Christmas in Bangalore was not the same this time. The Archbishop of Bangalore, the most Rev Dr Packiam Arokiaswamy, could not celebrate midnight mass on Christmas eve at St Francis Xavier Cathedral as he usually does.
Christmas in Bangalore was not the same this time. The Archbishop of Bangalore, the most Rev Dr Packiam Arokiaswamy, could not celebrate midnight mass on Christmas eve at St Francis Xavier Cathedral as he usually does.
The raging controversy over the use of Tamil in Catholic Churches in Karnataka, made it necessary to hold Christmas services in many churches in the state under police protection. The linguistic schism which threatens to divide the church has spread to the most conservative and hierarchical organisation, the Catholic Church.
St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Bangalore (left) and Archbishop Arokiaswamy: Strong language bias
The Karnataka Catholica Christara Kannada Sangha (KCCKS) has been pressing the Archbishop to declare the Bangalore diocese as a Kannada diocese. Rejecting the demand, the Archbishop maintained that it was not proper to designate a diocese by a language. Public worship of Catholics was governed by laws laid down by Vatican Council II.
According to the "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy", in masses which are celebrated with the people, a need to allot a place for their mother tongue is noted. This provision is to apply in the first place to the readings and the common prayer, but also, as local conditions may warrant, to those parts which pertain to the people. Nowhere is it laid down that the entire liturgy of any area of the church should be in the language of the place.
The discontent in the Catholic Church in Bangalore is over the domination of Tamilians, and to a lesser degree Malayalees, in its higher echelons. Out of the 200,000 Catholics in the diocese, about 140,000 are Tamilians. In schools, colleges, orphanages, hospitals, convents and seminaries run by the church, Tamilians get precedence over Kannadigas by sheer weight of their numbers. In the 'three-language formula' introduced by the Archbishop, Kannada had been relegated to the third position, Tamil and English taking the first and second place.
Genuine Effort: Processions and demonstrations had been organised by the KCCKS demanding his resignation. Dr Arokiaswamy had taken the view that while the state's official language was Kannada, this need not necessarily be the language of worship. Said Arokiaswamy: "The Hindus offer pujas in languages other than Kannada, the Muslims offer public worship in a language of their own. Similarly, public worship of Christians is to be governed by canon law."
He went on to say that as far as he knew no diocese had been designated by a language. Such a step would have far-reaching implications and would not be in the best interest of the pastoral welfare of the Catholics as a whole. He was, however, making efforts to introduce Kannada masses even in parishes where there were only a few Kannadiga families.
The language controversy is only one of the problems confronting the Catholic Church. In Tamil Nadu, two laymen, John Thomas and Anthony Royappa, obtained leave from the Madras High Court to file a suit against the most Rev. Dr R. Arulappa, Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore diocese, for "squandering" church funds. Dr Arulappa had "misused" over Rs 14 lakh by paying Ganesha Iyer alias Acharya Paul for conducting research about the origin of Christianity in India.
The research was meant to prove that Tiruvalluvar, the Tamil saint-poet, was a Christian and that the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore and the Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannmalai were ancient Christian places of worship. Thomas and Royappa said the Archbishop was the sole trustee of vast church properties and funds and since he was "frittering away" trust funds, they were constrained to file the suit. The High Court ruled that there was an imperative need for suitable legislation for proper management of church properties.
Drop-outs: Meanwhile, there has been a steady rise in the number of drop-outs from priestly training in the Catholic Church. The relevance of priestly celibacy is being questioned by many, according to a study conducted by a sociology research scholar at Kerala University. Lack of conviction about their vocation and difficulties with seminary authorities are the other major causes for leaving the seminaries.
And to help these drop-outs to re-adjust to the life of a layman, a new organisation called Ex Clerico Religious' Association (EXCRAS) has been formed in Tamil Nadu along similar lines to the US organisation called 'The Bearers'. E.C. Sylvester, General Secretary of EXCRAS, a seminary drop-out told India Today that a cleric or religious member of the Catholic church who sheds the ecclesiastical identity and seeks to establish a more relevant mode of living had to face a series of problems.
The manner of education received in seminaries or convents did not help these drop-outs to find suitable opportunities in life, EXCRAS was formed with a view to bringing together these ex-clerics and religious members scattered throughout the country so as to enable them to settle in life.
St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Bangalore (left) and Archbishop Arokiaswamy: Strong language bias