SEMINAR FOR BISHOPS ON PSYCHOSEXUAL INTEGRATION AND CELIBATE LIFE

I was invited to address the Catholic Bishops of India at a seminar on “Priests for Our Times- the Role of Bishops” organised by National Vocation Service Centre, Pune from 17^th 21^st October. The topic assigned to me was “Psychosexual Integration and Celibate Life.”

There were 33 bishops from all the three Indian Rites.

The topics I explored with the Bishops included: Some contemporary challenges such as general immaturity among priests, celibate loneliness, clericalism, sexual harassment and sexual abuse, healthy formation process and environment, rethinking vocation recruitment, assessment and accompaniment of candidates to the priesthood, training of formators, spiritual direction and the need to put in place policies and procedures to prevent sexual abuse by the clergy, to deal effectively with allegations of abuse and to care for victims of abuse.

The workshop helped the Bishops to address more seriously the issue of Psychosexual and Celibate Integration priests and candidates to the priesthood.

SEPTEMBER OUTREACH

September 5-10.  Programme for Formators - Puri

I facilitated a five-day programme for formators of the Orissa region at Ishopranti Ashram, Puri, Orissa. It was entitled “Healthy Formation Environment and Some Challenges.” There were 19 participants including rectors of seminaries and novice mistresses.

The programme began with a reflection on how participants felt about their ministry of formation and the formation process in general. The person of the formator, the formation environment, healthy psycho-sexual and celibate integration were some of the topics explored.

“The programme helped me to look at myself. I received helpful information and insights about myself and the formation process,” observed one participant.

“The topics were very well presented,” commented another.

“All formators should undergo a programme like this” was a suggestion made by several of the participants.

September 12-14. South Asian Formation Commission Meeting - Kolkata

I was an invitee at the Meeting of the South Asian Formation Delegates from the various Salesian Provinces. Besides the delegates, the meeting was attended by Fr. Francesco Cereda, the Salesian General Councillor for Formation, Fr. Chrys Saldanha from the Formation Department at the Salesian Generalate in Rome, Fr. Loddy Pires, the Chairperson of the South Asian Formation Commission and Fr. E. A. Thomas, the Salesian Provincial of Kolkata.

On 13^th I explored the theme “Psychosexual Integration and Celibate Maturity” in an interactive workshop. I presented some of the current challenges in the area of psychosexual and celibate integration and pointed out implications for formation.

The programme was held at the Salesian Provincial House in Kolkata.

September 19-24. Retreat for Priests- Varanasi.

 Facilitated a retreat for priests at Nav Sadhana, Varanasi from September 19 to 24. There were 36 priests from the diocese of Varanasi, Jamshedpur and Gumla.

The retreat focused on the identity and ministry of the priest as “Bearer of the Mystery of God and Doctor of the Soul.” The retreat – content and format - was much appreciated by the participants. 

ON THE BANKS OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA

I had the opportunity to visit the North-East recently. I left Jeolikote the day after the Midlife Transition and the Spiritual Journey programme concluded on the 31^st July. I had been invited to do two workshops, one for the staff and the other for the MBA students at Don Bosco Institute in Guwahati, located on a picturesque hill on the banks of the Brahmaputra. Don Bosco Institute has become a premier institute in the North-East offering a variety of services for young people of the region. It has been graced by visits from the Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, who have left very appreciative messages and which are displayed at the Institute entrance named after the Prime Minister.

The day after I reached there, that is on the 4^th August, I was able to make a trip to Tura, a major town in Meghalaya. The Salesians of Don Bosco run a Teachers Education College there. The College has been doing extraordinarily well. Last year (I believe the very first year it sent students for the University exams) it bagged seven of the first 10 ranks in the University. A remarkable achievement!

The trip to the North East gave me an opportunity to spend some time with a few of my friends from my Novitiate days: Archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong, Fr. Stephen Mavely, currently Vice-Chancellor of Don Bosco University, Fr. V. M. Thomas, Director of Don Bosco Institute, Guwahati, Fr. V. A.  Cyriac, former Principal of Don Bosco College, Tura and currently with the Don Bosco University, Fr. C. A. John, Pastor at a small town in Assam, the name of which I unfortunately do not remember. The six of us spent a few hours together on the banks of the Brahmaputra, sharing experiences and recalling the old days. I was also later able to meet with another old friend, Peter Paul Haunar, who is also with Don Bosco University currently.

