The Secular Religious

When one is in crisis, unlike trying to solve it as a problem, it is to be seen as an occasion for change by facing it squarely. It needs to be lived through for such change. Therefore, it becomes a creative moment of time and grace. Looking over the transformative elements of the religious life the Conference of the Major Superiors of Men in 2010, stated that religious life “will serve a prophetic role in the Church and society. Living this prophetic witness will include critiquing societal and ecclesial values and structures, calling for systemic change and being converted by the marginalized with whom we serve” (n.1). This will be achieved through a spirituality of wholeness, “participation and harmony among all peoples” “characterized by inclusivity and intentionality.” This ‘mixed-family’ approach to religious community living and working is being seen in view of its continuity and sustenance in the changed cultural reality. This expanded membership is part of the need for such realism.

We have grown suspect of seminars, conferences, study days, proposition papers, and idealistic brain storming sessions, most of which remain ‘caught’ on papers, books and files stacked in the shelf. The changes in constitutions, directories and policies are proofs that we are far behind the real situation. What is needed to start with is realism: cultural, social, economic, political and religious realities as found in one’s own context. Otherwise, all talks, discussions and decisions would turn to be ‘empty formulations’.

The direct and indirect inter-relational living, as mentioned above, is far from realization as we are already dipped into an ‘aged alienation and anxiety’(Richard Schacht, Alienation, 1970, in Fiand Barbara, Where two or three are gathered, p. 18). In order to be prophets and critique of the societal and Church values we need to transcend the alienation stage while being along with the culture (and not counter-culture). Therefore, we need to grow into personal, cultural and religious consciousness; and see the religious living in such light. We need to cultivate a culture of direct communication and inter-dependency (multi-disciplines approach); address personal issues in personal way, individual issues in private settings, and not public yet passive manipulation or blame game, ‘reverse oppression’ and ‘return of tribalism’ (team visits and centralization) forgetting the prophetic quality of religious living.

My personal experiences affirm that the trend of presumed permission, daytime free outings and making leisure time out of one’s ministry, redefine obedience itself; or for example one taking up responsibility, confirming it and then ‘informing’ the authority. Added to this, there is always the ‘justified permission’ to run the show the way one wants i.e. subtle living of Obedience (religious life) on one’s own decision. This seems to be the “Vocation culture” today. Are we individual­ or community oriented? The early Christian community had a common objective; individual plan was sacrificed for the community’s sake. Religious life is one of renunciation, Tyag Bairagi (Vivekananda). Anniversary, jubilees, feasting, taking people out for treat, annual gatherings and celebrating any ‘made-up’ occasions with assumed permission are on the increase. All these are taken for granted, often initiated by an individual in the community, but accepted by the rest.

Agreeing with Aloysius Pieris, the Indian Theologian Michael Amaladoss distinguishes between the ‘option to be poor’ and the ‘option for the poor’.  The ‘option to be poor’ is common to all religions, the ‘option for the poor’ is specific to Christianity. Therefore, to work for the poor, be poor first; to be poor to be more effective. Having two/three rooms/offices occupied for self, is certainly a sign of an upper middle class status. A Religious’ room being cleaned by sweepers, is sign of such living style. The secular subtly has set in religious life. For example, a Religious leader tells that the registration fee for membership to Amway is ‘only’ Rs. 900. (Amway products have a high buying cost). Similarly while on a pilgrimage to Bandel, a confrere decides to buy ice cream for the aspirants, “after all the cost is only Rs. 800 (4 days’ pay of a rural labourer).

True, the present socio-cultural, religious (religion) and institutional development necessitates the use of methods, process, styles, language and concepts that may not be familiar to us. But what about religious asceticism? What about the acquiring of the latest and up-to-date gadgets? Because money is not a concern for us (e.g. Nokia C6, iPhone 7, shoes worth Rs. 3000 and up, spectacles costing above Rs. 10.000 with look-good factor). Having the latest and upgraded mobiles and computers are as casual as changing of clothes. Worst still, one has to enter an AC room to do the accounting, because under the fan the bills fly off!

CAN WE DO WITHOUT PROVINCIAL/REGIONAL COMMISSIONS ? A VIEW POINT

The little we have achieved was not because of, but in spite of, the various Commissions in the Province or in the South Asia Region. It is same as not having the six-year plans penned by the commissions, sometimes disjoined from the proposals, directions and frame of references from the top. Before denouncing this statement as heretical, let’s take a hard look at the facts, however hard to digest.

