The Quotation of the Week (March 7 - 13, 2021)

 

"In Germany they [the Nazis under Hitler] came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. 

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up for me." 

--Martin Niemoller

German Lutheran pastor

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:

• India's Caste System (britannica.com)
• Christian caste (britannica.com)
• Caste System among Indian Christians
• Dalit Christian 
• Caste, Catholicism and Indian Culture
• Catholics and Caste System
• Not even the Church escapes India's caste system (Sept. 10, 2013)
• Dalit Catholics continue to battle upper caste aggression (Aug. 2, 2015)
• Discrimination within the Church (June 6, 2016)
• Protesters decry caste prejudice within India's Catholic Church (March 24, 2016)
• 'Stop caste discrimination in the Church' (March 12, 2017)
• Catholic Church in India condemns caste system in new policy document empowering Dalits (Dec. 20, 2016)
• Indian Dalits find no refuse from caste in Christianity (Sept. 14, 2010)
• Is the Church finally acting against India's caste system? (May 5, 2017)
• The Indian caste system is based on racism (Feb. 6, 2016)
• Dalit Life in Catholic Church of South India: Dimension of Discrimination (July 2013)
• Kerala Christians and the Caste System (1976)
• Introduction to Caste in Christianity: Case of Kerala (Nov. 27, 2015)
• South Indian Christians, Purity/Impurity, and the Caste System (by D. Mosse) (1996)
• India: Catholic bishops issue document on Dalits, condemn caste system (Dec. 18, 2016)
• Papal intervention sought to end Dalit discrimination in India (Sept. 11, 2019)
• Caste off: The plight of Catholic Dalits in India (Feb. 8, 2013)
• India's Christian Untouchables: Christian Dalits fight for equality in their communities and nation (Nov. 2012)
• Dalit Christians in India file complaint with UN against the Vatican (Accuse Church of rampant caste-based discrimination) (June 29, 2015)
• Separate cemeteries for Dalits (June 4, 2011)
• Unchristian things in the Indian Church (a chapter of a book)
• Pope Francis' silence disappoints India's Dalit Catholics (Oct. 16, 2019)
• Dalit Catholics continue to battle upper caste aggression (Aug. 2, 2015)

The Catholic Church and Racism -- 2

Pope Francis celebrating Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican

Photo courtesy: Remo Casilli/Pool and AP via forbes.com/

Pope Francis in a recent Angelus prayer service condemned "the sin of racism" and the violence in the U.S. He said: "We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human being." He also specifically mentioned the police murder of George Floyd, a black person, in Minneapolis in the U.S.  To read more, click here. 

Please read the following to learn more on the Catholic Church and Racism:

• Archbishop Wilton Gregory on racism: Significant Moment for real national transition (June 5, 2020)
• Race and faith: the Catholic Church, clerical fascism, and the shaping of Italian anti-semitism and racism (Nov. 2018)
• The Catholic Church Takes on Racism (May 1, 2018)
• Catholic bishops take on racism in society and the church (Nov. 13, 2017)
• 5 Quotes From Pope Francis on Racism, Xenophobia and Immigration (May 15, 2017)
• Selection of quotes from Pope Francis on equality, fraternity, racism (June 3, 2020)
• Racism in Catholic Church 'driving minorities away' (Oct. 16, 2000)
• Interrupting White Privilege: Catholic Theologians Break the Silence (a book by Laurie M. Cassidy and Alex Mikulich, Editors) (2007)
• What Black Lives Matter can teach Catholics about racial injustice (Feb. 1, 2019)
• The sins of racism and family separation erode the sanctity of life (Feb. 9, 2019)
• Nigerian priest leaves German parish after receiving death threat (April 17, 2020)
• We liberal Catholics must get serious about racial justice (June 4, 2020)
• U.S. Bishops: Racism Is a Persistent Evil (Nov. 26, 2018)
• American Catholics, racism and imperialism (by David Doyle) (1968)
• The Catholic Church's shameful history of Native American abuses (January 20, 2019)
• Tennessee Catholic Priest Blames Racist Dog for His Rejection of New Black Cleaner (Aug. 14, 2019)
• When America Hated Catholics (In the late 19th century, statesmen feared that Catholic immigrants were less than civilized (and less than white) (Sept. 23, 2015)
• Black Catholics in the United States and the History of Race in the Church (Nov. 5, 2017)
• Black Catholics called to 'change the narrative' about race in America (July 10, 2017)
• Racism in the Catholic Church -- A Catholic Conversation (2018)
• White Catholics have 'to talk about race and to admit their racism' (July 27, 2016)
• Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good (2008)
• Catholic Church Should Confront Racism and Misogyny, Says Scholar (Oct. 15, 2018)
• Brothers and Sisters to Us (US Catholic Bishops' pastoral letter on Racism, 1979)
• Combatting Racism (USCCB: A collection of articles, write-ups, statements, etc.)
• The Church and Racism  (a document of the Pontifical Commission "Justitia et Pax") (Feb. 1989)
• Responding to the Sin of Racism 
• Practicing What We Preach: White Catholics and the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta (Fall 2005)

(The End)

To go to the beginning of this write-up, click on 

The Catholic Church and Racism -- 1

The Catholic Church and Racism -- 1

Several decade-old racist Catholic demonstration in the USA 
with the placard "Jesus did not choose nonwhite apostles," 
meaning 'Jesus chose white apostles.' 

