Reflection

Christians believe that God is our Father and all are brothers and sisters, belonging to the one family of God. However, sinful discriminations of race, colour, caste, gender etc. continue to exist and perpetuate the misery and sufferings of millions of people inside and outside the Church. It is a major challenge for the genuine followers of Jesus to join the struggle of the discriminated millions towards liberation and strive to build an inclusive society.

One such discriminated group is the Dalits, the so-called Untouchables who are over 200 million in India; in almost all the 600,000 villages in India, they are forced to live outside the main village. Out of the 27 million Christians in India, 18 million belong to Dalit community; twelve out of 19 million Catholics are Dalits.

Dalit Christians are thrice discriminated: first, in the Indian society as untouchable Dalits, treated as outcastes; second, as Christians since they are considered not having equal legal rights with Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhist Dalits; and third within the Catholic Church as they are treated as untouchables and not equal to caste Christians. In this article, I deal with the third discrimination of the Dalit Christians in the Indian Church.

The missionaries, who came to India in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, worked tirelessly to save the souls and did not pay attention to the caste system and its effects. They felt that the caste system is just a socio-cultural reality and did not perceive that caste itself is an anti-Christian reality, against the basic tenets of Christianity (as it happened to St. Peter Claver and his companions in the Americas who did not think of questioning the colour and racial discrimination meted out to the blacks but wanted to save them.)They had separate churches, separate places in the church, separate cemeteries, separate festivals etc. thus bringing forever the curse of divisive caste mentality in the church and among all Christians.

Pope Gregory XV issued a Bull, ‘Bulla Romanae Sedis Antistitis’ dated 31-01-1623 which acceded to the requests of the missionaries to accommodate themselves to certain caste practices and usages of the new converts.

Dr Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitutions and the Champion of Dalit Liberation wrote,“Thus all the missionaries agreed that Christianity should be made easy in order that it may spread in India.” He further said, “To the general mass of Hindus the untouchable remains an untouchable even though he becomes a Christian."

The Church in India since the 16^th century kept the Dalit Christians away from every form of sacred orders. It is not to blame anyone, but to understand the historical process by which caste was perpetuated in the Church. As theology and our understanding of our faith are continually evolving and the Church has become more aware of human rights, justice and what it means to love our neighbours.

Since the 1980s, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) acknowledged the discrimination on the basis of caste and even went on to say that it is sinful to practice untouchability within the Church. In 1986, CBCI established a Commission for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Backward Castes (BC) with a Chairman Bishop and full-time secretary to deal with the issues of the oppressed and downtrodden people. In 2016, it released the official stand of the Church with the ‘Policy of Dalit Empowerment in the Catholic Church’,calling all Christians for conversion and positive action to eradicate caste discrimination.

As Dalit Christians’ awareness grew, as early as 1831, there was a revolt of Dalit Christians in Pondicherry called the Parraiyar Revolution. From that time onwards, Dalits have been demanding equal rights in the Church and the repressive measures and atrocities on the Dalits increased. One such attack happened inErraiyur, a village in Tamil Nadu, from where 40 priests and 55 nuns hail; they have separate places in the Church, separate funeral carts, separate cemeteries and separate festivals.When the Church authorities intervened, the caste people declared that caste is more important for them than religion.

Caste issue in the Church and outside the Church is a power struggle. Those who have enjoyed power, treating the untouchable Dalits as slaves, powerless outcastes and cheap labour, cannot think of treating them as equals and sharing power with them.Most of the Catholic Bishops and clergy who happen to come from caste Christian Communities are indifferent and apathetic to Dalit Christians.Unless a genuine conversion takes place in the hearts of the Church officials and caste people, the situation of injustice will remain for years to come.

Most Rev. Bp. Thumma Joseph, the Chairman bishop of SC, ST and BC Commission met Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister in 1977, and demanded that the Govt. must do justice to the Dalit Christians who are the majority in the Church. In response, she asked the bishop whether the Church has done justice to them and how it is that Dalits being a majority in the Church, there is not even a single bishop from the Dalit community. Ashamed of the pathetic situation of injustice in the Church, the Church authorities hastened to appoint a bishop from the Dalit community.The first Dalit Bishop, Bp. John Molagadaof Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, was a gift of Indira Gandhi!

The situation has not changed in the last 45 years. On the all-India level, out of about 182 Catholic Bishops, there are only 12 Dalit Bishops.

Pushed to the point of disappointment and despair, the Dalit Christians have started thinking of an Indo-Dalit Rite, with an autonomous ‘sui iuris’ Church like the Zairean rite which was approved after Vatican II and the possible Amazonian Rite which Holy Father Pope Francis has suggested in the introduction to the book, ‘A Promising Rite for Other Cultures’.

Historically Jesuits happened to accept the caste system in the Church, due to their misunderstanding and their enthusiasm to proclaim good news to all the sections of the people.It is the Jesuits again, who started organizing Dalit Christians to assert their rights and demand justice.Madurai Province took the lead and took up the challenge of Dalit Liberation, as its special mission in 1972 and made remarkable policy changes in our apostolates in favour of Dalit Christians. Jesuits, all over the country have done a lot in educating the Dalit Christians by allotting a quota in admissions and giving them concessions. Fr. Antoniraj SJ initiated in 1987, the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement (DCLM), in Tamilnadu to demand justice in the Church; it has inspired many movements in the country, keeping alive the struggle for liberation till today. National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC), founded in 2005 by a small group including a Jesuit, an ecumenical movement of Dalit Christians is working along with CBCI and NCCI (National Council of Churches in India).

For the first time, the Dalit issue was discussed in GC 34. Decree 3, #63 states: “Other social groups such as Dalits, considered “untouchables” in some parts of South Asia — suffer severe social discrimination in civil and even ecclesial society. The General Congregation calls on the whole Society to renew its long-standing commitment to such peoples.”

Today the Jesuits are called upon to collaborate with the Church:

• in helping the Church, to forge an action plan to implement the Dalit policy and monitor the progress.
• in involving with the Christian and civil movements to get equal status for Dalit Christians along with their Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist counterparts.
• in striving to do justice in vocation promotion among the Dalit Christians and prepare sympathetic formators who understand the Dalit psyche and accompany the formees, and
• in accompanying the Dalit Christians in their educational, economic, social and political empowerment.

The essence of Christianity is hope. With the trust in the Lord Jesus, the liberator, and hope in our hearts, the Dalit Christian struggle will continue.

It is a long road to freedom, winding steep and high,

 but when you walk in love with the wind on your wing,

 and cover the earth with the songs you sing,

the miles fly by.