Today is the Halloween Day

_

A Jack-o'-lantern (a hollowed-out pumpkin
 with a candle inside)

Art by Jennifer Tibbits @ the courtesy

 of http://www.catholicgreetings.org/

Today is the Halloween Day. This day is celebrated, mostly in the western world, on every October 31 -- the day before the feast of All Hallows' Day or officially called All Saints' Day. The word halloween is the short form of All Hallow E'en (holy evening).

The Background of the Halloween

More than two thousand years ago, the pagan Celtic tribes of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany used to observe this day as the last day of summer and the advent of winter. On this occasion, they celebrated the festival of Samhain, the Lord of the Dead. It was believed that the souls of the dead returned on this night and mixed with the living. Moreover, on this day, the Celts also took stock of their harvested grains and killed cows, goats and sheep and stocked the meat for use in coming winter months. To prevent the returning dead from causing harm by sickness and plague or by crop damage, people set bonfires and threw bones of slaughtered livestock on them. They also wore ghostly costumes and masks (witches, ghouls, skeletal figures, and the like) so that the dead souls might think that the living people were ones of their own and abstain from causing them any harm.

The Christian Aspect of the Halloween

In 835 A.D., Pope Gregory IV tried to Christianize the festival by moving the celebration of Christian martyrs (later called Saints) from May 13 to November 1. November 2 is observed as the All Souls' Day. These two feasts have been placed together to remember the dead -- who are saints as well as others who may or may not be saints.

The Modern Halloween

In the mid-1850s, about two million Irish people came to the United States as refugees and migrants. With them came the custom of the Halloween. Gradually, this custom spread all over the USA and Canada with the commercialization of this festival, that is observed by treat-or-tricking, bonfires, costume parties, ghost-story-telling, and the like. Today, Christians and non-Christians alike observe the Halloween Day as part of merry-making.

Happy Halloween to you all!

The Photo Meditation of the Month (October, 2009)

_

Still Life (fruits and vegetables)
Painting (Toronto: October, 2009) © Joachim Romeo D'Costa

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are God's wonderful creation. In the Bible we see that God created Adam and Eve -- the first man and woman -- and placed them in the beautiful garden of Eden. They were given everything in the garden for their enjoyment, excepting the fruits of the Tree of Wisdom.

These natural sources of food and nutrition are essential for our normal growth and existence. God has been so kind and beneficent that he saw to it that fruits and vegetables grow in different regions of the world in spite of diversity in weather, soil and seasonal patterns.

Fruits and vegetables grow from tiny seeds, but by offering themselves for our consumption, they benefit us immensely. By dying they give us life. We can learn a great lesson from the lives of these fruits and vegetables. We are also in this world to be fruitful through our words and deeds. We are here to be useful to others. How much of this responsibility are we fulfilling in this world?

The Poem of the Month (October, 2009): WAR

_

War

War is arrogance.

War is hatred.

War is disrespect for life.

War is absence of good virtues.

In war, there is no victor -- all are losers.

In war, both sides demean themselves.

In war, humanity loses its essence.

In war, mankind returns to animality.

For the greater good of mankind, let's make love, not war!

Promod Mankin Becomes State Minister for Cultural Affairs in Bangladesh

_

Mr. Promod Mankin (the fourth from the right) is being congratulated by a Catholic delegation consisting of (L-R) Father Jyoti Costa -- Parish Priest of St. Mary's Cathedral, Dhaka; Father Subrato Boniface Gomes -- Asst. Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh; Brother Kajal Costa, CSC; Father Kamal Corraya -- Editor of the Pratibeshi and Director of the Christian Communications Centre; Brother Binoy Gomes, CSC -- Provincial of the Holy Cross Brothers; Mr. Nirmal Gomes -- President of the Christian Cooperative Credit Union Ltd.; Father Francis Gomes Sima; Sister Anita, SMRA -- Superior General of the SMRA Sisters; Sister Dipti, SMRA -- Headmistress of Bottomley Home Orphanage Girls' High School and Father Albert Rozario -- Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace
Photo @ courtesy of Brother Nipu Hubert Rozario, CSC

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently appointed Promod Mankin (70), an ethnic Garo lawyer, the State Minister for Cultural Affairs. In his capacity, he will deal with the cultural development of the country.

