Posted on 04/11/2006 9:57:54 PM PDT by NYer
KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, APRIL 11, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Vocations in India seem to be booming as increasing numbers of young men stepping forward to prepare for the priesthood.
In a recent interview with the international charity Aid to the Church in Need, Father Ignatius Prasad, rector of the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Chennai (formerly Madras), gave this optimistic assessment of the Church.
The priest explained that his seminary now has 286 students and that -- due to a lack of space -- he had to turn away 23 candidates, who have been forced to continue their training elsewhere.
The seminary is one of four in southern India with a combined total of almost 800 students from 28 dioceses. More than 60 of them are due to be ordained to the priesthood next month.
In Chennai, there were now more than 30 students in each year-group in the seminary's theology section, double the number in the late 1980s, Father Prasad said.
"Vocations are going up; this has been the case for the last five years or so," the rector said. "We find it difficult to admit all the applicants and set a tight deadline for them to get their papers in on time."
Father Prasad revealed that there was growing "political pressure" to limit the growth of the Church with a new anti-conversion law introduced in the state of Tamil Nadu: Preaching in public is forbidden and would-be converts to Christianity now face a barrage of paperwork thrust upon them by government officials.
Retreats, sodalities
The seminary rector said that people were turning to the Church in protest against the new regulations.
"The more pressure they put on people, the more they feel like proclaiming their faith," he said.
The priest went on to explain that lively youth programs were drawing people to the faith and encouraging men to discern a possible vocation to the priesthood. Retreats, sodalities and altar serving had all helped to boost the number of seminarians.
He also praised the work of Aid to the Church in Need, describing how the charity had supported key training for seminary staff, Mass intentions, library books and a generator.
"What we feel is so important," Father Prasad added, "is to help the students to realize what they are learning about is not so much an academic subject but a mystery, something that is very personal and with a strong human dimension to it."
include me in your prayers too and may hatred be removed from the hearts of these people.
The comments in this thread remind me of a widely reported incident that happened in Tamil Nadu , a state in India which was hit hard by the recent Tsunami. A village of low caste hindu fishermen was particularly affected. A bunch of christian missionaries went there with food and clothes a few days later. They told the villagers , convert to christianity and we will give you food and clothes , or else you get nothing.The villagers refused and threw the missionaries out. Another incident of persecution of the noble christian missionaries in India. Damn you India.Bloody fascist country....
yes, yes if nothing else let us accuse the hindus of caste. it doesnt matter that christian countries openly practised slavery. it doesnt matter that predominantly hindu india has a non hindu as the head of state and gave its highest award to mother theresa. it doesnt matter that christians were the ones that ruled hindus and subjected them to discrimination for 400 years. nope hinduism is all about caste and discrimination. never mind the fact that all of hinduism's holy books were written by lower castes.
But hey, I understand. Your social standing in India might be adversely affected if 200 million "untouchables" suddenly cast off a cultural system which has oppressed them for hundreds of years and embraced Christianity--which teaches, dangerously, that all men and women are equal in the sight of God--and indeed teaches that the pariah will enter Heaven while the Brahman will most likely go straight to hell. (See the parable of the rich man and Lazarus).
i have a thread posted here that talks about affirmative action in india with quotas in colleges of about 50-60%. 200 million untouchables are holding the levers of power in india today. but let us not talk about that. let us go on with hindu bashing
Dangerous, very dangerous.
yes this bigotry against hindus is dangerous. and invoking christ for all this hatred is despicable.
Actually I was being sarcastic about the prayer stuff. I stopped praying long time ago. To be precide , couple of days before my 10th grade exam. Math paper. I prayed , prayed and prayed. And suddenly realised that I was wasting my time. Spent more time working out some equations instead. Did well. Since then , I never ever prayed and preferred to study harder instead . That was my 'big realization'....Worked well for me so far....I recommend everybody try it.
