Catholics and Pentecostals: Miles to go to bridge the divide

   Catholics and Pentecostals – commonly known as Protestants – recently concluded the sixth phase of their international dialogue, aimed at promoting better relations between the two communities started over four decades ago. Are we anywhere close to unity? The answer is no, but everyone agrees that a continuous dialogue is necessary to achieve unification in the not-so-distant future.

  The theme of this sixth phase, held in July, focused on "Charisms in the Church: Their Spiritual Significance, Discernment, and Pastoral Implications" with sessions dedicated to common ground, discernment, healing and prophesy. The final session, which took place in Rome from July 10-17, was dedicated to drafting a final report, due for publication early next year. Daily prayer services, led alternately by Catholics and Pentecostals, have been an important feature of the meeting and participants on Sunday attended Mass at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
  The two co-chairs of the dialogue were Bishop Michael Burbidge, head of the US diocese of Raleigh in North Carolina and Rev Cecil (Mel) Robeck representing the Assemblies of God, a professor of Church history and ecumenics at Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

 Christians in general are curious about the impact of the first Latin American pope on relations between the two communities.

  Historically, Christianity is divided into three broad categories – Roman Catholic, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church is an ancient community with many things in common with Roman Catholics except that there’s no Pope in the community. Protestant denominations – they number around 30,000 -- reject the notion of papal supremacy over the Church universal and generally deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and a host of other things, but they disagree among themselves regarding Christ's presence in the Eucharist.

  In another two years, 2017 will mark the 500^th anniversary since Martin Luther published ‘The ninety-five theses’ and started opposing the Catholic Church teachings which eventually led to the formation of Protestant churches.

  That said, the goal of the latest Dialogue, started in 1972, is to promote mutual respect and understanding in matters of faith and practice, says a press statement issued by Vatican. Genuine exchange and frank discussion concerning the positions and practices of the two traditions have been guiding principles of these conversations.

 According to Bishop Burbidge, through the scholarly papers that were presented, honest and respectful discussion throughout the Dialogue, and our prayer time together we grew to a deeper understanding of areas of agreement as related to charisms, healing, prophecy, and discernment, as well as points of divergence. “We also identified together pastoral challenges and opportunities as we go forth to invite others to a deeper reliance on the gifts of the Spirit who is always at work within us,” he said.
 Pentacostals say that on most issues they are in agreement.

 Rev Robeck said, "this current round of dialogue has revealed that the teaching of Pentecostals and Catholics on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit have many points of agreement. Both traditions recognize that every believer has been given one or more gifts by the Holy Spirit to be used to build up the Church and to minister to the world. These gifts have been present in the Church since the time of the New Testament.”

  “Given the problems posed by society in the current culture, we acknowledge that we face common challenges in which our people must rely upon the help of the Holy Spirit to exercise these charisms in thoughtful and creative ways as they seek to extend the message of love and forgiveness that Jesus Christ brought to the world,” Rev Robeck said.
  The first major difference between Catholics and Protestants is the issue of the sufficiency and authority of Scripture. Protestants say that the Bible alone is the source of God’s special revelation to mankind and teaches us all that is necessary for our salvation from sin. Catholics reject the doctrine of sola scriptura and believe that both the Bible and sacred Roman Catholic tradition are equally binding upon the Christians. Roman Catholics believe in purgatory, praying to the saints and veneration of Mother Mary.

 Apart from transubstantiation, the major bone of contention, another disagreement between Catholicism and Protestantism is over the office and authority of the Pope. Further, Catholics teach that the Christian must rely on faith and seven Sacraments --  baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony – for salvation. Protestants believe that, on the basis of faith in Christ alone, believers are justified by God, and all their sins are paid for by Christ on the cross and His righteousness is imputed to them.

 As a Christian, this writer hopes that Catholics and Protestants will thrash out all contentious issues and come together in the not so foreseeable future. If this happens, Jesus will be the happiest person.

Authoritarianism in Church: When is the next major reform coming?

  Can you hold on to a position of power indefinitely in the Church? No you can’t. That’s a dangerous proposition and the idea of clinging on to the chair comes from the devil.
  Pope Francis has amply made it clear that Church doesn’t favour and want dictators  “The only one who is indispensable is the Holy Spirit, and no one is Lord, except Jesus Christ,” Pope Francis said to a group of 30,000 people at an inter-denominational rally of charismatic Christians in St. Peter’s Square. Why is Pope reminding Church members about indispensability and authoritarianism. Is it time for the next major reform in the Church?
  It's a clear indication from Pope Francis -- it’s abundantly clear that he doesn’t favour clergy or laity to rule for a long time like dictators. In fact, in some countries this is happening. There’s no retirement age for top church leaders and religious. Pope Francis has been on a mission to reform the Vatican curia and introduced several changes. Much more remains to be done. Pope Francis established the Council of Cardinals just a month into his pontificate to help him reform the Curia and govern the universal church.
 His statement against indispensability and authoritarianism could be an indicator of long-awaited reforms in the Church. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the revised Code of Canon Law (1983) were two major occasions when Catholic Church witnessed major reforms. While the first led Pope Paul VI to reform the Roman Curia, the second step was initiated by Pope John Paul II. When is the third major reform coming?

 When a person gets a position of power, he enjoys it, but slowly and steadily starts making mistakes one after another. He develops vested interests, acts as per his whims and fancies and like a drunk man, power goes to his head. He gets the feeling of indispensability. What follows is dictatorship and chaos.   
In other words, Pope is saying that Church doesn’t want people occupying the same position ad infinitum. “It is appropriate that all services in the Church have a time limit,” he said. Leaders for life happen in countries under a dictatorship. We have many such countries in this world. History tells us that dictators who ruled such countries had a violent end.   
  Dictatorships can create problems in the church as well. “Believing yourself to be indispensable is a great temptation for leaders, and it comes from the devil,” said Pope Francis. “Authoritarianism and personalism easily enter in when leaders desire to hold onto their position forever” and “one slides from being a servant to being a master,” he said.
  Is the statement of Pope directed at church leaders who have been holding powerful positions for a long time? Is he hinting that Church leaders should make way for new generations and leaders or an indication of a major reform in the Church? The 78-year-old Pontiff has said on other occasions that he would be prepared to resign instead of ruling for life if he felt he could not continue running the 1.2 billion-member Church for health or other reasons.
 Pope Francis said Pope Benedict’s retirement decision “should not be considered an exception, but an institution.” “Nowadays an emeritus pope is not a strange thing, but it opened the door for this to exist,” he said. Pope also said, however, that he did not like the idea of an automatic retirement age for popes, for example at age 80.
 