The Commissions were created by the felt need of some top brass (intellectual superiors) as executive tools. The Commissions are not a constitutional entity, but it enjoys certain structural authority to recommend and execute proposals and plans every 3 or 6 years. Certainly at SPCSA and Provincial levels they produce well defined six-year plans full of fantastic, conceptual and creative ideas and lines of action, (mostly animation, seminars, publications, productions) besides generating reports on its area of work. It is also known to mediate between the Provincial Council and the local communities by generating reports, data, success stories and statistics. These are conveyed to the top for collection than coordination.

Over the 2 decades, the Commissions have grown into sub-committees for a greater representation, some of which need province/regional funds annually to run its meetings, report-producing, publications of ‘papers’/statements and travel apparatus. For the past years, Provincial directories found spaces for them, doling them out to the international SDB directory and archives as a ‘code of conduct’ in the form of ill-conceived and poorly-implemented plans due to non-functional membership. The centrally enforced Plan Schemes, through which the congregational policies get disseminated to local community’s pastoral ministry are not fully utilized there, for they do not speak the already existing functional ‘language’ of the local community and its mission to the culturally different neighborhood.

There is only one mechanism provided in the Constitution for devolution of Central proposals and plans to the locals, that is,  through the Provincial and his council.  But the spirit of the Constitution was subtly defeated by the creation of the Commissions and at time, by giving it exclusive powers, without any constitutional backing, to decide and execute plan thus limiting the scope of the constitutional authority.

The creation of the Commissions necessitated  the entry of budget and expenditure into its own Annual plans, something again without any constitutional sanction. The device used for plan execution and animation are vulnerable to be influenced more by its departmental benefits rather than common congregational/provincial level considerations. Often it enables the Commission heads to arm-twist any policy and program, given the freedom to finalize them.

The centrally chalked out Commission-structure was the innovation introduced by the centre to retain its hold over the local provinces and regions. In the long run aberrations in the structure itself took place that led to huge wastes of human resources. The commissions, now become tied to the provincial council members who are supposed to be just ‘patrons’ and informed-of-what-happens-heads,  and their appointments are unconstitutional as well. In the process, the space for growth and development at the grass root level shrinks. The autonomy enjoyed so far will suffer (hope for the better !) and their flexibility to launch schemes specific to their needs will be curtailed or extra-supported. Other distortions will follow with disparity among various commissions.

A discussion on what the last 16 years of commissions since three General Chapters had achieved will open our eyes. Despite a presumed “growth with stability” through such commissions, “planning and programming from below” and adoption of central structural models of the congregation (borrowed from studied theories and texts) to the local situation, remains a valid truth.  To languish within the structured commissions in order to meet the demands from the top with its structural designs (icons), is a deliberate denial of its failure.

As more ambitious plans are introduced with ever more new and creative frontiers, the number of commissions have to be accommodated, thus making the commission-structure  more powerful by doing the bidding of the  structural demand itself. Its style of functioning, however, increasingly ran counter to the existing needs. Over time, the Commissions determined what was to be executed, by whom, where through how much resources and by what means. After surveying the course of actions by the various commissions taken so far, its productivity has not equaled its investment of personnel, money, space, time and human resources allocated. Naturally, it led to a status quo mode, having them in the directory to meet the needs of the congregational structures, characterized by extensive domination and “commanding heights”.

The size of the commission also grew in tandem, which forced the management to deliberately reduce to four-member each, when it was felt ‘too much waste’.  Sometime, we had 4 dimensional commissions (education & culture, groups & movements, evangelization & catechesis, vocation), other times amalgamation of one with another, adding YaR, Mission and Social Communication to the added number, trying tin infiltrate within each of the four dimensions mentioned earlier. Often such over imposition and super importance only drained out the fuelled energy in the wrong directions and stifled growth. Vital sectors and its internal working (inner spirit and passion) suffered. Red-tapism set in with private investment to personal agenda, crippling the structured commission itself.  Thereafter, the Region/Province had to acknowledge and approve such individual charism (new works) with a forged license on humanitarian ground. This tyranny of the state of affair in the Religious congregation only benefited certain entrenched groups but smothered the common mission of the congregation.

In such a collective and centralized planned structures, social democracy (equality and justice in religious living!), growth and productivity became the ultimate casualties. Instead of attacking the less-usefulness of such structures, the authorities spent time, money and human energy, in consolidating  the commissions. The result is forced impoverishment of the spirit and passion-filled Salesian mission. Add to this the growth of SEPP, EPC, PPC, EPPC, along with their local offshoots at the community level, only heightened the complexity, and  an increase in manpower to man these commissions with new physical structures (buildings, office space, administration) at different hierarchical levels, leading to an impending disaster and economy drainage.

