The Quotation of the Week (December 27, 2009 - January 2, 2010)

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Photo (Toronto: December 29, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

From my high school days, several decades ago, in Bangladesh, I have been fascinated by quotations. Great men and women of the world left such deep insights and profound teachings from their life experiences in their sayings that one cannot but pay a salute and marvel at them. Words are few, but their meanings are far reaching. One has to have attentive ears to listen to their words.

From that time on, I have been collecting quotations -- jotting down on tiny winy pieces of papers, khatas (ruled exercise books), letter-size or foollscap (legal size) papers, and noting down or clipping from newspapers-magazines-books, and so on and so forth. More than a decade ago in Bangladesh, some of these quotations have been computerized and composed in large letters and bound in several volumes. Many of my earlier collections have been lost through attack of white ants (termites), misplacement of a number of these papers, movement from one place to another and the like.

Some of these quotations still survive. Now I like to share some of these gold nuggets with you readers. Please look for them every week!

The Shrine of Mary the Guiding Light (Poth Prodorshika Maria) at Noluakuri, Bangladesh

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The statue of Mary the Guiding Light (Poth Prodorshika Maria)
at the shrine at Noluakuri, Dt. Mymensingh

Sister Lourdes Mary Costa, SSMI,
with some local devotees at the shrine
Photos by Father Silvano Garello, SX

On the way from Dhaka to Mymensingh, Noluakuri is a Catholic village in Bhaluka Thana of Mymensingh District. It is an outstation or sub-centre under St. Patrick's Cathedral Parish of Mymensingh town.

In 1992, when Xaverian Fathers were given charge of this sub-centre, Father Tonino Decembrino, SX, and Father Benjamin Gomes were assigned there. They took care of Catholics of Noluakuri and two other nearby villages -- Chanpur and Panchgaon. Most of these Catholics belong to the ethnic Garo (Mandi) group.

In December, 1997, after the death of Father Decembrino of cerebral malaria, Father Silvano Garello, SX, and Father Anton Wayundianto took over the charge of this sub-centre.

Presently, there is a Catholic primary school, a hostel for primary school girls, and a hostel for high school boys who attend the high school near Seed Store. The Salesian Sisters of Mary Immaculate have been managing a centre for women and the primary girls' hostel.

A small shrine has been built here in honour of Mary the Guiding Light (Poth Prodorshika Maria) with donated bricks from local Catholics. The shrine, dedicated in July, 2001, has a beautiful statue of Mary, designed by an Italian artist, offering her son Jesus Christ to the people as the way for their lives.

The shrine serves as a centre of prayer and devotion for local Catholics, who regularly pray the holy rosary there, in addition to arranging Masses in the front yard on special occasions. Some Catholics from Dhaka Archdiocese go on prayer pilgrimages there and share their prayer life with local Garos.

The Attack on the Pope, Other Celebrities and Mental Illness -- 3

Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: 1869-1948)
Graphics courtesy: www.iloveindia.com

All Attacks Are Not By the Mentally Ill

The mentally deranged were not behind all the attacks and assassinations of important personalities. The following attacks or killings were politically motivated, pre-planned coolly and carried out in a calculated manner:

• 1865 (April 14): An assassin shoots and kills US President Abraham Lincoln in a theatre in Washington, D.C.
• 1948 (January 30): Another assassin kills Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), leader of Indian independence movement, in New Delhi.
• 1951 (October 16): Pakistan's first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan dies by bullets while speaking to local Muslim League party members in a park in Rawalpindi.
• 1963 (November 22): John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the USA, is cut down by bullets while in an open-air motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
• 1968 (April 4): US black civil rights (human rights) leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
• 1968 (June 5): US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, while on his presidential election campaign, is shot and killed in a hotel in Los Angeles.
• 1975 (August 15): Newly-independent Bangladesh's first Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is assassinated by some young army officers in Dhaka.
• 1981 (May 13): Mehmet Ali Agca, a young radical Turk shoots and seriously injures Pope John Paul II when he was proceeding on an open vehicle towards the podium in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican to speak to an audience.
• 1981 (October 6): Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat is shot and killed by some armymen in a military parade in Cairo.
• 1984 (Ocober 31): India's first female Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, daughter of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is killed by her own Sikh bodyguards, while walking in her garden in New Delhi.
• 1991 (May 21): Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the eldest son of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is killed in a suicide bomber's blast at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India.
• 1995 (November 4): Israel's 5th Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is shot and killed in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, one of the radical right-wing Orthodox Jews, who vehemently opposed Israel's reconciliation efforts with the Arabs and Palestinians.

