Listen to the Survivors

The last two months have been crucial time for the church and women. After the much awaited sex scandal by the clergy report was made public and the sex allegations against USA supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh, it has become very clear that victims or survivors must be heard against any sort of gimmicks of the powerful.
Invariably, the church leaders met with each other to propose what is the best way forward after these revelations. It seemed like the church leaders yet again failed to keep the survivors as the priority rather they made the institutional priority not to endanger the reputation of the church. Reputation of the church is in crisis at the moment marred by sexual abuse by it's clergy.
In the case of Bret Kavanaugh, it is clear that the leaders are quick to assume power to confirm this judge to the supreme Court, rather than listening and investigating the allegations of sexual abuse towards multiple women. It is the way the powerful would like to protect and promote the predators to high positions. 
Every survivor must be infuriated at this atrocious move by the powerful few. It is a way to control and suppress the voice of the survivor. Me too movement has taken a deep root among the victims of sexual abuse. It has helped to bring down male chaunist ego. The church and state leaders now have the task to listen carefully to the people on the pew and on the streets as to what they have to say about the sexual abuse. The change is coming but slowly. The change is hard and painful for both, powerful and survivors. It is important not to give up in this struggle for change.

Positive Theology

In my early formation of belief in God was that of a policeman. Sin was always on the forefront of any faith formation. Topic of sin was made relavant with ample examples both from the Bible and from our day today life. There was a moral yardstick to control and prevent one from sinning. Idea of punishing God became our daily bread. For instance, if we don't eat as children, God would punish us or if we didn't do our homework, God would punish us. God was more like a negative figurehead that helped parents and teachers to ease their burden of teaching and guiding children.
The punishing God impacted my adult life as well creating certain fear. Sin and God became parallel. Infinite and loving God was limited to a policeman God. We must move away from this kind of God. We must move from punishing God to prosperous God. That is, God of punishment to God of prosperity. Imagine how does a mother care for her child in times of struggles and joy. A mother will be living and caring to her children. The action and behavior of children surpasses mother's love for them. Our God is like a mother who's love and care surpasses our weakness and struggle. In other words, sin must surpass God's goodness and mercy. That doesn't allow us to hurt each other because God is love and God expects us to love each other. If God loves us he expects us to love others. So there is no room for sin in a positive theology. Positive theology must do away with sin and propose only prosperity. There is no place for negativity in the God of positivity.

Indigenous Artifacts Destroyed

It was a sad day for those who love to research and admire artefacts, documents and artworks to witness it reduced to ashes on September 2 at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The destruction of indigenous artefacts and research documents, including relics of tribes that are considered extinct, represented a far more personal blow for the descendants of Brazil’s oldest inhabitants, who have spent decades fighting to preserve their heritage and ancestral lands. The museum contained a collection of thousands of indigenous artefacts pertaining to hundreds of ethnic groups. This collection gave insight into understanding indigenous roots. It has given the indigenous people identify in the national and international arena.

Having lived in Brazil and in Aishalton, my heart goes out to the indigenous people who painstakingly try to uphold their ancient culture and history. I appreciate the hard work and commitment that some people display to safeguard the identity of indigenous people through artefacts and documents of yesteryear. The collection of these artefacts and documents can empower their fight for identity and lands. When this is all gutted in the fire, what is left of them now? There is only ash left of it at the smouldering museum ground. As I sympathize with everyone who has felt the loss of the museum in Brazil, I wish to appeal to everyone to be extra careful in safeguarding the ancient artefacts and documents especially that of our indigenous people. These ancestral properties could give great and significant insight into the culture, history, language and importantly identity of those people in our contemporary world. 

Fr Jerome D'Souza the Statesman

My bewitchment in the early politics and founding of constitution of India lead me to write this tribute to Fr Jerome D’Souza. There are multiple kinds of literature on this great personality, but I am embarking on this write up lest we forget the contribution made by Fr. D’Souza during the birth of Independent and Republic India. I will not be able to discuss everything that Fr. D’Souza did for the welfare of India, but I would like to draw your attention towards his contribution as a parliamentarian of the independent India that includes his main input into the Constitution of India.