Perhaps the diehard optimist would find its utility. Reforms in the form of ‘Youth Ministry - a frame of reference’  are already a sign that God should drive the cart and not any commission. It is only indicative in nature that the commissions can at best be a facilitator for local communities to function better. But despite the declining effect, the role and importance of the Commission did not diminish. The command and control mindset cannot continue. Command and ‘dictated’ commissions invariably tend to fail because by concentrating power and authority on itself, the normal decision-making process is given a go-by. Plans drawn on the basis of insufficient information and factual knowledge of the situations, if approved and implemented, will  only have disastrous results. Often it is one or two persons’ opinion is approved as collegial decision at the local community. In such a case, inequality increases, growth became sluggish, the centre and the grassroots divide widens, resource allocation to different sectors remains lopsided and ad-hocism reigns supreme. The critical issues that affect the day to day Youth Ministry and Salesian mission – education, evangelization, faith formation, vocation, YaR, etc  remain uncontrolled. There is nothing ‘more irrational than allowing one to proceed unchecked’ with one’s own ideals.

Salesian World certainly deserves better than be led by a set of intellectual technocrats who are obsessed with systemic strategies and corporate structures, far removed from the faith-based Church realities, after all, Salesian Charism is a Church property and not the Salesian society’s own. It is indeed time to realize that in a diversities as ours, where localized intuition, good will, united efforts, sacred sentiments, cumulative skills and talents are abundantly available,  where immediate feelings and ‘moves’ work better, centralized planning does not work much. Collective spurring initiative works better.

Responsibility for planning should be delegated to the appointed Provincial/Regional councilors representing various sectors of the Province/Region.

What we need is expertise with productive ideas

A non-expert who goes to a talk on science is unlikely to claim any knowledge about the subject. But non-experts often come with well-formed ideas. They will firmly believe that the Congregational Commissions were orchestrated by the European and Western set of minds, or that the four dimensional Salesian Youth Ministry was a personal invention of Juan Vecchi (?). The preconceptions generally are closer to conspiracy theories. They are so strongly held that they would seem to be a part of their holders’ religion or psychosis.

Strong convictions of some persons in the society overrun the society itself and they become more equal among equals, while others believe just the opposite. The dialogue of the deaf continues.  Socio-religious experiments always will be tentative and imperfect. It does not claim to transform the youth totally. But by patiently searching for facts and patterns and calmly analyzing the social and ‘inner-political’ mechanisms, it can focus attention on the greater needs of the youth. It can unmask certain preconceived or fraudulent notions, and subject all positions to constant critical scrutiny. What we need today is to be trained to judge the solidity of systems of the past, and eliminate wrong or poorly grounded positions.

Why I suggest to disband the Commissions, is because they seem to me useless. The reason is obvious: whatever its original conception, the Commissions hardly play an intellectual role. It was the product of a systemic and structural religious role. Later it was used to implement some congregational policies.

Anyway, the question remains: what to replace it with?  Whom to plant in the Commissions, and how to bring their wisdom to bear on the ministries. I suggest that there be two meetings of the Rectors and In-Charges annually, divide them according to various sectors and propose policy, plans and programs. The local communities should be free to take their advice.  

In brief, the Commissions, as usually it is, should be converted into a market for ideas and studied proposals; the communities should be the buyers without having to pay. The product should be good ones, which should go into policy. The output of the ‘thought commission’ should be exposed to the critical view of the confreres of the province.

What in place of Commissions?

Planned development and structured “frame of reference” is a must, we know (e.g. “Youth Minstry –a frame of reference”). But it has to be ‘open ended’ and balanced leaving room for urgency and immediate need of the situation and occasion, where ‘six-year plan’ may not fit in, according to the time and need.

Though rigorous planning with foresight has been a ‘forte’ for the Salesians, the fractural ‘credo’ had been: jack of all trade, master of none.  An analytical and systemic mind was not the ‘cup’ for its members. Many carried out this structural commissions without believing in it, especially with the Indian minds. We are more of ‘spurring’ lot, filled with inspired and insightful moments. Often the momentary ‘luck’ has favored us.  We do not feel the need to the stick to the ‘guided staff’, instead to feel at ease to stick out our neck for ease and that is comfortable to us. They become our ‘non-performing assets.’ This style of functioning, that is, looking after our own, leads to a mess of everything. The commission-based planning might be massive stimuli for the European Structural minds. This advancement requires also the social, cultural and administrative empowerment to enable to combine the ‘global’ with the local realities. This will bring enrichment within the commissions themselves.

