CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Economic Migrants in the Priesthood

By Qrious

You can put on a robe - white or saffron - and then even cover the waist by a band - purple or black - and then look into the eyes of gullible folks and expect of them to look up to you, while seeking a dose of veneration.

The gullible say that they respect the robe, not the individual within, when their blind following is challenged.

If this concept is modeled beyond the religious realm, a karate man who holds a belt - black, brown or whatever - is also entitled for veneration in equal measure; he has every right to be up in arms, if discrimination is committed on this occasion, robbing him of the prospect of having a similar chance of respect. He is good at perfoming stunts too, although they are physical in nature.

The interview [ http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2008/08/10/fea04.asp ] given by an individual, who is in a robe, while calling himself a Bishop, to a national newspaper raises more eyebrows, than addressing the issues he has already created for us.

Throughout the interview, he has been tongue-in-cheek: his so-called meetings with the southern extremists, the JVP and JHU, to clarify his position; his blatant lies about the non-existence of mines in the church premises on his watch; the movement of the statue to appease the Tigers and then bringing it back on their defeat; his determination to get a peace zone created around the church premises for the 'safety' of the pilgrims and of course the pilgrims in disguise too.

Bishop Rayappu Joseph has not showed a trace of what a priest stands for in this interview: love, faith and hope. Neither does he show the aura of a priest, the enviable saintly appearence of a dignified figure.

Faith in the Trinity - God, Christ and the Holy Spirit - love and hope are the main pillars that Christianity is based upon. Bishop Rayappu's murmers are neither religious nor political; just pure verbal garbage, implying outright ignorance on both fronts.

Verbal garbage is produced by folks who talk against their conscience. Bishop Rayappu knows in his heart, no matter how stony that it is, the game he has been playing, while pulling wool over his superior, the Archbishop Oswald Gomis, who is maintaining a political silence while his subordinate strays into the unchartered territory of sin.

Maintaining political silence is not good for the Church in the long run. The Catholic Church has always been controversial during times of conflicts: its conduct in the Second World War - supporting the Nazis and even during the apartheid in South Africa, are two cases in point. The conduct of some priests, including the big guns, has been not very religious, judging by the law suits that mushroom across Europe and America; unfortunately, they haven't learnt a lesson - not yet.

The Anglican Church is on the brink of falling apart on the issue of gay priests - and again for failure to call a spade a spade.

Bishop Rayappu Joseph personifies the failings of the Church. He is a man who walks the tight rope of spirituality while holding onto his racial sentiments dearly. The Tiger is the pole he holds to stay in balance. This is a dangerous stunt and his fate as well as the reputation of the very institute he represents, of course, is hanging in the balance. The day he is going to be on the precipice of oblivion is not too far away, I must warn this man.

The problem is that Bishop Rayappu is of the view that his verbal diarrhoea will go unchallenged. In a land where religious hierarchies are venerated like demigods, this is hardly surprising. But he must understand that we don't live in the Middle Ages; this is the 21st century.

The existence of rogue elements like Bishop Rayappu is endemic not only in the Catholic Church but in other religious institutes as well. The effect is obvious; social coherence is laid thread-bare. We still look down on the poor and the underprivileged; we look up to thugs; we laugh at the unfortunate.

What is less clear is the cause. It is the failure of the high priests to set an example. Bishop Rayappu Joseph is not the only one, he is just one of them - may be the most famous one.

So how do we produce rogues like Bishop Rayappu Joseph in the first place? It is by letting individuals migrate to priesthood due to economic circumstances not pious impulses within - on a dream ticket.

The individuals who became priests due to economic reasons love carnal things and the doctrine that they are supposed to stick to gets in the way when it comes to addressing them. This leads to frustration, and it has the potential to snowball. So, they deprecate around the very institute that they are supposed to protect.

There are good priests who became so owing to true religious impulses. Unfortunately, they are in a minority and the moment they raise the head over the parapet wall of authority, they run the risk of being branded as rebels.

In this context, we are not surprised at the behaviour of Bishop Rayappu Joseph. He surely is an economic migrant to priesthood. He doesn't show compassion; nor does he show his allegiance to the Holy Trinity. He cannot cover his tracks in admiring 'thambi' - Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Jesus Christ warned about the arrival of the Antichrist in disguise, exactly like him, almost 2000 years ago. I am not sure whether he said that it would take place in the northern part of an island nation in the Indian Ocean. I have a vague feeling that it is the case. Because, the first job of an Antichrist is to silence the superiors; and hasn't the Archbishop shown early signs of that?

There is room for a healthy debate.

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