70 per cent of Indians live in villages, most are poor

 Why is a democratic country which got independence in 1947 is still poor? Successive governments poured billions of dollars into social welfare schemes, but majority of people remain poor.
  New data released on Friday showed that that more than 70 percent of people in India live in villages, with the majority extremely poor and dependent on manual labour. The data from India's socio-economic and caste census was collected between 2011 and 2013. It's the first time India has studied caste data since 1932.
 One doesn’t have to look far for reasons for this sorry state of affairs. The country lacks strong, upright and efficient political leaders. They simply failed in uplifting the people and giving them good living standards. They enriched themselves through corruption and scandals. They tightly controlled the economy and refused to open up the country for development. In 1947, the situation in S Korea was worse than India. Now they are far ahead of India.The Church needs to look into these aspects.
 When you go deep inside interior regions in states like UP, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra and  W Bengal, the abysmal living conditions are really appalling. There’s no electricity, no transport, no proper houses, no drinking water and no facilities for education and healthcare. Then where’s the budgetary allocations going?
On the other hand, rich people are getting richer. The number of billionaires is expanding. If you analyse the net worth of most members of parliament or state assemblies, they are filthy rich. There’s no real concern for the poor.   
 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the data was provisional and the final data would be updated over the next few months to help the government to properly channel its welfare spending to benefit those who needed help the most. It’s not that the conclusion will show any improvement when the final data comes in later.
  India conducts a national census every 10 years and that document delves into the wealth, living conditions and other personal details of the country's 1.2 billion people. The previous government initiated a separate process of studying caste and analyzing socio-economic progress based on those divisions.

  Caste, the Hindu custom that for millennia has divided people in a strict social hierarchy based on their family's traditional livelihood and ethnicity, is deeply sensitive in India. The practice was outlawed when India gained freedom from Britain in 1947, but is still pervasive. Studies show low-caste Indians and dalits face daily challenges for decent schools, medical care and jobs.  While the data shows how low-caste Indians fare overall on various economic indicators, the government has said that the final data would not show specific caste details.

 The data released Friday revealed that of India's nearly 244 million households, more than 179 million are rural. At least 56 percent of those rural households do not own any land and depend on manual labor. Among the lowest castes in rural India the number of landless was as high as 70 percent. Nearly 107 million rural households are what the government terms as "deprived", meaning they either live in a single room made of mud and straw, have no earning adult male, or no literate adult member.

US court order on same-sex marriage: Church says a clear and emphatic "No"

  The “tragic error” in the United States shocked the Christian community across the world – Catholics and Protestants alike – last week.

 The US Supreme Court decision on June 26 interpreting the US Constitution to require all states to license and recognize same-sex “marriage” came as a bolt from the blue for the entire Catholic Church which says the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered” and homosexual practices are “sins gravely contrary to chastity”.

“It’s a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The Catholic Church was vehemently opposing the same-sex marriage all these years.

 Vatican’s instructions are unambiguous.  

 There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. “Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved,” said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, in a report.

 Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts “as a serious depravity... (cf. Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10). This judgment of Scripture does not of course permit us to conclude that all those who suffer from this anomaly are personally responsible for it, but it does attest to the fact that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”. This same moral judgment is found in many Christian writers of the first centuries and is unanimously accepted by Catholic Tradition, says Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict 16^th.

  The unique meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is inscribed in our bodies as male and female. The protection of this meaning is a critical dimension of the “integral ecology” that Pope Francis has called us to promote. “Mandating marriage redefinition across the country is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us, especially children. The law has a duty to support every child’s basic right to be raised, where possible, by his or her married mother and father in a stable home,” Archbishop Kurtz said in his statement after the court decision.

  US Catholic bishops encouraged Catholics to move forward with faith, hope, and love: faith in the unchanging truth about marriage, rooted in the immutable nature of the human person and confirmed by divine revelation; hope that these truths will once again prevail in our society, not only by their logic, but by their great beauty and manifest service to the common good; and love for all our neighbors, even those who hate us or would punish us for our faith and moral convictions.

 However, Vatican is clear about one thing. According to the teaching of the Church, men and women with homosexual tendencies “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”. They are called, like other Christians, to live the virtue of chastity.
 According to Vatican, in situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. “One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws and, as far as possible, from material cooperation on the level of their application. In this area, everyone can exercise the right to conscientious objection,” says Cardinal Ratzinger.
  Cardinal Ratziner’s report, approved by Pope John Paul II, says legal recognition of homosexual unions would obscure certain basic moral values and cause a devaluation of the institution of marriage. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself.

Pope Francis: 'Revolution' needed to combat climate change

By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor

 As a former teacher, Pope Francis knows how to deliver a stern lecture. On Thursday, he gave one for the ages.
 While slamming a slew of modern trends -- the heedless worship of technology, our addiction to fossil fuels and compulsive consumerism -- the Pope said humanity's "reckless" behavior has pushed the planet to a perilous "breaking point."
 "Doomsday predictions," the Pope warned, "can no longer be met with irony or disdain."
 Citing the scientific consensus that global warming is disturbingly real, Francis left little doubt about who to blame.
 Big businesses, energy companies, short-sighted politicians, scurrilous scientists, laissez faire economists, indifferent individuals, callous Christians and myopic media professionals. Scarcely any area of society escaped his withering criticism.
 "The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth," Francis said. "In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish."
Francis' bracing manifesto came Thursday in the form of an encyclical, a letter traditionally addressed from St. Peter's Square to the more than 1 billion Catholics across the globe. Derived from the Greek word for "circle," an encyclical is among the church's most authoritative teaching documents.
 But Francis has set his sights far beyond the circle of his church. With an eye toward several key climate change summits scheduled for later this year, the Pope said his letter is addressed to "every person living on this planet."
 "I would like to enter a dialogue with all people about our common home," Francis said.

