Move away from Indian traditions, exhorts Catholic Church study paper

Let our big goal be to make Christianize India and not to Indianize Christianity, proclaims a study paper prepared by the Catholic Church. The “Study paper for protection of the Faith,” prepared by the Syro-Malabar Church, also warns against the tendency among the Church members to lean towards Indian traditions.

According to a report aired by a prominent Malayalam news channel on Friday, the study paper was prepared by Joseph Kallarangatt, the bishop of the Syro-Malabar eparchy of Pala, which has the largest concentration of Syro-Malabar Catholics in the state.

“Our ultimate goal is to evangelize India and not Indianize Christianity”, the paper said adding that any move on the contrary should be strictly discouraged, hinting that all lenience towards Indian traditions and beliefs should be stalled.

The paper also laments the tendency of the faithful to move away from traditional Catholic Church towards ‘dissident’ factions of Christianity. The study paper also names some of them and reiterates the need for elders in the family and community to keep a vigil over the efforts of these factions to win over the community members.

Speaking to the channel on the study paper Father Paul Thelakkat, Chief Editor of Church run Sathyadeepam magazine said that the guidelines given in the study paper are for community members and the Church has all rights to do so. He pointed out that a warning against Indian traditions had to be given as many Church members were practicing or seeking solace in “utter superstitions “ like astrology and vaastu sastra in their daily lives.

Responses