FRANCIS X. CLOONEY, S.J.

  America magazine 

Cambridge, MA. In my last entry, I promised a series of five reflections on my India trip (unless your questions, comments, prompt a sixth). Today I would like to say something about caste in India – a reality all around us, whenever we travel there. I assume for this that you know that caste is very old in India, reaching back thousands of years, and that the simple classification of Brahmin (priest, educated leader), Kshatriya (warrior, ruler), Vaishya (farmer, businessman), and Shudra (worker, servant), was always too neat, and even in ancient times was subdivided into many smaller and more local birth categories, which governed who you could eat with and who you could marry. Moreover, the simple system was further complicated by the very large group of “untouchables” – Gandhi’s harijans (children of God), today’s Dalits (the crushed) – who make up a large section of Indian society today. You should also remember that Hinduism did not invent caste, but adapted to what seems to have been older patterns of social order. For millennia, Hindu and Buddhist religious intellectuals have had to juggle religious values that tend toward radical equality with a sense of the givenness and inevitability of hierarchy in society. It is very hard to be Indian without owning up to caste in some way or another; Christians in some parts of India, particularly the south, remain very caste-conscious, and so too Jesuits.

     Personally, I am rather clueless as to people’s castes, and try not to let what I do recognize make a difference. Like many an American in India, I have no tolerance for discrimination (though often I do not act strongly enough to resist social patterns of discrimination), but also in fact miss the clues as to caste, and treat people alike. Often I simply do not notice, and no one really expects me to. Two weeks ago I was at the railway station in Trichy at 10PM, waiting for the night train back to Madras (Chennai) with a senior Jesuit administrator from the college. When a friend of his joined us, a professor at another local college, our conversation made it clear that both of them were Dalits, and had fought long and hard for their rightful place as leaders in education. We have a fine conversation about the latest moves toward equality, and likewise about my studies in traditional orthodox Hinduism. For as this trip also made vividly clear, many of my longest-term friends in India are Brahmins, learned representatives of Hindu traditions, educated elites who know religion deeply and articulately. By instinct, I would turn away neither from a Dalit nor from a Brahmin, though I am offended if either a Brahmin or a Dalit thinks I should not talk to the other. 
     There is a long history of Jesuits and caste in India. Even in the 17th century, Portuguese and Italian Jesuits were fascinated by Brahmins and their learning, accommodated to the system, and had high hopes for converting Brahmins, so as to open the door to convert everyone else. And when that did not happen, Jesuits tended to vilify Brahmins as selfish, ignorant, and ill-willed, because not open to our persuasive speech and example. In the 19th century, the French Jesuits saw caste as a fact of life, something we needed to take for granted in doing the work of the Church and in building what was to become a famous educational system. It has only been more recently, due to deep changes in Indian culture and new sensitivities to the demands of liberation, that many Indians, Christians included, have turned more harshly, in large numbers, against caste structures, and against Brahmins in particular, even to the point of rejecting learned Sanskrit religious traditions because of their caste taint.
     Today the divisions are real, and the degree of progress since 1947 still leaves much to be desired. Just recently, Frontline had a piece on discrimination at temples in Tamil Nadu: people are still excluded at some temples, because they are Dalit. Positively speaking, though, there is much that Indians are now doing, at governmental and local levels, and in which the Church and Society of Jesus have important roles to play, to foster wider educational possibilities for the lowest castes, affirmative action in jobs at every level, and true fairness in society. All of this is wonderful, and I can only admire those who give their energies and lives to true equality. 
But on this trip too, I spent time with a wide variety of people of different castes, and was very conscious of my affinity to the most educated Hindu religious leaders, who were usually Brahmins. This confirmed for me that it would be a great mistake to hope to polarize Indian society – Brahmins versus everyone else – or to dismiss thousands of years of culture for the sake of equality now. Anger is never a complete solution, and polarities do not help; animosity based solely on caste is not practical, and will not change Indian society deeply enough. Just as we realize that the old and new inequities of European society and of the Church do not justify entirely abandoning the riches of Christian tradition nor denying the religious heritage of our faith, we do well to work for justice and respect for all in India – while still be open to learning from the great literate traditions of Hinduism. 
     While it is easier for me to say this as a foreigner (and white male American cleric and professor) who does not suffer any such discrimination, I think it is still true that for Indian Christians and Jesuits as well, some such balance makes the most sense, particularly in a society whose future that will not be determined by its tiny Christian minority. It is particularly important not to burden Indian society with the social ideals of the modern West, and likewise not to use caste as the latest in a long series of reasons for dismissing the value of learning from Hindu religious traditions. Oppression is evil, but the fact of oppression is no single group’s fault, and in any case it never a reason to miss the larger good realities surrounding us. And if we are against discrimination, best to root it out in the Church and Society first.
     I close by admitting that India is changing greatly. The society is growing dynamically, change is everywhere, the vast cities are affecting deeply how people are relating to one another, and the large number of Indians living in the West are bringing new ideas about social relationships home with them to India. India is not the timeless East, and caste is no monolith. I suspect we will be seeing many more changes in the decades to come even if, at the end of it all, India will thankfully still not be the same as the United States. 
     But if you have other ideas, I’d love to hear from you.