It Is Easy to Blame Mentally Ill People

It is much easier to blame, accuse, arrest and incarcerate the mentally ill persons when attacks or killings occur. In reality, do the mentally-ill persons exactly know what they were doing at the time of doing the violence? Although modern science has come a long way on understanding mental illnesses, common people are still way behind in being adequately aware of and knowledgeable about these illnesses and dealing with the relative issues.

Those Dealing with the Public, Need Orientation on Mental Illnesses

In fact, those who deal with the public -- the police, judges, politicians, doctors, nurses, teachers, customer service personnel, and so on -- need proper understanding of mental illnesses and ways to deal with people with such illnesses.

What Is Mental Illness? What Causes Mental Illness? How Many Types of Mental Illnesses Are There? What to do with Mental Illness?

To know about and understand mental illness in its different aspects, you may visit the following blogs and websites:

• Mental Illness Basics
• Mental Illness Basics
• Understanding Mental Illness
• Information About Mental Illness and the Brain
• What Causes Mental Illness
• Types of Mental Illness: List of Mental Disorders
• List of Mental Disorders as Defined by the DSM and ICD
• Are the Mentally Ill Really Violent?
• Prevent Schizophobia
• Wrong In America: The Criminalization of the Mentally Ill
• Mental Illness in the Family
• Mental Illness in the Family
• Myths About Mental Illness
• Impact of Mental Illness on Families
• My Schizo Son
• Recovery From Schizophrenia
• How to Love Someone Who is Mentally Ill
• Interfacing with the Mentally-Ill (Police Training Videos)
• Where There Is No Psychiatist: A Mental Health Care Manual by Vikram Patel

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The Attack on the Pope, Other Celebrities and Mental Illness -- 2

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Pop musician John Lennon
Photo courtesy: http://beckyluz.wordpress.com/tag/john-lennon/

Pope John Paul II Stabbed at Fatima, Portugal

Besides the present pope's, there were dozens of other cases of mentally-disturbed persons attacking celebrities. On May 12, 1982, late Pope John Paul II, on a visit to Fatima, Portugal, was stabbed with a dagger by a priest, named Juan Maria Fernandez Krohn. He was an ultra-nationalist Spanish Catholic priest, belonging to the Society of St. Pius X, who opposed the reforms and leniencies of the Second Vatican Council. He claimed that the pope was a communist and was cooperating with the Soviet Union in corrupting the Vatican. In the attack, the pope was slightly hurt and bloodied, but his injury was not revealed to the press at that time.

Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi Attacked in Milan, Italy

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, attending a rally in Milan on December 13, 2009, was attacked by a man, named Massimo Tartaglia. The attacker struck at the face of the Prime Minister with a metal souvenir statue of the city's gothic cathedral. Seriously injured Berlusconi was rushed to the hospital. He suffered a broken nose and lost two of his teeth. The Prime Minister later pardoned his attacker, who police said had a history of psychiatric problems, on compassionate grounds.

An Attempt on the Life of US President Ronald Reagan

It was March 30, 1981. US President Reagan was elected to his office just 69 days ago. After speaking to a luncheon gathering of the members of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) at the Washington Hilton Hotel, he was coming out of the hotel to meet his car outside. At that time, John Hinckley, Jr., fired his revolver six times, slightly wounding the president and seriously injuring his press secretary, Washington, D.C., police officer and a Secret Service agent.

Hinckley got arrested and, when found to be suffering from psychiatric disorders, was confined to a hospital. He was pathologically obsessed with film actress Jodie Foster, who ignored his repeated advances. To draw her attention as well as to prove that he was an important person, he tried to kill President Reagan.

Beatles Star John Lennon Murdered in New York, USA

The four-member British Beatles group was world famous in rock music. John Lennon, one of the members, was an important rock star. After the break-up of the group, he was living in New York. Earlier in the day on December 8, 1980, a young man named Mark David Chapman, requested and got an autograph of the musician as he was leaving his Dakota apartment building. Late in the evening, when the Lennons returned, Mr. Chapman was still waiting in front of the building. As John Lennon passed the young man after his wife, he was called back, "Mr. Lennon?" and the young man pumped five bullets on him. Four bullets struck him except one. Seriously wounded John Lennon managed to stumble up a few steps into the office of the Dakota building and said: "I'm shot." Then he falls on to the floor. His wife, Yoko Ono, screamed for help.

