|
Felix
Wilfred Felix Wilfred is professor in the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Madras, Chennai. In this address delivered at the General Body Meeting of the Catholic Council of India, Bangalore, December 14-16, 1997, he discusses the threat that globalization poses to the poor. Transcending narrow institutional interests, the Church must reiterate its option for the poor and create a critical consciousness to combat the evil of globalization. The style of oral presentation is retained.
Speaking at an international conference on the plight of millions of underprivileged children, Gabriela Mistral made this gripping call: We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot wait. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow’. His name is ‘Today’. The starving and emaciated children with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks are the symbol of the masses of poor living in abject poverty in the cities and villages of our country. They cry out to us. There can be no postponing. Failing to listen to their voice of anguish and pain today means that their death does not matter to us; that we are prepared to negate them the God-given primordial gift of life and its full flourishing. "Today" is the name of the poor, and we are called upon to respond to them as a community of the disciples of Jesus who preached the coming of God’s Kingdom to the poor. How do we as the Church in this country want to respond to the cries of our sisters and brothers from the abyss of misery? What hope do we hold out to them? I surmise that the twentieth century Christianity will be remembered for two things: The Vatican Council II, and the irruption of a new consciousness in the Church regarding the poor. The rest of the Christian history of the current century will be but a small footnote. Both Vatican II and the consciousness about the poor in the Church are truly a new grace of God for the renewal of the Christian commitment to the Gospel. After all, it is not simply by trying to reform the clerics that the Church is renewed – as often believed – but by converting itself to the world of the poor. For it is here that we encounter the authentic representatives of Jesus. "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). For the Church, commitment to the poor has as much force of renewal as Vatican II. Reclaiming the poor as God’s own is both a matter of renewal for the Church and fulfilment of its evangelizing mission. Today we stand in a changed situation. These are the times of globalization and economic liberalization, of finance capital and ‘free’ market.1 It appears to me that we are faced with two frightening developments which globalization and liberalization have brought about: We are moving towards the amnesia of the poor – the forgetfulness of the poor and their exclusion from our consciousness. It is the logic of the system, its part and parcel. In the feudal system, the slaves were ill-treated, but they knew that they were wanted; in the traditional caste-organization, the outcastes were discriminated against, but they knew that they were wanted and without them and their toil the society could not function. But today, the worst thing happening with globalization is that the poor are told in many words that they are not wanted, that they are a burden and that they are simply redundant. The whole atmosphere seems to be charged with the spirit of eugenics and the philosophy of the survival of the fittest. The concrete way of expressing it is to exclude the poor from every sphere. Exclusion is writ large at the very heart of the process of globalization and economic liberation. The second alarming development, I think, is the progressive eclipse of social consciousness and responsibility in the country. The decades between 70’s and 90’s will be remembered for the vibrant sense of social justice. Since the 90’s with the advent of globalization and new economic policies in the country, for the upper castes and classes – who are also mostly the policy makers – social justice has become the bad dream of yester-years. This anesthetizing of social consciousness and responsibility is the worst thing that has happened. For it strikes at the very root of our capacity to envision a different order of things, a different kind of society. This is the context of the commitment of the Church to the poor. Today, what are the principles that should guide us in our response to the plight of the poor? What changes need to be effected in our consciousnes so that it is oriented towards greater commitment to the victims? What transformation and innovative orientations are requird in the praxis of the Church? PART I: A NEW VISION The Conciliar document Gaudium et Spes2 has led to us to a fresh approach to our relationship to the world in general. Cardinal Lercaro wanted that the poor should be the theme of the Council and its thrust, and not one among many of its topics. It is true, as it is, the poor and the marginalized do not form directly the object of reflection in Gaudium et Spes. It does, however, contain broad orientations which helped the Church to develop its praxis and understanding of mission in terms of preferential option for the poor. Guiding Principles It appears to me that the underlying orientation of Gaudium et Spes can be articulated in three guiding principles. These also constitute, in my view, the permanent significance of the document: 1. The Church needs to acknowledge the autonomy of temporal realities. This means the world has its own inner laws and orientations by which it is governed. By this recognition, Gaudium et Spes has articulated the nature of the relationship of the Church to the world. All this, however, was the culmination of a particular historical process within the Western world itself. We need to only think of the conflict between Church and science (Galileo), and the long drawn out struggles between papacy and secular powers ending in the twentieth century (concordat). 