The First Christian Minister

Promod Mankin, belonging to the Catholic Church, is the first Christian Minister in Bangladesh. In an interview with the UCANews, he said he would also promote cultural efforts of Christians as well as 45 ethnic groups besides his work on cultural affairs at the national level.

He also expressed his determination to work for improved land rights of the ethnic groups in Bangladesh so that they might be protected from false criminal accusations brought against them by some Muslim community members. He has a goal of establishing Christian Religion Welfare Foundation under the banner of the Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA). The foundation will deal with the Ministry of Religious Affairs to provide support for the Christian community and a better working relationship with the government, he said.

Father Subrato Boniface Gomes, the Assistant Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB), expressed his opinion to the UCANews: "We are proud to have him as the state minister. He can add our voice to the government's policy-making process." A Garo Catholic, Benjamin Marak, hoped that Promod Mankin's appointment would mean having justice for the ethnic people in case of false accusations and a better trasport and communication infrastructure in the regions where ethnic groups live.

Christians of Bangladesh were pleased at the appointment of the first Christian minister. A delegation of Catholics, on behalf of Archbishop Paulinus Costa of Dhaka, met with the newly-appointed minister at his official residence and congratulated him.

Life-Sketch of the Minister

Promod Mankin, born at Biroidakuni Village of Mymensingh District, studied at the Little Flower Seminary and Holy Cross High School at Bandura. He completed his B.A. from Notre Dame College, Dhaka, and became the headmaster of Biroidakuni Catholic High School. Later he completed B.Ed. In 1971, he participated actively in the Bangladesh War of Independence. To give leadership to his Garo community, he studied law and passed LL.B. He also founded the Garo Tribal Welfare Association to look after the interests of the ethnic Garos. Then for a period, he was the Regional Director of Caritas Bangladesh for the Mymensingh Region.

Since 1991, he has been participating in the national politics. From Mymensingh-1 Constituency, he won the election and became a member of the parliament (M.P.). Later he also won the same seat twice more, the last being on December 29, 2008. As a member of the parliament, he also served as the chief of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs before his appointment as the State Minister. He was also holding the chairmanship of the Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA), an organization to look after the interests of the Christians in the Muslim-majority country.

Barack Obama to Receive 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

_

U.S. President Barack Obama
Graphics (Toronto: October, 2009) © Joachim Romeo D'Costa

The Norwegian Nobel Committee recently named U.S. President Barack Obama the recipient of 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The announcement said that the Committee "has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."

Many people were surprised at the selection of President Obama for this year's peace prize so early in his presidentship. President Obama himself was surprised. He said: "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize. I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century."

Some have criticized the Nobel Committee's selection of President Obama as the winner of the Peace Prize. U.S. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said that the President won this prize because of his "star power." There are many others, in USA and abroad, who supported the prize award decision.

One thing is true that President Obama's policies towards other countries is of more cooperation and participation rather than aggression and one-sided imposition of the USA's will on them. Moreover, President Obama is working hard for nuclear non-proliferation in this world. His shift in gear and direction is what is being appreciated worldwide. This prize also imposes a responsibility on the President to work harder for peace.

Bishop Lahey Affair and the Question of Catholic Priesthood and Celibacy -- 8

Some Observations (Contd.)

