മെത്രാന്മാരുടെ അക്ഷന്തവ്യമായ ഉപേക്ഷയെ വെല്ലുവിളിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് സഭാപൌരർ രംഗത്ത് (POST I)

ആധുനിക കാലത്ത് കുടുംബങ്ങൾ നേരിടേണ്ടിവരുന്ന പ്രശ്നങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള ഒരു പഠനം ലോകവ്യാപകമായി നടത്തണമെന്ന പോപ്പിന്റെ ആഹ്വാനത്തെപ്പറ്റി പലപ്പോഴായി അല്മായശബ്ദത്തിൽ കുറിപ്പുകൾ ഇട്ടിരുന്നു. തന്നെയല്ല, പത്തുപനിനെട്ടു പേർ ഒപ്പിട്ട ഒരു നിവേദനം ഓരോ മെത്രാനും അയച്ചിരുന്നു. സീറോമലബാർസഭയിലെ ഒരു മെത്രാനും പ്രതികരിച്ചില്ല. CCBIയോ  CBCIയോ അത് തീർത്തും അവഗണിച്ചെന്ന് മാത്രമല്ല, പ്രമുഖരായ അല്മായരുടെ അന്വേഷണത്തിൽ, ഈ വിഷയത്തെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള ചോദ്യാവലി വിശ്വാസികളിൽ എത്തിച്ചതായും കിട്ടിയ ഉത്തരങ്ങൾ വത്തിക്കാനിലേയ്ക്ക് അയച്ചതായും പച്ചക്കള്ളം പറയുകയും ചെയ്തിരിക്കുകയാണ്. ഈ വിഷയത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് ബഹുമാന്യരും പണ്ഡിതരുമായ വ്യക്തികൾ (ശ്രീ ചോട്ടെബായ് ഉത്തരേന്ത്യയിലും ശ്രീ ജെയിംസ്‌ കോട്ടൂർ കേരളത്തിലും) നടത്തിയ ദീര്ഘമായ അന്വേഷണങ്ങളും ഫലങ്ങളും താഴെ കൊടുത്തിരിക്കുന്ന നീണ്ട കത്തുകളിൽ വായിക്കുക. (പോസ്റ്റ്‌ I, II) 

അതുകൊണ്ട്, "നമ്മൾ എല്ലാ വിശുദ്ധരെയുംപോലെ ദൈവമക്കളും ദൈവരാജ്യത്തിൽ സഹപൌരരും ആണ്" എന്ന വിശുദ്ധഗ്രന്ഥസ്ഥിരീകരണാ നുസരണം (എഫെസുസ് 2, 19), ഇന്ത്യാവ്യാപകമായി ഒരു സർവേ നടത്താൻ തയ്യാറെടുപ്പുകൾ നടക്കുകയാണ്. വളരെയധികം താത്പര്യത്തോടെയും പ്രതീക്ഷകളോടെയും പോപ്പ് മുന്നോട്ടുവച്ച ഒരുത്തരവാദിത്തം ഏറ്റെടുക്കേണ്ട മെത്രാന്മാർ അത് തീരെ അവഗണിച്ചുകളഞ്ഞ നിലയ്ക്ക്, ഇന്നത്തെ സാഹചര്യങ്ങളിൽ കുടുംബാന്തരീക്ഷത്തെ ബാധിക്കുന്ന പ്രശ്നങ്ങളെപ്പറ്റി ഒരു പഠനം എങ്ങനെ സാദ്ധ്യമാക്കാം എന്ന ലക്ഷ്യത്തോടെ അവൈദികരായ സഭാപൗരന്മാർ ഏറ്റെടുക്കുന്ന, ആഗസ്റ്റ്‌ 23- 24 പൂനെയിൽ വച്ച് സംഘടിപ്പിക്കുന്ന, കൂടിച്ചേരലിനെപ്പറ്റിയുള്ള വിവരങ്ങളും അതിൽ പങ്കെടുക്കാനുള്ള ക്ഷണവും ഉൾപ്പെടുന്ന ഒരു കത്തും (പോസ്റ്റ്‌ III) ഒന്നൊന്നായി ഇവിടെ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കുകയാണ്. വായനക്കാരുടെ തുറന്ന അഭിപ്രായങ്ങളും വിലയേറിയ നിർദ്ദേശങ്ങളും പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കാനുള്ള വേദിയായി ഈ അവസരം ഉപയോഗിക്കണമെന്ന് താത്പര്യപ്പെടുന്നു. 

Post I

FEEDBACK ON FAMILY SURVEY IN INDIA - Chhotebhai

1st May 2014
BACKGROUND: I happened to see a news item in the Hindustan Times dt 31/3/14 with a statement attributed to Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai on the “global survey commissioned by the Vatican “. The report quoted the cardinal as saying that “the data from India was not quantified, and only showed general perceptions.” I immediately wrote to the Cardinal seeking

a clarification, more so since he was one of the 8 handpicked advisors to the Pope, and also the then President of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India (CBCI). My query was on 

“unquantified data”, which in itself is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. My letter to the Cardinal was printed in some Christian journals.