I was very happy to make a trip to Siloam, an Institute for Transformational Leadership run by another friend and fellow psychologist, Fr. George Palamattam, at Barapani, a few miles before Shillong. It’s a lovely centre, with very picturesque scenery all around.

I got back to Jeolikote on the 16^th August. The Kumaon region has been badly affected by continuous rain this last month. Train and road services were badly disrupted. It took me 8 hours to reach Jeolikote from Lal Quan where the Ranikhet Express was terminated at 5 am because the tracks were flooded. Normally the train would have reached Kathgodam around 5.20 am from where I could have reached Jeolikote in half an hour.

On the 17^th evening we began another Midlife Dynamics and the Spiritual Journey programme at Sumedha Centre. It will conclude on August 31^st.

1OO DAYS OF WAR!

Today marks the 100^th day of NATO bombing of Tripoli with little to show that the millions if not billions of dollars spent by the Western Alliance has brought any gains. 

The war in Libya raises some questions. The UN authorised NATO to “take all measures to protect civilians in Libya.” And the means that the Western Alliance found to do that was to bombard Tripoli – killing in turn civilians (NATO has acknowledged its bombs killed civilians) and destroying Libya’s infrastructure.

Protecting civilians is no longer the objective. It is to oust the Libyan leader Qaddafi. And the bombings are targeting him and his family. But he continues to stay in Tripoli, defying Western efforts to oust him or kill him.

The bombing has not succeeded in either objective – in 100 days!

So, what is the aim of the bombardment? In 100 days, with hundreds of sorties each day, the Western military warehouses must have been emptied of a lot of bombs and other military hardware. I guess these have to be replaced. The arm merchants must be wringing their hands in glee! I don’t see any other reason for the bombing.  You think, the Western Alliance, with all its might could not get their man if they wanted. Or, destroyed his army? They might get him one day. But before that they will make sure a whole lot of bombs will be dropped, and Libyan infrastructure will be destroyed – to be rebuilt by Western companies, as it happened in Iraq.

By the way, the UN came into existence on the slogan “ War No More!” With the number of wars it has been authorising, albeit such authorisations wrung out by western arm-twisting, that slogan lies in shambles! It’s mockery of the founding objectives of the UN.

Back to Libya.  With the bombings not making much of a dint, today the Western Alliance got another weapon in its war against Qaddafi. The ICC has declared him a War Criminal and an international arrest warrant has been issued today. How come the Western nations who are terrorising other nations, killing innocents, arming rebels and provoking dissent and uprisings as the USA is acknowledged to have done and continues to do in the Middle East, not declared war criminals and arrest warrants issued against their leaders?

There is reason to seek new ways to get Qaddafi.

One hundred days into the campaign of air strikes, Britain and its NATO allies no longer believe bombing alone will end the conflict in Libya, reports the Guardian newspaper from London.

"No one is envisaging a military victory," said one senior official who echoed earlier warnings by Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, head of the navy, that the bombing cannot continue much beyond the summer.

I guess the statement is confession that enough space has been created in military warehouses for the time being, to replenish the arsenal! 

FASTING SWAMIS, FARMER SUICIDE THREATS, AND DYING CHILDREN

One man threatened to fast, and the media was seduced to give him front page covering day after day and the government bent backwards to appease him until they learned he was pulling a fast one on them.

In the midst of all this, I read the following yesterday: "Agitating farmers threaten mass suicide" (HT, June 10, p.1). Small font headline, of course! These farmers in UP villages are threatening mass suicide if their land is acquired by the government. 

We know the government policy: take over ancestral property from the poor, promise them a pittance in compensation (even which never really reaches them!)  and sell the land to the rich corporations and developers - and make a fast buck in the process too.

