It may be worth reflecting upon the state of the Catholic Church today.
What do Goans think?
More thoughtful Goan priests and bishops may feel all is not well with
the Church but hesitate to criticise for fear of incurring the wrath of
the Holy Men of the Vatican.
After all, the Catholic Church in its present form is a European
institution and its composition, doctrines and liturgy are Euro-made.
However, the senior clerics of Europe are prepared to speak plainly and
been doing so since the 1990s.
Consider the following pronouncements by the Church leaders (Catholic
and Protestant):
April 1990:
Society appears to have abandoned fundamental aspects of Christian
morality...
We can no longer claim to be a truly Christian society.' (Cardinal Basil
Hume)
October 2000:
Britain is a society of atheists...tacit atheism prevails... only the
old and the submissive retain their membership.'
(Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey)
Sept 2001:
Christianity is close to being 'vanquished' in Britain and no longer
influences people's lives (Cardinal Murphy-OConnor).
Jan 2003:
Britain has become a pagan country over the past half century in which
people believe anything & everything...
Christianity as a culture has gravely diminished...' (Cardinal M
O'Connor in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.)
So church leaders agree that Christianity has failed but amazingly none
takes the blame and resigns. A major reason for church failure is the
readiness of the Vatican to accept capitalism with its focus on wealth
accumulation & consumerism, which only the rich can indulge in.
When an institution fails in its fundamentals, it is usual for the
leaders to take responsibility and to resign in good grace.
But church posts are for life.
So how can the institution recover with the same leaders & with the same
mindset in power?
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***** Thereupon, I wrote to Cardinal O'Connor as follows:
THE BRITISH CATHOLIC CHURCH IS IN CRISIS
There are three major problems to confront.
PROBLEM1: RACISM
The William Macpherson report (1999) had noted that “racism exists
within all organisations and institutions”.
Racism is alive in the Church and in 1990 black Catholics had made a
collective protest under a US-style Black Catholic Congress.
They drew up a charter of observations and demands, among them: We are
challenging racism in our country and in our church.
We are the church. Our church should not take white society and
European Structures as the Christian norm.
The authorities may have been taken aback by these demands but the
response came in the form of opaque little reports
containing impersonal expressions of concern, general statements of
principle etc but few concrete proposals and time-bound action plans.
A Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) was set up – it was
basically a symbolic body with no real power; it had just a few hundred
members (in 2002) and was run
by a committee of Blacks, with no involvement by top members of the
Catholic hierarchy.
So how could racial change come about? In October 2000, the Caribbean
Director of CARJ complained in the Guardian that church racism was
‘driving minorities away’.
The US Catholic weekly, National Catholic Reporter (09 Sept 2002)
commented:
“If we are united in the body of Christ, why would black Catholics feel
the need to hold their own Congress? Why the need for separate Catholic
service organisations…
why the need for a separate pastoral plan for Black Catholics? The
answer is RACISM.
Dear Cardinal, I myself had written to you on a range of issues in June
2001. In reply, you expressed general concern about racism but did not
bother to comment on any of the issues I had raised and ignored my
request that you meet with ethnic groups on a regular basis.
Rev David Haslam in his inspiring book Race for the Millennium (1996)
had written:
“Racism is a white problem and it is they who must deal with it. White
people must be actively involved in the struggle for racial justice…
they must accept black wisdom and leadership. White people must learn to
live without always being in control” .
PROBLEM2: declining vocations, declining church attendance.
On Sun, 29 May 05, the Archdiocese of Westminster announced a dramatic
shake-up of its parish structure in a Green (consultation)
paper (see www.rcdow.org.uk). Parishes would have to close or merge and
people learn to accept the idea of parishes without a resident priest.
But why are vocations dropping? We are not told. One reason could be the
undemocratic & RACIST structures of the church and parish.
The Black Congress Charter had noted in 1990: The parish structure is
flawed and too much power is vested in the parish priest.
We urge parish communities to acknowledge black people’s reality and
recognise the alienation that they often feel in their parishes.
Peter Bird had noted in Renew magazine (Sept 2001):
“Christianity has lost all vigour and purpose, and is hopelessly
divided.
It has reduced largely to a Sunday morning affair.
The clergy are bound into an outdated system that suppresses initiative
and innovation.
Top management, with jobs for life, is remote and inflexible. The laity
are kept subservient.
Communication is top-down. We focus not on the living Lord but on the
old figures of the early church.
The Christian Story – virgin birth, incarnation, original sin, miracles,
transubstantiation etc no longer convince.
Christianity is terminally ill.”
We need radically new people, new theological perspectives, a new vision
to save the church
(End of my letter to the Cardinal)
Eddie D'Sa
APPENDIX added:
1. The western church has always had a cosy relationship with the ruling
classes. That ensures its survival. The establishment in turn feels safe
knowing it will never be prophetically denounced by the Church for
monumental state-made injustices at home & abroad.
When LIBERATION THEOLOGY was promoted by South American bishops in 1968,
the Vatican was alarmed that the Pope's dictatorial approach was at
risk. It promptly discouraged its growth and even sought advice from US
President Reagan.
2. The church authorities do not take racism seriously - even it has
been declared it a mortal sin. They seemingly can only relate to
minorities within Anglocentric structures of domination and control. The
senior clerics remain aloof, secretive and inaccessible to ordinary
parishioners, taking decisions behind closed doors.
3. Vatican documents are heavily Eurocentric and dryly academic but
still deemed to have universal validity for all societies. The
Rome-based leadership is determined to retain its stranglehold.
4. The Western World must urgently be re-evangelized...it has reverted
to paganism and hedonism.
++++++++ END ++++++++
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