Has the Church in India failed to play a role in public activism?

As the world awaits a new pope, a debate is taking place in the Catholic church in India on whether it has fully lived up to the space available to it for public activism. The apprehension among critics is that the Church has become too cautious in getting involved in social conflicts in the country. The Church maintains that although it has become difficult to directly intervene in causes as it is apprehensive of being accused of fanning communalism, hundreds of voluntary organisations associated with it continue to represent it during social unrest. Leaders from within the religion have noted that in recent times the Church seems to be reluctant to take a stand on issues that pit people against the state. John Dayal of the All India Christian Council says in a recent article that the Church in India has made itself "all but invisible in the current national debate on gender violence, ceding space to authoritarian voices that confuse revenge for justice, and shift focus from a change in mindsets and civilised values". The article goes on to speculate that "a possible explanation could be that it was afraid it would be seen as confronting the state, a bitter lesson it learned after it was 'punished' for challenging the government in the controversial Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu." Dayal also expressed concern that when there were protests across the country against the gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi, the Church was unable to make its presence felt. Apart from Dayal's criticism, it is to be noted that none of the organised religions in India has taken up any national initiative to start a movement against gender violence. HIGH FIVE There are five cardinals from India who will cast their votes at the Vatican next month to choose the next pontiff and are also eligible to lead the Church. While Pope Benedict XVI is known for his conservatism, it is not known whether his successor may want to follow tradition or whether he may want to engage more directly in social conflicts in countries across the world as did John Paul II.

Father Dominic D'Abreo of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) admits that the Church has had to play a cautious role in recent times. The Church cannot indulge in many social activities because there are too many critics. "In the present age there are so many people who are ready to make objections," says D'Abreo. CAUTIOUS APPROACH According to him, several religious leaders had lent their support to the India Against Corruption movement. But then, says D' Abreo, these leaders feared there could be issues pertaining to covert political support and decided to stay away from the protests. "When these movements are politicised, the Church will not intervene," says D'Abreo. The Church has several NGOs working in the sphere of public activism. Some of the NGOs supported by the Church have become controversial since their avenues for foreign funding were closed in the context of their involvement in the Kudankulam protests. The archbishop of Delhi, Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, agreed with the view that the church has had to delegate public action to NGOs. "In the last conference of the CBCI, we expressed our solidarity with the suffering people of Kudankulam." However, for the time being, "the Church has to employ prudent caution during these times and needs to reflect and see to what extent it should get engaged in these social conflicts," he said.