Shri Jose Paul (Delhi), a gifted wordsmith, is quite disappointed to see a fruitless Syro-Malabar Catholicism in India. The present status of it pains this veteran heavily. Almayasabdam invites Shri Jose Paul to share his profound thoughts - Administrator)
I believe that the cannon laws are also
man-made and as such they have no divine sanctity or infallibility for these.
They were not made by Jesus or even by His Apostles in the early days of the
church. When the church became an organisation big enough that it cannot be
managed or administrated easily, the laws started being made one by one by
people who administered this massive organisation. These laws and rules are
made only for administrative purpose and it is not on matters of faith. I am
not denying the fact that these administrators made these laws with good
intentions and for the salvation of the faithful. But many of the laws and
rules were made for the protection, sustenance and prosperity to the so called
clergy the administrators.
1.
Once, these Cannon laws aided
the sale of certificates of indulgences for lay people. It is as good as being real estate agents of the land in heaven for people who are willing to pay to
the Clergy. As people became aware of this an unchristian and inhuman practice,
the laws had to be changed.
2.
Inquisitions were held and many
valuable lives were sacrificed by the Catholic Church Hierarchy. These people
were freethinkers, scientific thinkers and people who were searching for truth.
In order to eliminate any kind of rational thoughts that goes against the
beliefs and comforts of the Clergy of the time, the very same cannon laws were
used. When people exposed this folly, and when they realised their mistake, the
laws were revised.
3.
When we were young, the rules
for days of fasting and the number of fasting days were many more, the days of
obligations were more, the fasting before receiving communion was from the
previous day. We were not allowed even
to swallow the saliva, forget about water or any other form of beverage or food
from the previous night till we receive the communion. All these laws have
changed in time.
4.
The latest is that the synod of
syro-malabar church has accepted that burial can be in the form of cremation. The
comical part of it is that the dead person has to apply for a permission for
cremation from the Syro-malabar bishop of the diocese to which the dead man
belongs to. So far their clutches were only at the time of birth (baptism) and
marriage (the most important event of our life). Now the hold is extended even
after our death. They have accepted burial and cremation as a process of
disposing the dead body of a catholic lay person. But the dead man or his
relatives cannot take a decision on their own. But even for this you have to
get the sanction of the Bishop of the area. It seems that a catholic soul will
have salvation only if the diocesion bishop and his council take an ecliastical
decision depending upon the pastoral excengices and the dead body’s fitness to
be buried or cremated. Even a fool can understand the reasons for the need of
this necessity of permission and pastoral needs. Our country and states were
famous for being a licscence Raj. This permission is a Holy relic of this dying
Raj.
5.
Every now and then, the rituals
of the sacramental services are changed. I will not be able to give a long list
of these kinds of changes in the Cannon Laws and I am very poor layman without
deep knowledge of the Cannon Laws or Civil Laws. I can think of only natural
laws dealing with our life. But changes in the man-made laws are inevitable. We
have a Parliament or legislative councils because the changes in the laws are
inevitable depending upon the changes and growth of civilisations. If this is
not there, the world will be a dead frozen world without any progress and
without any new thoughts.
6.
One of my friends mentioned
about the Syrian born priests, nuns and brothers. It is true that these people
had to forgo their rites when they joined the Latin Rite congregations or
dioceses. It was really unjust practice. According to my understanding (Which
you may call my ignorance)., the priests, nuns and brothers of my age group
from the Syrian rite had to forgo their rite and accept the Latin Rite as you
mentioned. If I am right in my understanding, the laws have changed in the last
quarter of the 20th century. And the priests, nuns and brothers
retain their riite. Now any Syrian lay person who joins a Latin Congregation
retains his or her rite even though work as a member of the Latin congregation
or Diocese and follow the Latin rituals. The rite of a person is his birth right
if I am not mistaken. Nobody can deny it. Changes are taking place in the Laws of
the Church in order to correct past mistakes. It is taking place and it has to
go on.
7.
I am trying to tell you only
one thing. The laws of the church have nothing to do with faith. The church did
not build the faith. The faith in Jesus built the church. The church does not
mean the clergy which forms not even 0.001 of its members. The administrative laws
and rules of the church which runs an organisation of such magnitude are made
by just a miniscule of people who are not even representatives of the people and
are not at all infallible. I believe that most of these laws are made for the
good of the church and its members with all sincerity and honesty. Now the
members of the church are losing their faith in these people. Because very
often these laws may be made to protect the vested interest of some interested clergy
or congregations.
This is where young people who believe in Jesus
and who thinks rationally has to come forward and help the clergy in making
them realise there is only one Jesus and only one church. It is the same Jesus
who sacrificed his life for the salvation on the humanity. He did not sacrifice
his life for Jews or Samaritan, but for the whole humanity. For Him, there is
no different caste, different creed. Let us all be Catholics in the real sense
of the word “catholic”.
I want to thank one of my friends who made
me think on these things in a rational way.
Jose Paul
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