08/05/2014
BAPTISM & MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES INVALID in BOMBAY & MAHARASHTRA
Posted on May 13, 2011 by The Voice Of Bombay's Catholic Laity
Baptism & Marriage certificates issued by the Roman Catholic Church in Bombay are not valid in Bombay Muncipal Corporation, District Collectors office or any Government department in Bombay and rest of Maharashtra.
Recently some eastindians (mobaikars) have urged the catholic church/clergy in bombay to include in the baptism certificate a caste column mentioning in the caste column ‘EastIndian’ so that it can enable EastIndians to get the OBC certificate from the district collectors office. But what purpose the caste column will serve when the Baptism Certificate is not valid in the district collectors office ?
Will the Bishop & the Parish Priests in Bombay write to the Maharashtra govt, MLAs, Ministers, Collectors, etc to pass a Govt. Resolution declaring the Baptism & Marriage certificates issued by the Roman Catholic Church as legal documents ? Unlikely. The Catholic Clergy of Bombay are pre-occupied with catholic school affairs, church property affairs and God knows what other affairs and they don’t have time to take up the problems faced by the laity with the Government. The catholics in bombay have also been loosing their lands to various government & private projects & projects involving free housing for slumdwellers but the Clergy simply turns a blind eye to the plight of the lay catholics who have been protesting & protesting against the rampant injustice.
A few decades back some American Ships which were in transit from bombay docks used to offload boxes of made in America canned foods and calcium, vitamin-c, vitamin-a & vitamin-d tablets to the catholic missionaries and the catholic missionaries through their mobile medical vans used to go in some of the catholic gaothans in bombay and distribute the American goods to the poor gaothan residents. Later on the Catholic missionaries stopped distributing American goods in the catholic gaothans and instead distributed the American goods to poor non-catholics living in slums. The Americans no more send their ships but they send millions of dollars in aid to the catholic missionaries which the missionaries use to set up Ashrams, dispensaries, etc only where the poor non-catholics live. News about missionaries being attacked by right wing hindu groups is nothing new but there will come a time when the poor catholics will also start attacking the catholic missionaries.
There a few catholic hospitals in bombay where our poor catholics have to run from pillar to post and beg with the catholic nuns & administrators to get concessional beds whereas the poor non-catholics are given prompt concession.
The tactic which the clergy in bombay have been using to refuse admission to children of poor and less influential catholics goes like this –When the poor or less influential catholics approach the parish priest (who is also the principal of the parish school) for admission of their children the parish priest says all seats are full inspite of the fact that only 5 or 10% of the seats have been occupied by the rich or influential catholics and 90 to 95% seats are still vacant which are obviously reserved for the middle/upper class non-catholics. Next the poor & less influential catholics go to other parish school for admission of their children the parish priest of that other parish says that they don’t give admission to catholic children from other parish. NA GHAR KA NA GHAT KA. Eventually the poor & less influential catholics are left with no option but to send their children to non-catholic schools.
Since majority of our catholics in bombay are poor, ignorant & disunited due to which they are unable to understand the game which the clergy & missionaries are playing.
Just because the catholic clergy don’t marry that does not mean they don’t have any family. They have their parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives and obviously the clergy share the church wealth with their family & relatives.
Because of the misdeeds, mischief, and corrupt ways of a few clergy the lay catholics are viewing all Clergy even the honest ones with suspicion.
The Church has always recognized that clergy bear a particular responsibility to pattern their lives according to Jesus’ example. Bishops, priests and deacons are regarded by the faithful and the world as examples of what Christian lives should be. Any moral offense by clergy is especially damaging because it betrays that trust committed to them by the Church to nurture and care for every member. Therefore, it is intolerable and morally wrong for a clergyman to exploit the inherent power and trust in his office to indulge in corrupt activities.
In recent years, however, it has become increasingly clear that some clergy have engaged in corrupt activities. Frequently, offenders have been sent on to another parish or diocese instead of expelling them from the catholic religious orders. When a govt. servant is trapped by the anti-corruption bureau accepting bribes the govt. servant is suspended from service and if it is proved in courts the govt. servant had indeed accepted bribes the govt. servant is permanently removed from service. Why is this same system not applicable to those clergy who are involved in corrupt activities ?
Priests have not paid even a single paisa for the Catholic Community or for the assets lay catholics have created. As members of the Parish the lay catholics have right to express their views afterall the Church, the graveyard, the parish hall, the parish buildings, the parish school, etc were built on the lands & money donated by lay catholics ofcourse the vacant church properties in possession of the church were also donated in the past by childless catholic couples. The total market value of all the vacant properties in possession of the catholic church in bombay runs into thousands of crores.