Critique of modern life

 The humble invitation belies the damning analysis of modern life contained in the 184-page encyclical, entitled "Laudato Si." The archaic Italian phrase, which means "Praised Be To You," appears in the "Canticle of the Sun," a song penned by St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology.
 Subtitled, "On Care for Our Common Home," the encyclical was published Thursday in at least five languages during a news conference at the Vatican. The document was more than a year in the making, church officials say, and draws on the work of dozens of scientists, theologians, scholars from various fields and previous popes.
 "We have a situation here," said Janos Pasztor, the U.N.'s assistant secretary-general for climate change, "in which science and religion are totally aligned." Pasztor was part of a team that convened with church officials at the Vatican this April.
 With his penchant for crowd-pleasing and spontaneous acts of compassion, Pope Francis has earned high praise from fellow Catholics and others since he replaced Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013. Click through to see moments from his papacy.
 The Pope's highly anticipated encyclical recycles some of the now-familiar themes of his papacy: an abiding concern for the poor, a scorching critique of the idolatry of money and a facility for using evocative language to describe complex conundrums.
 As the first Pope from the developing world, Francis brings a moral vision shaped not in the seminaries of Europe but in the slums of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 With language ranging from the majestic (lyrical poetry in praise of nature) to the mundane (take the bus!), the Pope put his signature stamp on a controversial topic and his moral clout on the line.
 "Laudato si" is long on laments and short on specific solutions, though the Pope repeatedly urges deep thinking and dialogue to address the complex symptoms now plaguing the planet. In broad strokes, Francis calls for a drastic change in "lifestyle, production and consumption" from unsustainable habits to more mindful means of caring for "our common home."
 "What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?" Francis asks. "The question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal."
 And while the Pope calls for practical steps like recycling and improving public transportation, he said structural injustices require more political will and sacrifices than most societies seem willing to bear.
Nothing short of a "bold cultural revolution" could save humanity from spiraling into self-destruction, the Pope warned.
 Though it ends with a prayer, many parts of Francis' encyclical seem profoundly pessimistic, particularly from a spiritual leader known for his hopeful messages of mercy and openness. People no longer seem to believe that happy days lie ahead, the Pope lamented
 Our care for the environment is intimately connected to our care for each other, he argues, and we are failing miserably at both.
 "We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social," Francis writes, "but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental."
 The rich and powerful shut themselves up within self-enclosed enclaves, Francis argues, compulsively consuming the latest goods to feed the emptiness within their hearts, while ignoring the plight of the poor.
 The poor, meanwhile, find themselves on the run from natural disasters and degraded habitats, shunted to the bottom of the world's pile of problems with decreasing access to its natural resources.
 Francis saves his most challenging questions for modern consumers, arguing that humanity has become enamored of another apple -- and this time no Eve or serpent are around to take the fall. The temptation may have shifted from a forbidden fruit to cutting edge technology, but the sin remains the same: hubris.
 "We are not God," the Pope warns, "The Earth was here before us and has been given to us."

'Bottom of the pile'

 Though Popes since Paul VI in 1971 have addressed environmental degradation, "Laudato Si" is the first encyclical to focus primarily on creation care, the Christian idea that God gave humans the earth to cultivate, not conquer.
 Even months before its publication, the encyclical drew criticism from conservatives and climate change skeptics, who urged the Pope not to put his moral weight behind the controversial issue of global warming.
Many Catholics and environmentalists, meanwhile, eagerly awaited the encyclical. The Washington-based Catholic Climate Covenant, for example, plans to send homily hints to the 17,000 Catholic parishes in the United States for priests to use during sermons this summer. The group is also planning media events with bishops in Iowa, California, New Mexico and elsewhere.
 In the weeks before the encyclical's release, Protestant pastors and at least 300 rabbis in the United States also said they were willing and eager to embrace Pope's call for environmental justice.
 A Brazilian group made even made a tongue-in-cheek trailer ahead of Francis' encyclical, portraying the pontiff of a spiritual superhero gearing for battle against the forces of evil -- energy executives.
 In another sign of the anticipation awaiting the encyclical, the news that an Italian magazine had published a leaked draft of the document online on Monday made the front pages of several American newspapers.
From the first days of his papacy, Francis has preached about the importance of the environment, not only as a scientific concern but also a moral one. In his first homily as pontiff, Francis called six times during the short sermon for humans to protect creation.
 The encyclical published on Thursday goes well beyond any sermons, delving into fields familiar to any Catholic, such as Scripture and theology, but also wandering into sociology, politics, urban planning, economics, globalization, biology and other areas of scientific research.
 The pope has said he hopes his encyclical on the environment will reach a wide audience.
 Broken into six chapters, "Laudato Si" begins by cataloguing a host of ills wracking the planet: dirty air, polluted water, industrial fumes, toxic waste, rising sea levels and extreme weather.
 The problem is "aggravated," the Pope said, "by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels."
 If present trends continue, Francis argued, the changing climate will have grave implications for poor communities who lack the resources to adapt or protect themselves from natural disasters.
 Many will be forced to leave their homes, while the economically and politically powerful "mask" the problems or respond with indifference, the Pope said.
 The poor may get a passing mention at global economic conferences, Francis says, but their problems seem to be merely added to agendas as an afterthought.
 "Indeed, when all is said and done," the Pope said of the poor, "they frequently remain on the bottom of the pile."