The Syndrome of Digressed Bachelors

The recent swine flu may be sweep­ing the Western world. Post-modern secularism and New Age mantras are getting wide spread. But a large sec­tion of our congregation has been gripped by an even more destructive virus that has assumed epidemic proportions. This terrible dis­ease, technically termed as SDB (Syndrome of Digressed Bachelors), is more commonly called ‘disgruntled’ or ‘disgraced’(cf. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).

Symptoms: Gas (blowing oneself up) is the most common indicator of SDB. Persons afflicted with the disease emit large quantities of hot trumpeted air particularly at pub­lic meetings, homilies, press (if at all), electronics media (SC, and internet on personal computer) where the atmosphere often becomes foul and noxious because of their emissions. They get caught up within its self-created whirlwind. The gas (airing pride to be printed and televised) discharged becomes espe­cially violent as it puffs up. Consequently, it affects the brain. This is seen from several indica­tions, one of which is, these Salesians dash madly busy in ‘doing,’ releasing huge amounts of hot air at every location and at each successive success. This is known in psychological term as ‘ego’ crazy.

Other symptoms include delu­sions and hallucinations. SDB suf­ferers often believe themselves to be very important persons, the best of all religious lot. Recently more Salesian appointment at the Vatican has blown it up. They have the fantasy of having a right to live in the best and spacious houses and institutes, stone pebbled roads and run around in cars self-driven. A sure sign of SDB is taking credit for the strangest things. For example, a SDB-afflicted person says he is re­sponsible for the growth in the economy of the province, or the eradication of poverty around, or for preserving the Salesian charism and the country's culture. The technical term for this bizarre phenomenon is 'inflammation of the ego'. Unsurprisingly, many of them have a ten­dency to tamper with Salesian history. Some­times, these symtomic patients are gripped by a longing to save the world, with many of them confusing them­selves with Mother Teresa.

Doctors say that the most common physical feature of the disease is the progressive disproportional stomach, because the SDB-afflicted persons have a prodigious appetite. That is why they very often appear to be all puffed-up except those who do daily jogging. Itchy fingers, swallen legs, and diabetes are yet other physical man­ifestations.

In the most virulent cases, the symptoms ap­pear very early. Those afflicted with SDB syndrome often utter non-salesian terms. Some Salesian ac­tivists try their best to ensure their ‘descendents’ too learn them, but with little success. A rumour from somewhere indicates that a diseased member come back to send down the message again and again. Of course we all dream!

Who is at risk?  SDB usually afflicts the middle aged, with the disease erupting in full flower when a person is 70 years and more. Recently, however, there have been quite a few examples of younger persons being stricken with the virus. There are also signs that it's genetic, since it is often seen in several generations of a ‘vast family’.

Anyone in touch with them can become a victim of the disease, but recent trends show that those with a weak ‘constitutional’ background are most at risk. The SDB truly worries us. However, it is also true that ordinary people too can be infected with it but with a variation.

The cure: There is no known cure for SDB, although some say they were cured after listening to the Rector Major or reading the Acts of GC 26 and 27. They point out, though, that this therapy is available only to few.

The good news is that those afflicted can often be quarantined in certain parts of provinces and in the cosmopolitan capitals, where they hibernate before becoming infectious all the more. But the best news is that this illness-and-cure patterns continues on ends till the whole system is immuned to the virus. Till no one knows really that such virus exists! No antidote is available either!

(adapted from Manash Chakraborty, Hindustan Times, 9^th May, 2009)

The Saviour Syndrome in Religious Priests and Leaders

The Parish Priests, Priest Principals, the Religious superiors want to save situation and take the chance to save so for the sake of Christ, Church or the Saint whose charism they propagate. But this saving takes place within a narrow door, protected by rules and norms that are meant to break. It is not unjustified that this saving is done according to the spirit of the law laid down by the Church authority or the institutions. Often so, the relationship between the Office holder and the under-charged are not that friendly. Avoidance is a common answer, therefore, they have lesser friends in the course of time, instead have hostile reaction.