KATHMANDU (UCAN) — Catholic priests in Kathmandu say they will mark the Year for Priests by highlighting priestly and religious vocations for youths in Nepal.

Young parishioners of the Church of Our Lady of Assumption bearing the offertory during the Mass that marked the launch of the Year for Priests in Nepal — Photo by Ashish Pradhan

They also say threats from Hindu extremists will not deter them and that they will work during this year with “greater determination” and “renewed vigor.”

Priests from around Kathmandu gathered on Aug. 8 at the Church of our Lady of Assumption to mark the start of the Year for Priests. Bishop Anthony Sharma, apostolic vicar of Nepal, was the main celebrant.

Talking to UCA News afterward, Father Silas Bogati, director of Caritas-Nepal, said the “ever growing challenges” for the priests in the country will not stop them from performing their duties, “but will help us move ahead with greater determination.”

He was referring to the May bomb blast at the Assumption church and threats from Hindu extremist groups asking the 1.5 million Christians to leave the country or face dire consequences.

The bomb blast on May 23 killed three Catholics and left 13 others injured.

“This year is specially a year for prayers for and by the priests and a year to lay emphasis on increasing vocations in the country,” said Father Bogati.

Of the 70 priests — 14 diocesan and 56 Religious — in Nepal, only six are Nepalis. The rest are foreigners, mostly Indians and Americans.

The Jesuit regional superior in Nepal, Father Lawrence Maniyar, echoed Father Bogati’s words. “Why should we be afraid and leave the country and go away when some terrorist or anti-social group asks us to leave?” he asked.

“It is the people that we serve and if they want us to leave then we will, but not at the behest of a section of people,” he said.

He added that the Year for Priests is a year for “all of us” to always remember that there is a group of ordained people serving God and a year to remember them in prayers.

“It is also the year to lay special emphasis on the need for more priests from Nepal,” he added.

According to him, the Jesuits have appointed a full time “vocational
promoter” for Nepal to encourage young men to take up the priestly vocation.

Father Robin Rai, parochial vicar at the Church of the Assumption, also said the year will be marked with prayers by and for priests.

“There are great challenges for the priests in Nepal and I think we should face them as they come,” he said.

Parishioners congratulating priests during the Mass — Photo by Ashish Pradhan

During Mass on Aug. 8, leaflets containing prayers for priests were handed out to Catholics, while Father Rai urged all to remember priests in their daily prayers.

Bishop Sharma, in his homily, said, “We want our young people to know that Religious life” is a viable option. “If you feel there is a calling, stop for a moment and think about it; don’t ignore it.”

Meanwhile, parishioners and Religious in Kathmandu said the Year of the Priests will give them an opportunity to appreciate their priests “for what they do for us.”

Brother Rakesh Zeno, founder of the Poor Servants of Jesus the Master,’ the first indigenous Religious community in Nepal, quoted Pope Benedict XVI in saying, “Without priests there would be no Eucharist and without the Eucharist there would be no Church.”

Binod Gurung, president of Nepal Catholic Society, said it is the responsibility of all lay people to pray for the priests all around the world. According to him, a committee has been formed to plan and organize events to mark the Year for Priests.

