Category: Church Reform
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WAS JESUS A CAPITALIST?
The question seems inconceivable and the answer should be a resounding “No”. But wait a minute. First listen to what Jesus himself has to say. “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have more than enough, but everyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he has” (Mat…
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WHY ARE CONVENTS SHUTTING SHOP?
This malaise is now assuming menacing proportions in India
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ROGERS NOT OUT
Long before the advent of SMS and abbreviations like asap, “Roger” was a word frequently used in signalling and communications; especially between pilots of war planes. Roger was an expression of agreement or acknowledgement of a message. To end the communication, a pilot would say “Roger and Out”. This November 2007, I am writing…
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HOW PROFITABLE IS PERSECUTION?
This is indeed a strange title. It is borrowed from the Vatican II document “The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World”. Let me quote it. “The church admits that she greatly profited and still profits from the antagonism of those who oppose or persecute her” (GS 44). Perhaps “benefit” would have been…
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HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY!
Come Good Friday and some dear soul invariably calls or messages a “Happy Good Friday”! 2024 was no exception. It puts me in a quandary. How do I acknowledge the greeting without offending the sensibilities of the sender/ caller? It is equally odd when people in church gushingly start wishing each other a “Happy Easter”….
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DOGS & GODS OF WAR
This is an alarmist headline. It is meant to be. It is inspired in part by the novel “Dogs of War” written 70 years ago by Fredrick Forsythe. But this article is not fiction, for truth is stranger than fiction. Polytheist religions have Gods of War. Monotheistic religions, like Christianity, have on the other hand,…
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MAY THEY ALL BE ONE
A person’s dying wish is sacred. Jesus’ last desire, when “he raised his eyes to heaven” (Jn 17:1), was “that they may be one like us” (v11) and again “May they all be one” (v21). Jesus’ call to oneness (unity) of his disciples was based on his own deep relationship with the Father. That being…
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GOING…GOING…GONE
My family established its auctioneering business in 1858. It lasted for about 120 years. The Sunday morning auctions were a major source of interest and entertainment. When a bid was nearing completion the hammer would be raised with the solemn intonation “Going, going, gone”. The bid was closed, as an auction cannot go on indefinitely….
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POST MERRIMENT POST MORTEM
It bugs me when people wish me a “Merry Christmas”. It’s worse when it gets corrupted in the Hindi heartland to Marry or even Mary Christmas! Despite the goodwill in the greeting, it annoys me. It indicates that such a person doesn’t really know the meaning of Christmas, or is just blindly following a British…
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CHRISTMAS RUBBLE
On Sunday 10th December I heard the first reading from Isaiah (40:1-5, 9-11) on freedom from the Babylonian exile. The reference to Babylon reminded me of the foot-tapping Boney M. song “By the Rivers of Babylon”. The music is pulsating, though I’m pretty sure that most people don’t know the meaning, context or even the…