Seminaries Full in Southern India (despite new anti-conversion law)

Zenit News Agency ^ | April 11, 2006

[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."

[Cronos]

There have been well documented incidents of christians massacring hindus in india!! (i think these are along areas bordering china. not sure)

uhh,,, actually no, not in Independent India. The N-E consists of people separated by geography, ethnicity and language from the rest of India -- and this was exacerbated by the fact that they were economically ignored by the central government. In fact, now that India is reaching out to its N-E, the rebellions there have died down. I'd call them akin to the fuss over Chhatisgarh -- the people there thought that MP was too big and the govt there was ignoring them, so they asked for a separate state to improve their lot.

What is happening in Kashmir is different -- it's got an infusion of islamofascists.

[Cronos]

Imagine calling me a Hindu Baiter. Just because they resent the Portuguese Flag.

nope, 'cause you're an indian, of Indian descent who flies the Portuguese flag due to some colonial hang-up.

[Cronos]

Imagine calling me a Hindu Baiter. Just because they resent the Portuguese Flag.

nope, 'cause you're an indian, of Indian descent who flies the Portuguese flag due to some colonial hang-up.

[Cronos]

Why doesn't your christian god show any mercy for them ? Why dont you good christian brothers do something for them ? Why does your christian god hate his people in africa ?

our Christian God does show mercy for them. There ARE missionaries there, working for the poor and war-weary. They do spread largesse out there as well as in India. Do you think that's wrong? Our good Christian brothers DO work in Africa, in America, in Europe -- hey, even on the streets of Rome there are poor to be looked after. Our Christian God does not hate anyone, God, by His definition, is Love. So, if there is some Christian preaching hate, he/she is going against the tenets of Christianity. understood?

[sniper22]

Neither am I impressed by what I see about christian Americans. I work in a business where there is a lot of interaction between me and my US colleagues. We get along fine....have the same economic/ political/ geo-strategic outlook...love Dubya .Great chap. .............Islam /leftist bashing is a favorite sport .............but we never talk about our respective faiths , hinduism or christianity. From what I have seen here , its better that way. With your 'my relgion superior to yours attitude' , you will lose a lot of friends.

[sniper22]

Cronos....that was a response to some guy asking me what have your hindu gods done for those poor untouchables. Thats all.

[Cronos]

A law banning FORCED conversion is fine, but a blanket law banning ALL conversions is WRONG. That goes against the rights of persons to practise their faith. If tomorrow a Hindu wants to come and tell me about his/her faith, well and good, I can tell them I dont' want to listen or I can listen and he/she must be ready for criticism. Ditto for any Jehovah's witness.

In return, Hindus must accept that there will be people standing on street corners handing out Bibles and saying "If you want to listen, then hear this!" -- to which you are free to stop and listen or walk past.

There are no instances of Christian missionaries in India holding a gun to someone's head and telling them to convert. The cases you talk about "bribed" conversions are pure hearsay, there is no proof of that. If perhaps some people think that by converting they will get a monetary benefit, they are wrong. But, if they get monetary aid as standard charity, how dare you say that that is akin to a gun to the head? The person can refuse the charity. If a missionary says he/she will only help Christians, thats the missionaries choice -- there are, as you say, plenty of hindu priests and sants who can help the poor out. So, the poor win either way, which is a good thing.

[Cronos]

That remains to be seen. At the present time, the jury is still out.

Who made you the jury ? Your christian god ?

Are you guys even LISTENING to yourselves? You are all taking extreme views of "the other side is wrong, plain wrong, full stop" and making statements that give the other side no option but to attack.

The FACT is that India as a whole allows Christians to practise their faith freely and even to preach (despite some Hindutva attacks). The FACT is that Christian missionaries have, to the large part, in India, been working primarily for helping the poor and underprivileged, with no aim of them converting to Christianity.

[Cronos]

So will that 'Almighty God' be a hindu god or a christian god ??

That Almighty God, to Antoninus and I, will be Christ, so yes, we do believe that there is only ONE God, OUR God.

Saying that does not mean I don't respect YOUR choice to believe in whatever you want to or don't want to believe as long as you let me believe in mine (and do note Hindus and Christians generally follow that live and let live policy, only muslims don't).