“Events having to do with the priestly vocation will be organized across the country to encourage young people to take up the religious life,” Gurung said.

TAIPEI (UCAN) — Reflections by priests on their pilgrimage experiences in Turkey will be published into a book as a means of evangelization during the Year for Priests.

Clergy from Taiwan at a pilgrimage site in Turkey — UCAN Photo

Bishop Thomas Chung An-zu of Chiayi and 20 priests working in Taiwan visited Turkey June 28-July 11.

Jesuit Father Mark Fang Chih-jung, spiritual director during the pilgrimage, said the trip, along the route that Saint Paul took in what was then Asia Minor, was especially meaningful for the priests as this was where Saint Paul did most of his evangelizing.

He said that participants have been asked to write reflections on their experiences. These will be published into a book, illustrated with photos.

“Such reflections are helpful for the priests and also are a good means of evangelization during the Year for Priests,” Father Fang said.

“Though Turkey is an Islamic country, it is a significant place for Catholics too, as the early Church was planted and developed there,” said the 83-year-old theologian.

Visiting the beginnings of the early Church with priests from all seven dioceses of Taiwan, some of whom are Koreans, Vietnamese and mainland-born clergy, helped him to experience the universality of the Church, he said.

During the trip, he encouraged his fellow priests to model themselves after Saint Paul, not to fear challenges to evangelization and to build up the Church, he added.

Father Joseph Huang Ching-fu, executive secretary of the Commission for the Clergy of the Taiwan bishop’s conference, said it was the first time for clergy in Taiwan to undertake such a pilgrimage to Turkey. It aimed to refresh their knowledge of the Church and to celebrate the closing of the Year of Saint Paul and the opening of the Year for Priests.

June 29 concluded the Pauline Year, a year marking the 2,000th birth anniversary of Saint Paul. It overlapped with the start of the Year for Priests on June 19. Pope Benedict XVI promulgated both years.

“The apostles of the early Church were in a dangerous environment, without freedom. It was not easy for them to keep their faith but yet they managed to do so,” said Father Huang, who is also rector of the Taiwan Catholic Regional Seminary.

Priests celebrating Mass outdoors in Turkey — UCAN Photo

“We as priests should learn to persevere as Saint Paul did, who gave his life for evangelization,” he added.

Sharing his pilgrimage experience, Father Antonius Kuo noted how in Turkey, Catholics are a minority and “are unable to evangelize very openly” even though the “government allows religious freedom.”

In contrast, though Taiwan enjoys freedom of religion, Father Kuo said he is worried about the declining number of local priestly vocations.

Tour guide Chang Shu-tseng, the only layperson in the pilgrimage, said she felt nervous preparing for the trip “as the clergy were more familiar with the Bible” than she was.

Throughout the trip, Chang said she noted the priests’ earnest attitude in “jotting down notes and taking pictures and videos at sites,” and how the young priests looked after the older ones.

KRAKOW, Poland — Emerging from the quiet of her convent, Sister Anastazja Pustelnik was confronted by a jarring image – her smiling face on posters plastered around town to hawk the cookbooks that have made the 59-year-old nun one of Poland’s best-selling authors.It’s fame Sister Anastazja never bargained for when she left the material world as a young woman, expecting to toil in obscurity for God. But her ability to create easy-to-follow recipes for delectable cakes and traditional home cooking has resulted in five cookbooks since 2001 that have sold a combined 1.1 million copies in this country of 38 million.

Today, her cookbooks are found in shops and online, their glossy covers showing Pustelnik with an apron over her black nun’s habit and a mixing bowl or serving platter in hand, generating the unwelcome fame thrust upon her.

Sister Anastazja’s success comes amid a broader trend of men and women of God earning renown and profit in Europe with cookbooks and TV shows. A Spanish television channel, for example, broadcasts “Bocaditos de Cielo” – Little Mouthfuls of Heaven – in which Sisters Liliana and Beatriz of the Franciscan Conceptionist Sisters Convent guide viewers through the culinary steps for making ancient sweet recipes while also offering insight into their cloistered life.