Technology takes over

 Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh called Francis a Marxist after he released another statement, called an apostolic exhortation, in 2013. In the statement, the Pope called trickle-down economics "crude" and "naive."
 Limbaugh renewed the criticism on Wednesday, accusing Francis of adopting "communist way of doing things: Controlling mankind through ... governments backed by police or military power."
Apparently undeterred, the Pope doubles down on his critique of modern capitalism -- especially aspects of the free market -- in "Laudato Si."
 "We need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that the problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals," he said.
 What's more, the Pope called the idea that the "invisible forces of the market" can adequately regulate the economy the "same kind of thinking" that leads to the "exploitation of children and abandonment of the elderly who no longer serve our interests."
 In one particularly searing section, Francis compared laissez faire economists to mobsters, drug lords, illegal organ harvesters and human traffickers. All are part of a "throwaway culture," the Pope argues, that treats human beings as just another commodity to exploit.
 The Pope's attack on the "myth of progress" is more surprising. But he connected his critique to a "worshipping of earthly powers," where humans have usurped the role of God, imposing our own laws and interests on reality with little thought to the long-term consequences.
 In particular, he argued that our "cult of human power" and blind adoption of technology has been a Faustian bargain, offering a wealth of benefits, but at the risk of losing our souls.
 "Life gradually becomes a surrender to situations conditioned by technology," he said, "itself viewed as the principle key to the meaning of existence."
 "It has become countercultural," Francis continued, "to choose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology."
 The omnipresent digital media feeds our "information overload" and "mental pollution," the Pope said. Those, in turn, lead to an excessive self-centeredness that tends to "shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experience."
 "Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age," he continued, "but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way."
 Despite his bleak view of our present situation, the Pope offered glimmers of hope near the end of his "joyful and troubling" reflection.
 "Yet all is not lost," Francis said. "Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning."

Getting business 'on board'

 Opposition to the Pope's encyclical began several months before it was released.
 In April, the Heartland Institute, a conservative group skeptical of climate change, mounted a campaign to convince Pope Francis that global warming "is not a crisis."
 "The Pope is putting his moral authority behind the radical environmental agenda of the United Nations -- and he's doing it after being told only part of the climate story," Jim Lakely, a Heartland spokesman, said in an email interview on Tuesday.
 Lakely said Heartland will contact "hundreds of thousands of Catholics" in the United States through mail and email countering the Pope's message and "giving them the truth about climate change."
 That may be a difficult task.
 More Americans trust Francis almost any other world or U.S. leader as a source of information on global warming, according to a survey conducted by Yale University and George Mason University. Still, the same poll showed that less than 10% of Americans view climate change as a moral issue.
 According to a Pew Research Center study released on Tuesday, American Catholics are divided along partisan lines over climate change. More than 7 in 10 believe the planet is getting warmer, and nearly half attribute global warming to human causes. A similar number (48%) view it as a very serious problem, according to Pew.
 But while more than 80% of Catholic Democrats say there is solid evidence that the Earth is warming, just half of Catholic Republicans agree. And less than a quarter of Catholic Republicans believe that global warming is a man-made or poses a very serious problem.
 Christiana Peppard, a professor of ethics at Fordham University, said she is not surprised that more  Catholics are unconvinced that climate change presents a moral imperative.
 "There's an idea that science exists in a realm separate from the way we live our lives," said Peppard, author of the book "Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis."
 But the Catholic Church has long taught that scientific facts, while reliable, don't answer deeper questions about human meaning and morality. "For that, ethical reasoning and contemplation are important," Peppard said.
 On the 2016 campaign trail, though, the Pope's eco-encylical seemed to be a tough sell.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who is Catholic, said the Pope should "leave science to the scientists."
 At a town hall in New Hampshire this week, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Catholic convert, said, "I don't get economic policies from my bishops or my cardinals or my Pope. I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting into the political realm."
 Other Catholics, though, were eagerly awaiting the Pope's encyclical.
 In addition to Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, the Vatican panel presenting "Laudato Si" included  Metropolitan John of Pergamon, an Eastern Orthodox priest; John Schellenuber, founding Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; Carolyn Wo, the Chinese-American director of Catholic Relief Services; and Valeria Martano, an Italian historian and member of the Rome-based lay Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio.
 Woo said her assignment is to connect the encyclical's concerns to the business world.
 Over the past 20 years, said Woo, former dean of the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, some corporations have adopted more ethical approaches, and she expects a wave of letters from business leaders this week praising the Pope's initiative.
 "The bottom line is that we need business, not just some, but all, to do more," Woo said. "They are the ones on the front lines. We need them on board."
 The Pope will also need world leaders to buy into his moral message, which will be key before a U.N.-sponsored climate summit in December, said Pasztor of the U.N.
 At the meeting, nations are expected to submit their plans for reducing greenhouse gases, and the Pope will likely repeat the encyclical's entreaties when he speaks at the U.N. General Assembly this September.
 "Having such an important person as the Pope talking about this issue will reach a lot of people," Pazstor said, "and at a crucial time."

Many feared killed in US church shooting

 Nine people were shot, some fatally, inside one of Charleston’s oldest and most well known black churches in South Carolina, US. A bomb threat complicated the investigation and prompted police to ask nearby residents to evacuate.

 Reporters and other onlookers huddled at the scene awaiting details on what could prove to be one of the worst mass shootings in South Carolina history.

Authorities said the shooting took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church downtown at approximately 9 p.m. local time. Calhoun St. Police were seen exiting the 19th century church, and their presence extended blocks beyond the site.

 Mayor Joe Riley confirmed there were fatalities.

“We’re still gathering information so it’s not the time yet for details,” he said. “I will say that this is an unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy in this most historic church, an evil and hateful person took the lives of citizens who had come to worship and pray together.”

Riley said city police were being assisted by sheriff’s deputies, the State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI.

 Police and emergency vehicles swarmed several blocks surrounding Henrietta and Calhoun streets, just east of Marion Square. Barricades blocked off several streets to traffic, and police asked nearby residents to leave their homes.

Police were still looking for the gunman late Wednesday, and helicopters are hovering above. Police spokesman Charles Francis described the suspect as a 21-year-old white male in a gray sweatshirt/hoodie and jeans with Timberland boots. He has a slender build.

There are victims involved, but police have not said how many. No deaths have yet been reported. A chaplain is on the scene.

State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, said he has been talking with Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon and said, “It’s my understanding that there are some very serious injuries and possibly deaths.”

Kimpson is the Democratic colleague of Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who is the church’s pastor and was believed to be inside during the shooting. Kimpson said he is praying for Pinckney and for “our Mother Emanuel AME church,” as it’s affectionately called by many parishioners. It is the South’s oldest black congregation south of Baltimore.