Fr. Jerome D’Souza is a Jesuit priest who was missioned with many important tasks as an educationist.  He was a professor of English Literature along with heavy responsibilities as the principal and rector successively in two colleges for fifteen years between 1935 to 1950. His involvement in Madras University affairs brought him to the public domain with an excellent talent as a public speaker and orator. This brings him to the attention of the political leaders such as C. Rajagopalachari, who sponsored Fr. Jerome’s election to the Indian Constituent Assembly. He won the regard and respect of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru because of Fr. Jerome’s talent as a speaker, as a master of many languages, as an educationist of repute and person of balanced judgement uncommitted to partisan politics by the very nature of his profession as a religious priest. He was selected four times as a member of the Indian Delegation to the United Nations and once to UNESCO. Nehru sought Fr. Jerome’s advise on delicate and behind-the-scenes negotiations with the French Government on the transfer of Pondicherry and other French territories in India. His expertise helped the Holy See and Indian Government in the diplomatic intervention about to Portugal’s exercise of the Padroado or Patronage in ecclesiastical appointment in India.

Fr. Jerome’s love for education and later his involvement in the constitution of India as a representative of minority group comes from his native birthplace of suburbs of Mangalore. His birth and childhood happen between Kinnigoli and Mulki which lies on the highway from Mangalore to Udupi. He was born on the 6^th August 1897. His childhood was spent at his maternal place called Sagar Bhavan in Mulki. He had four brothers and one sister. A great deal of walking had to be done either for school or church. His mother made sure that her children are educated. One incident that Fr Jerome later recalls that he came home without going to school and explained to his mother that it is a holiday for Hindu festival. When mother enquired this was not true, Fr Jerome was tied to a bar in the kitchen. But he escaped by asking his three-year-old sisters to cut the rope using a knife. He triumphantly appeared before his mother in freedom and compared himself to Christ bound and scourged. He was complemented later in life for the love of many languages. He did this by self-learning and could speak six languages with ease; Konkani, his mother tongue, Marathi, Tulu, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil and English. His early schooling took place in St Aloysius College. Although he had an opportunity to study in London, he decided to stay in St. Joseph’s Trichy since he has come to like Tamil culture. After his studies, he comes back to teach at Joseph’s as a lecturer in English in 1920-1921. This was the turning point in the life of Fr Jerome when he decides to join the priesthood in the order of Jesuits in 1921.

Member of the Constituent Assembly: pro-minority

Fr Jerome is well remembered as the member of Constituent Assembly apart from all other titles and positions that he held. It is with pride I can say he is the beloved son of an infant India for Fr Jerome’s contribution to the making of India’s Constitution and of the significant and vital role he played in the drafting of those sections of the Constitutions which affected the Minorities. While he was serving as the principal of Loyola College, Madras, he was elected as one of the 39 members from Madras by the Legislative Assembly without any canvassing for votes. The then Chief Minister of Madras State Mr C. Rajagopalachariar asked Fr Jerome to serve on the Constituent Assembly as one of the Christian representatives. He entered the Assembly on the 9^th December 1946. Fr Jerome made friends with many leading men and women of the country and was became a witness to all that he was and had received as an educationist, a priest and a religious. It was a great opportunity such as is given to very few in history.

Fr Jerome worked at the Constitution from 1946 to 1949. He his main concern was with the safeguarding of fundamental rights and minority rights: the right to profess, practice and propagate religion, to all citizens freedom of education, freedom of association etc. Fr Jerome sums up his work as follows,

 “When fundamental rights were made justiciable, that is when any violation of them by individuals or governments could be challenged in a court of Law, the Christians felt that the safeguard of preserving minority rights by reserving special seats for them in the Legislatures on the basis of their population, was no longer necessary and that in the interests of national integration it was best to merge with and become part of the general electorate.”

 Fr Jerome, apart from these fundamental and minority rights, took part in almost all other discussions which led up to the drawing up of the Constitution of India. The above fundamental and minority rights have been discussed in the Constitution in detail. This sums up Fr Jerome’s key contribution to the drawing up of the Constitution.

Fr Jerome at the United Nations

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru nominated Fr Jerome as the member of the Indian Delegation to the UN for the first time in September 1949. His task to serve the country did not end after the drawing up of the Constitution but his expertise was needed by the country to represent at the UN. It was a joy for Fr Jerome to represent the country among other four members and they were from Madras and from South Kanara District which was part of Madras Presidency. He went to Rome to learn first-hand information from the Vatican on certain international problems and to brief Superior of the Jesuits. Hence, he flew to New York on September 19 on a UN Mission.

