Tamil Nadu Dalit Christians raise voice against discrimination
Salem, (Tamil Nadu), Aug 7: In protest of the continuous discrimination the Dalit Christians of Tamil Nadu have raised their voice and demanded for setting up a new Rite named “Indian Dalit Rite”.
According to a latest published in the Dalit Christian Digest https://dalitchristiansdigest.com, a civil society group named Tamil Nadu Dalit Christian Coalition (TNDCC) that champions the cause of the Dalit Christians has strongly pleaded for creation Indian Dalit Rite.
In protest of the continued discrimination against the Dalit Christians in Tamil Nadu Catholic Church, the TNDCC proposed this new Rite as “Indian Dalit Rite” which will be within the Catholic Church but under the direct governance of the Pope and the Holy Sea. This was made public on August 4 at the YMCA Salem.
According to its convener G. Mathew over 100 delegated from Tamil Nadu and neighboring states participated in the preliminary discussions on this issue at the August 4 meeting. In the same meeting Mathew and his colleagues Ms Nalini, E Vellarasu, Sr. A G Alphonsa and V Vincent made an announcement of the Indian Dalit Rite. Supreme Court lawyer Franklin Caser Thomas explained the need and necessity of the Indian Dalit Rite in the present context.
Former Jesuit Provincial of Andhra Pradesh Father A X J Bosco presented a paper on the possibility of this Rite referring to many indigenous Rites around the world.
Mathew said that Dalit Christians in India are facing several problems including appointment of Dalit priests as Bishops.
“All over India, there are 174 Dioceses and 18 such Dioceses are in Tamil Nadu. Each Diocese is headed by a Bishop and the Bishops of select Archdioceses are called Archbishops. The caste-based discrimination in the appointments of Bishops has become a matter of concern in recent times,” Mathew said in a statement.
In India, there are 180 bishops among them only 10 are from the Dalit community. But 80% of the Catholic population in India are Dalits. Among the 18 Bishops in Tamil Nadu, only 1 is from the Dalit community. In India, there are 31 Archbishops. Among them, only 2 are from the Dalit Community. Among the 4 cardinals from India, none belongs to the Dalit Community.
In Tamil Nadu, in the past 15 years, 12 Bishops have been appointed and no Dalit priest has been considered for Bishopric. This clearly illustrates the fact that the Church is indeed biased and caste-based. The non-Dalit population of the Catholic Church is around 30% but, the majority of Church administrative positions are occupied by them. The Church that preaches justice and liberation to the downtrodden has been oppressing them for decades.
The present Pope Francis has called for the immediate removal of all forms of oppression in the Church and invited the faithful to embrace the legacy of the culture that a faithful hails from and imbibe the values of Christ to respect one another.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) declared a Dalit Empowerment policy on December 13, 2016. The 10-point program proposed by the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council in 1990 and the 8-point action plan in 2004 echoed the same thought process.
In the past 30 years, on many occasions, the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council and CBCI have acknowledged the fact that the caste-based discrimination in the Church is a reality and expressed its dismay over the negligence and failure on the part of the Church and even proposed several measures to alleviate this inhuman practice.
“But, keeping all these promises in abeyance, the Church has betrayed the Dalits once again and appointed two Non-Dalit Priests as Bishop of Salem on May 31, 2021, and Trichy on June 29, 2021, which clearly shows that the Tamil Nadu Bishops are not yet ready for introspection, but the Dalit Catholics are determined to put up tough resistance to the negligence of the Church,” said Mathew.