2. Our salvation is very much bound up with our commitment to the transformation of the material and earthly realities and to the creation of a new society. To express in technical terms, the eschatalogical reality of salvation is inextricably bound up with our involvement in transforming the material conditions of life in history. This commitment, then, is our salvation, though it may not be everything of salvation. Just as our faith itself is ultimately the grace of God with which we cooperate, so too the divine gift of salvation is woven into that very texture of involvement with which we attempt to change the conditions of exploitation, poverty and misery affecting our sisters and brothers. Rightly then, Gaudium et Spes tells us that the lack of involvement in transforming the material conditions could mean nothing less than risking our very salvation: "Let there then be no such pernicious opposition between professional and social activity on the one hand and religious life on the other. The Christian who shirks his temporal duties shirks his duties towards his neighbour, neglects God himself, and endangers his eternal salvation."3 3. A third important principle is that our faith to be genuine and effective needs to go along with the reading of the signs of the times. It recognizes that God continues to manifest himself and his will, and we can experience him and discern his will by reading the signs in history. Implied in it is the truth that, to be able to understand God’s revelation in the past, it is necessary that it is read in the light of the present of God and the signs manifesting in it. Even more, it is a call to take seriously the God who comes into our life ever afresh and respond to his call every time creatively and innovatively. In other words, our present world and history is not a stage where we simply enact a play already written, but that God encounters us afresh to become a source for transformation of our world and ourselves. That is why reading the signs of the times becomes so very vital in discovering the call of God. Whereas the first mentioned principle may have greater importance for the Western history, the second and third principles open up new avenues and provide us the foundation for our commitment to the cause of the marginalized as part and parcel of our faith and our work of evangelization. "Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation."4 These words of the Synod on Justice in the World can be considered as an explicitation of the second and third principles of Gaudium et Spes. The Spirit Behind We will understand the commitment to the poor Gaudium et Spes has given birth to, by recalling the spirit of the initiator of the Council, Pope John XXIII. His historical visit to Assisi, the town of the poverello just prior to the opening of the Council, is a clear expression of how closely he saw the Council and the theme of poverty.5 It meant a concrete expression of the Pope said in a radio message on the eve of the Council: "In dealing with the underdeveloped countries, the Church presents herself as she is and as she wants to be – as the Church for all men and especially the Church of the poor"6 He wanted the Council as a fresh commitment of the Church to the poor. The insights of the Council and the resource of the Scriptures read in relation to the situation of the Third World countries has led to a movement for the liberation of the poor and the oppressed. The invigoration of the Gospel of the poor by the concrete praxis all over the Third World by the Christian communities can be viewed was a continuation of the spirit animating Gaudium et Spes. No praise is too high for this document which has faciliated a historical new opening to take up the cause of the poor as a matter of our faith. As I noted earlier, it has brought closer our experience of the world of the poor with our understanding of faith. How else could it be when Jesus’ ministry and life unmistakably show his identification and solidarity with the last and the least in society? Even more, the Christian spiritual and mystical tradition has always seen in the suffering person, the poor, the victims, the image of Jesus himself. The lives of holy women and men during the Christian centuries from St Francis of Assisi to Mother Teresa in our times illustrate this point. What is important to note is that one saw the poor as representatives of Jesus. We are once again reminded of the words of Jesus himself (cfr Mt 25:40). In fact as Michel Mollat in his important historical study tells us, in the twelfth century the poor were referred to as Vicarius Christi – the vicar of Christ.7 If the poor