Police in South Carolina say that a gunman is still at large after a shooting at a church in Charleston. 
Police described the suspect as a white man of approximately 21 years of age with a small or slender build. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt with blue jeans and Timberland boots, and was clean shaven.
The Post and Courier reported that a man matching the suspect's description was briefly detained near the shooting scene, but was later let go by police. The man, identified as 21-year-old David Corrie, said he was walking out of the station's store when police forced him to get down on the ground and handcuffed him.
 The pastor of the church is Clementa Pinckney, a member of the South Carolina state Senate. It was not immediately clear if he was in the church at the time of the shooting. The church is a historic African-American church that traces its roots to 1816, when several churches split from Charleston's Methodist Episcopal church. One of its founders, Denmark Vesey, tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822. He was caught, and white landowners had his church burned in revenge. Parishioners worshipped underground until after the Civil War.
-- Agencies

Why not a night shelter for homeless people in every church?

A night shelter for homeless people. This is indeed a good idea.

Vatican is planning to set up a shelter for homeless people around the area. Why only in Vatican? This could be an idea which can be implemented by thousands of Christian churches across the world.

Vatican Radio says, “among the services that homeless people around the Vatican are receiving from the charity of Pope ‎Francis, will be added another one – a place to sleep.” After a place for shower, a barber’s service in the ‎Vatican and a hot meal at Rome’s Terminus station, the homeless will soon have a dormitory near the ‎Vatican, said the Pope’s Almoner or official alms-giver, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski. If all the churches under Vatican follow this example, you can easily bring down the miseries of homeless people.

“We are ‎preparing something,” the Polish archbishop told Italian news agency Ansa. The site on Via dei ‎Penitenzieri close to the Vatican, is currently being renovated. The 30-bed facility will be used only as ‎night shelter and will be managed by volunteers. The date for the start of the service has not been fixed ‎as yet. As Archbishop Krajewski has always said, these services are meant to give dignity to the person.‎

Most churches in different countries own real estate and buildings. Many of them can emulate the example set by Pope Francis and set up night shelters. This will prove to be a boon to millions of homeless people and the least a Christian community can provide to poor people.

Many of the churches in Brazil, Argentina, S Korea, India, Italy, France, Germany and so on are in big complexes. The parish community can easily set up a night shelter in those complexes which will provide a safe place to sleep, breakfast and toilet facilities. To begin with, such homes can easily be set up in metropolitan cities which face acute shortage of housing.

Remember the Bible words. "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me,” says Mathew 25:40.

Don't throw stones... this church (Edappally) is a place to worship God

  

 

 

 

 

   When you build a house, you will try to do it in the best possible way. Right? You will try to use the best of materials and designs and make it as chic as possible. Why don't you then build the best for Jesus?  

 It's a magnificent church, an imposing and sublime architectural wonder. The awe-inspiring place of worship is also a subject matter of a raging controversy.
 Yes, we're talking about the new church built at Edappally, Kochi, India. Estimated to have cost around Rs 30 crore (US dollar 46,87,000), it took nearly 15 years to complete the construction of the church, which incidentally is in the name of St George, a 3rd century Christian martyr. For the uninitiated populace, there're more outsiders, that too from all the religions, than insiders or parish members, coming here to pray for their special needs every day. More than that, church is a place where you can experience the tangible presence of God. 
 Sadly, the new church is in the firing line of a section of people within the Roman Catholic Church who made a public display of their opposition to the construction of this beautiful church. I can only say that this diatribe against the construction of a church is abominable and deplorable. This particular church is one of the most popular in Kerala and hundreds of faithful come there daily.
 I happened to read a letter sent by a person to Cardinal George Alencherry, which said, “this (church) represents a low point in the annals of the church... It's obvious that the Syro-Malabar church is trying to impress on everyone, Rome not excluded, that it's the most powerful, wealthy and influential church in Kerala.” I read another Facebook message which comments about bishops and priests in the most inappropriate and undesirable manner. "Priests and bishops are in race for power, race to show strength....," this FB post said. Such letters and messages show the moral and spiritual turpitude of people. Sir, it’s a place to worship our Almighty God. You want the church to be in a dilapidated condition?
 Most of the people who sang Hosannas against the church construction are living in palatial houses worth crores of rupees. They have no qualms about spending huge amounts on such ”palaces” where not more than two or three people live. Do we really need huge palatial houses for us in Kerala? Take a tour from North to South Kerala. You can see thousands of such villas dotting the Kerala landscape. This really is  a vulgar display of wealth and power. Instead of going around criticizing and castigating church and its authorities, try to come closer to God. We are playing into the hands of devil with such fib in the name of a church. I believe this particular church is for the posterity, for the next 10 or 15 generations.
 If you scan the social media and newspapers from the region, you will see hundreds of messages, mails and reports castigating the church authorities for constructing this beautiful church in Edappally. Instead of trying to run down the church, we must follow the Bible, and never stoop down to the lowest level by hurling scorn and contempt at church officials, including the head of Syro-Malabar Catholic church Cardinal Alencherry who consecrated the church recently.
 Close to 75 per cent of Christains in Kerala belong to the middle class segment. They are wealthy, as mostly work outside the state or in Middle East, the US, Europe and Australia. They own tony villas and plots across the state, but it's another matter that most of these villas are either locked or their old parents live in loneliness. A villa costs not less than Rs one crore (US dollar 156,250) in the state. Some of these are palatial bungalows with half-a-dozen bedrooms and match with villas in any European country or the US for sheer opulence and grandeur. If some people have a problem with this "opulent" church, they should think about their own palatial houses instead of complaining in Facebook and Twitter that church authorities should build more orphanages and old age homes.
 Studies reveal that Kerala tops in per head liquor consumption in India with 8.3 litres per person. Liquor sales shoot up on important Christian days like Christmas and Easter. People in Kerala set a record in alcohol consumption. Why is it so? Why can't they (people against building church) try to stop this alcoholism and give away that money to old age and children homes?
 Though I don't live in Kerala, I know one thing. Syro-Malabar church runs 211 old age homes, 185 children homes, 230 orphanages and 54 specialised healthcare and leprosy care centres in Kerala. Besides, there're hundreds of hospitals and other institutions. We need more such institutions to take care of poor people.
That said, I'm not advocating that all churches in Kerala should be like Edappilly. Use wisdom and intelligence. Spend money wisely on such things without getting into a competition with each other. But lets give the best to Jesus. Like Abel did. We shouldn't end up like a Cain.