If you wish to believe that you will be judged by YAma and be reborn in different incarnations until you finally merge into Brahman, hey, that's your choice. I can tell you why I don't believe in what YOU believe in and why I believe in what I believe in, but it's finally YOUR CHOICE.

[Cronos]

by the way feeding a poor person is a lot different from blackmailing a poor person to break with his roots for a bag of rice.

Really? Any proof for this beyond hearsay? Have there really been instances in which the missionary says "Convert or you dont' get this bag of rice"? Got any proof for that?

[sniper22]

I dont think charity works. I dont think relgious missionaries - hindu/christian/whatever can really do much for the poor. Feeding a person once or twice is fine. You might even get him to convert to your faith and fulfil your soul harvesting fantasies. But poor will remain poor. Instead of wearing a hindu thread , they might end up wearing a cross. Or perhaps instead of worshipping Shiva , they may worship Jesus. Or vice versa. But poor they will contibue to remain. A change of faith is purely cosmetic and probably gets one temporary material relief.

But real reduction in poverty comes from the slightest change in macro-economic policies. India moved ever so slightly from a socialist country to being a a mildly capitalist one in 1991 , and since then the changes have been dramatic. Poverty has decreased from 45% of the population in 1990 to the present 20% , inspite of an increase in population by 23% in the same period. Meaning every year since 1991 , 20 million Indians have been rising out of poverty.

This happened not because Mother Teresa and the sisters at Missionary of Charity went on an overdrive.....but because of simple economics. Government getting out of business. Restrcitions on trade being removed. Allowing the markets to rule.

All relgion are pretty useless in my ever so humble opinion. There is only one God and his name is the 'Market'. Let him rule , and everybody will be happy.

[Cronos]

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).

Antoninus, you've got it wrong. To Hindus in urban India, caste is mostly non-existent. To those in the villages I guess it still plays a role. But, and a BIIIIG But, caste is more a case of Hindu CULTURE than religion (there's no clear dividing line), so you do have Muslims and Christians divided by Caste (again with the urban-rural divide).

And, there are many Christians in India who are converts (or whose ancestors were converts) from the upper castes -- even the Brahmins (examples in Kerala and Mangalore).

Christianity is not a religion only for the untouchables, but for all -- the equality works both ways. Also, the Dalits are now realising that there is reverse discrimination in their favor played out by the political parties, so they are bettering themselves.

To sniper: "Are you sure everybody is equal in christianity ? Tell that to the hundreds of millions of christians in Africa , who are rotting and starving to death. I am sure they will be pleased. " what's that got to do with equality as preached by Christianity? They should feel privileged at being part of such a great faith

Yup, the fact of Christianity is that it prepares you for the AFTER-LIFE, it doesn't hold out great magic works in THIS life or say that if you convert you will win the lottery. Rather, Christianity preaches that if you convert, you WILL face hardships, people WILL persecute you (and this not only includes converts from other faiths but people who convert from being just Christian in name to strong believers).

[sniper22]

A minor correction. Below Poverty line population has decreased from 45% of the population in 1990 to the present 25%.

[Cronos]

Lucky for them Christianity is an egalitarian faith and treats everybody equally ........where would they be if not for Jesus the Savior.....

Yes it is an egalitarian faith -- all are equal in the eyes of God.

[Cronos]

Aha, again you err NYer in considering Hinduism to have a central tenet of belief. It doesn't -- sniper here says (s)he is an athiest. Very well, that still falls under the broad spectrum of being Hindu. The broadest spectrum will say that even Christians, Sikhs and Muslims of Indian origin are Hindu...

[Cronos]

Ah, a voice of reason.

[Cronos]

Especially on Thursdays.

Why Thursdays?

[CarrotAndStick]

I'm not sure why. I guess Thursdays are holy in the Hindu week.

[Cronos]

3 centuries of christian rule and yet survive.

Dude -- British rule was not "Christian" rule in the sense that Islamic rule was, well Islamic rule. The Brits were interested in trade first and foremost. The PORTUGUESE were interested in spreading the word of God.

[Cronos]

well CTID, this thread seems to have pulled out the worst in people and made them say hasty, hateful statements.