It was the fourth session of the General Assembly of the UN in 1949 that Fr Jerome attended as one of the Indian Delegation. One of the key aspects that stood out at the UN Assembly was that the presence of a Catholic Priest from India which evoked a good deal of surprise – a pleasant surprise. People in Europe and American were not aware of the numbers and position of the Christian Community in India. It was an opportunity for the whole world to hear about Christian Community in India and particularly happy to learn the attitude of the Christians in the national struggle, of the guarantee given to them and other minorities in the Constitution and o the number and importance of Christian educational and social works in India.

During this UN Assembly President Truman also announced that Russia possessed atomic weapons and must bring into immediate and urgent importance the work of the Atomic Energy Commission. One can grasp the significance of this UN Assembly and its vital discussions surrounding important issues such as atomic weapons. This could also remind us of the struggle between Russia and America even to date. He was also on the Indian Delegation of the UN at Parish session in 1951-52 in which he addressed the French Canadians with fluent French. He was four times selected to be a member of the Indian Delegation at the UN.

In conclusion, as we remember Fr Jerome’s contribution to India as a priest, religious, educationist and statesman in the context of social and political events, let us draw two important lessons from his life. Firstly, India will always remain a cradle of religions, whether majority religion such as Hinduism and minority religion such as Christianity. Fr Jerome’s contribution must help us to be tolerant towards other religions because it is in respect for other religions to make India a true secular yet unique country. India has had its share of division and violence but in our contemporary India, we have the responsibility to respect and uphold each other’s rights that Fr Jerome’s worked in the Constitution.

Secondly, India needs to promote academic excellence irrespective of religion or political affiliations. Fr Jerome was a Catholic priest, principal and religious yet he was a statesman who did not take political sides. His neutral yet people-oriented opinions elevated him to the person he was. India cannot ignore intelligent and genuine opinions because those opinions are not biased and will help to build India. India has a long way to go in this regard since India has been silencing genuine voices from the University benches. Long live Hindustan, Jai Hind. 

Church in China

This week has seen one of the blatant violation of religious freedom in China. The Chinese government has been destroying crosses, burning bibles, closing churches and forcing Christian believers to sign papers renouncing their faith as the crackdown on religious congregations in Beijing and several provinces intensifies. The suppression of religious freedoms is part of an official campaign to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the atheist Communist party and removing any potential challenge to the party’s power in the country.

The anti-religion campaign affected not only Christian denominations. Around 1 million Uighurs and other members of Muslim minority groups in the country's northwest have been detained in indoctrination camps where they are forced to denounce Islam and profess loyalty to the Communist Party. Hence, it is obvious that communist ideology is rampant and has been robust in instilling it.

According to Chinese laws, religious believers are allowed to worship only in government-sanctioned congregations. But many millions of Christians belong to underground or house churches that ignore government regulations. Religious persecution is not new to the Chinese Christians. They have been persecuted for a long time but imminently after 2012. As Christians, we have the duty and responsibility to condemn any form of violation of religious freedom. We can reach out to the Christians and other religious people who have to practice their faith in fear and trembling. We are blessed to live in a free country where one can go to Church without any fear and trembling but think of those Christians who go to Church with fear. I am aware the best way to reach out to them now is to pray for them during our Mass, rosary and such. But if you think of any other way we can reach out to them, feel free to share with each other about it.

Source: Fox News

Accidents in Guyana

It was heart-wrenching to hear yet another accident on the Soesdyke-Linden highway. My heart goes out to the victims’ family who must live in pain and grief. As I try to grapple with the accident, I hear about another accident that took the life of a young boy. It makes me feel sad and upset about these road accidents that could be avoided if only a person can be extra careful because once we are on the wheels we have the responsibility of being twice careful. I am afraid that we are getting used to hear about fatal road accidents for the moment and move on with our lives. The victims add to the number of fatalities in the road accidents. There is a culture of death in this world that is permeating our precious lives. At times it appears life does not matter anymore. I am afraid we have reached a stage where the more we hear, the more we will get used to it. I am advocating the culture of life. We have a responsibility for each other in this world. It is unfair to think that they are not our family or our friends. It is crucial to care for each other on our roads. I believe that we are not only driving our own vehicle but also, we are helping others drive safely. Let us promote a culture of life. Let us employ whatever measures that keep us safe on the road not only for ourselves but for the other road users. Let us not get used culture of death where death is accepted as if life does not matter. 

