" Faith is a factor that
unites , but sharing it with people of other religions through dialogue ,
brings unity and harmony. Faith is sustained by love. Faith must be shared".
This is the message
Msgr. Sual
Niranjan Singh, Bishop of the Diocese of Sambalpur (Orissa), gives to AsiaNews
about his life as a Dalit , Christian and priest in India , on the eve of World
Mission Sunday 2013.
For
the prelate, tomorrow's celebration is an "encouragement" , mainly
because the call made by Pope Francis to "share their faith" has
"the power to transform society and the world". Below we publish the testimony of Msgr. Singh.
Originally, I belong to the Archdiocese of
Cuttack-Bhubaneswar. My father is a retired U.P. school teacher and my mother
is a house wife. We are five children. I am the eldest. One of my sister is a religious of the Holy Cross
congregation. I have two other sisters and a brother who are married. After
passing out from a school of my native place, I went to the Bharadwaj Morning
Star Seminary in Calcutta. I did my Philosophy in Pune and Theology in Khristo
Jyoti Mohavidyaloyo Regional Theologate, where I am teaching now. I did my M.Th
in Vidyajyothi and my doctorate in Urbanian University.
I took as my Motto, "United in Love and Service"
To live the Gospel in the world esp in the
Orissa context, we are all called to be at the Service of the people, I as
bishop, but each one, in their own calling. For Service, it is essential to
have the Spirit of Unity, to be united to be able to Serve, empowered by the
Love of Christ.
Unity Love and Service are three important
Christian virtues, and have been the
instruments of expressing our Christian Faith- reflective of the
Communion and Love of the Holy Trinity.
I am deeply humbled to serve the Church, in
this glorious celebration of 50 years of Vatican II which enabled us to
understand the Church in a new way. Adapting the life of the Church in the
daily situation of the world.
Our Mission is oriented according to the needs
of the people, through our Love for Christ.
In Orissa, regrettably, divisions exists at
various levels in society, and this causes
groupism, to defend and protect themselves against the other. Unfortunately, suspicions' and hostilities
exist between peoples and religions as well, besides the indigenous groups and
the Dalit.
Sadly, while we celebrate India as a land of
tolerance, here in India, the widening gap between peoples and religions are a
worrying divisive trend.
Missionary activities amid persecution in Orissa
We face persecution and opposition on one
pretext or another in every village. There
is a strong movement going on against all types of missionary activity. But
basically we see that people who are good-willed, especially those who really
fear God, experience peace in their life. They are open to the varied messages
taught by different religions, particularly the gospel message, which is very
challenging. I am sure the life of
Christ and the message of Christ are very appealing to the dalits and tribals. We
are not saying everything will be influenced by the message. It is enough that
at least the message goes to the heart of the people and they will be
enlightened by the Word of God, by the words of Christ. That enlightenment will help them overcome most of
the problems of life. So my missionary work will be one of removing darkness
from the minds of people and enlightening them with the message of Christ. It
will help them see the others as their own brothers and sisters, spread good
feelings of cordiality, brotherhood and peace among people, even if they belong
to different religions or castes. They will, in short, think of the other
person or their neighbour as their own.
Coexistence in Khandamal is possible
I grew up in Khandhamal and lived there until I
was ordained a priest and so the entire area is very familiar to me. I love the place. I love the people there,
whether they be Hindus or Christians. Whoever
belongs to Kandhamal has a place in my heart. I have been away from there
during the last eight years when I have been teaching in the seminary. My basic
attitude towards the people of all religions is one of love. I extend my total
support to all the people there despite the fact that there are some among them
who are creating trouble. Therefore, even in the midst of oppositions, we have
love for the people of the area and we will continue to do whatever we can to
bring peace and justice to the area.
However, we are greatly encouraged by Pope
Francis' message for World Mission Sunday 2013 - faith must be shared. Faith as a basis for unity, Faith is a
unifying factor, but also sharing faith among people of other religion, through
dialogue also brings about unity and harmony.
Faith is supported by love.
The Second Vatican Council emphasized in a
special way how the missionary task, that of broadening the boundaries of
faith, belongs to every baptized person and all Christian communities.