On 1st April I sent a copy of the Cardinal’s statement and my response to the same, to several persons on my regular mailing list. On 7th/8th April I independently received a request from James Kottoor/Bob Kaiser/Rene Reid to join up with the efforts of “Catholic Church Reform International” (CCRIL), pertaining to the forthcoming World Synod on the Family, and their efforts to obtain feedback on the same. Since we seemed to have common goals I had agreed to co-operate in their effort. That is a separate matter.

CARDINAL’S RESPONSE: Cardinal Gracias responded to my letter on 15th April stating that the Conference of Catholic Bishop’s of India (CCBI- which is the body of Latin Rite bishops only) 

had sent the questionnaire to all the dioceses. The responses were collated and sent to Rome. However in the same letter under reference the Cardinal also stated that the process of data 

collection was still continuing, and forwarded my letter to Bp Lawrence Pius, the Chairman of the CCBI Family Commission.

VERIFICATION: Somehow the Cardinal’s letter did not ring true. Hence, by way of abundant precaution, I sent out a query on the 17th April, enquiring from my group if they were aware of any Survey on the Family conducted in their respective dioceses.

RESPONSES: I got responses from eminent lay leaders all across the country stating that no such Survey had been conducted. The response came from people in the following dioceses: 

Bombay Archdiocese (the Cardinal’s own), Delhi Archdiocese, Bangalore Archdiocese, Pune Diocese, Ernakulam Archdiocese, Chennai Archdiocese, Allahabad Diocese, Bareilly Diocese 

and Meerut Diocese. I consider these responses sufficiently representative to state that no Family Survey had been conducted across the 167 dioceses in the country.

QUALIFYING OBSERVATIONS: One respondent then stated that she had received a questionnaire in Mumbai, but decided against responding as she found it too “technical”. I received another response from Pune that some kind of a survey was responded to by a group of priests of the diocese. It was not circulated among the laity.

FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE: Based on the responses received till then I again wrote to Cardinal Gracias on 23rd April that the feedback indicated that no survey involving the families had been conducted, and expressing the laity’s disappointment at the same. This letter was circulated to my group on 24th April. In the interim I received another response from Mumbai also stating that a questionnaire had been received but not answered, for reasons similar to what I have already stated. Cardinal Gracias again replied on 24th April reiterating that the matter has been forwarded to the CCBI (Latin Rite) Family Commission, and that the Synod Secretariat (in Rome?) was dealing directly with the Oriental Churches (Syro-Malabar and Syro Malankara Rites) 

BOMBAY SURVEY: At about this time we also received information that the Questionnaire had been put up on the Diocesan website, and published in the largely circulated diocesan weekly 

“The Examiner”. Bp Angelo Gracias candidly admitted that there was not a single response to the Questionnaire! This raises two very fundamental questions: (ii) Was there a mismatch between the Questionnaire’s content and the respondents to whom it was addressed? (ii) Was this a case of deliberate obfuscation?

THE INSIDE STORY: I recently met a bishop who is a close friend. We discussed several issues for over an hour. I asked him about the Questionnaire. This is what he had to say: He had received the Questionnaire with the instructions that it had to be replied to in 15 days. The bishop (a very sincere person) declined for the following reasons: (i) There was not enough time to translate it into Hindi, the local language, disseminate it, and then collate the response (ii) Several of the questions relating to homosexuality, same sex marriages etc are non-issues in India.

On my persistence I was told that the Family Survey was NOT discussed by the CBCI (supra-ritual body) during its Plenary Assembly in Palai in February. However, it was raised by some 

Latin Rite bishops at their meeting of the CCBI, but nothing concrete emerged.

CONCLUSION: If several countries like Japan, Germany, England, etc could conduct the Survey in the stipulated time frame , why was it not done in India, more so when one of the Pope’s handpicked group of eight advisors is here, and was at the time heading both the CBCI and CCBI ? Does this not amount to disrespect for Pope Francis’s stated intentions? Does it also not amount to betrayal of the aspirations of the laity in India, and its families who are 

the Domestic Church? Has there been a deliberate cover up, to avoid facing embarrassing questions; and presenting a rosy, but grossly distorted picture, to Rome? Unfortunately, the 

Catholic Church in India, and the universal Church, are the poorer for this.

It is worth pointing out that when the Vatican organizes a Year for Priests or a Year for Faith, then the entire church apparatus goes into overdrive to organize a yearlong campaign, with prayer cards etc. However, when something is aimed at the families (laity) then it is treated much too casually, almost scornfully.

In the circumstances the enlightened lay leaders of India are left with no option but to organize their very own National Consultation on Catholic Families, and forward the findings to Rome, and to empathetic organizations in differed parts of the world like CCRIL. It is also their duty to expose the fraud and betrayal of the Catholic hierarchy of India. It would have been one of its best kept secrets, had it not been for a seemingly innocuous report in the Press, that this writer took up in right earnest.

DISCLAIMER: The averments made in this report are based on inputs received from various sources, and believed to be true.

For more information contact: jkottoor@asianetindia.com, Mob:9446219203