The Christian values of building territories!
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel!" This was the comment by Pope Francis about the stand of Donald Trump over the immigrants issue.
If the one who builds the wall is not a christian, what will you call the one who maintains the big wall, even though he is having all the rights to demolish it? What will you call some one who go on preaching about mercy of Jesus and himself not giving justice to his brother? I don't know! There may be christian values for the walls built by some particular people! Don't ask whether dual justice is a christian value! There can be one law for the big brother and another one for the poor ones. There can be a justice for the big brother and another justice for the poor ones.
" Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." (Matthew 28: 18-20)
This is what Jesus said to the Apostles. Please note that he spoke to them! Not only to St. Peter, but also to the entire group! He gave the same responsibility and authority to all of them! That means, be it the Church of St. Peter in Rome or St Thomas in India or any other Church formed by any of the Apostles, all have the same responsibility to preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations! Then what do you call the people who take up the monopoly of this responsibility and restrict the other churches by drawing boundaries for them?
If you still don't get the big brother here, he is no one else, but the Latin Church of the dearest Pope who criticizes Donald Trump for building walls! In Catholic Church, the Latin Church enjoys global privileges. In fact holds the monopoly of our Lord's call! They erect the Dioceses and Churches, where ever they want to. The other 23 Oriental Churches in Catholic Communion are restricted by the territorial boundaries. These Churches have no freedom outside the territories drawn by the Latin Church! They don't even have the freedom to provide pastoral care according to their traditions to their migrants outside the territorial walls, not to speak of the responsibility and right to fulfill the Lord's call to make disciples of all nations.
“In fact, until recently, in order to follow the Lord's call, young men and women were forced to leave their original Churches, adopt the Latin Rite and become the missionaries of the Latin Church. Perhaps, this might have been the only instance in the whole of history in a country where to preach the Gospel to the Non-Christians one has to abandon one's own Church.” (Joseph Powathil, Archbishop Emeritus of Changanacherry and President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India [1994-1998])
Coming back to the issue of migrants, even the Holy Sacraments of the Church gets denied for them! The head of the Church is even made to knock the doors of the local Latin Bishops and plead for their mercy! I don't know whether they have modified the hierarchy in Catholic Church, such that the position of the heads of individual Churches comes below the Bishops in Latin Church! But this is what is happening in the background! But that too is not sufficient enough to win the mercy of them! How can they show the mercy when they have their own walls to be safeguarded!?
Over the years, the migrants get used to the Latin traditions and forgets the way of life of the mother church, not to mention the situation of the younger generations who are deprived of the basic formations in line with the traditions of the mother church.
As a consequence of this, even when separate hierarchies are created for migrants, a good number of people, wish to remain in Latin parishes and be the name sake members of the mother Church. For the same, they even writes to the Oriental Congregation. The Congregation, which has the responsibility to preserve the traditions of the Oriental Churches, allows their demands, rather than trying to teach them the importance of preserving and living in one's own Rite!
The Congregation explains that "Consequently it is not surprising that some members of this Oriental Church, having lived for a long time in a Latin ecclesiastic context, should experience a sense of disorientation after the erection of the separate hierarchy!" (Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Oriental Congregation- in a recent letter to the migrants of the Diocese of Faridabad)
Who is responsible for this? As mentioned by Cardinal Sandri, this is not at all surprising, but expected! It is a well expected consequence of the walls that are overwhelming with christian values. Still they keep on building the walls and tightening the security for them! Sad situation where even the congregation which is responsible for the preservation of Rites turns an agent of the Latins!
I don't think that it is a christian value to act like this! "Denying justice and preaching about the merciful father!" I am not that great to judge anyone, but I do believe that there is christian value in objecting the injustice!
*Cartoon By Judeson Kochuparamban
If the one who builds the wall is not a christian, what will you call the one who maintains the big wall, even though he is having all the rights to demolish it? What will you call some one who go on preaching about mercy of Jesus and himself not giving justice to his brother? I don't know! There may be christian values for the walls built by some particular people! Don't ask whether dual justice is a christian value! There can be one law for the big brother and another one for the poor ones. There can be a justice for the big brother and another justice for the poor ones.
" Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." (Matthew 28: 18-20)
This is what Jesus said to the Apostles. Please note that he spoke to them! Not only to St. Peter, but also to the entire group! He gave the same responsibility and authority to all of them! That means, be it the Church of St. Peter in Rome or St Thomas in India or any other Church formed by any of the Apostles, all have the same responsibility to preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations! Then what do you call the people who take up the monopoly of this responsibility and restrict the other churches by drawing boundaries for them?
If you still don't get the big brother here, he is no one else, but the Latin Church of the dearest Pope who criticizes Donald Trump for building walls! In Catholic Church, the Latin Church enjoys global privileges. In fact holds the monopoly of our Lord's call! They erect the Dioceses and Churches, where ever they want to. The other 23 Oriental Churches in Catholic Communion are restricted by the territorial boundaries. These Churches have no freedom outside the territories drawn by the Latin Church! They don't even have the freedom to provide pastoral care according to their traditions to their migrants outside the territorial walls, not to speak of the responsibility and right to fulfill the Lord's call to make disciples of all nations.
“In fact, until recently, in order to follow the Lord's call, young men and women were forced to leave their original Churches, adopt the Latin Rite and become the missionaries of the Latin Church. Perhaps, this might have been the only instance in the whole of history in a country where to preach the Gospel to the Non-Christians one has to abandon one's own Church.” (Joseph Powathil, Archbishop Emeritus of Changanacherry and President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India [1994-1998])
Coming back to the issue of migrants, even the Holy Sacraments of the Church gets denied for them! The head of the Church is even made to knock the doors of the local Latin Bishops and plead for their mercy! I don't know whether they have modified the hierarchy in Catholic Church, such that the position of the heads of individual Churches comes below the Bishops in Latin Church! But this is what is happening in the background! But that too is not sufficient enough to win the mercy of them! How can they show the mercy when they have their own walls to be safeguarded!?
Over the years, the migrants get used to the Latin traditions and forgets the way of life of the mother church, not to mention the situation of the younger generations who are deprived of the basic formations in line with the traditions of the mother church.
As a consequence of this, even when separate hierarchies are created for migrants, a good number of people, wish to remain in Latin parishes and be the name sake members of the mother Church. For the same, they even writes to the Oriental Congregation. The Congregation, which has the responsibility to preserve the traditions of the Oriental Churches, allows their demands, rather than trying to teach them the importance of preserving and living in one's own Rite!
The Congregation explains that "Consequently it is not surprising that some members of this Oriental Church, having lived for a long time in a Latin ecclesiastic context, should experience a sense of disorientation after the erection of the separate hierarchy!" (Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Oriental Congregation- in a recent letter to the migrants of the Diocese of Faridabad)
Who is responsible for this? As mentioned by Cardinal Sandri, this is not at all surprising, but expected! It is a well expected consequence of the walls that are overwhelming with christian values. Still they keep on building the walls and tightening the security for them! Sad situation where even the congregation which is responsible for the preservation of Rites turns an agent of the Latins!
I don't think that it is a christian value to act like this! "Denying justice and preaching about the merciful father!" I am not that great to judge anyone, but I do believe that there is christian value in objecting the injustice!
*Cartoon By Judeson Kochuparamban