"We started our agitation on April 15 and there is no response from the administration. So, we have decided to commit mass suicide after June 30 by hanging ourselves here," a farmer leader said. I wonder how much of media interest and governmental attention this threat will garner!

These farmers are agitating against a government land acquisition policy that touches them dearly; which deprives them of ancestral land and their livelihood. The one-man fast is against the hydraheaded leviathan that is "corruption" - a reality that does not really touch the faster, but is a fast-track strategy to garner media publicity and increase in personal popularity and filling financial coffers.  I have so far not heard of anyone dying of fasting!! They all stop it before they do!! So, fasting today is really a gimmick (Gandhi excepted; his was a different kind of fast) And the government's response was lightning quick! 

But suicide? That is real! 

I wonder how much media coverage these farmers will get and if some minister will rush in there to appease them (Fat chance really! There was no response to their agitation for two months!). But who knows? The media might see something to grab eyeballs in a suicide threat. There is something darkly fascinating about death! Even threat of death.

One man's fast or a whole group of farmers' suicide threat? Which gets government's and media attention? Not difficult to answer, right?

Will we see photographs  of a line of farmers hanging dead from trees on the front pages  of our head-over-heels "socially conscious!"  newspapers, as much we as have been seeing that of a saffron clad and bearded swami - the last one of five doctors hovering over him? He was taken to hospital by force, I understand.

I have not seen on front pages of our newspapers photographs of doctors hovering over children dying of hunger - a phenomenon not so rare in a country that is projected to be an economic giant within a few years! Nor of these children taken by force (or no force) to the hospital and given treatment by a concerned administration. But so much fuss over a fasting swami! I guess he is in a league apart. But why!!

SOME COMMENDABLE COURT DECISIONS

The front pages of newspapers on May 14^th were all about the conquering ladies, Mamata Banerjee in Bengal and Jayalalithaa in Tamilnadu. Mamata had made history, decimating the Communists in Bengal and laying claim to the chief ministership of the State just 13 years after launching her Trinamul Congress party. Jayalalithaa had engineered a massive defeat  for the ruling DMK alliance, and regained the chief minister’s chair.

In the euphoria of these feats, little attention might have been given to some important news in the inside pages. The Hindustan Times (Delhi Edition) carried four court judgements that showed courage and conscience on the part of the courts - the Supreme Court of India and the Allahabad High Court.

The Allahabad High Court seemed to have made some amends for its highly questionable “safe” judgement it had passed a few months ago on the Babri Masjid title case and which the Supreme Court had rightly thrown out recently.  This time its verdict on the UP Government’s Land Acquisition in Noida showed some teeth. It set aside the acquisition of some 150 hectares in the Chak Shahberi village and 70 hectares of land in Surajpur area of Greater Noida. The land belonging to poor farmers was acquired by the government for industrial purposes but was sold to developers on relaxed conditions. The developers had built houses and sold them – and I guess, made a killing on the back of the poor. More houses were being built. The court has stood by justice for the farmers against the power of government and the might of the developers. The land is to be returned to the farmers.

The Supreme Court came down heavily on police officers involved in fake encounters and recommended them the death penalty, labelling fake encounters “cold blooded brutal murder by persons who are supposed to uphold the law” which should be treated as “rarest of rare” offence. A few days earlier the Supreme Court had recommended death sentence also for those who perpetrate “honour killings.”

In another significant judgment the Supreme Court quashed the Karnataka Assembly Speaker’s decision to disqualify 16 MLAs hours before the October 11, 2010 no-confidence motion against the Yeddyurrppa government.

In still another judgment that gave importance to human life rather than profit, a bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia directed a freeze on the killer pesticide endosulfan. The Court banned the production, sale and use of the pesticide for the next eight weeks all over India. (I wonder why eight weeks?). It also directed authorities to freeze the production licence granted to the manufacturers till its next order.

In these judgments, the Supreme Court of India and the Allahabad High Court have clearly taken a stand on behalf of the powerless against the powerful, besides upholding justice. And this is very commendable, indeed!

