------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos from Goa's 2009 mando festival: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/sets/72157622843319441/ Event on Wed, Thurs evening from 5 pm onwards, Kala Academy, Panaji-Goa
------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Population of Catholics in Europe declined due to the second World War in which 50 million catholic youth died and in recent decades the catholic youth in Europe getting addicted to abortion pills, condoms, divorce, homosexuality, drugs, alcohol, etc. Unlike the United States, European politics are devoid of religion. There are no prayer breakfasts and leaders seldom if ever invoke God or quote the Bible. A socially liberal Europe has also scornfully rejected Catholicism in favour of Secularism. This explains why Pope Benedict XVI is seen as a pope intent on returning the catholic church to the Latin mass and overturning Vatican II council of 1962-65 which baptized Secularism in Europe. In Europe, the great cathedrals stand empty on most days, filled with more tourists than worshipers. Some cathedrals, are generally attended by more priests and nuns than lay people. There are more old people than young people in Europe. Europe is now dependent on migrants from Asia and Africa and European industries are dependent on markets in China, India and USA for survival. In India during the last 50 years the population of Hindus and Muslims has grown tremendously by BIRTH but whatever minuscule growth in the population of Catholics has happened is only because of religious conversions in rural, dalit and tribal areas of India. It is in Urban areas of India where the catholic population has declined during the last few decades. The main reason being due to job/housing/economic problems most of the catholics living in urban areas get married at a late age and have few children. Majority of the catholics living in urban areas of India are poor and marginalized. Why did the catholic clergy not utilize Church assets / resources / properties / wealth for helping poor and marginalized catholic parishioners living in urban areas ? Why did the catholic missionaries not utilize their foreign funds to help poor and marginalized catholics living in urban areas ? Why did the catholic clergy/missionaries/leaders not pressurize the central/state governments to include the poor and marginalized catholics living in urban areas in the governments job reservation list ? Prior to Vatican II the clergy and religious lived an ascetic and arduous life. They have since abused the responsible freedom of Vatican II to jettison all forms of asceticism. They have "secularised" themselves in work, thought and dress, even more than the laity who are supposed to live and work in the secular sphere. The only other time that the catholic clergy/missionaries requires the laity is when a priest or missionary has been killed by right wing hindu organizations. Then the laity must come out in vast numbers to support the priest and missionary. The biggest advantage the right wing hindu organizations have is the support of the local administration and police. Apart from the clergy-laity divide, which is widening by the day. There is the ethnic divide -- the Malayalees are separate, the Adivasis are in their own cluster, and so on. This is why, in many urban areas, there are strong associations of Malayalees and adivasis, who have more members and better finances than the cosmopolitan and heterogeneous Catholic associations. * * The vacant properties and whatever wealth is in possession with the church belongs to the parishioners and not the parish priest. With due respect to the priests, they are shepherds of the flock. They should contain themselves to just that. The priests come 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 parishoners. After all, the Church and its assets belongs to its parishoners. We need not go to any Government to form any board like Waqf board. Our Cannon Law is good enough to protect and utilize church wealth for the uplift of the poor catholics. We must pressurize our bishops to form strong independent Finance committees which should have a say in the administration of the movable and immovable properties of the church. The existing finance committees are just an eye wash without any teeth. The members of such committees are not even aware of their roll. Perhaps they are deliberately kept in the dark for the reasons best known to the authorities who control the wealth of the church. Unfortunately our poor Catholics don't have the courage to fight for their rights. Let us not forget that it is the Catholics who are and should be the beneficiaries of the church wealth like the share holders of a limited company. It should be made mandatory for every Church trust or bishop to publish annual audited financial report and it should be made available to every church member as it is given to every share holder. If they fail to do so then only we can approach the Goverment to enact a law to that effect. Look at European Church history and how catholics lost their grounds to protestants and so on. You would find corruption as one root cause. During the last 50 years most of the catholic churches that have been constructed look like warehouses. A Church should be designed according to proper Catholic theology. The beauty of the Romanic and Gothic church now disappears when tens and tens of horrendous buildings we wouldn't dare to call "churches". The problem is that architects are given too much freedom in their designs and, of course, that they lack a profound theological instruction they'd need to built churches. One of the major reasons why the prices of all food items has been increasing in India during the recent years is due to the state governments handing over fertile agricultural lands to the industrialists / corporates / builders for setting up industries and housing colonies. The farmers and agricultural labourers who are displaced due to land acquisition also suffer. There are no secular or communal politicians in India there are only greedy and corrupt politicians in India and ofcourse the government servants are also as corrupt as the politicians. People come People go. Life goes on. Amen. Ralph D'souza ralph...@gmail.com Bombay.