Convert the Church lands and properties as a Cooperative Society and let laity be joint owners of the properties and let the lay catholics be given their share of profit. Dismantle the present set up registered as Trusts just to dodge the laws of our country. In the name of religion the clergy are running a profitable business, as proprietors and dictators. It is people’s money. So let people be the beneficiaries. The clergy are merely a servant of the people as envisaged by Jesus.
During a recent conclave of lay leaders in Mangalore One retired catholic judge has claimed that in the state capital Bangalore alone various churches have sold property worth two billion rupees during the past decade and he has demanded from the Clergy to disclose for what purpose the money was utilized. If this same judge had to do some research on how much church property has been sold in bombay in the past decade he would most probably come with a figure of Five billion rupees. The retired judge has also claimed that 98.7 percent of Church members are lay people, but decision-making power rests with the clergy who number only 1.3 percent. The judge also accused the Clergy of doing nothing to help victims who lost lands to the Mangalore Special Economic Zone. Around 97 percent of them were poor Christians who lost agricultural land “for the benefit of rich industrialists,” he said. Encouraged by the retired judge speech other lay catholics also voiced their opinion one of whom said India has some 7,000 parishes and each parish collects an average 2.5 million rupees a year. Responsible lay people should object and question the way the Church handles people’s money. The conclave resolved to create a national network to pressure the clergy into sharing power with the laity.
Today the lay leaders in Bombay & Mangalore have voiced resentment of the Church’s centralized control and demanded a greater say in how the church is run next the laity in Goa will also start voicing their opinion and eventually the laity all across India will demand a greater say in the running of the church.
The Examiner magazine has been around for many decades but it has not been able to empower the bombay laity. The content of the Examiner magazine is such that not even 2% of the bombay laity bother to read that magazine.
What the catholic youth and the working class catholics in bombay need is a well-informed, comprehensive monthly Catholic news magazine which can empower them with new ideas with new vision with new mission which can enlighten them to improve their health, wealth, education, jobs, career, housing which can enlighten them on how some parish priests are selling away vacant church properties without informing laity, on how some parish priests are refusing admission to children of poor & less influential catholics in parish schools, on how some parish priests are misusing church funds, on how some traitors among the lay catholics are supporting the corrupt activities of clergy, etc. There are some lay catholics who would like to setup such a magazine the biggest hurdle is the Clergy will not allow the sale of such magazine near the church afterall the Clergy would not like a magazine which empowers the laity with TRUTH.
The pope recently warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead. The pope also said in a recent homily that “every baptized child acquires the character of the Son of God, beginning with their Christian name, an unmistakable sign that the Holy Spirit causes man to be born anew in the womb of the Church. A name is an indelible seal that sets children off on a lifelong journey of religious faith”. The baptismal name should give a person a Catholic identity and it can be a powerful motivating factor, giving a “purpose and direction” to his or her life, he said. In India there are some Bishops, Priests & Lay catholics who have hindu names. The CBCI has not yet issued any statement on whether these bishops, priests, laycatholics should continue with their hindu names or change their hindu names to catholic/christian names.
One widely circulated newspaper in bombay regularly pumps articles on how the builders lobby are flouting all rules and regulations and how the builders lobby are assisted by the bureaucracy, bmc building proposal dept, mmrda, fire brigade, maharashtra states urban development dept, town planning dept, collector office, mlas, corporators, mps, etc but this same newspaper in one of its Saturday supplement is full of advertisements from the builders lobby.
The new development plan for bombay is under preparation expect the builders lobby to get more land, more concession, more fsi, more tdr, more open spaces, more mangroves, more saltpan lands. A decade from now during every monsoon even a 15 minute of normal rain will result in water logging & traffic jams and during the winter expect 30% water cuts and during the summer expect 50% water cuts and god forbid if there is an earthquake or a tsunami or a cloudburst expect a million people in bombay to kiss goodbye to life.
The BMC invites local & foreign firms for suggestions on the development plan for bombay but the BMC does not invite civic – environmental – rti activists for suggestions on the development plan for bombay.
We live in confusing times. Secular society bombards us with messages promoting philosophies, positions and products. These claim to be the right answer, the best solution, the ultimate path to a happy and fulfilling life. Yet we often end the day with a feeling of emptiness and uncertainty about what tomorrow will bring and how we will survive it.
Jorge Monteiro
Bombay – Mobai – Mumbai.