and the suffering represent Christ, what follows is that we need to reverently listen to their voice directed to us from the abyss of poverty and suffering. This is the way to keep our faith alive, love burning and the hope imaging the new. Like the crucified Jesus on the cross, the poor speak to us and we can understand their words – which are often a stunned silence, and other times a loud cry – only when we have identified ourselves with them, like Mary with Jesus under the cross. In India today we recognize the voice of Jesus in the voice of the suffering millions. We make of our Church truly a community of Jesus by listening to their voice and shaping our life and commitment in response to it. Their suffering speaks by itself and is a sure point of reference to make our Church closer to the life and intentions of Jesus. The poor are there constantly with us to remind us about Jesus and his Good News of God’s love and care for the least ones. This is a different proclamation – through silence and the whisper of their lives and suffering. PART II: TRANSFORMATION OF CONSCIOUNESS Commitment to the poor and the marginalized calls for a transformation of consciousness in the Church and in society at large. The reflections we made above help us for the change of attitude, values and priorities within the Church. The Church is called upon to effect a transformation of consciousness in the public realm, and that is a great challenge indeed. Looking at our Indian tradition and the current scenario, I would think that the involvement of the Church in this area should be directed along three lines: 1) Creating the Spirit of Servanthood 2) Fostering a Culture of solidarity. c) Creating critical consciousness. These are quite basic for a praxis in favour of the underprivileged in our societies. 1. The Church from being a "Collective Shudra" to Facilitator of the Spirit of Servanthood It is obvious that the significance of Church’s action in public cannot be measured simply by the intentions it has. We have to attend to how its activities are perceived by our neighbours. There is no gain saying that the Christian works of charity and social welfare have all along been appreciated and admired. But the question is whether the Church can simply continue to do and expand its traditional social welfare actions without ascertaining whether they really effect any transformation of attitudes and values among the people. In the general scheme of things in our country, doing service is a task reserved to the shudra. It is his or her dharma. Speaking of Christianity as a collective entity, it appears to me that one has come to identify it as a shudra whose self-understanding and identity is in serving others. I mean to say, our social welfare and charitable works do not seem to effect change of consciousness in the people in such a way that they would feel impelled to do this kind of service for the benefit of the poor and the marginalized. Rather one has come to ascribe the role of service to Christianity, just like the shudra is ascribed the function and identity as someone who by birth is supposed to serve. And in this case it is service to the poor and the underprivileged. I think, it is here that we need to contribute to create a culture in which everyone would feel his or her sacred duty to serve others. In other words, it is not by simply increasing our services, but by expanding the awareness of service and creating a general spirit of servanthood, that the Church will be contributing to the cause of the poor and the marginalized. The poor in this way do not become the occupational specialty of the Church and voluntary agencies but of every citizen who needs to be imbued with the spirit of servanthood. The Church could set an example in this, but cannot substitute what should become a general practice and spirit in our society. I think if the involvement of the Church goes in the direction of promoting servanthood, its contribution will be truly a spiritual one. Spirituality is something that lies much deeper than ethics. With globalization and liberalization, we are in a situation in which mere ethical appeals do not seem to make any dent. Let me explain. Ethical appeals presuppose that the ones to whom they are made are amenable to them. But the point is that a system of economy like the advanced and financial capitalism has its own logic and it follows its own inner laws and regulations, and these do not fall within the ethical purview – specially the heteronomous ethics. In such circumstances, ethical language could often make little difference in terms of transformation. What we require is a deeper spiritual transformation – individual and collective – in such a way that individuals and groups pursue policies and praxis that are sensitive to the needs of others, specially the poor, the last and the least. A non-exploitative and service-oriented praxis will be the result of a deeper spiritual change in persons and institutions. Here I see a crucial role for the Church. 