Since the late 19th century, Jesus and his apostles, although being 
Jews were thought to belong to the Caucasoid race as the whites, 
Middle Eastern people, and most people of north-west and south 
India. Latter scientists began to propose that Semites -- Jews and 
other Middle Eastern people -- are not white, but brown or 
dark brown. To see how Jesus Christ really looked like, 
click on the following: The Real Face of Jesus  

Photo courtesy: stdominicsmedia.com/

Catholics participate in the black civil rights 
movement in the USA in the 1960s

Photo courtesy: Marquette University Archives via thrivingparish.org/

"What Is Racism? 

"Racism arises when—either consciously or unconsciously—a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior, and therefore judges persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior and unworthy of equal regard. When this conviction or attitude leads individuals or groups to exclude, ridicule, mistreat, or unjustly discriminate against persons on the basis of their race or ethnicity, it is sinful. Racist acts are sinful because they violate justice. They reveal a failure to acknowledge the human dignity of the persons offended, to recognize them as the neighbors Christ calls us to love (Mt 22:39).

"Racism occurs because a person ignores the fundamental truth that, because all humans share a common origin, they are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God. When this truth is ignored, the consequence is prejudice and fear of the other, and—all too often—hatred. Cain forgets this truth in his hatred of his brother. Recall the words in the First Letter of John: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him” (1 Jn 3:15). Racism shares in the same evil that moved Cain to kill his brother. It arises from suppressing the truth that his brother Abel was also created in the image of God, a human equal to himself. Every racist act—every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity, or place of origin—is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God. In these and in many other such acts, the sin of racism persists in our lives, in our country, and in our world. Racism comes in many forms. It can be seen in deliberate, sinful acts. In recent times, we have seen bold expressions of racism by groups as well as individuals. The re-appearance of symbols of hatred, such as nooses and swastikas in public spaces, is a tragic indicator of rising racial and ethnic animus. All too often, Hispanics and African Americans, for example, face discrimination in hiring, housing, educational opportunities, and incarceration. Racial profiling frequently targets Hispanics for selective immigration enforcement practices, and African Americans, for suspected criminal activity. There is also the growing fear and harassment of persons from majority Muslim countries. Extreme nationalist ideologies are feeding the American public discourse with xenophobic rhetoric that instigates fear against foreigners, immigrants, and refugees. Finally, too often racism comes in the form of the sin of omission, when individuals, communities, and even churches remain silent and fail to act against racial injustice when it is encountered." 
--Compiled from Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love -- a pastoral letter against racism (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 2018)

In spite of Biblical and Catholic Church teachings on love, justice, and human dignity and equality, a good number of Catholic Church members (both the laypersons and the hierarchy) are not immune from racist behaviour.   

To learn more about the positive and negative aspects of the Catholic Church and racism, please read the following:

• Catholic Church and race
• Racism, Inclusion, and Diversity
• Racism in the Catholic Church (Feb. 13, 2018)
• Race in the American Catholic Imagination (July 24, 2018)
• The Bishops' letter fails to recognize that racism is a white problem (Feb. 20, 2019)
• Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Racism (Fall 2009)
• There is time for the church to support black Catholics -- if it has the will to do so (Sept. 18, 2o19)
• americamagazine.org: BLACK CATHOLICS
• All Catholics must speak out for equality, against racism, say leaders (June 3, 2020)
• How can Catholics help lead the fight against racism? (May 29, 2020)
• In fits and starts, US Church moving to confront 'sin' of racism (April 8, 2019)
• The Catholic Church and the Race Question (a book by Yves Congar) (1953)
• Catholic Church sometimes has been part of racism problem, says Bishop (Nov. 14, 2017)
• The U.S. Catholic Church's last major effort on racism was in 1979, Charlottesville woke it up (Aug. 23, 2017)
• Catholicism and Racism (by C. Davis) (1998)
• Presidential Address: Confessions of a White Catholic Racist Theologian (by J. Nilson) (2003)
• Catholic Racism and Its Opponents (by J. Connelly) (2007)
• The Church and Racism (Feb. 1989)
• Institutional Racism and the Catholic Church (a book by Dolores Foster Williams)
• Can Prejudice Be Cured?; "The Theology of Racism"
• The History of Black Catholics in America (June 7, 2018)
• There Are More Black Catholics in the U.S. Than Members of the A.M.E. Church (Nov. 5, 2017)
• Pushing Back Against Racism (Feb. 22, 2019)
• Racism has no place within Catholicism (Feb. 4, 2019)
• In God's Image: Pastoral Letter on Racism (Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, USA) (Sept. 12, 2003)
• Combating Racism (US Conf. of Catholic Bishops)
• Racism, Xenophobia, and Migration in Italy, a Post-Catholic Country (by G. Dotti) (2020)
• Catholicism and the "Negro Question": Religion, Racism, and Antiracism in a Transnational Perspective (United States of America and Europe, 1934 - 1968) (Dec. 4, 2019)
• Racism in Italy (Wikipedia)
• More than half of Italians in poll say racist acts are justifiable (Nov. 12, 2019)
• "Framing Racism Post Vatican II: Critical Race Theory and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (by A. Moras, 2012)
• Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Racism (by Fred Kammer, S.J.) (June 11, 2019)
• Combatting racism through faith, education (March 2, 2020)
• U.S. church urged to turn attention to racism before fractures widen (July 15, 2016)
• Unpacking the Intersection of Race and Racism within Catholicism (2018)
• Catholic Social Teaching on Discrimination and Racism

