The article below, “Help Us To Help Them” by Fr. Dominic Emmanuel SVD, chief propagandist and spokesman for the New Delhi Roman Catholic Archdiocese, is presumptuous, arrogant, untruthful, and in your face Hindu-baiting discourse. Having first created the Maoist problem among its tribal and dalit converts in central India, the Church through Fr. Dominic now offers to solve the problem and accuses the RSS and VHP of refusing to help. The RSS and VHP have no obligation to help the Church clean up the mess it has created by alienating its evangelized members from their native religion and culture, and would be misguided and foolish to join hands with an institution that has 2000 years of crime behind it and is implicated in the murder of VHP leader Swami Lakshmananda of Kandhamal. On the other hand, the RSS and the VHP are doing educational and social work among the tribals and Dalits of central India and are obstructed in this work by the Christian missionaries who feel they have a monopoly on “developing” and “progressing” – i.e. converting – the poor and downtrodden of India.
Fr. Dominic Emmanuel is a part-time Bollywood actor among other special talents, and has a long record of Hindu-baiting and telling lies for Jesus and the Church. Search “Dominic Emmanuel” at www.christianaggression.org and you will soon know this dishonest priest better than he knows himself.
We have inserted our comments between the article’s paragraphs. Dr. Hilda Raja’s rejoinder follows Fr. Dominic’s column. – Ishwar Sharan
Help Us Help Them – Fr. Dominic Emmanuel
Even as the debate on how exactly to tackle the menace of Maoist/Naxalite violence keeps raging within the government on the one hand, and in the media – which also occasionally allows the voice of the Maoist sympathisers – on the other, more and more innocent lives are being lost.
One wonders where the ‘buck’ will finally stop.
Well, let us pray that it is not the Vatican! India is an independent country and the buck stops with the Government of India.
Last month when the Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi wrote in Congress mouthpiece Sandesh that “The rise of Naxalism is a reflection of the need for our development initiatives to reach the grassroots, especially in our most backward districts. This is why our government is putting in place more targeted development schemes for our most backward districts”, it seemed clear where the debate would finally rest. No one doubted her intentions.
A close look at the historical facts will show that the rise of Naxalism in a region coincides with the activity of Christian missionaries in the same region. Maoist leaders by their own admission say that most of their cadre are Christian converts.
Unfortunately, two days after her observations, the Maoists struck again, this time a line bus carrying civilians, though several special police officers (SPO) had boarded it too. The bus was blown up in the same area where 75 CRPF personnel had previously lost their lives when their convoy was attacked. The toll this time was 50. Following the dastardly incident, while sympathisers found it difficult to come to the Maoists’ defence, the government still dithered on the exact course of action it should take. This brought a new angle to the debate.
The new debate was not centered only on whether to take the help of army or about airstrikes/support etc, but about a two-pronged approach to the problem. This would include development as a long-term measure and military/police action as a short term measure to contain violence.
This is plain common sense. Fr. Dominic might also try to acquire some and stop seeking notoriety in the newspapers.
What is, however, missing in the current debate is the role of civil society and NGOs as a third force — going beyond writing articles or shouting their lungs off in television studios to more concrete action at the grassroots.
The Roman Catholic Church is not a “civil society” in any sense. So lets stop playing word games, Fr. Dominic. Civil society in the form of numerous Hindu NGO’s are there in the jungles doing social and educational work. That they don’t get exposure in the Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle is because they are not Christian enough to rate the coveted space.
Social scientist Kancha Ilaiah, decrying the recent Maoist violence, wrote in a newspaper article that “about 50 years ago, the tribals of this region [North East] were as illiterate as those of Dandakaranya. But today Mizoram has 95 per cent literacy (more than Kerala), Manipur has 68.87 per cent, Meghalaya 63.31 per cent and Nagaland 66.11 per cent¿.This educational development has to be seen in the background of the committed activities of missionaries.
Prof. Kancha Ilaiah is a paid missionary loudspeaker in Hyderabad. His usual job is to make virulent attacks on Brahmins in the Deccan Chronicle, then Hindus in general if one has been rude to him. Lets not depend too much on his “social science”.