2. Fostering a Culture of Solidarity The traditional caste-system has created compartmentalization and segregation which have prevented interaction and togetherness at the basic level of our common humanity. Modern spirit of individualism sown into our society with the winds of globalization and market economy is turning each one a caste unto himself or herself. It is a philosophy of solipsism centered on human person as homo oeconomicus making his/her choices in the market. The public sphere and civil society in which one interacts with others are relegated to the background There is little of that spirit of our being bound together, of our common responsibility for the poor, the oppressed and the weaker ones in the society. The role of the Church in this context is precisely to help create a culture of solidarity. This alone can be a lasting guarantee that the dignity and well-being of the poor and the marginalized in our society will be safeguarded. This calls for more and more interaction among the various individuals and groups in the civil society with the poor as the focus. Further, one needs to continuously mobilize and activate the society to express its solidarity with the poor and the underpriviliged. I think this is the most important task to which the Church is called upon today. But the Church itself needs to make its commitment to solidarity with the poor through concrete options and choices, programmes and policies. When we speak of solidarity, we need to be aware of the fact that there are two Indias today: The India of the rich and the powerful towards which a highly competitive middle class is moving, and the India of the masses of the poor – in the slums of the cities and in rural areas. In this latter India we are still grappling with the issues of right to food, clean drinking water, shelter from the ravages of nature, basic medical facilities. These issues concern about five hundred million people. And this cannot be, in any way, a marginal thing. To look at it in that way is simply a lopsided vision of things and approach to reality. That is precisely what globalization does. It destroys our capacity to see where the real issues lie. The approach to life, world-view, values and symbols are markedly different in these two Indias. In a recent book, Kancha Illiah, a dalit scholar, has forcefully brought out the difference between what it is to be a shudra or a dalit, and how this cultural and religious identity is different from the India of the dominant castes and classes.8 Even the gods of the upper castes and classes are different from those excluded and at the margins of the society. Among the "dalitbahujans" and the tribals there is greater sense of solidarity, care for one another and responsibility towards the community. We in the Church simply cannot spend our limited time and energies in doing all sorts of things – good in themselves though – but need to focus our attention. The choice for a Christian who follows the Gospel is clear. There cannot be two opinions about it. The solidarity of a Christian is with those excluded from power, from participation, from the basic necessities of life, and deprived of the means to live a dignified human life, it is with those whose culture has been relegated as of no consequence. Exclusion is diametrically opposed to the universal spirit of Christianity. In that sense the Church needs to concern itself for every one, without exception. However, the solidarity of the Church today needs to be with the India of the marginalized, precisely because they are weak and powerless. Through this choice and commitment, the Church will be able to bear witness to the necessity of the whole society to be in solidarity with the poor and the marginalized. By its choice to be with the poor, the Church will contribute powerfully to the creation of a general culture of solidarity. 3. Creating Critical Consciousness If globalization and liberalization benumb social consciousness, it is utmost important that we heighten critical consciousness in society for the protection of its victims. This needs to be done today more than ever before. Few things can be as powerful a defence as an awakened consciousness. For the poor to become aware of what is happening to them is the first step in becoming active agents and subjects in shaping their destiny. It gives them the much needed self-confidence. What is happening today is that the victims simply do not know how they have been reduced to the state in which they find themselves. Critical consciousness is an important sequel to the culture of solidarity. Like the spirit of servanthood, critical consciousness should be something pervasive in the whole society. What role can the Church play in this area? Today in many parts of the country the Basic Christian communities or small communities are growing. Given the spirit of sharing and dialogue characterizing these communities, they present themselves as an important means to promote critical consciousness. If the Gospel is preached to the poor, and if these communities claim to be guided by the spirit of the Gospel, is it not proper that they discuss critically the issues affecting the poor at the micro and macro levels? It should become normal that the parish councils and pastoral councils take up issues of violation of human rights in the particular area or locality. They cannot confine themselves to intra-Church matters. The evangelizing mission of the Church demands that they become also important means for promoting critical social consciousness in the Church and in society at large. It is not by sermonizing but by involving