Crocodile Tears - Politics of Expediency and Self-interest

An International Gathering of the foreign ministers of the countries supporting military intervention is being held in London, even as I write, on the initiative of the British Prime Minster David Cameroon.

Sounds like the Wild West. Strike first, talk next.  Having intervened militarily in Libya without much conversation, the Western Powers are now trying to bring some consensus about the nature and purpose of the wild adventure.  These leaders, we are told, are trying to find various ways to get Qaddafi to leave Libya. Meanwhile, President Obama has said that to oust Qaddafi by military action would be to invite disaster.  But it is precisely that he is trying to do.

He also spoke the truth that is so self evident. He defended the American-led western military assault in Libya on Monday, saying it was in the national interest of the United States to stop a potential massacre that would have “stained the conscience of the world.” National interest is the motive, not really saving lives, which was the supposedly humanitarian motive.

Intervening in Lebanon and the Gaza strip where the Israelis have  been displacing and even massacring innocent civilians for years would not really be in American national interest.  Neither would it be in Yemen, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. It wouldn’t be in national interest to lose the support of these strategic partner governments! “We will pick and choose which government to oust, and which governments help remain in power.”

I didn’t hear anyone talking about a no fly zone over Israel, while it was bombarding Palestine. Neither was there a western alliance formed to protect the civilians there. So why the haste about Libya? Getting rid of a leader who has been a thorn in the side of western governments for over 40 years? Or, the promise that the rich oil and mineral reserves of Libya hold out for western corporate interests?

Obama vowed that the United States would stand by the democracy protesters across the Middle East, that it would put down violence directed against one’s own citizens; support the freedom of people to express themselves and choose their leaders; support governments that are ultimately responsive to the aspirations of the people. But he also  said that “progress will be uneven, and change will come differently in different countries,” a partial acknowledgment, the New York Times reported,  that complex relations between the United States and different Arab countries may make for different American responses in different countries. Plain acknowledgement, I would say, “it is not your interests that really matter, but ours.”

“The United States will not be able to dictate the pace and scope of this change,” Mr. Obama said. But that is precisely what he along with the western alliance was trying to force through the military intervention.

The truth remains unchanged: Politics is about expediency and self interest, and not really about humanitarian concerns, even though often self-interest is couched in humanitarian concerns!

RUSHING IN WHERE THE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD!

That’s what the United States and its allies love doing. There was unseemly haste and a hard one unanimity in the UN Resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

The intervention was swift. The western allies have been pounding Tripoli and destroying not only Qaddafi’s air power but also the capital’s infra-structure. But to what purpose?

It now appears that the allies have no clear idea what they hope to achieve by the intervention, and most tellingly, they have no exit strategy. That’s what the New York Times reported today.

“The questions swirling around the operation’s command mirrored the larger strategic divisions over how exactly the coalition will bring it to an end — or even what the end might look like, and whether it might even conceivably include a Libya with Colonel Qaddafi remaining in some capacity.’ Said the Times. 

“‘We should never begin an operation without knowing how we stand down,” said Joseph W. Ralston, a retired general who served as NATO commander and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We did a no-fly zone over Iraq for 12 years and it did nothing to get rid of Saddam. So why do we think it will get rid of Qaddafi?’

But they did get rid of Saddam, after a land invasion. And what good did it do -getting rid of Saddam, anyway? Iraq sank into a quagmire of violence and bloodshed.

I guess post-Qaddafi, Libya will also be scarred by civil war and thousands of lives will be lost, not to mention the destruction that will be unleashed.

The ostensible (what do you think is the hidden agenda?) objective of the allied offensive – to save civilians from Quaddafi’s brutality– will have become a mockery.

It is Mai Lai – that is the village in Vietnam that the US destroyed “in order to save it” – being repeated all over. Destroying in order to save!

The futility of war! The lessons are never learnt.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Spring is in the air in the Jeolikote hills. We wake up to the music of birds. The cheerful singing of one particular blackbird stands out in the avian symphony.

As the sun rises over the hills, the slight chill of the night disappears and a warm glow envelops me and the gentle breeze welcomes me to the possibilities that another day brings me.

I feel so blessed to be in these hills!