They averted violent struggles and at the same time, ensured the uplift of tribals. It was a slow but sure process of development and empowerment”.
How is it that these missionary developed Dalits and tribals have turned to violence? Is it because the missionary has failed in the development process? Or because the Church has instigated them to violence against a predominantly non-Christian society (as the Church has done in many other countries for centuries)?
I know I am treading on hazardous ground and offering dynamite to the right-wing RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal to pounce on me, saying that in the states mentioned above, the majority are now Christians — repeating the same old stereotype, of missionaries being out to ‘convert’ the gullible masses.
The stereotype is true – that is how it became a stereotype, stupid!
A missionary by definition is a converter of heathens.
And who is more right wing than the Roman Catholic Church? The Church has supported a large number of autocrats and dictators in history; so far the RSS and VHP cannot be accused of this political crime.
Why I still dare write it is because I know as well as they do that their allegations are not at all true. Rather than entering into a debate and reiterating what the missionaries have been saying ad nauseam that the RSS and its front organisations – many of them involved in Kandhamal-type violence – need not worry about the work of Christians as three consecutive censuses in India have clearly registered a slow but sure decline in the Christian community’s numbers here. Nor is there a single case proved so far of any conversion that goes contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.
Hey, Dominic, was Justice Niyogi a liar? His report exposed your fraudulent thesis a long time ago.
What we need today is another Justice Niyogi to tell us the truth about Indian priests and their catamites.
The Kandhamal violence was started by Christians when they murdered Swami Lakshmanananda and his disciples. The whole of the Kandhamal story disproves your claims that missionary development brings peace and progress, Fr. Dominic.
The work of education begun by Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the sixteenth century in Goa, and continued later the eighteenth century by William Carey in Bengal, and which goes on to this day, has been all for the development of the subcontinent — and after Independence for the poor and backward classes of India. If there were conversions, as indeed there were, and will continue to be, then it was by those who freely chose to embrace the religion of those who gave them human dignity and made them stand for their own fundamental human rights.
This is a bare-faced lie! Fr. Dominic’s arrogance and deceit knows no limits when he dares to drag in the name of one of history’s arch criminals, ‘St.’ Francis Xavier, whose career in India was so shameful even the Jesuits wish to disown him.
Francis Xavier forcefully baptised children and their parents on the Coromandel Coast, then instigated them to destroy the village temples they had worshipped in for generations. Is this not the ultimate religious perversion? He called in the Inquisition to Goa – the most cruel and horrific Church tribunal – because he believed that the Hindu heathen could only be “educated” and “developed” by vile torture and force of arms.
We have the full record of Xavier’s crimes in his own words. Today he would be taken to court for crimes against humanity.
If the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other outfits, instead of being paranoid about the Christians’ work for the poor, would, as Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao of Delhi keeps saying, “please join hands with us to work for the education and development of Dalits and the poor”, they would not only help in eliminating the menace of Maoist violence but they would also come to know the truth about religious conversions.
Well, well, well! The Christian missionaries of Kandhamal, Orissa, had Swami Lakshmanananda killed because he was doing social work among the tribals of Orissa! Now we are to join hands with these same murderous Christians to continue the good work Swami Lakshmananda was killed for!
The RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other Hindu NGOs are already doing educational and social work for the Dalits, tribals, and poor where ever they are found in India. It is another matter that they are not doing “enough” work. Only they don’t crow about it in public like the Church, and the “secular” christianised newspapers like the Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle don’t give them any space or positive exposure because they represent the majority Hindu community not the favoured and politically correct minority community.
Thus while the government decides on what action is to be taken, hopefully avoiding bloodshed on both sides, the need of the hour is for all to come together and join hands to free those areas not only of Maoist/Naxal violence but also provide freedom to our tribals from hunger, disease and darkness of ignorance which keeps them under-developed and out of the mainstream. And what should stop us from working together? – The Indian Express, Mumbai, June 7, 2010.