concretely in issues affecting the poor that the overall critical consciousness can be built up in the Church and in society. PART III: RETHINKING INSTITUTIONAL MEANS Institutions are structural means. And it is important in which direction these institutions are oriented. Are they structurally biased against the poor and favouring the cause of the powerful? In this case, it is crucial that the institutions which wield so much of power and influence in public life are transformed. The challenge is to turn these institutions into instruments for the cause of the poor. 1. Changing Face of Education Even after fifty years of Independence, it is alarming to note that in our country 48% of the people are illiterate. We know that poverty is one of the chief reasons why children are prevented from attending schools and learning at least to read and write. Primary education, special care for school drop-outs, concentration on rural areas – these remain then the top priority of a Church that wants to commit itself to the cause of the poor. Here need to be invested the personnel and resources of the Church, and one should go far beyond simple tokenism in what concerns the poor. But we all know – and I do not need to mention – where in the educational field the "treasure" is, and where the hearts of most religious personnel are. As for higher education, it needs to undergo a change. I come from a secular University with seventy-six departments of various kinds – from biochemistry to criminology, from music to defence studies. I know that in the past few years those kinds of general courses like biology, chemistry and zoology, have few takers. Every subject is studied in specialization, and is oriented towards research in such a way that it can meet the requirements of the industry, and the demands of liberalization. There is a move to tie-up higher education with big industrial concerns. There is little interest in humanities and social sciences. I think Christian involvement in higher education will have to make a difference. Researches, yes – but we need to break new grounds and move in the direction of studies and researches that will benefit the poor; that will help to understand the society and its dynamism. This may not be a fashionable avenue, but certainly we will find much support if we take initiatives along these lines. We need to learn from the past history. During colonial times, the introduction of a new educational policy was so designed as to form civil and other administrative officers and clerks in service of the regime. The strength of the Church was in a way exploited for this purpose and our educational institutions became a very convenient means to serve the purposes of the colonial authorities by producing the type of personnel they required. In retrospect, we find how we have failed to meet the requirements of basic education and neglected the upliftment of the poorest in society. Today, I think we stand before a similar situation, and this time we cannot afford to repeat the mistake. The current globalization requires a particular type of experts and particular type of educational orientation. The temptation is too strong to go along the same line and reap the benefits of liberalization and globalization by catering to its particular demands of education. But the challenge for us is to swim against the current. I mean to say that Christian educational institutions cannot confine themselves simply to be faithful acolytes at the altar of globalization and liberalization. They need to re-orient themselves with the poor, the dalits and the tribals as their focus. It is only proper that we listen to a dalit voice speaking out of experience: Moreover, the entire scope of education appears irrelevant. None of the skills we have, nothing of the knowledge we possess, have any place in the system. Worse still, our knowledge is rendered non-existent. Our linguistic skills and our vocabulary become invisible. We have been sitting in hostile anglicized and brahminical classrooms that had been built only by extracting the surplus generated by our own parents.9 We cannot forget that education is not simply a matter of imparting information and skills. If so we will be turning men into exploitative machines by facilitating their power of knowledge. There is the dimension of developing the potentialities inherent in each child, student as well as instilling those values and principles which will create in them a sharp social consciousness, sense of social justice, and above all a true outlook and culture of solidarity. Here again is a matter in which the Church’s educational efforts should make a mark, make a difference. 