Mission Magazine Summer 2023

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Propagation
of the Faith:
Being not afraid
Some 45 years ago, St.
John Paul II, during his
inauguration Mass - which
coincided with World
Mission Sunday- told the
world: “Do not be afraid.
Open, I say open wide
the doors for Christ. To
His saving power open
the boundaries of states,
economic and political
systems, the vast fields of
culture, civilization, and
development.”
1.4 billion inhabitants.
20 million Catholics (1.6 percent of the population).
174 dioceses.
Receives 3 million USD from The Pontifical Missions
USA.
In missionary territories, meaning those places around the world where the
Catholic Church is too young, too poor, or actively persecuted, being not afraid
and carrying Christ’s saving power to all the realms of life is a request that
takes a whole different meaning.
Take, for instance, India: With 1.4 billion inhabitants, the 20 million Catholics
living here represent less than 1.6 percent of the entire population. Even though
Christ was first introduced in this subcontinent in 52 A.D. when Thomas the
Apostle reached what today is the state of Kerala, most Catholics are converts,
and too many, even today, pay the ultimate price for their faith, much like
Doubting Thomas did two millennia ago.
This August marks the 15th anniversary of the carnage that descended upon
the impoverished Christian minority in Kandhamal, a district of the eastern
Indian state of Odisha. A series of riots led by radical Hindus left roughly 100
people dead, thousands injured, 300 churches and 6,000 homes destroyed, and
50,000 people displaced, many forced to hide in nearby forests where more
died of hunger and venomous snakebites.
The violence was carried out by mobs adorned with saffron headbands,
a sign of right-wing Hindu militancy, and shouting slogans such as “Jai shri
ram!” (Victory to the Hindu god). Attackers wielded rods, tridents, swords,
firearms, kerosene, and even acid. Christians who refused to deny Christ were
buried alive, set ablaze, or gutted in front of their children.
In many cases, the government refused to acknowledge the dead because the
wind had carried the ashes away, and most of those killed were so poor that
they had never even been registered as having been born.
To be sure, the 2008 pogrom was hardly an isolated incident. Violence against
Christians throughout India continues routinely today, although on a smaller
scale. In December, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
expressed “outrage” that India had not been designated a “country of particular
concern” by the U.S. State Department’s religious freedom report, claiming the
omission was tantamount to “turning a blind eye (…) to particularly severe
religious freedom violations.”
For example, Christians are passed on for government jobs. State laws
make it virtually impossible to open new parishes in many regions. The
Dalits -formerly known as untouchables in India’s
caste system- lose the affirmative actions taken by
the national government to make up for historical
oppressions. The government’s justification for
depriving Dalit Christians of their rights is that they
have the support of Christians worldwide.
Yet despite the constant threat of physical violence
faced by India’s Christian minority, according to
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai,
Catholics are a “vibrant community, seen not only
in our attendance at Sunday Mass, but also in the
involvement in different activities.”