In Poland, a deeply Roman Catholic country with a strong bond to the late Polish pope, John Paul II, the appeal of Sister Anastazja also reflects how the Catholic church is still present in daily life even as economic growth and European Union membership push the country toward secularization.

Priests and nuns are common characters in Polish television serials. And a nun is a much more likely kitchen guide to Polish village housewives than such sultry cooking superstars as Britain’s Nigella Lawson or the American Rachael Ray.

Despite worldly success, Sister Anastazja says all her efforts are in service to God. After morning prayers, she walks every day from her convent to the Jesuit center in downtown Krakow to cook lunch for 20 priests, giving them “strength when they go out into the world.” At Easter she bakes each priest a lamb-shaped cake to take on visits to their families.

One of her cakes, she said, came to her in a dream. The creation, dubbed “A Nun’s Secret,” layers cheesecake, pink fruity gelatin and yellow cake all beneath a shell of chocolate icing.

“It is only God who gives me the recipes. Who else?” Sister Anastazja, a member of the order Daughters of Divine Love, said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Jesuit center.Sister Anastazja had been cooking for the Jesuits for years when they got the idea to put some of her best recipes together in a brochure, said Father Bogdan Calka, a director at the Catholic publishing house WAM. That evolved into her first book, “103 Cakes of Sister Anastazja,” which was published in 2001 and became a surprise success. With 400,000 copies sold to date, it is her most popular book.

Later books include recipes for Polish classics: hearty casseroles, a cabbage-and-sausage stew called bigos, and golabki, or stuffed cabbage rolls. Her latest book, published this year, brings together 123 salad recipes.

The publishers say Sister Anastazja’s books owe their success to recipes that are easy to follow and don’t intimidate new cooks.

Most of her recipes are Polish classics, but a few international favorites are included, such as Greek moussaka, Hungarian lecso and Italian dishes like spaghetti carbonara. She said she began to embrace Italian dishes when some of the Jesuits priests requested them after returning from studies in Rome.

Through the years, Sister Anastazja has included more of her own inventions, recipes that get tweaked and perfected with feedback from the Jesuits.

“Her latest book would have never come out 10 years ago because there wouldn’t have been any way to prepare such unusual salads,” Calka said. The book offers up a ravioli salad with sun-dried tomatoes and other entrees that use capers, bamboo shoots and the leafy green known as rocket or arugula.

Violent clashes between police and indigenous people in northern Peru on 5 June left, according to official sources, 23 police officers and 10 protesters dead. Two hundred indigenous were injured, 61 are said to have disappeared and 83 have been arrested, of whom 61 are now on trial. Those who have been released from prison said they had been subjected to physical and psychological abuse.

The indigenous had been peacefully blocking a road for weeks to protect their land from the effects of a law passed in 2008 allowing its exploitation through the growth of biofuels, mining and oil drilling The violence was unleashed when police officers, who were given the word from the capital Lima to remove the protesters, moved in with tear gas and automatic weapons. The protesters were armed largely with spears. The law was subsequently revoked on 18 June.

A number of Jesuits are closely involved with the indigenous tribes of Awajun and Wampis in the area and are supporting the affected communities by reporting events, helping the wounded, visiting those in prison, advocating for detainees and facilitating the return of the displaced. César Torres SJ, coordinator of the social apostolate in Peru, said in a statement issued on 10 June: “It is our vocation to protect the life of all people and we feel sadness and outrage about any act to the contrary. Our presence in the area (Vicariato de Jaén) responds to a mission that the Society of Jesus has been entrusted with by the Holy Father; therefore we cannot stay on the sidelines of events.”

YouTube video of the events on 5 June

Bringing Hippos to the Amazon: Alan García’s indigenous policy in Peru (Javier Arellano Yanguas, 8 June)

Related SJS articles:

Brazil: Indigenous people celebrate court victory (April 2009)

WSF 2009: Indigenous people’s participation at the World Social Forum 2009 (January 2009)

Latin America: Indigenous Apostolate meets (October 2008)

Brazil: Indigenous peoples’ rights: join the Jesuit campaign (June 2008)

Chile: Jesuit support for Mapuche people (April 2008)

Picture above by Canal Telersat Service, Peru (enlacenacional.com)