A few years later, the BBC interviews Mark David Chapman for a documentary in his prison cell, where he says: "He [John Lennon] walked past me and then I heard in my head, 'Do it, do it, do it,' over and over again, saying 'Do it, do it, do it,' like that." He also added: "I don't remember aiming. I must have done, but I don't remember drawing a bead or whatever you call it. And I just pulled the trigger steady five times." Mr. Chapman described his feeling at the time of the shooting as "no emotion, no anger, dead silence in the brain."

The common thread among these attackers was psychiatric disorders.

(Continued)

The Attack on the Pope, Other Celebrities and Mental Illness -- 1

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Pope Benedict XVI
Photo from the Internet

Susanna Maiolo (25), who pulled down
Pope Benedict on to the church floor
Photo from the Internet

December 24, Christmas Eve. St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Rome. The basilica-full congregants were eagerly awaiting the midnight Mass to be officiated by Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict XVI (82), with his fellow celebrants and assistants, begins the usual procession towards the main altar. Susana Maiolo (25), an Italian-Swiss national living in Switzerland, was sitting among the congregants. She has a history of psychiatric problems. As the pope was approaching near her place, she jumps over a security barricade, runs toward the pope and pulls him toward the church floor by holding on to his Mass vestments. Security guards rush to restrain her, yet she manages to topple the pope on to her on the floor.

In the chaotic melee, the pope is unhurt but loses hold of his papal mitre and staff, but 87-year-old Cardinal Etchegaray, who was nearby, broke his hip by falling on to the ground.

Pope Benedict quickly rose up and went on to celebrate his Mass without losing his composure. In the homily, he skipped the mention of the incident. He decried the selfishness of man. He said that selfishness "makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another." He also mentioned, "Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world."

After the pulling down incident, Susana Maiolo was taken away. It was found that she was the same person who tried to make a similar type of attack on the same pope in last year's Christmas-Eve Mass, but was restrained by a security guard before it happened. After her arrest this time, she said that she just wanted "to hug" the pope. She has been placed in a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and treatment.

The Pope, this time, was safe, but the threat to his life is real and numerous.

For videos on Susanna Maiolo's attack on the pope, visit the YouTube.

(Continued)

Christmas Sans Christ = Nochristmas

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A Christmas creche (representation of Jesus' nativity scene)
in front of St. Lawrence the Martyr Church in Toronto

A Knights of Columbus banner, beside the above creche,
urging Catholics to keep Christ in the centre of Christmas
Photos (Toronto: December 20, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

Dechristianization of Christmas

A kind of dechristianization of Christmas is going on in the West. There's an increasing tendency or an ongoing movement in Europe, Australia and North America, not to include Christ or story of Christ in Christmas. Commercial, corporate, media and even many social situations are bereft of Christ, although they profess to observe Christmas every year.

In the name of the separation of the Church and the State, in the name of science, Christ is falling through the cracks into oblivion. A group of atheists are playing a leading role in this.

Shopping malls, previously, used to display Christ's birth with statues or pictures of Christ, Mary, Joseph, three Magis, shepherds and angels in the stable of Bethlehem. Presently, these are almost gone. They are being replaced with only Santa Claus, Randolph the reindeer, and elves, with music and songs with no mention of Christ or Christ's birth.

Christmas Greetings Under Attack

Even in the Christmas greetings certain people are interfering and trying to impose "Happy Holidays!" in place of "Merry Christmas!" If a Christian can't even greet someone according to his or her own religious custom (similarly, if other religionists can't greet others in their own religious way), then what kind of democracy are we professing?

Keep Christ in Christmas

Different Catholic and Protestant groups in the West are rising up to the occasion and emphasizing and coaxing Christians "to keep Christ in Christmas." The Knights of Columbus, both in the USA and Canada, takes a special initiative in this matter every year. They want that Christians must be able to practise their own culture according to their own religious beliefs and practices.

To all Christians, Christmas without Christ is no Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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A Christmas card in Bangali style! Mary, wearing a sari, is
holding baby Jesus, whereas, Joseph, wearing chador (shawl)
and lungi (sarong) and holding a bamboo staff, keeps on watching
Graphic design (Toronto: Dec., 2009) © Joachim Romeo D'Costa

Today is Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity. After Easter -- the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death -- this is the biggest feast day of the Christians.

Christmas means love, compassion and empathy. According to Christian beliefs, Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, became man to save mankind from sin. Christians all over the world remember this event and celebrate his birth with all solemnity and fanfare.

May the peace of Christ envelop you, may the love of Christ bring greater unity among mankind.

Merry Christmas to you all!