Are we to join hands with the Christian arsonist to put out the Christian-Maoist fire?
This article is an untruthful, in your face provocation to all thoughtful Hindus, and has been created by a very perverted and deceitful Catholic priest. We wonder why the New Delhi Archdiocese still keeps him? Certainly he does no honour to the Church in India or, indeed, to Christianity in India. – IS
Dr. Mrs. Hilda Raja’s rejoinder to Fr. Dominic Emmanuel
Fr. Dominic claims that the Roman Catholic Church is a civil society too and “unlike some other NGOs, it is willing to help tackle the Maoists in tribal areas”. He already starts with a judgmental attitude – “unlike the others” (reminds me of the Pharisee and the Publican). He upholds the Roman Catholic Church as willing! He finds a lacuna in the two-prong strategy suggested to deal with the Maoists unrest and violence – namely development as the long term measure and military /police action as a short term measure – to arrest the violence. That lacuna the Roman Catholic Church will fill. Let’s presume that Fr Dominic wants to add the civil society (read Roman Catholic Church) as the third force to the Centre and State forces, which on the surface appears seems harmless. But scratch the surface and it smacks of an arrogance founded on untruths and distorted history – a holier than thou attitude.
What is the logic for this out reach “Help us to help them”? That the development record of the tribal areas has showed remarkable “development” especially in the area of literacy and education thanks to the committed activities of the missionaries.?
So Mizoram has a 95 percent literacy, Manipur 68.87, Meghalaya 63.31 and Nagaland 66.11 percent. This is really a record achievement because all these states then stand above the national average.
Fr. Dominic also points out that this educational development has to be seen against the background of the committed activities of the missionaries. They averted violent struggle and ensured upliftment of the tribals. Against this background one is tempted to ask Fr. Dominic: then what went wrong? From averting violent struggle to now bloodletting and killing of the innocents. From upliftment which the missionaries ensured of the tribals, the down slide is because of lack of development that there is unrest and disillusionment.
So how did the resultant of the committed activities of the missionaries evaporate?
Were the Dalits and tribals empowered to violence? Did the missionary activities empower them to kill the innocents?
Is Fr. Dominic toying with Liberation Theology?
Jesus did not preach or engage himself in violence for liberation? He took upon himself all the violence. Yet the Catholic Church has a history of violence and persecution.
If after the committed activities of the missionaries resulted in violence and deprivation of the tribals, then what is the logic in inviting others to “help us to help them” point? Why should this help be channelised through the Roman Catholic Church?
On the stereotyping of conversion: the appeal then to “help us (the committed missionaries) to help them (the already empowered tribals).
What was all this empowerment then meant to be if it was not directed chiefly to conversion? With such a high literacy rate they are not able to stand? The fact is that the committed activities gave them literacy and a Bible, but kept them impoverished.
It is just not the same stereotype repetition that missionaries are out to convert gullible masses: it is the recorded history of this country. It is experiential declaration: it is simply stating what the reality is.
This cannot be denied by brushing it aside as stereotype repetition. The very word “missionary” already denotes one who is a proselytizer.
That development work is a side business is something which Fr Dominic cannot deny. The North Eastern States today with almost a 90-95 percent Christians speaks volumes. What happened to their tribal religion and culture? Are we to believe that the tribals opted for the religion of those who empowered them? One is reminded of East Timor.
The reference to Goa: Fr. Dominic Emmanuel tries to paint a rosy picture of the Catholic Church engaged in educating the uneducated Indians. But mention of Goa does not auger well for this exchange because Fr. Dominic cannot hide the Inquisition and the forced conversion, the destruction of thousands of temples and idols, and the building of churches. This is also missionary activity engaged in by the Catholic Church.
Fr Dominic is very generous to add that, “If there were conversions, indeed as there were, and will continue to be, then it was by those who freely chose to embrace the religion of those who gave them human dignity and made them stand for their fundamental human rights.