In the closed-up living within a limited community setting, the members grow up with little beyond their own company. That is how the attitudes are developed. The silent or semi-silent hate and hostility goes on nurturing within unnoticed though. For the saviours that we are talking about, it is the feeling that a legacy of leadership has been handed down to others. In this inhuman state of functioning they try to prevent things getting worse. In the meanwhile, implicit criticism pulls down the good effort of saving the situation. This repetition goes on, as imbibed from generation to the next, to keep the candle burning. This is understandable that this happens in continuity with little achievements. The real question is whether too much of admonition or preaching will save the occasion.

One needs to be first among the equals and encourage others to be so. It is easy to understand, therefore, that the organizations in which they belong are moribund; they are born losers, trying to win always. That’s why they go out to save the Church or the Society and not the soul! Neither can we say that they do so out of family spirit, though assumes to be. Does this saving tactic work? This strategy does not work, it becomes a group of sycophants. In the long run the submissive members get a nauseating feeling because of their coddling. What we need is leaders equal to the rest, who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way as equals. Otherwise this stupidity will not have an end.

Religious: Beware of Becoming Braggarts of Faith

At the 69th Sixth monthly Assembly of the Union of Superiors General Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, the then Rector major of the Salesian congregation, elected President of the USG said, “Religious life is prophecy, even if not to be reduced to this alone. More than ever the Church and the world today need a prophetic consecrated life. In a social context where people live more and more “as if God did not exist”, religious life is called to proclaim God`s marvellous plan, and to denounce all that runs contrary to it.” He continued, “Our prophecy, is not something external to us, as happens to certain kinds of prophets, who simply foretell punishment and bad events or with courtly prophets who say what their listeners want to hear, or with social style prophets who curse one economic or social system but canonize another, without seeing the need there is to reshape all of human reality. Consecrated life will be prophetic only if it knows how to give witness to the passionate love of God.”

The Carmelite biblical scholar Carlos Mesters developed on the above theme of prophecy basing on the Bible, the primary inspirational source for religious life, stating: “If we carefully re-read the circumstances of the prophets in the bible in particular the experience of Elias, it becomes easier to see that also in our time apparently ‘without prophets’, new forms of prophecy are on the rise (Charismatic healers, Picking the past sins and memories, foreteller of future mishaps, visionary diagnosis of the sick, etc.). It involves re-reading the past in a different way. The situation of defeat, death, secularization Elias found himself in and which every ‘imprisoned person’ finds himself in, can in fact be perceived as the precise time and place where God unexpectedly reaches out to us.”

Father Josep Abella, Superior General of the Claretians, after reflecting on some experiences of prophecy in present day life, underlined certain constants present in them: a careful observation of reality, an atmosphere of freedom with which we live out our consecration, a clear reference to the founder together with a rediscovery of the charism of foundation; the full awareness that “the poor evangelise us”, a new way of understanding and living the community dimension, a new placement within the Church, discernment and the ability to deal with new questions, constant attention to the major issues of humankind: peace, justice, reconciliation, holistic ecological development. The meeting recalled the prophecy of ordinary consecrated life, the prophetic word of some contemplative communities, the new forms of consecrated life, the prophetic dimension present also in theological reflection and in dialogue with cultures and, finally, the importance of the prophetic presence of consecrated persons in world gatherings where the future of millions of human beings is decided.

The themes further developed were: The prophecy of religious life today; Prophecy and religious community; Challenges and questions raised by society and cultures today for the prophetic dimension of religious life. The meeting focused on the importance of an explicit desire by religious to be prophets, ready to pay the price of prophecy which, if it is truly so, will be especially disturbing to those who are in control and who are responsible for intolerable situations. Therefore, there is no need for “braggarts of faith” who presume to have the answer to all of life`s questions and problems, of health and illness, who proclaim publicly their powers in exaggerated forms. What we need is humble people who entrust themselves to God`s grace, asking him daily and humbly, that they will never succumb to the inevitable and typical temptations of the world we live in, that is, showing off the insight, power  that God gives to us.

The Religious in the Next Generation

                                   

             I had the occasion to update myself through seminars and personal readings on the religious situation in the world and specially in Asia. There exists an affinity between what the Western world thinks and the religious life in Asia actually is. Much of the presuppositions are proved to be true.

            The Western church sees religious life numerically decreasing in Europe, but increasing in Asia. The reason could be that in keeping with the Vatican II, there had been shift on the emphasis from conformity to commitment which is at the basis of the post Vatican II revision of religious rules. This is far challenging than the conformity, which was the bedrock of the previous stage. Commitment demands a life journey that carries one further in following Jesus. The identity of a religious institute, the key issue is to discover to whom the institute is sent because only from that do the what of identity and the how of the mission flow. What appears to me rather interesting is that the question of identity is the voice of the religious in Asia, which reflects the actual state of affairs today, has not been heard adequately and incorporated into principles of action. The voices that had an impact on the documents of the Church relating to the religious, right from the Vatican II were from the West or locals who had been trained in a “foreign” way of thinking.

