The Muslims are a very brave people they will not rest till they have taken revenge for the vandalization of mosques and attacks on muslims. To take revenge for the Babri Masjid Demolition, the 92/93 anti-muslim riots in bombay and 2002 anti-muslim riots in Gujarat the Muslims with the military/logistical/explosive support from Pakistan Army/ISI have March-1993 onwards carried out many bomb blasts in different cities of India especially the financial capital of India i.e. Bombay due to which the right wing hindu groups have STOPPED vandalizing mosques and stopped attacking muslims. This does not mean that Christians should also take the help of Pakistan Army/ISI to carry out attacks and bombings in Indian cities to take revenge for attacks on Christians, vandalization of Churches & graveyards & desecration of mother mary & jesus christ statues in various parts of India. It is the responsibility of the Indian Govt. to protect the human rights, civic rights, job rights, land rights & religious places of Christians in India. Christianity is dying in Europe and the people in Vatican are too old and secular to revive Christianity in Europe. It would be advisable for christian missionaries operating in India to go to Europe and revive Christianity there instead of indulging in fraudulent conversion activites in India which has created communal Disharmony between Christians and Hindus in India.
Here in Bombay many Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass and also do novenas but nothing seems to change. The family problems remain, ancestral property disputes remain, financial problems remains, jealousy in neighbourhood remains, health problems remain, Alcoholic problems remain. So what is going wrong ? Maybe Catholics in Bombay are not living a life based on what the Bible teaches infact a vast majority of the catholics in bombay have never read the Bible. There are some catholics in bombay who are only seen in the church during Christmas, easter, ashwednesday, allsoulsday, weddings, baptisms, funerals. These catholics have no interest in going sunday after sunday to church to attend Sunday mass. Have you ever read in the Bible that if you skip next week’s church service, or revival meeting you have denied the Christian faith? No, the Bible nowhere says such a thing. However it does say that if you do not take care of your household financially you HAVE denied the Christian faith. A few decades back poor catholics in bombay had tremendous respect for Catholic Missionaries & Clergy that respect does not exist anymore because the catholic missionaries are helping poor non-catholics instead of poor catholics and the clergy have stopped using church assets/resources/properties for the benefit of poor catholics. Had it not been for the greed of the Catholic Clergy – Parishes in Bombay would have had a sizable Catholic population. There are some catholic activists in bombay who in order to remain in good books of the clergy are opposing the 30% reservation for catholics in catholic schools. Most of our catholics have to beg and plead with the clergy to get their children admitted in catholic schools if the 30% reservation is implemented there won’t be any need for our catholics to beg and plead with the parish priests. But since the policy of the clergy has always been to educate the rich and the influentials especially the upper/middle class Hindus due to which the clergy and some of the traitors in the catholic community are opposing tooth and nail the 30% reservations for catholics. Catholic schools in bombay are filled with upper/middle class hindu students there are very few catholic students. Millions of upper/middle class hindus who were educated in catholic schools have prospered in life and they should be grateful to the catholic clergy. Every week there is news about clergy getting involved in child abuse, clergy misusing church funds, clergy siphoning off money received from sale of church properties. Due to fear of being ex-communicated from the church most lay Catholics prefer to remain silent and ignore the corrupt activities of the clergy. A few rogue elements who have infiltrated the Catholic religious orders have destroyed centuries of sweat, tears, sacrifice and blood by hundreds of thousands of Catholic priests and nuns. South Indian women, wearing the 9 yard sari to church, covering their head with their 'sari pallu' to maintain the sanctity of the house of God and the sacredness of the liturgical celebration. Here in Bombay women & teenage girls go to church wearing frocks, tight fitting clothes, t-shirts, jeans, skirts there is no dress code here and the parish priests here are also very secular and very jolly good fellows. Catholic Churches, Catholic Schools, Parish Buildings, Parish Halls have been constructed on the lands donated by catholic parishioners as well as money donated by catholic parishioners for construction purpose. Hence it is not the clergy but the parishoners who should be controlling the church and its various institutions. With due respect to the priests, they are shepherds of the flock. They should contain themselves to just that. The priests come here for a few years, finish their term of 2 – 6 years and leave to serve another parish. Therefore, it is best that all the nitty-gritty of Church assets should be left rightfully to the parishioners. After all, the Church and its assets belong to its parishioners. The endless cycle of slum demolition and rehabilitation in bombay cannot end till the incestuous network between the land mafia, bureaucracy, municipality, slumlords, collectorsoffice, builders and politicians is not shattered. That incestuous network cannot be dismantled till you make sure that men and women do not migrate from rural to urban areas under distress and because of dispossession. A distressed, dispossessed man is ripe for exploitation. The real urban solution lies in men and women in villages finding no reason to shift to cities. In concrete terms, the UPA government should invest time and money in agriculture, adding value to it and making it an 'industry' good enough to provide sustainable employment for 12 whole months and a robust rural development model that does not force men and women to flock to cities. Mark D'souza Bombay. * * * The book people are already talking about: Goanetter Selma Carvalho's *Into the Diaspora Wilderness*. Launch on July 25, 2010 at the UK Goan Festival [http://goafest.itpsworld.net] Goa launch next month. See http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ Buy at Broadway's, Panjim [Ph 9822488564] at Rs 295 in Goa. Overseas, postage extra. * * *