(Continued)

President Donald Trump in Cartoons

Cartoon courtesy: ottawaherald.com/

The world, especially the U.S., is gripped with the consequences of the childish behaviour of President Donald Trump. His narcissism, irresponsibility, quirkiness, constant belittling of others, and total lack of love and empathy are causing many people to suffer unnecessarily. 

You may see the reflection of this in the following cartoons, provided by the U.S. News and World Report website: 

• Cartoons on President Donald Trump (Click on the first cartoon and then click on the arrow on the right one by one to view more than 800 cartoons on President Donald Trump)

The Quotation of the Week (March 8 - 14, 2020)

Above design by Jerome D'Costa

The Quotation of the Week (October 27 - November 2, 2019)

A quotation of Angela Davis on 'jails and prisons,'
compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (Walls made of stones in Caledonia, Toronto:
 October 2019) © Jerome D'Costa) 

(To read the quotation on an enlarged format,

 please click on the image above)

The Quotation of the Week (July 6 - 12, 2014)

A quotation of Pope Francis on 'just world,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (A homeless person inside College Park subway station in Toronto: Oct. 15, 2013) © Jerome D'Costa

Nelson Mandela, a Symbol of Freedom and Reconciliation, Dies at 95

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Photo courtesy: chicagonow.com

Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former first-democratically-elected President, fighter for freedom, and anti-apartheid leader, died on the night of December 5 in Johannesburg after a long illness from lung infection. He was 95 years old. 

He will receive a state funeral  on December 15 after a week of national mourning. He will be buried at Qunu, his ancestral village in the Eastern Cape.

After 27 years of his imprisonment under the white-only apartheid (in South Africa, a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on the basis of race) regimes, he gained freedom in 19   and after a long negotiation the apartheid was ended and environment was created for the first democratic election.

In 1994, he was elected the first democratically-elected president of South Africa. He was president for one term that ended in 1999. Due to his powerful influence there was a reconciliation between the blacks and whites. 

Tributes from World Leaders

Upon his death, world leaders paid tribute to him in large numbers.

According to the Sky News, U.S. President Barack Obama said: “Today he [Nelson Mandela] has gone home and we have lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time on this Earth…He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages.”

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said: “A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time: a legend in life and now in death – a true global hero.”

South African President Jacob Zuma said: “Our nation has lost its greatest son.”

South Africa’s last white president F.W. de Klerk, who shared Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela in 1993, said: “[Mandela] was a great unifier…This emphasis on reconciliation was his greatest legacy.”

South Africa’s Anglican archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu said, “He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: ““Nelson Mandela’s enduring legacy for his country, and the world, is the example he set through his own ‘long walk to freedom.’ With grace and humility, he modelled how peoples can transform their own times and in doing so, their own lives.”

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said: “History will remember Nelson Mandela as a champion of human dignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Nelson Mandela showed what is possible for our world and within each one of us if we believe, dream and work together for justice and humanity.”

According to the News.va, Pope Francis in a telegram sent his condolence to President Jacob Zuma and wrote: “I ask the Lord to console and strengthen all who mourn his loss. Paying tribute to the steadfast commitment shown Nelson Mandela in promoting the human dignity of all the nation’s citizens and in forging a new South Africa built on the firm foundations of non-violence, reconciliation and truth, I pray that the late President’s example will inspire generations of South Africans to put justice and the common good at the forefront of their political aspirations.”

