'Christians Must Be Rooted In Local Culture'
[Times of India, November 1, 2005.]
'Becoming genuinely Christian and Indian is the goal of the movement for the Indianisation of the Roman Catholic Church. Theologians such as Kurien Kunnumpuram S.J. (74) are at the head of this movement at Pune's famed Papal Seminary and the Jnanadeepa Vidyapeeth, formerly the Pontifical Athenaeum. Kurien spoke to Abhay Vaidya about the state of this movement in India.'
A.V.: What exactly is the movement for the Indianisation of the Catholic Church?
K.K.: This movement is not an organized single movement but a variety of movements. It was started in different places by different people. For instance, in the 16th century, Robert de Nobili, a Jesuit, took to Indian dress, learnt Sanskrit and did much more. In Kerala, another German priest started this kind of a movement and in 1937, the Protestants spoke of Indian Christian theology. After Vatican II there has been a little more encouragement fr this movement in the official church where we use the word inculturation. That is, Christians must be rooted in the culture of their place. This word is strongly endorsed officially by Vatican II. It means, get nourishment from the soil where you are planted.
A.V.: How is the Indianisation of the church being achieved?
K.K.: Starting with worship, we have said that we will use Indian languages, signs and symbols, aarti, bhajans.... The whole area of worship is becoming more and more Indian. Second, many of us are taking to the study of Indian spirituality. Third is the area of Indian Christian theology. We want to express the Christian faith in the Indian way, rooted in the Indian experience.
A.V.: To what extent has the Vatican supported or opposed this movement?
K.K.: In principle, the Vatican supports it. As I said, officially Vatican II has adopted it and such experiments in the history of the church have been done in many parts of the world. For instance, in early centuries, there was an Egyptian church which was different from other churches. Later, we had a Chinese Christian church. The Vatican is sometimes afraid whether the core christian beliefs will be preserved. Therefore, they have some hesitation. But that is in practice. In theory, they cannot oppose this movement.
A.V.: What about the masses? Are they accepting these changes?
K.K.: To some extent, the older people are used to old ways and therefore there is a certain amount of resistance. On the other hand, when you use regional languages for liturgy, they are happy because they can understand and participate more actively. But the bulk of the poeple are for it.
A.V.: What is the ideal that you are striving for?
K.K.: What we are saying is, very simply, that we have to be genuinely Christian and truly Indian. this is our goal. Becoming a Christian should not alienate me from my roots and culture, which is Indian. We are an Indian national religion. END
"Christians & Hindus Host Iftar"
[A Press Trust of .India report in the Bombay Mirror, supplement to the Times of India. Bombay. November 1, 2005]
Porayar: In a notable example of inter-religious harmony, Hindus and Christians on Sunday jointly hosted an iftar (breaking the fast party) for Muslims in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. Normally, during the Muslim month of Ramzan, Muslims host iftar parties in which people of other religions too take part.
In Nagapattinam, for the fifth year in succession, Hindus and Christians jointly hosted an iftar party in the premises of St. Peter's Church near Porayar. A large number of Hindus, Muslims and Christians participated.
Church authorities and the Nagapattinam Chamber of Comerce had sponsored the party. Jeevandam, member of the state legislature for Nagai, presided.
St. Peter's Church pastor Richard, hereditary trustee of the Nagai Nellukadai Mariamman Hindu Temple Thiagarajan, Muslim Jamath president Jaffer Ali, Nagai Superintendent of Police Abdul Rauf and Nagai Chamber of Commerce president Shanmugam were among those present. END.
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