The work of evangelization often finds
obstacles, not only externally, but also from within the ecclesial community,"
Pope Francis writes." Sometimes there is lack of fervor, joy, courage and hope
in proclaiming the Message of Christ to all and in helping the people of our
time to an encounter with him." He balances the demand for energetic apostolic
work, however, with an insistence that evangelism should never involve pressure
or force.
Evangelization necessarily involves leading people
to the Church, the Pope continues. "Evangelization is not an isolated
individual or private act; it is always ecclesial."
Faith as a basis for Unity
Sambalpur covers 9 revenue districts, has more
than 40,000 Catholics. It has a total of about 70 to 80 priests, including both
diocesans and religious. The Catholics of the diocese are mostly tribals.
The people of Sambalpur are largely farmers
living in villages. Some of them are daily wage earners. Although almost all of them own some land,
it does not fetch them much. Some of them who work as salaried employees in
towns like Sambalpur and Jharsuguda are well off, but they are a small group. Majority
of them are daily wage earners or farmers.
I will extend my service to the people of other faith, especially in the
field of education and health. These are
the two areas where the people here need help. Also, I will have to do
something to better the lot of the poor, who are a sizeable number.
What it means to be a
Dalit and Christian
I am a
Dalit, in my childhood I had gone through this discrimination as a dalit. I'll
give you an example. I had to walk through a high caste village for going to
school. Whenever we wore slippers or
used an umbrella or wore a new shirt or things like that, we used to hear
people ask us to remove them. We could walk out of the class only after others
had left. I had gone through all that. But now, after becoming a priest, I feel
that our attitude should not be to repeat the experiences that we had in the
past. Our attitude is to change that experience into an experience of communion
and an experience of coming together, realizing that we are all children of
God. And as a bishop my task would be to care for my own community and also
other communities. I will endeavour to bring about harmony and peace among the
various communities.
Pope
Francis "World Mission Day" message, that Faith has to be shared, has the power
to transform society and the world, Faith in Christ illumines and dignifies
humanity and is the agent for social transformation- not just spiritual - of
the world and has to power to bring about a new world order- of Justice,
Dignity and Equality of the human person.
Because of
Faith our family has become dignified, we have come up through faith, My grandfather embraced Christ when we was
around 55 years old, since then, the selfless service of the Christians
missionaries, the Congregation of the Mission (CM) of Spain and the MSFS, have
raised us to the dignity through Faith. Christian
brought us enlightenment, dignity and I am deeply indebted to our mission
fathers who brought to Orissa the Light of the Gospel, which has liberated us,
from a life condemned to poor
downtrodden and marginalised. Humanity of our time needs the secure light that
illuminates its path and that only the encounter with Christ can give.
Faith,
Dignity, Equality are interrelated, interwoven and inseparable, with
Faith. Faith urges us to we work for the people, the downtrodden, the
outcasts, the women to cultivate the culture of dignity and equality to all
peoples and work to bring about harmony between groups especially the weaker sections
of society. This is a Christian
Mandate. Our Faith in Christ compels us
to respect others, and work for the upliftment of others particularly those who
are despised by society.
There is a
deep integral unity and cohesiveness in Pope Francis' world mission day
message, and his own way of Life and manner in which the Holy Father fulfils
his Petrine Ministry.
St Paul
says, "Faith without good works is useless, and our faith
compels us to mitigate the miseries in the world, and we as a followers of
Christ, we cannot be mere spectators to the misery of the people. We are called to deepen our faith and serve
the people, through the various apostolate of the Catholic Church, healing
wounds of ostracization, marginalisation and deprivation through Faith and
works of Christ' mercy. Our activities
flow from the wounded Heart of Christ, and it is our Faith which compel us to
serve with Christ's Love live it in charity.
Pope
Francis through the example of his own simplicity, is an example for me to
follow, as a Bishop. By sharing the in
the lives of the poor, and sharing in their difficulties and challenges, and
giving people, the best gift, the Sharing of Faith, which has the power to
transform and dignity, empower and liberate, unite and bring to fulfilment,
through the Love of Christ."
This is
Pope's Francis, World Mission Day, Message, being fulfilled in our lives,
celebrating fifty years of the Second Vatican Council.