Anger

Anger is measured by the aftermath effects. Humans can show emotions of getting mad at someone or something. Many have gotten mad while driving, such as traffic lights, someone cutting into your lane, ignoring indications and so on. This can be so frustrating while we rush to reach our destination on time. Why do we get mad at someone? Do we have to get mad? We have every right to get mad at someone who is harmful to us and to others. Anger is a normal emotion or feeling that is an integral part of the human psyche. It is natural for any human to feel anger.

What triggers anger? There can be many triggers to anger. We can feel anger when we are treated unfairly by our family, people at the workplace, society and the universe. This trigger activates our emotions of frustration and then leads to anger. We might be angry with time and pressure at deadlines. When we fail to meet deadlines, our anger mode can be triggered. The feeling of hurt can obviously trigger anger. The threat to self-esteem or ego can be the recipe to anger. Discrimination can also create a feeling of an upset in us. We might be upset with most of the “isms” such as racism, capitalism, socialism and so on. There might be many more triggers to anger in our lives. These triggers are personal, and we must figure out what are my triggers to anger. It is important to identify triggers of anger to deal with anger. Thus, the first step is to find out what is my trigger or what triggers my anger? What makes me angry most often?

Anger is that part of the age-old fight or flight response to the threat. Most animals use this response whilst posed with the threat. The consequence of anger plays a significant part. In other words, the behaviour of anger is worth addressing than the feeling of anger itself. Anger can be a motivational drive or assertive anger to do something better for society and on the hand, anger can be destructive or behavioural anger if it executed to harm others and ourselves. To site traffic example again, if one is upset about the traffic and is triggered to drive recklessly, it can cause harm or be pulled over by police. In this example, one could not avoid the feeling of anger but could avoid reckless driving. In conclusion, anger is complex to discuss but it is worth exploring our own personal anger triggers and how one manages these triggers. Anger is good and not good depending on what is a result. Each of us must know our capacity to feel and execute anger.  

Prejudice

Martin Luther King Jr said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” Prejudice is nothing but an opinion without evidence. It is disheartening when one is judged based on some preconceived ideas that are embedded in the human brains. These ideas are not proven but can cause enormous damage to the victim of prejudice. Human prefrontal cortex stores and expels the messages that are not properly aligned with the evidence.

The movie ‘the blind side’ is the perfect example to show how prejudice against stout people was damaging but also is a perfect example of going against the prejudice to be successful in sports despite stoutness. In this movie, the stout boy was bullied and told he is good for nothing, so he believed in it. But his stepmother makes him disbelieve so that he can be a famouSportsterer. There always a tendency to believe what others say about us even though it is not proven to be true. This believe of prejudice can stifle our growth and eventually might ruin our lives.

Prejudice is fueled by belief can ruin a person to the ruts. Prejudices are often transmitted for a specific agenda. A person might be subject to prejudice so that his agenda can be met. Conviction of a prejudice takes place for a wrong reason. In our society, there are prejudices against women, children, people of color, men, uneducated, sick, old people and so on. The prejudices must be treated as prejudices until they are proven to be true. Do not allow yourself to be pressed down by prejudices rather treat them as decorated gossips. Prejudices are almost always not true. They are detrimental to the growth of a person. They can also be fueled by bullying, cat-calling, gossips, bad-talking, back-biting, doctrines and propaganda. If you can’t prove it, shove it. In conclusion, if you are subject of prejudice, firstly, look for proofs and then only believe or disbelieve. We must allow ourselves to be suppressed by another person’s agenda. Opinions cannot be treated as truth unless they are proved to be true. Our memories of prejudices can be painful and ruin our lives, hence, it is significant to check our memories. On the other hand, we shall not believe and involve in prejudices rather let us be truthful. 

Love

C.S. Lewis in his book ‘The four loves’ talks about four kinds of human love; affection, friendship, erotic love and love of God. The author discusses the benefits and dangers of these four loves. Each one is significant for human development yet can be destructive if it is not understood as it should. Human experience has taught us that we look, fall and remain in love. Love unites and keeps this universe together. Hence, love is truly an attribute of God because God is love.

Every human being has experienced love from another human being. Love from family and friends are the key to our existence. When two young people fall in love, they become codependent on each other, in other words, they lean on each other. There will be the devastating impact of fall when one is taken out of the support. There must be two persons to lean on each other. This can be applied to family members. Many people feel devasted when their beloved drop them halfway. They feel no sense of meaning in life and no one to lean on.