2. Communication Media in Service of the Poor The involvement of the Church needs to be situated in the changed circumstances in the world of media. We can find in the media a very powerful instrument to effect the spirit of servanthood, a culture of solidarity and critical consciousness. Media has a great social responsibility which it cannot compromise for motives of competition and profit.10 But unfortunately, under the spell of globalization, the media has shifted from 90’s to accommodate the interests of economic liberalization and the culture developing thereof. We are all witness to the promotion of "Diana cult" all over the world by the media. So that this great means of communication is steered to serve the cause of the poor, it is important that committed Christians enter into secular and government media, news agencies, etc. By creating public opinion through them, one can influence the decisions affecting the people, specially the poor and the marginalized. For the development of the poor and marginalized so many governmental programmes and projects are operating. Often, there is so much of ignorance about them, and the poor lose even the few opportunities given to them. That is why it is in the interests of the poor that the media transforms itself into truly a development communication. Further, it can play a monitoring role to check, for example, whether the funds allotted for the benefit of the poor really reach them. In this way it can make public persons and institutions accountable to the poor. Then there is the whole issue of atrocities done to the poor and weaker sections in society – against women, dalits, tribals and children. A committed media and investigative journalism could expose these facts before the conscience of the general public. The national and international network of communication can be availed to bring to the attention of the general public the plight of the marginalized. This is a concrete way of fostering the critical consciousness both among the victims and the general public. All these avenues of media are open for Church-personnel, institutions and structures to act in society. But how effectively is the Church availing the media to serve the cause of the poor? I think a radical change in the attitude and approach to the media is called for. Of course, the media can help to transmit the truths of our faith and information about Church-leaders and Church-activities. But can we narrowly restrict the media only to this sphere? It is the time to cast our nets wider. The crying needs of the victims in our society call for a new opening to the world of media by the Church. Through the catalyst role of the Church, the media could lend voice to the voiceless millions in our country to speak up and claim their legitimate dignity and rights. Simultaneously there should be continuous media education at all levels of the Christian communities. Once again, the small Christian communities could play a very effective role in all this. 3. Justice to the Victims Another important institution is the judiciary. This is one instrument – at a time when most institutions seem to fail – to help protect the poor. Where the legislative and executive institutions and the media fail, judiciary is the only recourse the poor have to defend themselves. We cannot fail to notice what a great transformation has been effected in the public consciousness regarding the poor and their rights by some of the eminent judges who delivered landmark judgements.11 It has great educational value. We need to only recall some of the landmark judgements in the last two decades which had electrifying impact on society in terms of imparting the idea of equality. We can think of such illustrious personalities as Justice P.N. Bhagwati, Balkrishna Eradi, Krishna Iyer, M.H. Kania, Justice H.R. Khanna, Ranganath Misra, R.S. Pathak, R.S. Sarkaria, E.S. Venkataramiah. The educational value in judicial activism is directed to the conscientization of the equality of all before the law, and this is very important in a society of caste-hierarchy and stratification. As the Mandal Commission (citing Loyd I. Rudolph – Susane Hoeber Rudolph) notes: For Englishmen, the law, if it is to be universal, impersonal and impartial ought to be blind, an idea graphically illustrated by the representation of justice as a classically clad, blindfolded woman holding balanced scales. For Hindu law, the reverse was true: the differences among men in society were central to their legal identity, rights and obligations.12 Today the Church needs to engage itself actively in the defence of human rights and in judicial activism. Public interest litigation offers ample opportunities to take up common issues affecting the people, specially the poor. We need many committed women and men, religious and priests who will opt to innovative forms of ministry such as judicial activism in favour of the underprivileged. I propose that every diocese, every religious order and the CBCI itself establish a cell for human rights. What is proposed is not covered by a general commission for justice and peace. Taking up the issue of human rights requires a case by case approach as well as flexibility and agility in intervention. The advantages of having a well-established structural network in the Church is lost if agility and flexibility are lacking. What could really be a great advantage of the Church – the network and structures – could become a serious obstacle for intervening in favour of the poor and the marginalized. 