Tuesday, June 16, 2020

The Catholic Church and Casteism


Casteism in the Catholic Church of India



A divided Catholic cemetery in Trichy of Tamil Nadu State, 
India (the portion on the left is for the upper-caste and
the one on the right is for the lower-caste Catholics)

Photo courtesy: bbc.co.uk/  

What is casteism? Casteism is prejudice or antagonism directed against someone of a different caste in the Indian Hindu society. Hindus, even after their conversion to other religions -- including Christianity -- do maintain some sort of casteism among themselves. 

Casteism comes from the word 'caste.' According to the Wikipedia, a caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy (the custom of marrying within one's own caste or group), hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. 

 According to the BBC, India's Hindu caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification. This caste system is more than 3,000 years old and it divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups based on their karma (work or occupation) and dharma (religion or duty). 

 Ancient India's religious texts, called the Vedas, speaks of the caste system that divides Hindus into four main categories -- starting from the top to bottom -- the Brahmins (priests, academics or teachers), Kshatriyas (warriors, kings or rulers, and administrators), Vaishyas (merchants, landowners or farmers, herders, craftspeople), and Shudras (manual labourers, peasants or farm workers, servants). Later, a fifth group or caste called the Dalits (outcasts or untouchables), emerged and they are persons, from the first four groups, who have been condemned and driven out of their individual caste because of their serious sins, transgressions, or crimes. They, then, sought refuge among other similarly condemned people, whose professions are considered 'dirty.' They work as street sweepers, latrine cleaners, leather workers,  etc. 

  In later ages, some Indian Hindus converted to Christianity but did not abandon their earlier socio-religious caste system. In spite of Christ's teaching "love your neighbor as yourself," they hung on to the caste system, which is more or less present among both the Catholic priestly class and laypersons. In name, they are Catholic ("without any bias towards others"), but in practice, they are still caste Hindus.    

During the 2003 'ad limina' (required periodic) visits of the Catholic archbishops of the ecclesiastical provinces of Madras-Mylapore, Madurai, and Pondicherry-Cuddalore of India, Pope John Paul II had reminded them that "It is the Church's obligation to work unceasingly to change hearts, helping all people to see every human being as a child of God, a brother or sister of Christ, and therefore a member of our own society." 

 Please read the following to see the situation of casteism in the Indian Catholic Church:



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Posted by Jerome D'Costa at 10:28 AM
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