May be Fr Dominic thinks that we are unaware of the state of affairs in the Catholic Church of the Schedule Castes ( ‘dalits’). Either Fr. Dominic is ignorant of history – I mean Church history – or he thinks that others are, He tries to depict the “committed activities” of the Catholic Church as those of a benevolent patron instilling empowerment for human rights into the dehumanized and savage Indians.
Fr. Dominic needs to please check on world history if the Church bestowed human rights wherever it went to “educate” and to uplift “the poor”.
For the sake of recapitulating: the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church (there are different bibles upheld by different churches) clearly depicts how Jesus stood against the religious leaders and the civil authorities precisely because both these denied human rights. And hence both conspired and crucified him.
Coming to the history of our country we Indians were not savages. Christianity is only 2000 years old but Hinduism is the oldest and most ancient religion which did not believe in a God who is tyrannical. It was a sum total of all the exalted spiritual experiences of sages and saints. It was and is an inclusive pluralism and holistic catholicism. It was built on freedom and not straitjacketed to believe only what the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leader the pope believed in.
India’s spirituality had also the traditional knowledge be it astronomy, astrology, medicine – ayurveda and a host of traditional sciences – integrated with her spirituality. It is in this rich and learned milieu that the Roman Catholic Church descends to “educate” and “uplift”. But what was its first and primary motive – destroy, demolish and then convert [viz. Francis Xavier]. Injected an exclusiveness -Vatican’s God is the only God; Vatican’s knowledge needs to percolate and run down in bits and starts; Vatican’s authority must reign supreme with Vatican’s God.
Is this a foundation for human rights? Is this empowerment of people? Is this individual uniqueness to experience God and seek Him in one own’s culture and locale?
The same story goes on. India’s Constitution was not given by Rome or the Roman Catholic Church, neither was it inspired by it. The brutal burning and the killing of the Jews – the decimating of whole nations of people down the centuries is the paramparaof the Roman Catholic Church – that the Pope goes on asking forgiveness, and here is Fr. Dominic holding forth on “the work of education began by Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the sixteen century in Goa, continued later in the 18th century by William Carey in Bengal, and which goes on to this day, has been all for development of the subcontinent – and after independence for the poor and backward classes of India”
There seems to be a new version and a new script – with of course gaps.
It is a tragedy that Fr. Dominic looks upon the activities of the missionaries as making us stand on our feet and enabling us to demand our human fundamental rights. This is an insult to the people of India coming from one of the Roman Catholic clergy. India was much ahead …we did not have to wait for Rome to tell us that the world was round.
It is in the God-filled ethos of our country that the missionaries started their persecution because of their belief that they must convert. The denial of human rights, the suppression of freedom of speech and worship, the killings and the massacres, the destruction of our culture, the persecution the oppression and the coercion to convert to Christianity are all quietly buried by Fr Dominic. This is like white-washing the tombs wherein lay the decaying and the worm-eaten corpses. No wonder Jesus called the religious leaders as white washed tombs.
It is uncharitable that Fr. Dominic indicts the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and other outfits as being paranoid and wants them to shed it and “join hands with us in eliminating the menace of Maoists violence”. People are not morons – who created the Maoists menace and violence now why invite the others to help to eliminate it?
Fr. Dominic forgets that he had accepted the committed missionary activities the Christians were engaged in and now suddenly after the brutal attacks by the Maoists which had the support of the local bishop and the so called human rights activists, find themselves unable to put back the genie which they released.
Fr. Dominic needs to answer who was responsible for the brutal massacre of Swami Lakshmananda and his three ashramites right within their own ashram. Was he also not working for the uplift of tribals? Instead of helping him to help them why was he done away with? Now only the backlash is being highlighted.
It must be granted that all must unite at least for the future to work together. This calls for certain clarifications.
Is Fr. Dominic representing all the Christian churches or only the Roman Catholic Church? He is aware of the kind of work the Evangelical churches are engaged in? Does he hold a brief for them – or is his appeal exclusively from the Roman Catholic Church to the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and others to “Help us to help them”? This has to be clearly elucidated. What is the meaning of “the Roman Catholic Church is civil society too”?