4. Social Service with a Difference In the course of the past few decades we have developed a network of social service organizations, institutions and societies. All these infrastructural facilities available need to be directed today towards a pedagogy that will help the poor to be masters of their own destiny. They need to be instruments in the process of people empowering themselves. For this to happen there should be close linkage with different kinds of peoples’ movements. We are also facing a different problem today. I mean, many of the Church-related social service organizations came into existence and expanded at a time when development was the main theoretical and ideological umbrella. But today the scenario has changed. It is high time now to reflect on what role they want to play in service to the poor when globalization and liberalization have become the general atmosphere. New economic policies and globalization continue to create new forms of oppression and new types of victims. They are assaulting the many traditional avenues of employment, besides destroying the meager means of sustenance at the disposal of the poor. To protect the interests and rights of the poor, I think today a different kind of analysis and approach is required. The Church has international and global connections and structures oriented towards social service. These have many advantages. However, these are used unfortunately to expand and strengthen the institutions and to raise financial resources. The advantage of these global links can be employed today for the cause of the poor. We need to explore how this could be done. The religious are often guilty of fostering a false internationalism which actually sidesteps the duty of facing the stark reality of the poor in the concrete local condition. There is a failure to strike roots in the local soil, and build up corresponding ministries and praxis from bottom up. Religious congregations modelled after such "internationalism" could ultimately turn out to be frightening bastions of power and money expending precious human resources on internal bureaucracy and ritual meetings, with little outreach to the poor. One is reminded of the story of a missionary who was found always very busy looking after and maintaining the jeep that was meant to take him to the mission-stations. It absorbed his time and energy so much, that he had no time to actually to go to the missions! 5. New Priorities in the Medical Field Assisting the poor and the marginalized in their health-care is facing new challenges in the context of globalization. The traditional knowledge about plants and herbs is the greatest medical resource of the poor. The plants which grow around us are after all components of sophisticated pharmaceutical industry. The modern world of medicine goes far beyond the resources of the poor. Instead of promoting a system of expensive investigations and costly drugs, the poor need to be assisted to look for their health-requirements in their surroundings. Traditional health care practices need to be encouraged in the context of the new top-down medical culture promoted in the context of globalization. Should this not become a priority in Church’s involvement in the medical sector? Poverty and malnutrition-related diseases are very rampant among the poor in urban and rural areas; so too HIV/AIDS is widespread among the poorest of the poor in the slums of the cities. The need of the hour is preventive health than curative medical care. It means clean drinking water, sanitation, safe environment. According to the latest United National Development Report, in India "130 millon people use untreated surface water contaminated by domestic industrial agro-chemical wastes, and 43 million people live in the water-scarce areas. ...97% of the rural population (and 73% of the total population) do not have access to adequate sanitation."13 How far does the Church reach out to the poor in these areas of health-care? Where does its priority lie today? Fathima Beevi, the governor of Tamil Nadu said, the people are to be empowered to become the "masters of their health."14 If so, does not the Church stand before the challenge of re-orienting its medical services and moving into new and unchartered avenues with other priorities? 6. Democratization and Participation Democracy is today a very important institutional means for the protection of the poor from the powerful and the exploiters. The need of the hour is the democratization of all areas of life. Will the Church rise up to this challenge? The education for democratization begins with the participation of the poor at the local level, at local bodies. Greater decentralization in all areas of life leads to the empowerment of the poor. How can the Church contribute to the realization of the ideal of Panchayat Raj? Today, the challenge is not only in the area of democratization of politics and political institutions, but also a democratization of economy is called for. This is all the more important in view of the current process of globalization. Economy is not a matter of experts. It is a matter of daily rice and chapatti, of just wages and a roof over the head. Therefore, there should be structures and means by which the people, specially the poor can participate and make their voice heard in orientating the economy. Political participation should be extended to the area of economy on which hinges the life and death of the poor. It is a fact that India does not lack any more in the production of food. It has more than what is required to feed the hungry millions – a situation different from what we experienced in the 60’s. Globalization and liberalization are reducing day by day the purchasing capacity of the poor. Starvation deaths is a regular