Don’t bring tears to your parents eyes… it will destroy your life

 “I will build a big bungalow and shift there with husband. I don’t want to see your face. I’m fed up of you,” Sabrina (name changed) shouted at her mother-in-law Mary on a sultry afternoon. Mary was deeply hurt by her daughter-in-law’s verbal assault. This household used to witness persistent warfare between the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. They used to have separate kitchen and cooking in the household.

 Sabrina wasn’t lucky to move into her new bungalow in the town -- Kochi, southern state of Kerala, India. Six months later, Sabrina died in the hospital as she was diagnosed with cancer -- that too the last stage of the dreaded disease.

 Isn’t there a message in this true life story?

 Pope Francis recently said societies that mistreat older people are infected with a ‘virus of death’ and put their own futures in jeopardy. “Where there is no honour for the elderly there is no future for young people,” he said.

  If you look around, you will hear people complaining about “marriage not happening”, “endlessly waiting for a child”, “no growth in the family”, “persistent diseases”, “not getting a job” and various “blocks and bondages in life”. Why is this happening?

  “When I heard about many such cases, I decided to pray… and got the answer. Whoever has hurt his/her father or mother, whoever has brought tears to the eyes of his/ her parents, such blocks, hurdles and bondages enter their lives. If you pray you will also get to know about that truth,” Rev Fr Sharlo Ezhanikattu CST said in a recent television talk programme.

 He says God’s blessings flow through three channels: priests, parents and teachers. If you hurt your father or mother, the channel which showers blessings from God gets blocked. “Then God’s grace won’t remain in that person and he will face various blocks and bondages. When God’s blessings stop flowing, Satan will start ruling that family. Satan doesn’t want anything good to happen. Satan creates blocks and bondages. Satan will create an atmosphere which prompts a person to reject God,” he said.

  It’s like a lion waiting for its prey. It knows the areas where it can pounce on a prey. Similarly, Satan also pounces on a person, leading to blocks, bondages, troubles and sorrows. Have you brought tears into the eyes of your father or mother?

 According to Catechism of the Catholic Church, Lord Jesus himself recalled the force of this "commandment of God. Ephesians 6:2 says: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother,' (This is the first commandment with a promise.) 'that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth."' Tobit 4:3-4 says, “honor your mother and do not abandon her all the days of her life. Do whatever pleases her, and do not grieve her in anything.  Remember her, my son, because she faced many dangers for you while you were in her womb.”

  “If you want blessings and grace from God and a good life, you have to love and respect your parents. If this love and respect towards your parents are missing, then all blocks, bondages, troubles, sickness and sorrows will come into your lives,” he said.

  It’s common to see sons -- who mostly work in other countries -- dump their parents in a old age home. In many families, sons want to live separately, away from their parents. “If you go out and live in a rented house and away from your parents, there won’t be peace in your family. If you reject your parents, that’s like rejecting God. If you have brought tears to the eyes of your parents, that’s equivalent to making God tearful. If you have thrown your parents out of your house, that means you have thrown God out of your house,” Rev Fr Sharlo said.

 “After hurting your parents, there’s no point in attending charismatic retreats, prayers and Holy Mass. God won’t listen to your prayers. Are you going to church after taking care of your parents?” he asked.

   In short, the bottom line is: your family will face disaster if you have hurt your parents. Pope Francis made it clear when he said it was a deadly sin to “discard” the elderly and that those who do so will suffer the same fate themselves. “It is sickening to see the elderly discarded. It is ugly. It is a sin,” he said. “Abandoning the elderly is a mortal sin. Children who do not visit their elderly and ill parents have mortally sinned. Understand?” Pope used a tough language to send this message across to people.

  If you take care of your parents, love and support them, you will stay blessed and God’s grace will envelop you. If you want to be successful in life, you need the blessings of your parents. “When you start a venture or when your kids go for an exam or you start a new job, go and get your parents blessings. Your life will remain blessed,” Rev Fr Sharlo said.

  There’s an advice to the parents as well: never curse your kids. Bless them. They might change for good. “Parents, don’t forget God and live only for sons and daughters,” Rev Fr Sharlo said.

 

              

     

God is ruling us, not Satan

 Who is ruling the world? If you think it is devil, you’re terribly mistaken. God is ruling this world. It’s not the position of your house or the way it’s constructed that determines the direction of your life. It’s God.  It’s not the position of stars, sun and moon that controls the universe. It’s God which determines its direction.

Rev Fr Daniel

  We’re living in a world where God who can destroy any kind of evil forces rules. As Galatians 4:8 says, “formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods”. Now you know God. God also knows you. “You can’t and shouldn’t rely on forces of this world. How can you go back to a life of superstition and live with fear about beliefs of this world. You shouldn’t entertain superstitious beliefs,” says Rev Fr Daniel Poovannathil, a Malankara Catholic priest and lecturer by profession.
 The direction of this universe and earth is decided by God.  It’s time that families accept the Word of God. God’s grace has increased in this world, not sin. God is ruling this world, not Satan. Unless this thought doesn’t enter our minds, our fears and worries won’t disappear, he said in a television programme. “I have seen so many people struck by fears and worries.”
  We made mistakes because we didn’t know the power and goodness of God. "Don’t be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom,” says Luke 12:32.
 It’s time that families get the strength and power from God. “As we didn’t know the reality, we made mistakes.  If we are worried or scared about something, persons, objects or situations, God will save us and retrieve us from that situation,”  Rev Fr Daniel says. The Word of God says this. We should accept the Word of God. Pslams 34:7 says, “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” Psalm 91:9-10 says, “if you say “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.” Psalms 43:1 says, “do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
 “We must have a baptism of our hearts and become true Christians. We must get a transformation from Jesus Christ. We should believe that Jesus is taking care of us. We must believe that God is ruling us,” he says. As Isaiah 41: 10 says, “so do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.”    
 That said, what’s our responsibility? “You should go for the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession and believe in the Word of God, Holy Bible. If you want to enjoy the peace, happiness, forgiveness, grace and salvation from God, you must follow two things. First confess your sins and seek His forgiveness,” he says.
 There are ample situations that can justify your sins, but don’t fall for it. “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear,” say Isaiah 59:1. “God can salvage you from any depth of disaster or failure or calamity. However, God says your sinful acts have kept me away from you. Your sins have turned His face away from you. As a result, He is not able to listen to your prayers,” Rev Fr Daniel says.
 If you want blessings and grace from God, you should come out of your sinful activities. “Whatever you pray, God won’t listen if you are leading a sinful life. So confess your sins and turn to God,” he says.
  The second import thing is that you should believe in the Gospel. What’s Gospel? It’s the belief that salvation has come to us through Jesus Christ. “It’s proclaiming that Jesus Christ is our Lord and redeemer and worshipping Him. If you do this, there’s hope for you… hope of eternal life. You can become part of Heaven. Through Jesus Christ, yours sins are forgiven. This is Gospel,” Rev Fr Daniel says.
 The power of God will then come to us.      