• Clergy sex abuses not only ruin the lives of the victims, but they also bring about irreparable damage to the Catholic community around them. It is so sad to see how the clergy sex abuses adversely affected the victims as well as the Catholic Church. The worst effects were on the children who were molested and raped by many priests. Many of these children, when grown up, cannot still cope with real life. The trauma is still haunting them. They are so much affected that they cannot maintain a decent relationship with others and lead normal sex life anymore. Another unpardonable effect was on the Church funds. Victims, especially in the USA, filed lawsuits against many priests and won financial compensations from various Catholic dioceses, because the rogue priests were in the employ of those dioceses. In 1998, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas, was forced to pay US$31 million to the victims of Father Rudolph Kos. In 2002, the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, reaches a $10 million settlement with victims of Father John Geoghan. In 2003, this same archdiocese agrees to sell land and buildings, including some church buildings, to raise $100 million to fund legal settlements to more than 500 abuse victims of several dozen sex-abusing priests. In 2004, the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, files for bankruptcy because it is unable to pay millions of dollars in compensation to abuse victims. In 2004, the diocese of Orange County, California, settles $100 million lawsuits brought by 87 victims. In 2005, the Diocese of Sacramento, California, agrees to pay $35 million and the Diocese of Oakland, California, agrees to pay $56 million to 45 victims. In 2006, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, agrees to pay $60 million to 45 victims. In 2007, the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, agrees to pay about $48 million. In the same year, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, settles 508 cases of clergy sex abuse for $660 million! The Diocese of San Diego, California, in the same year, agrees to pay $198 million to 144 victims. Thus go the power, pomp, and pecunia (money in Latin) down the drain for unchristian, unpriestly, and unpardonable behaviour of some unsupervised priests! Who suffers? First, the victims. Second, other priests who want to remain loyal to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Third, the faithful (laity -- the common Catholics, who were duped by those perpetrators).
• 
  
• Every country and culture has its own version of clergy sex and sexual abuses. Clergy sexual abuse and sexual misconducts know no boundaries, know no cultures. These are present in every country -- more or less -- each country having its own version of clergy sex. In some countries, where society is more conservative and sensitive to illicit sex, examples of priestly sex are less in number.

• Papal apologies for clergy sex abuses. In the past decade, both late Pope John Paul II as well as present Pope Benedict XVI deplored the clergy sex abuses in different countries and apologized for these serious indiscretions: (1) Pope Sends First E-mail Apology (November 23, 2001), (2) Pope Laments Sexual Abuse by Priests (July 28, 2002), (3) The Pope Lands in the US, Apologizes for Priest Abuse (April 15, 2008), (4) Pope Apologizes to Australians for 'Betrayal' of Clergy Sex Abuse (July 19, 2008), (5) Pope Offers Sympathy for Residential School Victims (of Canada) (April 29, 2009).

• Blogs and websites dealing with clergy sex and sexual abuses. In these days of worldwide digital media, nothing can be kept a secret from others. The same is true of the clergy sex abuse cases. Now the digital media are in everybody's reach. Secrecy works only in a society where most of the people are illiterate or half-literate or under severe persecution. There are innumerable websites and blogs, devoted to dealing with this subject. Only a few are mentioned here:
• 
  
• Restoring Trust: Response to Clergy Sex Abuse (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
• The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse by Priests Archive
• Abuse in the Catholic Church: The Boston Globe Spotlight Investigation)
• BishopAccountability.org
• Abuse Tracker (of BishopAccountablity.org)
• Clergy Abuse Tracker (of Poynteronline)
• LifeSiteNews.com: Child Abuse Crisis
• Church in Turmoil (Growing abuse scandals and cover-ups within Catholic Church)
• The Voice of the Faithful (Keep the Faith, Change the Church)
• Joshua Children Foundation (Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Clergy)
• Sexual Abuse of Males (Prevalence, Possible Lasting Effects & Resources)
• SNAP (Survivors' Network of Those Abuse by Priests)
• John McKiggan's Sexual Abuse Claims Blog
• Prime Time Crime: Catholic Church Abuses
• Clergy Sexual Abuse in Australia
• John McKiggan's Sexual Abuse Claims Blog
• Speak Truth To Power
• Jurist: Clergy Sex Abuse
• A Mother, a Sick Son and His Father, the Priest
• Sharon's Rose (The Voice from One Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivor to Another)
• Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders
• Excluding Homosexuals from Catholic Seminaries
• Homosexual Orientation Among Roman Catholic Priests

