Religion
Indian Catholic priests find growing role in the West
By
By Frederick Noronha Panaji, Feb 8
The tide has turned so much so
that today a growing number of Catholic priests from India travel to,
stay on and settle in the United States to minister to the needs of the
faithful there.
A new book looks at this trend, at the priests' challenges there and what their new lives means to them.
For
centuries, till quite recently, India was a destination for
missionaries. Some settled here from the 14th century onwards, a process
that picked up with the advent of the Portuguese in the late 15th
century.
"Everything is Grace" (Goa1556, pp.328, Rs.400) a book
by the earlier Bombay (Mumbai)-based priest, George Aranha, Ed.D., says:
"More and more of the priests who are active in this country (the US)
are immigrants like me from other countries."
Aranha's book says
that between 1965 and 2005, the number of Catholic diocesan and
religious priests in the US fell from 58,632 to 42,839 while the US
Catholic population grew from 45.6 million to 64.8 million.
"The
number of Catholics in the United States has consistently grown because
of an increase in conversions, births as well as in immigration from
Mexico, Central America, South America, the Philippines, Vietnam and
several other countries. Yet, the number of priests has not kept up with
the demands and the needs of the Church," he writes.
Earlier,
missionaries to the US were Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese,
with the vast majority coming from Ireland. "Today, an America might ask
me: 'But what is your real Indian name?' Americans are generally
surprised that both my parents and all my siblings, including me, have
strong English and Christian names," he writes.
The 1950-born
Konkani-origin priest of Mangalorean origin also describes what it was
like "growing up Catholic in India" in times which were tough for the
country. His large family - parents and nine siblings living in one
large room - makes for the setting for the story, the Bombay of the
1950s and the 1960s.
Aranha (64), still remembered by some for
his work in the parishes of Bombay, talks about his crushes as an
adolescent, and his latter entry into the seminary at Goregaon in
Bombay.
In those times, Spanish Jesuit professors and
administrators ran the Seminary. Today, notes Aranha, India itself has
the second largest number of Jesuit priests and brothers in the world.
The
mosquito-ridden locality of Goregaon's seminary looked wealthy but
really wasn't. "Since we all came from relatively poor families, no
fixed tuition was expected, just whatever the family could afford to
donate," he says.
Seminary discipline, feasts, and leaving for
Rome to study philosophy and theology with just 21 British pound
sterling in his pocket...all went into making a life then.
Aranha narrates his travels through Europe, picking up new languages - French, Spanish, German and Italian.
On
his return, he experiences life with underpriviledged children from the
Golibar slum nearby. Suggesting that much remains to be done, he
opines: "Catholicism has made a huge positive impact in India through
her schools, colleges, hospitals and care for the aged and the needy.
Even Indian politicians who hate the British and the colonial past of
Europe want to send their children to Catholic schools and colleges."
Aranha
finally gets permission from the archbishop to serve as a priest in the
US. Much of the final 125 or so pages of the book are based on his life
there.
"Some want to know why these immigrant priests are
coming here when they are needed more urgently in their own lands.... At
one time, priests from the United States went to other countries to
evangelize; so it's only fair, (others) say, that immigrants now come in
this direction to spread the Gospel," he comments.
He cites the
decline in religiosity in the West, and "may be a lack of desire for
long-term commitment" with modern culture being dominated by "instant
foods, quick fixes and multiple choices". Aranha comments: "This makes a
priest (in the West) an endangered species."
Aranha narrates
his own experiences with gaining US nationality, and completing his
doctorate. This story is suffused with personal experiences, unexpected
twists, lessons learnt from the most ordinary of events and gratitude
for the blessings of daily life. It also list the triumphs and
tribulations of Catholic religious life. Aranha attempts to dig out the
lessons learnt and share them with his readers in two continents.
(Frederick Noronha can be contacted at [email protected] )