Category: Church Reform
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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…
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ANOTHER WICKET (D) DOWN!
In cricketing parlance, once five wickets are down, the tail is exposed. The batters have been exhausted and only the bowlers remain, to put up some resistance. After the fall from grace (pun intended) of Cardinal George Alencherry and Abp Andrews Thazhath of Ernakulam, I had commented that for the Indian hierarchy it was now…
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CLIMATE CHANGE – A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Is there a Christian perspective to Climate Change (CC)? If there isn’t, there should be, because Christians, at least notionally, constitute 50 % of the world’s population. Secondly, some of the worst polluters are industrialised nations that have a Christian history. Thirdly, some of the most densely populated countries in the southern hemisphere are Christian,…
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MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?
For the likes of Tom Cruise, James Bond, Superman, Batwoman or our own desi Shaktiman, there is no such thing as impossible. These superheroes can attain or achieve anything. The word “impossible is also not to be found in God’s lexicon. “What is impossible for man is possible for God” (Lk 18:27). What about us…
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DOGGED BY WAR
In India it is common to see street dogs chasing two-wheelers. When someone or something is persistently chased by another the phenomenon is called “being dogged by something”. With the latest flare up between Israel and the Hamas, following closely on the heels of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one is constrained to conclude that…
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DANGERS OF A POST-CHRISTIAN WORLD
I recently read an article “Why are Christians Persecuted Today?” by Mumbai Jesuit Myron Pereira. It was a brilliant analysis that, unfortunately, offered no solutions. It forced me to think. Are we indeed living in what Pereira describes as a “post-Christian” world? If so, then what are the implications and the solution? I am reminded…
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LET’S FACE IT
Those on death row face the wall, before being shot in the back. Police also frisk criminals while making them face a wall. Never a pleasant experience. Even in Jerusalem the Jews face the Western or Wailing Wall, to mourn what remains of Solomon’s magnificent Temple, the abode of the Ark of the Covenant. The…
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FOOLS NEVER DIE
While searching for a book in my library this title caught my eye: “Fools Die”, by Mario Puzo, of “The Godfather” fame. Its opening line is even more telling. “Listen to me. I will tell you the truth about a man’s life”. I have not read the novel, but the commissioning of this article pushed…