Priests must recover the “lost mysticism”, says Mgr Menamparampil
(January 28, 2010) A general body meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India will be held in Guwahati from February 24th to March 3rd on the topic of ‘Year for Priests’. Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati and chairman of the Office of Evangelisation of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) said that the conference will discuss about the challenges and obstacles priests must face in multicultural and multi-faith society like India. He exp’ressed India’s need to recover the “lost mysticism,” and like the realist theologian Karl Rahner could say that the Christian of tomorrow would need to be a mystic or else cease to be even a believer and thus it is more important for a priest to be a ‘mystic’. Speaking about the mystic, the Archbishop said that he referring to a person who moves into the thick of events to assist and save, to suggest and guide, to inspire and lead, to suffer and, if need be, lay down his or her life. In these challenging times, we need this kind of mystics that will give hope to those who seem to have lost all hope, he added. Citing the example of Mother Teresa, the Prelate said that they quickly discover the common ground with people of other beliefs and try to build on it. There is an inbuilt sense of self-confidence in them that enables them to reach out to those who differ from them most. The Prelate lamented that in India, we are rightly anxious about the widening gap between the rich and poor. In our country where the Church is multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, interethnic conflicts are frequent, a priest who can hold out hope to others is needed in every society and in every life situation,” he said.
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