After all the “Help us help them” casts a shadow because from the 16th century having worked for development and uplift of the poor, and after Independence the committed activities continued and now to say that we need to come together, and join hands “to free those areas not only of Maoists/Naxals violence but also to provide freedom to our tribals from hunger, disease and darkness of ignorance which keeps them under-developed and out of the main stream”.
There are glaring contradictions from what has been told of the committed missionary activities including the highest literacy levels and now this dismal picture of gloom and deprivation calls for accountability. Where had all the funds gone and towards what? The “civil” society – the NGOs, the different Churches which empowered the downtrodden to stand for their human rights are equally accountable as the Government of India for the total failure – callousness, indifference and anti-people policies. Into this cauldron Fr. Dominic’s invite “Help us to help them” seems to be pathetically a melodrama.
» Fr. Dominic is the chief propagandist and spokesman for the New Delhi Archdiocese. His column regularly appears in the Deccan Chronicle and he continues to makes the same spurious claims today as he did in 2010. The Deccan Chronicle (whose chairman T. Venkattram Reddy and managing director T. Ravi Vinayak Reddy have been arrested for alleged bank fraud (14/2/15)), is a more than willing mouthpiece for the Church in India.
» Dr. Mrs. Hilda Raja is a retired professor of social sciences from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She blogs here.
Filed under: india | Tagged: catholic church, christianity, conversion, dominic emmanuel, hinduism, inculturation, interfaith dialogue, missionary activity, neo-colonialism, psychological warfare, religious politics, roman catholic church, secularism-nehruism |
BHARATA BHARATI 
Conspiracy of Archbishop of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese
Are other priests and nuns of the Archdiocese aware of dangerous designs of Fr.Dominic Emmanuel?
Nowadays Rt.Rev.VincentConcessao, Archbishop of Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, writing letters, “Fr. William Premdass Chaudhary is a priest of the Archdiocese of Delhi. As he refused to accept the assignment offered to him he is without any assignment for the last six years. He has also refused to take spiritual exercises he was asked to go through.”
1) Assignment:
First of all, let me tell you that Archbishop never offered me any assignment for the past six years. He is telling white lie in order to cover his guilt. Please don’t believe him even though he is Archbishop. Archbishop is not beyond the short coming, that telling lie is in his nature. As soon as he became Archbishop of Delhi, he started to interfere in my works and did not allow me to carry on good works peacefully. He did his best to neutralize me but I am very much active. He supposes to encourage me to work in Haryana when he was the in charge of Haryana mission but he did not do so. As Auxiliary bishop, he was utterly failure to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in Haryana though he was in charge of Haryanea mission.
Archbishop says that he offered me assignment and I refused. Here I ask Archbishop to write specifically, clearly and honestly that what sort (kind) of assignment was offered to me. Archbishop never offered to me any parish for the past six years. Yes, His Grace asked me to help the Director of Chetanalaya. When there are already Director and assistant Director in Chetanalaya then what I have to do there. I could or can help the Director when ever he asks me for the help. Helping hand is not an assignment. At the time of retirement, why the Archbishop is wrongly justifying himself saying that he was offering an assignment which was/is supposed to be a helping hand and not an assignment. Let me tell the Archbishop and others that it was Bishop Anil Couto who asked me to go for training and then I could work in Chetanalaya. Bishop Anil Couto saw and appreciated my work where as the Archbishop was/is blind of my work. First time Archbishop asked me to help the Director of Chetanalaya and I refused. Archbishop unnecessarily asked the second time and my answer was the same. Why the Archbishop was offering job to me, as peon and helper. I can understand the intention (malicious) of Archbishop. I did not allow the Archbishop to degrade my position. I protected and will protect any dignity. At the end, I say that we need not to have position and permission from authority to preach the Gospel and to do the good work. Archbishop thought that I can not work without him but I am very busy.
