THE DANCE OF DEATH

This month of July I was privy to two deaths, one of someone very dear to me, and the other who was just a name in a newspaper report. I had many lessons to learn. Due to physical and financial restraints I can’t travel too much. But this month took me to two cities, Indore in M.P. and Agra in U.P.

Rev Clarence Srampical SVD is a sprightly 83 years of age, walks for two hours daily and is fully involved in his ministry of the Word. He is neither tired nor retired. He had invited me to Indore for Indian Christian Day (St Thomas’ feast) on 3^rd July, to address a public meeting on the present Indian scenario and our Christian response. He also asked me to speak to his SVD (Society of the Divine Word) confreres on their charism today. Both interactions were mutually enriching.

Indore is the largest city in M.P., touted as the cleanest in India. I can vouch for that. I had last visited there about 35 years ago to conduct a lay leadership training programme when I was the National President of the All India Catholic Union. I was keen to meet up with old acquaintances but most of them had crossed over to the other shore. I was also happy to meet Bp Chacko SVD, the former bishop of Indore, wearing a simple white kurta, pyjama and steel pectoral cross. Another special person was octogenarian activist Rev Jacob Peenakaparambil CMI of the Universal Solidarity Movement.

However, once my Indore programme was finalised, I was determined to pay my respects to the family of Susheel Nathaniel. Susheel who? Yup, the nation and the Christian community may have forgotten him. He was one of the 26 victims of the horrendous killings in Pahalgam, Kashmir, earlier this year. The BJP government went overboard to portray it as an attack on Hindus. It wasn’t; it was on humanity, as Susheel himself was Catholic, Adil Shah was a Muslim and there was also a Nepali citizen.

Besides paying my respects I also wanted to break this Hindu-Muslim narrative. Among the victims was a newly wed from my hometown, Kanpur. He was proclaimed a martyr. Among those who went to condole were Home Minister Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi. When Prime Minister Modi visited Kanpur thereafter the family was brought to meet him, while I myself was placed under house arrest!

Pahalgam and the subsequent Operation Sindoor hyped the communal and ultra-nationalist narrative. That needed to be debunked. This was not an attack on Hindus per se. If at all anybody needed to be declared a martyr it was Adil Shah, the pony operator. Though himself a Muslim, he took on the terrorists to save his customers. What of the other Shah? His party is hell bent on removing Mughal (read Muslim) era names. Isn’t Shah a Persian name? Shouldn’t he be renamed Amit Maharaj?

Back to Susheel’s family. The office bearers of the Indore Catholic Sabha arranged for me to meet Jennifer, his widow. As I set eyes on her I had a strange feeling, as though she was emerging from a dark cave into the sunlight. She was so pale, frail and frightened. We prayed together. She told me that the Chief Minister of M.P. had come to Indore airport to receive Susheel’s body. Several netas had also visited, though not the bigwigs. I was relieved to know that both Jennifer and her daughter had government jobs, so money was not the immediate issue.

Money aside, the trauma was palpable, as also the anger. Not everybody can be like Gladys Staines. It is only when we meet the victims of such violence that we can sense the pain. Jennifer said that Susheel told her and their daughter to run for their lives, while he faced the terrorists. Sadly, his daughter also fractured her leg at the time and was still unable to walk.

Exactly a week later I had to rush to Agra to attend the funeral of Rev Eugene Moon Lazarus. He was special to me, as the first fruit of my work for promoting local vocations in U.P. As the founder Secretary of the U.P. Regional Youth & Vocations Bureau (1979-82) I had organised a series of 5-day spiritual renewal programmes for the youth. This was followed by a month long “Life Orientation Programme” (LOP) where the youth were exposed to biblical teachings, Vatican II, inculturation, evangelization etc. It was also an opportunity to interact with representatives of various religious congregations who came to share their respective charisms with them.

I had observed the prevalent form of “recruitment” to minor seminaries and novitiates. Immature, ill-informed, mostly rural youth, were brought up north. They knew very little of what they were getting in to. Besides, choices were largely determined by an uncle or aunt who had preceded them. These were not informed choices.

Priesthood and the religious life are not easy. As the Lord said “many are called but few are chosen” (Mat 22:14). The problem now was with the misfits. They had neither the motivation to move forward nor the courage to turn back. Being an EX was still a social stigma. Even family members were loath to take them back for fear of what people would say!

It was for this reason that I had evolved this system that covered “freedom of choice and rightness of intention” as envisaged by Vatican II. When I made this presentation at the first national convention of vocation promoters held at the National Vocation Service Centre, Pune circa 1981, it was dismissed as impractical. However, senior theologian Rev Josef Neuner SJ backed me to the hilt.

It was for this reason that Moon was special for me, because he had been through the entire programme for three years, just as I had envisaged. It was only then that he made the informed choice to opt for the priesthood. It showed in his ministry. He was a fine priest, loved by all. This was evident from the over 2000 mourners at his funeral. He could have become the first bishop from U.P. had he not been plagued by ill-health. He died of cirrhosis of the liver, even though he was a teetotaller. He was actively involved in priestly formation, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue.

Personally I would have liked to have seen him playing a greater role in building up the local church with more local vocations, lay leadership and inculturation. That was not to be. A few years ago I had attended his sacerdotal silver jubilee in Agra. While describing him the Vicar General referred to him as one who had risen from a “chokra boy from Padri Tola”. That incensed me. When I was asked to speak I strongly reprimanded the person who had made that statement.

Sadly, this clerical arrogance towards the local populace by priests and religious from the south seems to still prevail. This is suicidal for the church’s future mission. It will never become a Local Church, rooted in the ground. It will remain a transplanted church that cannot take root. This is a hangover of the cultural arrogance of some of the foreign missionaries.

Since I had to rush back, I couldn’t stay till the end of the funeral. However, Abp Raphy Manjaly made a special mention of my presence in his welcome. As a result, several of my “youth members” of 40 years ago got to know that I was there. Some also saw me on the live streaming of the funeral. I began receiving calls from some of them, especially those who were then orphan girls.

St Vincent’s Home in Agra is run by the Ursuline Franciscan sisters. They showered much love on their wards, but they lived a regimented existence. Even when they came to the cathedral for Sunday Mass they were not allowed to interact with the parishioners. My youth programmes broke that taboo. They could now interact normally with the opposite sex. Now that most of them are happily married I have a deep sense of satisfaction that the seeds sown over 40 years ago have borne good fruit.

I hope and pray that Moon’s life and death will not have been in vain. Maybe the first U.P. bishop will come from Agra. May we have many more local priests and religious, as also happy families. Then I too, like Simeon, can say my Nunc Dimittus “Now let your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Lk 2:29-30).

Let us also pray for the family of Jennifer Nathaniel, that the Risen Lord may give her the strength to forgive her husband’s killers and move on in life. The people of India also need to be reminded that Pahalgam was not a Hindu-Muslim divide. Let not the dance of death prevail over the living.