Nelson Mandela and East Pakistan (Bangladesh) Connection

Especially before 1972, Nelson Mandela’s struggle for freedom and long imprisonment struck a chord with a section of the students of the University of Dhaka and politicians in East Pakistan (later called Bangladesh). I still remember how some students demonstrated against the South African apartheid and demanded release of Nelson Mandela. There were posters of Mandela in different sections of the city, too. East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and some others, who always spoke for the rights and self-governing of the East Pakistanis, were imprisoned for long period of time, too, by the West Pakistani ruling elite, mostly influenced by the military leaders. 

The Appeal of Nelson Mandela Will Always Last 

As long as there will be discrimination, injustice, and enslavement in societies around the world, the example and lesson of Nelson Mandela will be present there. His appeal will always be there.

Resources on Nelson Mandela

• Nelson Mandela's Death
• Nelson Mandela
• Nelson Mandela Biography
• Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
• List of Awards and Honours Upon Nelson Mandela
• Quotations of Nelson Mandela

In the World Inter-Faith Gathering, Pope Expresses Shame for Christians' Use of Force In the Name of Religion

In the inter-faith gathering in Assissi are seen (from left) 

Archbishop Norvan Zakarian (Armenian Apostolic Church), 

Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury (Anglican Church),

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (Eastern 

Orthodox Church), Pope Benedict XVI (Roman Catholic Church), 

Rabbi David Rosen (Chief Rabbinate of Israel), 

Wande Abimbola (representing traditional religion 

of the Yoruba people, Nigeria) and 

Shrivatsa Goswami (representing Hinduism)

Photo @ courtesy of: www.dioceseofraleigh.org/

Pope Benedict XVI, on October 27, welcomed 300 leaders of different religions in Assissi, Italy, and appealed all to work for peace and dialogue. The theme of the one-day gathering was “Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace.” 

Leaders present were Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants, Armenian Christians, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Shintoists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, African indigenous religions and others. In addition, four non-believers of God, called ‘atheists,’ were also there, report Reuters and The Catholic Register. This event also marks the 25^th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s initiative for peace by inviting leaders of world religions in Assissi in 1986. Assissi is the hometown of St. Francis, who is well-known as a symbol of peace. 

The emphasis of the Pope’s address was how the faith can bring peace and how its absence can lead to violence. The Pope also mentioned that this violence is showing itself in two contradictory fashions – religious violence and anti-religious violence. He called the first one ‘terrorism,’ which maintains that “religion is a cause of violence, and, in this way, it has fueled hostility towards religions.” At the same time, he said, this analysis is not entirely without historical foundation. 

“As a Christian I want to say at this point: Yes, it is true; in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith,” he said.

“We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature.”

By this the pope meant the use of force by Christians during the Crusades in the Middle East and against people of the New World (especially, in the Americas) to spread the Christianity. Pope John Paul II, in 2000, also mentioned and apologized for Christianity’s historical failures.

“Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In the name of God, may every religion bring upon Earth justice and peace, forgiveness and life, love,” the pope said.

The pope said history had also shown the denial of God could bring about “a degree of violence that knows no bounds.” The concentration camps of Hitler and his German Nazis during the Second World War revealed “with utter clarity the consequences of God’s absence.”

 The full text of Pope Benedict XVI can be read below:

Pope's Address in Assissi

Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Publishes List of Clergy Accused of Sex Abuse

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston

Photo courtesy: news.bostonherald.com

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in the state of Massachusetts, USA, published an online list of priests who have been accused or found guilty of child sex abuse in the last 60 years.

In a letter of August 15, 2011, the archbishop wrote, “The archdiocese is continually evaluating its policies and practices to ensure that our child protection and abuse prevention efforts are further strengthened,” reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA).

The cardinal further said, “Having met with hundreds of survivors, I know firsthand the scars you carry. And I carry with me every day the pain of the Church’s failures.”

“My deepest hope and prayer is that the efforts I am announcing today will provide some additional comfort and healing for those who have suffered from sexual abuse by clergy and will continue to strengthen our efforts to protect God’s children,” he wrote.

It is noteworthy that in the past several decades, the Archdiocese of Boston had been covering up hundreds of priestly sex abuse cases regarding children and, ultimately in the first half of the 2000s, these criminal activities and cover-ups exploded in the news media. The Catholic bishops of the USA then were forced to come up with measures to punish the culprits and take precautions on the prevention of further clergy sex abuse.

For further details, you may read the following:

• Cardinal Sean O'Malley's Letter on Publication of the List of Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Child
• Categories of Archdiocesan Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse Of a Child
• A History of [Clergy Sex Abuse] Secrecy, Coverups in Boston Archdiocese
• Charter for Protection of Children and Young People (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
• Archdiocese of Boston (website)
• Cardinal Sean's Blog (Sharing his reflections and experiences)