As earlier, I have mention that Archbishop tells a white lie and what I should call it whether Archbishop has a habit to tell a lie. Please read the letter dated on September 3, 2010 and in which there is reference. He writes,” That would make it impossible to find a place for you.” And on the other hand Archbishop was/is that he was giving an assignment. Archbishop did not give me appointment at all, so there was no question of refusal. Yes, Archbishop asked me to work as a peon or slave under some one. Why should I work as peon or slave? I have completed twenty (20) years of priesthood. But there are priests, Archbishop’s country cousins who were/are given big parishes and they hardly completed two or three years of priesthood. Archbishop says, “That would make impossible to find the place for you”. This line is taken from Archbishop Letter which was written in year of 2010 as written above. Here Archbishop is contradicting himself. Once Archbishop wrote that there is no place for me in diocese and on the other hand saying that he was giving assignment to me. It makes very clear that I was not given assignment or appointment. Let me tell to Archbishop that I am the son of soil. I am the owner of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese. He does not require to give me a place because whole diocese is mine.
Since Archbishop did not give assignment to me so he wrote a letter dated on 13-05-2005. He asked me to stay at Clergy House and since then I am living in room no. 11 of Clergy House. Now Archbishop is asking me vacate the Clergy House. The main reason, Archbishop writes that the tranquility is destroying because of my presence and some other reasons which are baseless. It is not tranquility destroyed by me but it is the peace of mind of both Archbishop and Directors are lost because I tell them the truth which they are not able to digest. It is the Director who does not want me here because I forced him to have meeting every time to put the House in order. Actually the Director is the main accused who is destroying the peace of the House and Archbishop is destroyer of the peace of the diocese. Both of them are not ready to accept the truth but they are adamant to their own way. Since I bring out the fact and truth in the meeting so they are against me. Now they are conspiring against me just to throw out of the Clergy House.
Archbishop further asks, “To vacate the Clergy House, you are free to stay with any of your priest friends or with relatives willing to keep you”.
I showed this letter to some of the priests of the diocese and my friends and their first reaction was that instead of me Archbishop must take earlier retirement and go his home for rest of his life. First of all I need not to follow wrong and partial order to go here and there. I will not dance according to anyone’s music. I have my own standard, position, Principle, dignity and I will not allow anyone to humiliate me at any cost. So I ignore and condemn the thought and malicious act of Archbishop. He is asking me to stay with my relatives, while reading this, should I cry or laugh. I think Archbishop must have written it out of frustration. Archbishop is degrading and lowering down his position of Archbishop. My all relatives are Hindu and if they come to know about the misbehaviors of Archbishop then what message are we giving to them. Now it is still time for Archbishop to give an example. Archbishop must take early retirement and go home or go to relative’s house for rest of his life.
2) Long Retreat:
Archbishop had circulated the letter to all the priests of the dioceses asking all the priests to go for long retreat (40 days) within four years, in preparation of Golden Jubilee of the diocese. No one had gone for long retreat. But Archbishop was/is forcing me only for long retreat. Archbishop does not have any single reason to act in this manner. Am I a criminal, brought scandal to the church, have I murdered any one. Then why His Grace is forcing me only? How can he dictate my conscious? How can he control my spiritual life? Is he a God? Actually he does not have an answer. Now he is confused and wondering that why he is asking me only to go for long retreat.
Spiritual exercises (retreat) are always good, every one knows. We must always make retreat willingly and our own will. I should not be forced upon. I too decided my own to go for long retreat, not because of Archbishop was forcing me. But I informed to His Grace about my long retreat. How Archbishop was/is claiming that I refused to go for long retreat? I never refused to go for long retreat. Actually I had fixed month of February in the year of 2004 for long retreat and Archbishop was informed about it. Unfortunately, I had to change the month due to grave reason. So instead month of February, I had fixed the month of August for long retreat and change of month was informed to Archbishop who agreed.
After some time in one of the recollections Archbishop met me and asked me when I was going for long retreat. I reminded him about change of month, August instead of February. Then he started to force me to go in the month of February only. I reminded that why I had changed the month but he was adamant that I should go for long retreat in February only. Here also Archbishop started to dictate me. While seeing the attitude of Archbishop I disagreed to go for long retreat. Thus I could not make up long retreat as other priests did not go for long retreat. I have all the records in the form of letters about long retreats.