A bishop’s revelations

  Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil had a special affection and closeness to Mother Mary when he was a kid. He remembers how he was rescued by Mother Mary when he was about to drown in a river. That’s the reason the name Maria was added to his name. He was keen to see Pieta, the great work by Michelangelo. When he got a chance to see Pieta while he was studying in Rome, he was touched at the agony in her face and cried seeing the face of Mother Mary.

Bishop Remigiose

 The Bishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Thamarassery, Kerala, India, says he has a special devotion to Mother Mary and he recites all the 20 mysteries of the rosary every day following her request. He says Mother Mary told him to pray Way of the Cross, too, every day.

 When Angel Gabriel appeared before Mother Mary for annunciation, Mother Mary who was a young woman was too perplexed and mystified. For, Mother Mary thought “Am I really giving birth to the Son of God?” Gabriel had told her that her relative Elizabeth was six months pregnant. In fact this was the sign that these events were from God, he says.    

  Bishop Remigiose says Mother Mary confirmed the veracity of Angel Gabriel’s revelation after seeing the pregnant Elizabeth. Then Mother Mary realized that what the angel told both were true after her visit, he said in a television talk recently.

Afterwards when the Holy Family had to run away to Egypt, Mother Mary had reasons to doubt. If He is the Son of God, why should it happen? The same situation repeated and Mother Mary was in doubt again when Jesus was missing at the Temple for three days when He was 12 years old.

  “The Bible says nobody has seen the face of God. In fact, God told Moses that he would die if he sees God’s face. So Mother Mary was concerned that she and her husband Joseph would die when they see His face,” Bishop Remigiose said.

 The talk by Bishop Remigiose, telecast by Shalom television channel, started with his disclaimer. He says these revelations from Mother Mary were personal in nature and not intended to add to the Catholic teachings.

According to the bishop, many people had called Jesus as a mad man at that time. This also came to the ears of Mother Mary. She thought: “if Jesus is the Son of God why are people calling Him a mad man?” Also when Jesus was tortured to death, Mother Mary thought: how can someone do this to God?

 But when Jesus died and Mother Mary put his body on her lap, she looked at His face. Then Mother Mary could see the real face of God without even an iota of doubt, Mother revealed to the Bishop. So he realized that people will see the face of God during tough and difficult times.

 Bishop Remigiose said he was making these revelations from Mother Mary as just “Remigiose” and not as “Bishop Remigiose”.

 

In search of the right church, faith

Sheena George

  The spiritual journeys of Protestant-turned-Catholics always make fascinating reading. The story of Scott Hahn and wife Kimberly, evangelical Protestants who converted to the Catholic Church and chronicled their journey to Catholicism in the famous book ‘Rome Sweet Home’, is one of the most gracious, moving and convincing spiritual expeditions of recent times. Scott's talks and books have been effective in helping thousands of Protestants and fallen away Catholics to come back to the Catholic faith.
  A similar inspiring story emerged in Sweden last year when Ulf Ekman announced he and his wife, Birgitta, are converting to Roman Catholicism. Ekman was the founder of Word of Life, a megachurch in Uppsala, Sweden. “A process of many years of prayer and reflection led to this decision,” Word of Life Ministry said in a report on its website. Ekman has an India connection. He met and married Birgitta, daughter of a Methodist pastor and his wife and raised in India where her parents were missionaries.
  Recently, I came across the writings of Paul Whitcomb, a Protestant for the first 32 years of his life who later became a diehard Roman Catholic. Confession of a Roman Catholic by Whitcomb is simply a graphic recounting of a rather extraordinary spiritual odyssey, a journey which had its finale in the Catholic Church. What was the driving force behind this odyssey? It's nothing else but faith.
  For Whitcomb, the transformation is much more than an intimate glimpse of one man's soul. It's the testimonial of one man's faith.
Whitcomb was a through and through Protestant. He was born of Protestant parents -- an Episcopalian father and a Methodist mother. He was baptized a Protestant-Episcopal because his brother before him was baptized a Methodist. He was reared a Protestant and sent regularly to Episcopal, Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist Sunday schools, and enlisted in various Protestant youth movements. His parents were staunch "liberal" Protestants: they believed that one church is as good as another -- so long as it is Christian and Protestant.
 He was an avid student of the Bible as he believed that the Bible is the sole Christian rule of faith. “But, as Divine Providence would have it, the more I studied the Bible, and the more I made it my rule of faith, the more I realized that my faith was not wholly what God had ordered. I discovered voids in my religious fabric, voids which had to be filled if I were to know real peace of soul,” he writes.
According to Whitcomb, this feeling of spiritual insecurity led him inexorably to a study of comparative religion; and, again, as Divine Providence would have it, the more he studied comparative religion the more he came to realise that the Catholic faith was the one faith that could fill the voids in his religious life, the one faith that could give him the real peace of soul he longed for.
  What was his first discovery? The church – Roman Catholic Church – he had been most opposed to was the church most united in Christ. The spectacle of 825 million Catholics, three-fifths of all professed Christians, perfectly, indomitably united in belief, in organization, and in worship – the historical fact that Catholics, consistently the largest body of Christians in the world, have always been thus perfectly united – was evidence he could not ignore, he says.
  Whitcomb says in his booklet, “it was quite obvious that Christ did not give this teaching authority to all and sundry, that is, to the whole Church, but only to His duly appointed Apostles, those who were to be the administrative body of the Church.” Had He meant that this teaching authority was to be exercised by all of the faithful He would have addressed His words to all of the faithful, or he would have instructed the Apostles to so advise all of the faithful - neither of which He did.

