubilee and Synod? As you have rightly observed Trivandrum
district, mostly the coastal regions where our people are crowded, is one of
the two districts pointed out as the most backward, especially in education and
health and hygiene. Recent reports on ‘public defecation’ in the said area are
really a shame for all of us!
These people were
under the stewardship of the church since the time of Francis Xavier and
especially our diocese/archdiocese! What have we really done? Could we not have
made them a ‘self-esteemed’ people at least, leave alone everything else? If
only we had the determination to do so would have certainly worked wonders.
Have we not had our share in the exploitation of our people in the manner of
the very shepherd becoming a thief, if not a butcher himself!
You seem to refer to ‘resourceful’
people keeping aloof of the church! As long as we don’t take them into
confidence and entrust them with responsibilities, this sad situation may unfortunately
continue.
You may present the
detailed accounts to the ‘responsible’ bodies, if you prefer so, though such
bodies are not without qualifications. They seemingly don’t have any loyalty to
anyone or anything than to you who have appointed them. It would be preferable
to have bodies like the CAG of the Central Government which is a Constitutional
and autonomous body having no ‘loyalty’ to any individual or group whatever be
his/her/its status or sanctity. All should ultimately be responsible to the
people than to anyone else.
Contrary to your
seeming perception, transparency and accountability would certainly make you
really and morally stronger. Your intervention, when the integrity of your
lieutenants is in question, normally sends wrong signals and facilitate the
tainted ones go goat free. When a good number of our people lack miserably many
of the necessities of life, the responsible ones should be scrupulously clean,
especially in money matters.
As your statements
show almost 20% of the `20 crores, that is nearly
`4
crores, was seemingly spend miscellaneously! It is gross irresponsibility, if
not outrageous, to the core! The shocking revelation that a nominal 2.81% alone
was spent on education doesn’t tally with the claim of 29% of the archdiocesan
receipts were spent on the same. However, most of our schools are without
necessary infrastructure still when crores are squandered on churches, shrines
and rectories!
No money transaction
be done without proper documentary acknowledgement. Even the offering box money
should be acknowledged besides the auctioning of the offertory materials. No
one would believe that our priests would take this seriously. One wonders as to
how priests manage cars and wear gold ornaments in the pretext of Rosary and
gifts besides all sorts of cell phones and other electronic gadgets.
Every celebration, to
be meaningful, should be accompanied by corresponding projects like home for
the homeless and marrying the really poor girls, educating a deserving student
and so on. Dowry system in any form should be abolished taking all assistance
from the available laws of the land. No trading whatsoever with Mass stipends,
if it can’t be abolished for good. We should be models of simple and contended
living. Let us concentrate the most on our being than having…
Any default by
anyone, especially a priest, should be properly and exemplarily be compensated,
if not fined. Why not priests come out declaring their assets? Priests should
always stand free of financial liabilities, especially the ones from the
celebration of their ordination, jubilee and so on.
Last, but not the
least, let us pay our workers justly and grant them necessary rest and leave
besides provide them with safe working conditions?
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