The Catholic Church, the Christian Brothers, Ruchika Girhotra: a synoptic reading
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As you know from my other blog. I am a sucker for things Catholic without being one. I have always had & have close Roman Catholic clerical friends. I have studied the Bible as an academic discipline from a very well-known seminary. I have lectured in Catholic seminaries, novitiates and written extensively in my regional Catholic newspaper. In short, hardly anyone who knows me can accuse me of religious bias or writing from a motive of lambasting Catholicism in India.
Now what did Jesus teach us? What has the Magisterium of the Church taught us over the centuries? & what has the gross, ignominious Christian Brothers’ pedophilia scandal taught the Church? If we are to go by the Ruchika Girhotra case; nothing, nada. Full stop. The Church in India is in a face saving mode. Let us investigate the case in some detail.
There is this monster, a smaller version of Ravana. He also sports a moustache worthy of the Rakshasa King, he goes by the name of S.P.S Rathore. This Rathore smirks confidently not from the conviction meted out against him but from the joy he brings to the heart of many for having rid us of innocence. After all, Ravana has his secret admirers. Abatement or not, he could toss Ruchika off for ever. (Here a small digression: when Duryodhana was born, they say the foxes howled and the asses brayed and monsters sprang up everywhere). So Rathore, the molestor, naturally had aides provided by Mr. Satan everywhere. They say the anti-Christ will come from within the Church. He found a natural ally in a hierarchy-respecting institution, often run by the fear of Divine retribution. Like most evils, the individual was rolled over for the common good. Inhumanity once again got the chance to put on the garb of sanctity and set Ruchika Girhotra on her way to self-slaughter.
The first reaction of the Christian Brothers to the exposé of their evil was of frank and Clintonian denial. We never did anything. The victims are persecuting us for money. We are God’s elect. Period.
The Church in India is simply not courageous enough to accept what it did to Ruchika Girhotra. I ask the Bishops and Archbishops, sirs, have you forgotten Liberation Theology, have you forgotten Bishop Romero? Have you not realized the teaching of the Lord: the Truth shall set you free? I thought that Catholicism stood for emancipation from structural evil.
Before the Judge who judges us all holds you accountable, get rid of these institutions where the poor are anathema and embrace the Lady of Poverty. Every Saint of the Church has extolled Religious Poverty, embrace it or the Church will perish. Catholic educational institutions for the most part, are within the iron grips of the worse kind of capitalism and consumerism. The poor and the marginalised have no place in this system.
Head masters and principals, please ask your students whether they know of the Beatitudes. Behind your backs they just call you ‘admission Fathers/Brothers/Sisters”.
Please pray for me for the united wrath of the Catholic Church will be on me now.
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