Archbishop gave a good example to all the diocesan priests, while he made long retreat (40 days) at Bilaspur. But what happened to Archbishop after the long retreat. I felt and feel that after the long retreat Archbishop became adamant, not listening the diocesan priests’ and working his own way only instead of improving his attitude which became worse especially towards me, a Dalit Priest. So there is no guarantee that after the retreat we became holy but we may become worse.
3) Conspiracy of Archbishop and Director of Clergy House:
Archbishop had written a letter to me while I was at Pitampura. He had asked me to stay at clergy House in the year of 2004. He did not want to give me parish because I am a Dalit Priest so I was asked to stay at Clergy House. I willingly accepted, the letter, to stay at Clergy House otherwise priests are not ready to stay at Clergy House. What are the reasons? I will let you know about the Clergy House. Now it is very necessary for all the diocesan priests to know the situation of the Clergy House. In fact most of the priests know about what is happening at Clergy House but still I feel to write about it.
Archbishop had appointed earlier many Directors who did well and the situation, at Clergy House, was very good especially the food. Actually retired priests need good food and conducive atmosphere in the House. But as soon as the present Director was appointed, the situation in the House entirely became different. First of all the appointment of the Present Director was against our wishes. He is the only Archbishop’s choice and we were not discussed about his appointment by the Archbishop.
The present Director thinks that he is the only owner of the House and other priests are like outsiders. He takes all decisions by himself. In the beginning when the situation was getting worse, I took initiative and forced the Director to call the meeting. The meeting was called along with Archbishop and I was the only outspoken and many points were discussed but nothing was implemented. Thus the situation became worse.
Let me first write about the food serve to inmate priests of the House. During the time of the earlier Directors the food was very good and sufficiently served to the priests. Priests, who happened to come to Archbishop’s house during the lunch time, used to join us for lunch and not anywhere. It was moment of joy and happiness for us when our priests joined us to share the lunch and dinner. Any number of priests could join us because the extra food was cooked. But now it is the opposite. The quantity of food of lunch and dinner is reduced and the quality of the food is not good at all. If I write in detail about how the food is served, the readers may laugh, so I am not writing in detail about the food. Now most of the priests know the situation of food and the house, therefore, they are not coming to join us for lunch and dinner. Even the inmate priests are not having lunch and dinner regularly. Some time I had gone to bed without having dinner because left over food is always kept inside the room attached to the kitchen which is locked and keys are with the Director and sister. At present we are like the prisoners because we have to eat whatever we are severed and have to eat on time otherwise we have to be hungry. The food situation was discussed in every meeting along with Archbishop but food quantity and quality did not improve at all.
Let me tell the readers that the Clergy House is financially supported entirely by the Parish Priest of Cathedral. Inmate Priests of the Clergy House are grateful to him. Parish Priest of Cathedral gives money for food and other expenditures but the Director cut the stomach of the inmate priests, save the money and gives the money to the diocese. He does not spend entire money on food. It likes that Parish Priest of Cathedral is generous for supporting the inmates financially, especially for food, and the Director is more generous in donating the money to diocese while starving the retired priests of the House. Archbishop knows very well about food situation and the disorder of the House but he is incapable to solve the problem.
I am, in special manner, ill-treated by both the Archbishop and Director. The quantity of food is reduced for me. If I am late for lunch and dinner the food will not be kept on the table as it used to be earlier. No extra food and other items will not be given to me. My guests are not given food in the House. Let me not write in detail about food otherwise both Archbishop and the Director will be ashamed. Workers in the House are not allowed to work (serve) for me. Thus both of them are trying their best to starve me so that I may vacate the House. Both of them are creating such a situation so that I may stand in front of Cathedral with bowl and beg and get money in order to buy food to sustain my life. At the end, I request my brother priests to visit the inmates of the Clergy House and bring better and sufficient food for the inmates priests of the Clergy House. I am bold enough to face Archbishop and Director. I am not afraid both of them. I will stay at Clergy House as long as I want.