Based on the presuppositions on which Western society is organized, wide consultation, democracy, local autonomy and similar values are incorporated in the rules of the religious institutes even on our Indian soil. Eastern voices always have been a call for caution as many of the recent documents prove it. The revision was mainly as regards to the education and formation of the religious at the initial stage, drawn broadly from the western culture with its strong influence. With the revival of nationalism and indigenous values as experienced today, we need to give thought to the future formation of the religious. In the midst of the political struggle for the realization of Hindutva, it is important, the spirit and mindset of the religious persons have to be changed progressively. It is difficult to retain one’s identity while taking the best from both worlds. It will run the risk of overshadowing the several cultural elements in the religious training itself. We will run the risk of being called traitors to our heritage.

            In our context, people generally expect protection and blessing from religion, religious and rituals. People are happy that the religious duties are performed on their behalf by religious persons (buying masses). It is therefore, the “cassock” (the habit) that is respected more than the person and great respect is shown to the one committed to religion.

            The changing scenario of the membership of religious institutes is to be taken into consideration. The candidates are mostly from villages and generally are from second-rung intellectual and economic status. Their early formative years are spent under a rather autocratic regime of superiors. Thus, they learn from the very early to “play the game”, to have double dealings in order to “be finally professed” or to “get ordained”.

            When the values currently dominant in society have an influence on growing numbers of the candidates, we can ask what happens to the religious institute’s identity. The question, then, to whom religious are sent tends to be answered in practice. That is, they are sent to those who more readily accept the religious as persons of some status and give them a certain measure of respect and precedence. The religious, therefore, in their habits, are the privileged ones at the bank transaction or at the medical consultation table.

            The general culture of a society exerts a pressure on people to perceive the institute’s identity as normative, how religious carry out their tasks tends to be defined by what ‘people’ like. The crucial issue is whether people are to be built up into a community of fellowship. The Church is the sign and instrument of intimate union with God and the unity of the whole human race. The option of love (agape) as the basis of a Church demands decision of going against the cultural norms (Lk 6:32-36). Jesus obeyed even to the extent of undergoing death, but in that obedience he gave a new direction to the obedience that was claimed in the current society.

            To go by what the people like moves in the directions of building up a clientele for oneself. The clients perhaps know each other; they come for assistance, but they can hardly be called a Church. The celebrations of the Eucharist in some religious communities are clear proofs of this: view them in the light of aims and structure of the Mass as envisaged in the revised Roman Missal to see how this dynamism functions. There, one can, observe the “virtual conquest of space”.

            The religious life numerically is strong. In this transitional stage, with the sociological composition of religious changing, there will be excesses and abuses. God’s action is taking place when history recurs first as tragedy and then as farce. The freedom of the religious of new generation consists in realizing that it is not reaction to something but rather is a skill of discerning God’s plan in the signs of the time and responding to it. The young generation are not comfortable with the “cultural” presuppositions of their religious constitutions, practices and behavioural norms derived from them, especially those of the Greco-Roman heritage, wherein a community is formed, not of people connected by blood, but through a sharing of commonalities. On the other hand, they find that their own cultural world does not function well in their own society. Think of the financial and social worlds of business which is a combination of both the Greco-Roman heritage and local cultural norms. This is not sufficiently addressed in religious life. Lack of commitment, continuing with a project only as long as one’s emotions last, are some of the symptoms that exist in our religious circle. We need to create a climate where the young religious could discover and strongly affirm their own culture enlightened by the Gospels.

            Our Eastern system allows, even encourages the pleasures of sense to take their course until the individual has a sense of ‘disgust’ and a realization of their inadequacy to satisfy one’s longings. It is the path, the media that counts. The goal is already in the path one follows. The time will come when the religious of this generation will truthfully make present the cause of  Jesus in and through the traditions and cultures in which they have lived and from which the previous generation was alienated. Emile Durkheim in his work The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, commented that the wise man is one who has a very clear sense of what he must do, but who would usually be unable to translate it into law. The younger generation of religious, growing up in their own culture may do the right thing and then, perhaps later, others may give it a form. But the question remains: does religious life as an institution challenge the culture or does it simply and uncritically reflect the dominant culture?