The Church and me

The recent controversy created by the meeting of Catholic MLA's with the Church representatives got me thinking. The Church in Goa is powerful. Is it not time they used that power responsibly? A few years ago the Archbishop at his annual Christmas meeting with all MLA's was blunt enough to call a spade a spade and asked the MLA's to be true to their calling. That to my mind was responsible.

However it was never followed up. Instead, rather than take up these matters through the proper channels, a totally irresponsible meeting was called for. What would we have said if a similar exercise was done and only non catholic MLA's were called to a meeting to push some proposal. Would we not have shouted “it is an attempt to finish Catholics” ?

Where was the Diocesan Education society (DES) all these months, why was nothing brought up first in writing with the education department and subsequently discussed in a public forum. The problem with working behind the scene is that the decision can go either way, in this case we see finally the decision was not in DSE's favour so they went public. Again. if the meeting was called for by the Archbishop's secretary, should not the Archbishop have been present or was his office used? Would the MLA's have responded if it was the DSE office that called the meeting? The cause is good but the method used to address the injustice is not. The aversion to competition is not just with the taxi trade, it is also a malaise that runs deep in the education sector since many of the institutions are run by the politicians themselves. They make the rules and divert funds and grants to their institutions. The only way is to approach the courts and get these “favourable to some” orders struck down. Do not expect so called catholic MLA's to assist because, they belong to the same team. A cozy club of “you scratch my back I scratch yours”.

If the DSE wants efficiency, are they efficient? Has any feedback from stake holders been taken on their functioning, is it up to the mark. The Catholic Bishop's Conference of India (CBCI) has infact come out with a Catholic Education policy, till date there is no sign of its implementation. This policy was to improve the quality of education imparted in DSE run schools. Just pushing for numbers without quality is one issue, not being able to follow directives of the policy making body is another. Possibly a more effective and efficient leadership would not have called for such a meeting.

Normally such a situation should have seen heads roll, but we have got used to burying our heads in the sand, ostrich like and believing everything is OK, a la Sushma affair. I hope there is some learning in hindsight, where the church leadership will accept there error in judgment and take corrective steps.

Moving on, the church had issued an advisory to its flock to support “secular” candidates during the last general election. The fact that in the Assembly election held three years ago, the Church advisory was to vote for “non corrupt” candidates. It was heartening to note that the Church is not only getting involved but also asking the faithful to get involved in public life. Now, because of these two advisories, even though they were elections apart, the faithful were in a dilemma?

The Congress who faced a rout in the assembly elections because there was no doubt about its corrupt credentials, began jumping with joy. They have read the advisory to mean corruption is OK, communalism is a bigger danger. One would have imagined that the powers that be in the Congress party would come out strongly and said, “we respect the people's opposition to corruption, we will fight against it”. Instead they wanted us to believe that they are going to save us from so called fascist’s and therefore the people of Goa / India should allow them a free hand to be corrupt. Dr. Manmohan Singh was himself not known to be corrupt but he turned a blind eye when his colleagues dipped their hand in the till. Despite the advisory the so called secular candidates were routed. This shows that people are thinking and followed the advisory of the Church, they voted for a secular candidates who they felt would not only share their opposition to corruption but would ensure that India is free from fascists everyday and not just election time. Ofcourse, the reality as it unfolds today is different, three years down the line and our new assembly has not been able to find and nail even one corrupt act.

So is it not time the Church sees the writing on the wall and starts living the principles of the religion. Come out strongly against corruption and corrupt, and not hob knob with them. Issue a directive to churches to not allow donations to be made public. This is where ill gotten gain is used to fund church activities and also give legitimacy to the donor. If we have faith then the Church should not prop corrupt individuals in the hope that they will be saviours if the fathom fascists attack. We must now walk the talk. We must be an example to others. We have not in the past, let us start now.

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