• Books on clergy sex and sexual abuses. There are a number of books on the subject of clergy sex abuse. These books, available for purchase over the Internet, provide an increased understanding of the issues and problems on this subject. Some of these books are:

1. The Changing Face of Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul by Father Donald B. Cozzens.
2. Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church by Father Donald B. Cozzens.
3. Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption Into the Catholic Church by Michael S. Rose.
4. Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by Leon J. Podles.
5. The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture by Philip F. Lawler
6. Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church by Russell Shaw.
7. A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church by Frank Bruni and Elinor Burkett.
8. Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church by the Investigative Team of the Boston Globe.
9. Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism: How Priests and Nuns Become Perpetrators by Myra L. Hidalgo.
10. Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children by Jason Berry.
11. Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson.
12. Understanding the Impact of Clergy Sexual Abuse: Betrayal and Recovery, edited by Robert A. McMackin, Terence M. Keane and Paul M. Kline.
13. Unfair Advantage: Sexual Abuse by Psychotherapists, Priests and Police by Terri Austin.
14. Our Father, Who Art in Bed: A Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ by J. Paul Lennon.
15. An Irish Tragedy: How Sex Abuse by Irish Priests Helped Cripple the Catholic Church by Joe Riqert.
16. After Asceticism: Sex, Prayer and Deviant Priests by Patrick Guinan (Guynan).
17. Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church's 2000 Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse by Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.Richard Sipe and Patrick J. Wall.

(The End)

Bishop Lahey Affair and the Question of Catholic Priesthood and Celibacy -- 7

Some Observations (Contd.)

• A priest's life is lonely and totally sacrificing life. To understand a Catholic priest's life, his celibacy, and his chastity, imagine yourself as a person who formally promised to remain unmarried and chaste (no sex with yourself or with any other person) for the rest of your life. You have none around you to share your intimate thoughts, none to confide to. You are supposed to have a spiritual director in the person of another priest, but he may not be near you -- he may be in another parish or institution -- in some regions of the world, dozens of kilometers away. As a priest, you are the leader of the spiritual life of your people, numbering a few hundred to several thousand. You are the administrator of the church and schools under you. Every week, you hear the confession of hundreds of Catholics. At the dead of the night, someone may come to take you to the seriously sick person several kilometers away. You can't say no, you have to go to hear confession or give holy communion to that sick person. Every day you come in contact with scores of people -- male and female. You have to listen to them, you have to counsel them, you have to nurture them spiritually, you have to help them financially, if necessary. You are for them, but there's none for you particularly. The more people you deal with, the more sexual temptations and urges you might be facing. At night, you may be all alone in the whole church compound. You are to pray, meditate, and make sacrifices to sustain you spiritually. How do you feel about it? It is easy to blame a priest for any transgression, but very difficult to live a life like him.

• There's none to guard the guards, to inspect the inspectors. The Catholic Church places an inordinate emphasis on sins because a person's spiritual salvation depends on whether he or she lives a sinful or sinless life. The Church emphasizes that its members avoid masturbation, abortion, fornication, incest, adultery, murder, stealing, and lying and observe the Sunday obligations, fasting and abstinence from meat during the season of Lent and the like. It also suggests that its members go to frequent confessions to keep themselves spiritually clean for receiving Christ in their hearts through holy communion. The priests are the vanguards and they are supposed to look after these affairs of the laity (common Catholics). But, what about the "Sins of the Fathers" --- sins committed by priests and bishops? There is no sufficient check and balance about them as they are the implementers of the Church laws, rules, and doctrines. There's none to inspect the inspectors, so to say.