  Searching the Scriptures further, he learnt exactly how Christ intended to give His Flesh and Blood for the faithful to eat and drink.. “I found the full explanation contained in the account of the Last Supper,” he says. And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this." (cf. Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20).

  The bread and wine of Holy Communion, that was it. “The bread and wine of Holy Communion were not mere symbols, or representations, of Christ's Body, as I had been led to believe, but were in very truth bread and wine miraculously transformed by the power of God into Christ's true and living Flesh and Blood, only the appearance of bread and wine remaining,” he says.
  Once Whitcomb made up his mind, it did not take him long to make the transition from Protestantism to Catholicism. “And what a glorious adventure it was, too, to become a Catholic, to receive those several weeks of instruction in true Apostolic theology, to make that solemn profession of faith, to receive a Catholic Baptism, to cleanse my soul in the Sacrament of Penance, and then, finally, to receive the living and true Christ in Holy Communion,” he says.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen of the US, whose cause for canonization as a saint officially opened in 2002, once said that there are not 100 people in the US who hate the Catholic Church, although there might be millions of people who hate what they mistakenly believe the Catholic Church to be and to teach. “Thankfully I discovered I fell into the second category. Because for years I opposed the Catholic Church, and I worked hard to get Catholics to leave the Church. But I came to see through a lot of study and considerable prayer that the Roman Catholic Church is based in Scripture,” Scott Hahn wrote after becoming a Catholic.

  Whitcomb's study of the doctrines and practices of the various Christian churches revealed most clearly that only one, the Catholic Church, exercises the same kind of teaching authority that was exercised by the church of the Apostles and primitive Church Fathers. “Only the Catholic Church functions for her members as an unerring interpreter of God's revealed truth. Only the Catholic Church dares proclaim to the world that when she teaches the truths of Christian doctrine, it is Jesus Christ, who can neither deceive or be deceived, teaching through her,” he says.

 “I had to make a change. In conscience I had to become a Catholic,” Whitcomb writes.

  Ulf Ekman wrote in a blog, “the Charismatic life, with its emphasis of the power and the leading of the Holy Spirit is necessary, and it is an amazing gift. But it cannot be lived out in its fullness in a schismatic and overly individualistic environment.” Understanding this opened Ekman and others to the realisation of the necessity of the Church in its fullness, with its rich sacramental life.

Predicament of a Christian judge in India

 For a Christian, Good Friday, Easter and Christmas are three important days in a year. Please read the following front page report carried by The Indian Express on Saturday's edition.
 The story is self-explanatory. There's no need to interpret it further. After Ghar Wapasi (reconversion), attacks on churches and bid to saffronise education and culture, this is the latest in the series in India. Justice Kurian, a member of Roman Catholic Church, is in the forefront of church-related activities.
LINK:  http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/two-supreme-court-judges-told-chief-dont-call-conference-on-good-friday/

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Two Supreme Court judges told CJI: Don’t call conference on Good Friday

Written by Utkarsh Anand , Shaju Philip | New Delhi/thiruvananthapuram | Updated: April 4, 2015
Two judges of the Supreme Court opposed the decision of Chief Justice of India H L Dattu to call a conference of judges on Good Friday and one of them, Justice Kurian Joseph, said “I am deeply hurt… shocked by the tenor” of the response from the CJI rejecting his suggestion while raising questions of “individual interest”.
Justice Joseph was not the only judge opposed to holding such a conference on a public holiday, including Holi, Diwali and Eid. His colleague Justice Vikramjit Sen also raised the matter with the CJI who did not yield — the meeting began Friday.
Sources said the CJI told Justice Sen that the conference was being organised in the first week of April because the CJI and his two most senior colleagues and chief justices of high courts would be free from regular court work and be able to contribute to the cause of judiciary.
Justice Joseph wrote to the CJI on March 18 and questioned the timing of the conference and subsequent functions, saying he would be away in Kerala “committed on account of the holy days when we have religious ceremonies and family get together as well”. Such events, he wrote, were not held during Diwali, Dussehra, Holi or Eid.
The CJI, according to a report in The Times of India, wrote back saying “institutional interest should be given preference to individual interest” and highlighted the need to strike a balance between needs of the institution and family commitments.
Speaking to The Indian Express over phone from Kochi, Justice Joseph said: “I am deeply hurt. It is not about, and should never be about, individuals, judges or otherwise. It was not about me or the other judges. When I wrote that letter to the CJI, I raised concerns only in the interest of the secular nature of this country and its social fabric, which we all are obligated to maintain as our constitutional duties.”
Justice Joseph said nobody could doubt his institutional interest and it was exclusively in the interest of the judiciary that the conference should have been held with a different itinerary.
“When the world is looking at India and its judiciary, it is the duty of this institution to send the right signal. We have taken the oath to uphold the majesty of this institution and to protect the interest of the citizens.I shall do it as a judge. I feel duty-bound to raise concerns when the institution seems to be acting in manner that could raise questions over its integrity and secular nature. I still maintain such conferences should not be held on any public holiday,” he said.
He said he was invited by the Prime Minister’s Office to the joint conference of judges and chief ministers to be held Sunday but he had expressed his inability to attend. He also brought it to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that such events should be avoided on a day of religious observance. These events, he said, are of immense significance for people of the country in terms of belief, faith and propagation of religion which is recognised under the Constitution.
A member of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Roman Catholic Church, Justice Joseph is a regular at church functions, mainly as a representative of the Catholic laity. In 2012, he was one of the resource persons for an annual conference of the Canon Law Society of India. Its office-bears and members are generally bishops and priests —canon law is the system of laws legal principles enforced by the Pope.
Last year, when the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India held a conference on church and media, Justice Joseph was one of the speakers.
On May 27, 2012, when the Faridabad archbishop was consecrated, Justice Joseph, then Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, did the first reading during mass.
While serving as a high court judge, Justice Joseph preached Bible on Christian TV channel Shalom TV. Then, he would religiously read a passage from the Bible and interpret the verses. This weekly programme was held every Saturday evening.