feature in many of our states. Paradoxically, with ample availability of food, millions go hungry. That is how globalization and liberalization treat the poor. In this context, as I observed earlier, we understand the paramount importance of intervening in the economic processes and policies in the interests of the poor. It is a fact that in the past we in the Church never concerned ourselves seriously with economic issues. The situation has changed very much. If ultimately our commitment is to the poor and to the victims, we need to take up without delay the economic issue as an important area of our concern and involvement. The Church needs to study ways and means to help people intervene in the economic processes both at the micro and macro level. Conclusion The lure of globalization and the comforts and the goodies it offers are too powerful to resist. But the real test for the Church is here: Whether it wants to go along the values, tastes and priorities of the middle and upper classes very much in line with globalization, or whether it wants to be a Church of the poor – making its own the struggles and concerns of the victims. The present-day developments taking place in the country are bound to look very different when seen through the eyes of the poor. Seeing societies through the eyes of the poor and to convert itself to their cause in the age of globalization is the need of the hour, the call of the Gospel which Jesus preached to the poor. The deeply meditated prayer of our great poet Tagore can become the prayer of conversion for every committed Christian and for the whole Church in the country: This is my prayer to thee, my Lord – strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart .... Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.15 The poet brings to our mind the two great temptations today: it is to disown the poor and to prostrate before the powers. And that is exactly what globalization and economic liberalization do. It is ready to compromise millions of poor for some profit, for some power. Strength is what is required to own the victims of our society and to be their voice; strength is what is required before all those powers. When the poet speaks of striking at the root of penury, is he not saying perhaps of the need of radical transformation of our consciousness and attuning ourselves to the voices of the poor? Radical commitment to the cause of the poor, besides conversion, calls for also witnessing. The glamour of globalization and liberalization can make us easily forget the victims they produce. But the passion of the Lord is an actual reality in the life and struggles of the millions of this country. It is a contemporary experience for a committed Christian and Church. We respond by our witnessing in deeds. We need to take, like Joseph of Arimathea, the poor from the cross on which they are nailed. Even more, we can no more allow any such inhumanity being done to the weaker ones whom God loves in a special way. And that brings to my mind the challenging words of Ashok Mehta: If it is the claim of the Christians that even to this day they feel the agony of Christ on the cross whenever humanity suffers, as it were, it has to be proved in action, not by any statement.16
NOTES
1 Globalization, obviously, is an ambiguous process. It has facilitated, through the technical means, closer and faster communication among the various peoples of the earth. There are undeniably such positive sides to globalization. Here we do not go into these aspects. We are concerned about the serious consequences of the process of globalization for the poor. 2 The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. 3 Gaudium et Spes, no. 43. Emphasis added. 4 Justice in the World. Synod of Bishops Second General Assembly, 1991, no.6. 5 Crf. Giuseppe Alberigo and Joseph A. Komonchak (eds.), History of Vatican II, vol.I. Maryknoll: Orbis/Leuven: Peeters, 1995, pp. 444ff. 6 Radio Message, September 11, 1062. Emphasis added. 7 Michel Mollat, The Poor in the Middle Ages. An Essay in Social History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986, pp. 59ff. 8 Kancha Illaih, Why I am Not a Hindu. A Sudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy. Calcutta: Samya, 1996. 9 Kancha Ilaiah, op.cit., p. 56. 10 Cfr Public Service Broadcasting: The Challenge of the Twenty-first Century. Paris: United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 1977. 11 CfrPoornima Advani, Indian Judiciary. A Tribute. Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997. 12 Reservations for Backward Classes. Mandal Commission Report of the Backward Classes Commission, 1980. Delhi: Akalank Publications, 1991, p. 22. (with reference to Loyd I. Rudolph – Susane Hoeber Rudolph), The Modernity of Tradition. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1967). 13 Human Development Report 1997.United Nations Development Programme. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 50. 14 The Hindu, December 5, 1997, p. 3. (Inaugural address at CHAI Convention, Chennai). 15 Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali. New Delhi/New York: Macmillan, 1918, no. 36. 16 As quoted in S.J. Samartha, The Hindu Response to the Unbound Christ. Madras: CLS, 1974, p. 197. Ref.: Vidyajyoti - Journal of Theological Reflection Vol. 62, n. 2, February 1998. |