Religious heads should not indulge in party politics or support any politician. But it is their duty to educate people to exercise conscientiously their franchise
By Fr Saturnino Dias
It has been reported (The Goan, 16 April 2019) that video clips of Raia Parish Priest Fr Conceicao D’Silva’s recent controversial address to his parishioners in church had gone viral on social media, evoking outrage across communities. Apparently, Fr D’Silva’s address contains objectionable statements about a specific political party as well as individuals of that party, including comments on the ailment of former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar, forgetting the old adage, “de mortuis nil nisi bonum” (of the dead, say nothing but good). According to a statement of the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, the priest concerned has been cautioned to refrain from making such statements and apparently, it has also earned strong disapproval from the Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas. Besides, the BJP filed a complaint over the video before the Election Commission, seeking a probe in the matter.
I am sure there will be many priests and lay people who have expressed their indignation or perhaps also approval of the incident, but I welcome the strong public disapproval of Dr Oscar Rebelo. It is high time our laity takes the initiative to call attention of their erring priests. To him and to those in doubt, I wish to assure that God exists and our God is all merciful, all compassionate and all loving, not a ‘vengeful’ God at all, and, if he disciplines, his punishment is sign of love to lovingly correct his erring son/daughter to bring him/her back into his loving embrace.
To me, the incident is regrettable and very painful because it erodes the credibility of my Church and of my priesthood. Jesus established the Church as the sacrament of salvation that he earned through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection – the mystery of Redemption being meditated these days.
The Church as the sacrament of salvation continues the mission of Jesus of reconciling and uniting. He founded the Church on the pillar of priesthood giving the priest the power to make him present in the Eucharist under the species of bread and wine that actually signify and cause the unity of the Church and nourish her
spiritually.
I am happy that Fr D’Silva has acknowledged his mistake and tendered an unconditional apology to South Goa Collector who has warned him to refrain from repeating such acts and confine himself to his priestly
duties. And, let us not forget, that while Fr D’Silva is being projected in bad light for speaking against the party in power, there are instances of those who have canvassed in the past for the party in power. Their action is equally bad and perhaps has contributed to build the emotional speech of Fr D’Silva. I hope the archbishop warns effectively all erring priests and the clergy of Goa will be on the right
path.
That said, we must ask a deeper question. Why have we landed in this regrettable situation? Those who crossed their 70th birthday will recall that the politicians of old were of different kind. They were more of a statesman type and worked for a cause guided by their consciences and religious beliefs, whichever religion they professed. Can we say the same of today’s politicians? They have succeeded over the years to stifle the voice of religious authorities.
One of the main functions of the Church and religious authorities of any religion is to be guardians of morality and they were universally respected and honoured for it. In fact, in India the religious heads enjoyed great respect, their advice being religiously followed by civic authorities. But the unscrupulous elements naturally were not at ease and found an easy way to silence the religious authorities by harping on the slogan “keep religion out of politics” which is often misunderstood and misused to restrain religious authorities from exercising their prophetic role to assert the ethical view on socio-political issues. However, they have kept the vestige of that tradition for their political benefit; before the elections they like to visit temples, churches, and mosques greeting everyone with folded hands.
True, religious heads and their representatives should not indulge in party politics or support and canvas for any politician. But it is their duty to educate people to exercise conscientiously their franchise for the person they think to be the right person who will serve with dedication the society. Beyond that, religious heads have the duty to be the voice of the voiceless when politicians betray their voters forgetting their pre-election promises, switch parties for personal gains or neglect their work for the marginalized.
To bring back morality in politics, representatives of various religions should use the forum known as inter-religious dialogue which in the multi-cultural and multi-religious India can indeed become truly meaningful and successful. Instead of simply exposing their faith tenets and making it a kind of prayer meeting, it will be beneficial to all if representatives of various religions discuss various socio-religious issues that affect communities and foster a common approach to be the united voice of their
communities.