Are we love ready? This is coming from God for God is love and we are loveable. There is not condition such as I am loveable only if I am perfect. We are worthy of love for we have created to love each other. This is almost true for every human. Every human is loveable not because of perfection. It is humans put conditions to love. There is also an aspect of falling in love where human falls in love with another human. This is the natural design of God. In this, we are in limerence where love is transitional. We are either confirmed or unconfirmed in love. For instance, I can leave a person if something happens or does happen. One must be careful here to grow in love or grow out of love. Being in love is paramount in every human love. In this, we make the choice to be in love or out of love. If we stay in love, we go deeper in love. Hence, there will be an unconditional love between two humans. In conclusion, we examine our lives of love. Love can be beautiful when it is selfless, and it can be dangerous when it is selfish. Let us know that we are loveable because God is love and let us try to be in love with a deeper love. 

Happiness

Wiseman once told me, ‘we can be happy when we conquer ourselves and not the world and we can be happy because we love the world and not ourselves’. It is almost by default humans can portray a strong dichotomy between our inner and outer self. Humans have the ability not to show our inner self. Happiness is the expression of our inner self or soul. It is true that only our pillow knows whether we are happy or not. The fundamental question is ‘what is that makes my inner self-comfortable?’ Therefore, happiness is truly experienced from within oneself. Can a person be considered happy when he smiles and laughs with others?

In this consumeristic world, happiness means stimulating our senses. This is portrayed by consumer advertisements such as ‘a way of true happiness’ or ‘you deserve to be happy’ or ‘your happiness is our goal’ etc. We are enveloped in a consumeristic world where we are told what to do to be happy. We are fall prey for these empty promises in the false premise of happiness. Therefore, happiness is limited to only sensuality and not the integrity of the human being.

Material things can give us comfort and a comfortable life can give us happiness. On the other hand, minimum material things also can give us comforts and hence happiness. For some family can give happiness and for others, the family might be a place of sadness. Given these above experiences of life, we can say that happiness is relative, and it can differ to everyone. Although there are fancy definition and steps to happiness, there is no magic formula to happiness. Happiness is measured by how comfortable your soul or inner self is. This is known to you only and only you can show your happiness to others. Mature people know their source of happiness and they can feel that true happiness in the inner sanctuary of life. Happiness also can be a long run or short run. It can differ each day and each year. In conclusion, it is important to search for happiness within than without. We must make our inner self the sanctuary of happiness and from this sanctuary, we can emulate happiness. Our inner self will be our true self because we do not always show our true feelings in our outer self. Lastly, let us sit back in a quiet zone and feel our inner self to probe our happiness. This is an art and must be practised especially in our noisy world. 

Failure

Lao-Tsu said, “to see things in the seed, that is genius.” Parents wish that their children succeed in life and they also wish that they do even better than them. Parents see the potential in their children. Most children work hard to meet these expectations of their parents. When the children fail in the expectations, parents also feel a sense of failure. What is a failure? Is failure good? What does failure teach us? Most people have the experience of failure in their lives. Some have failed perpetually and other have turned around from the failure.

Those who have gotten low grades in school years will recall the disappointment and shame that accompanied it. But most people have taken this failure in school grades as a stepping stone to do better in the next tests. This is a perfect example of failure and success. Teachers in schools help the students not to remain in one failure rather push them to do better. The shame of low grades has propelled many students to fair well. Red grades have helped many to soar to a height of success.

Failure is a temporary setback. It is significant to move forward when we fail rather than crying over spilt milk. Failure is a negative state of life which keeps us on guard. It is in failure we experience sadness, shame, guilt, hopelessness, depression and every negative quality. This is a common human experience but remaining on negative experience can be detrimental to our lives. Failure must truly be stepping stone to success. Ask any successful person, what failure means to them. Almost all would tell us that failure has taught them to be strong and believe in oneself. Human experience must teach to be better humans. Failure one trait that would help us to thrive towards success. In conclusion, failure can be our daily bread, but we must look for proper support systems which will help us to thrive. In failure, we must be strong and not give in to bad traits of life. Where do we go when we fail? We must find good people who can help us sail through the rough sea. Therefore, failure is the vehicle that can be steered where it could go and where it must not go. The person in failure has to work on steering towards thriving.