Vatican official explains new authority of bishops to defrock priests
During an interview with Vatican Radio, the Secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, clarified that bishops around the world have not been granted “automatic” powers to defrock (deprive a person in holy order of ecclesiastical) priests, but only the capacity to proceed more speedily in cases that were not considered by the current Code of Canon Law. The new powers granted to bishops were announced by a letter sent to all episcopates from Cardinal Claudio Hummes on April 18 and are aimed at filling some legal voids present in the current Canon Law. The Archbishop explained that they are not a “blank Check” to automatically defrock priests, as some members of the Italian press have recently claimed. The changes authorized by Pope Benedict XVI allow bishops to proceed with the laicization of priests only in some cases, such as when a priest leaves the ministry by his own will; when he asks the bishop to be dispensed from the commitment of celibacy; or when a priest leaves the priesthood without telling the bishop and enters into a civil marriage, has kids and “ is not interested in solving his canonical situation” In those cases, for the good of the church and his own good, Archbishop Piacenza explained, “the power to give a dispensation to the priest is requested as an act of charity, especially if he has children, since the children have the right to a father in good standing with the Church.” In these cases, it is the bishop who has to take the initiative,” the Archbishop added. Nevertheless, he clarified that “there is nothing ‘automatic, there is no ‘automatism’ in the timing of the cases, each case has to be carefully and rigorously examined.” All the other rights and duties of the bishops in exercising their juridical authority remain unchanged,” Piacenza continued.
The Voice of Delhi July 2009
Let Archbishop explain new authority of bishops to defrock priests.
LikeLike
Fr. Dominic Emmanuel is shedding crocodile tears when he expresses concern over the maoist menace that is facing the country at the moment. Because, it is his fellow missionaries that are colluding with the maoists in carrying out anti-national activities.The preliminary chargesheet filed by Orissa police on Swami Laxmananda’s murder case clearly hints at the missoinaries-maoist nexus that planned and executed the gruesome assassination of the Swami whose presence in the missionaries infested Kandhamal district had posed serious challenges to the anti-nationa conversionl activities of the missionaries. This is not an isolated incident. There are missionaries who openly talk about the causes behind and virtue of the coming together of Mao and Christ. Recently, in an article the arch -missionary Vishal Mangalwadi writes:”Pro-Christian Maoists in Orissa have already warned a number of specific Hindu leaders responsible for anti-Christian violence that they are next on their hit list. A few hundred “Christian-Maoist” guerillas will change the power-equation in Orissa. By refusing to defend their families the government gives to the Maoists the ethical right to self-defense. However, once they move beyond defense to revenge they destroy the image Christianity has built up by two centuries of humanitarian service and developing democratic institutions of civilized life. For the next generation of Indians, Christian guerillas may define what Christianity means just as terrorists now define Islam.” ( Assist News Service , the USA. Similarly, in an interview published in the May 6 edition Of the Sathyadeepam, excerpts of which appeared in The Pioneer on May 28 2010, Bishop Charlrs Soreng, Hazaribag. admits to the collusion between the maoist and missionaries. The Niyogi Committee, set up by the Madhya Pradesh Govt. to look into the activities of the missionaries operating in the state, warns in no uncertain terms about the anti-national activities of the the christian missionaries and recommends measures to curb those. The same sentiments are shared by the Wadha commission looking into the Graham Staines murder case. Thanks to the Nehruvian brand of secularism all the governments,since independence, have parroted the nonsense that the missionaries are doing great service in the field of health and education, without ever caring to pay any attention to the observations made by the above committees. A few words before I conclude. There are no dearth of religious leaders who sale Hinduism to make their living. These businessmen, masquerading as religious leaders, lecture us Hindus about the unity of all world religions. They consider it a great privilege to invite Hindu-baiters like Emmanuel to share the dais with them. We Hindus have to be careful not to fall prey to these self-styled Hindu religious leaders. They are the real enemies of Hinduism.
LikeLike