What caste are you, if I may ask?
we are both americans and we are both using the same time to post here. it is ignorance that causes you to lash out at another set of people. nothing christian, american or conservative about it. i have been to india several times and i know what i am talking about.
i am not sure. probably the christian caste. /sarcasm
Haha....I am more of a hardcore capitalist than the most hardcore capitalist. Karl Marx I am not. Hindu religion is very flexible.Open to individual interpretation and conscience . I can pray. Or not pray. I can be a theist , atheist , monotheist or a polytheist. And yet , I will be no more or no less a hindu.
Also , if I may answer the question , "What caste are you, if I may ask?"......
.....the 'capitalist' caste.
Since you are so interested in 'caste' , I was wondering what caste are your African christian brothers ? You know - the chaps who are starving and rotting to death ? They are christians too....all equal in the eyes of the lord......I'm sure...
Lucky for them Christianity is an egalitarian faith and treats everybody equally ........where would they be if not for Jesus the Savior.....
honestly this has nothing to do with christianity or discrimination. christianity has also helped india to an extent hasnt it. our anglo judean values have been a positive influence on hinduism and india. i am not justifying british occupation of your country but compare that to the islamic rule and savagery.
You misunderstand. I sincerely have nothing against christianity. Its just that some folks here seem to take a delight in pointing out the condition of poor in India as being related in some way to the hindu religion. I am just bringing to their notice that things are not so hunky-dory for many hundred million christians in Afica and South America. In their zeal to convert the hindu pagans , they seem to have forgotten those who have already converted. What is the guarantee that the fate of the hindu untouchables who convert to christianity will be different from that of the African Christians ?
As bad as situation in some parts of India may be , atleast things have improved tremendously in the last 15 years , and you wont find the kind of poverty and depravity that exists in Africa.
I would hand over pictures of starving Africans to the poor folks in India visited by over-zealous missionaries and ask them , 'They are christians. Do you want to be like them' ?
I tend to agree with you that the majority of the Hindu people are non-violent and peace loving. Nonetheless there is an established Hindu religious/political party that is committed to "cleansing" the country of non-Hindu religions. Kill a few of the leaders and we'll chase the rest of them off.
You miss a point of logic in your response to my post. I don't believe that the majority of Hindus in India are anything other than peace loving. What you miss and need to focus on is that there is an organized and established policy by a Hindu religious/party to eliminate non-Hindu religions in the country. While the violence comes from a minority of fanatics, it still creates a climate of fear and intimidation. While you were offended at my comments, I am offended at the murder of pastors and priests in order to create terror and stifle promotion of the Gospel. I was aware that the murderer has been sentenced to death. Thank you for reminding me of that.
Christians ARE being persecuted in parts of India. Some of them are my personal friends. Sheesh...you guys really are "hindufacist". Put a cork in it.
that is soo true of policies of christian organisations based here. isnt it the aim of christian missionaries to convert everyone to christianity?? how is that true from your above statement. by the way christians engage in a lot of violence in india and in africa too.
hindus are anything but organised. otherwise india would have been a hindu nation a long time back. hindus and jews are probably two sets of people that are always engaged in endless debate and fratricidal conflicts.
Once in a while I read in newspapers that somewhere some priests got beaten up. So, definitely there are radical Hindu elements who dislike Christians. But their ire is mainly concentrated on Muslims rather than Christians I guess.
Frankly, I despise whiners, especially those who cry about discrimination in democratic societies. India inspite of her poverty is still a democratic society. To be fair, Indians have elected more non-majority faith people into power than probably any other country in the world. Infact, I do plan to go back there after I graduate like so many other friends of mine.
BTW, I sport a Texan flag on my profile because I love this country, not because I hate India.
Permit me to ask one very simple question. "Why am I (meaning you) here?"
I would be interested in your response to that question, based on your Hindu beliefs.
>> Just like Al Qaeda broke US laws , you mean ? <<
No, sluaghtering thousands of innocent people is against Natural Law. No-one needs to be told by the state that that is heinious; any decent, sane, rational person can know how shockingly evil such an act is.
But we're not talking against laws against slaughtering thousands of innocent people, or even laws against aiding and materially abetting such criminals. We're discussing people talking and giving away food, not blowing up airplanes and buildings.
That I have to tell you that both sickens and horrifies me.
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