• Priestly chastity and celibacy, at what cost? Non-Christians, especially Jews and Muslims (who do not have celibacy in their religious practices) wonder aloud as to how Catholic priestly celibacy (unmarried state) and chastity work. They have difficulty in understanding how a man or a woman can live without marriage or sex. I vividly remember one event in my village church compound. Some Catholic teens were sitting on the football field. Another Muslim teen who happened to be there, at one time, pointed towards the convent and said that our foreign parish priest had so many wives (meaning local nuns living in the convent). At that time there were about half-a-dozen nuns living in that convent. I said that the priest is not married and he cannot marry. Then he wondered how a priest could live without marrying. I told him in my own way: "Catholic priests take special training to lead an unmarried life. So do the nuns!" By his body language, I could understand that he was not convinced. The Catholic celibacy evolved in the Catholic Church in imitation of Jesus Christ, who remained unmarried throughout his earthly life. St. Paul, an important apostle of the Catholic Church said that those who can accept and remain unmarried, let them do so, and those who can't, let them marry. The celibate life is a v-e-r-y v-e-r-y difficult life. It's a constant struggle on a daily basis because sexual temptations and urges are part of human nature. The unmarried priest has to take on that challenge because he willingly accepted the celibate life. Through prayer, sacrifices and keeping oneself busy, he has to keep discipline in his personal and sexual life. In youth, priests, like any other males, experience the production of testosterone in high gear and spermatozoa in over-production mode. Many priests let Mother Nature take its course in this matter. As a result, these priests get relieved from sexual tension through 'wet dreams' or night pollution. Sometimes, this struggle seems to be long-enduring as if there is no end to it. This group of priests does want to remain honest to their priestly promise of celibacy and chastity. In the Catholic Church, there are examples of saints who struggled extremely hard in this regard. Some resorted to self-flagellation and others to more painful means to get rid of their temptations and urges. St. Francis of Assisi is said to hurl himself onto thorny bushes -- getting all scratched-up and bloodied! There are other priests, who fall short in this effort. They go for self-sexing (masturbation, onanism, self-abuse, auto-eroticism or whatever name you want to call it). They don't want to wait for the natural fallout. They want to finish the job immediately. They know that they violated the Church's prohibition on masturbation, but go to confession and legitimize their status. Although they act against their promise of chastity, they at least maintain their celibacy. They choose the lesser evil. Finally, there are few who can be called 'daredevils.' They go for other-sexing (sex with another person -- male or female). Child sexual abuse, raping, and consensual sex with an adult male or female fall in this category. Some of them soon realize what grave sins they have been committing against their celibacy and chastity. They go to confession and cleanse their souls and commit such sins no more. They return to the fold. From this group, there are remaining ones, although very few in number, who lose control of themselves and persist in this third act. They suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. They are incorrigibles, they are renegades, you might say. They badly need psychological and other help. What role does pornography play? Any male, whether married or unmarried, is attracted to pornography. A person may use it for self-stimulation only, another may use it both for stimulation and a prelude to sex-act on another. Those who go for child-pornography, they are extremes -- they are sick in the mind.
• 
  
• The subject of clergy sex and sex abuse needs to be a part of regular seminary training and orientation. The clergy sexuality and morality with legal repercussions and responsibility should be an integral part of the Catholic major seminary curricula throughout the world. Seminarians need proper orientation and guidance regarding this important matter. This orientation is all the more necessary now because they need to learn how to behave with common Catholics who are more aware of and alert to clergy sex abuses. This orientation is imperative because some of the priests, although not involved in any wrong-doing, are not capable of facing any question raised or comment made by any lay Catholic on clergy sex abuses. Either these priests completely avoid the questions or get very sensitive and upset. They never learned to handle the issues on this subject. This shows their immaturity and uneasiness. Seminary orientation on the subject will give confidence to future priests to face the questions of priestly sex abuse.
• 
  
• Unmarried Catholic priests do not hold monopoly of clergy sex abuse, married Protestant ministers and pastors also fall for it. The news media give the impression that the clergy sex abuse is the monopoly of the Catholic Church. It is not so. Protestant clergy and ministers have the same problem although they are married.

(Continued)