Grassroots Catholics end national convention stressing love, service
Goa, India, 23 Nov 2013: Some 7,000 members of a grassroots Catholic movement in India
have ended their first national convention by pledging to transform the Church and
society through love and service.
The November 19-21 meet in Goa, showcased
the Small Christian Communities (SCCs) as powerful means of personal and social transformation.
The delegates, some 2,000 from outside Goa, unanimously pledged to promote SCCs and
renew the Church from below. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, head of the Catholic Church
in India, commissioned them to live their Christian faith in their grassroots communities.
“The
SCCs have the power to transform the Church from an inward looking community to an
out reaching Church through a life of love,” asserted the cardinal who led the concluding
Mass at Old Goa.
The prelate, who is the president of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of India (CBCI) and secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’
Conferences, said “a genuine life of love pours into service and becomes a source
of transformation of our society.”
SCCs, he added, are the primary locus and
means of national integration, ushering in truth, honesty, justice, human rights and
dignity, good governance, eco-care and eco-justice in society. “As such SCCs become
most effective instrument and space to deepen, live and witness Christian faith,”
said the Bombay archbishop, who is among eight cardinals Pope Francis has handpicked
from around the world to advise him on Church reforms.
Earlier in the day,
Bishop Thomas Dabre of Poona presented SCCs are the “leaven for the new society.”
The theology professor-turned prelate challenged Catholics in India to dedicate the
entire resources of the Church to serve the poor within their community as well as
in other religions.
He acknowledged that he learned to be a bishop through
his association with SCCs and urged his fellow prelates, priests, religious and lay
people to rediscover their faith through the grassroots community. Another prelate
to address the final day was Raphael Thattil, auxiliary bishop of Trichur Syro-Malankara
Church who traced the evolution of the SCCs in his Oriental Church through parish
assemblies, or palli yogam.
The assemblies, which existed centuries before
the concept of grassroots communities was introduced in the Universal Church, democratically
deliberated on the temporal affairs of the parish.
Elvin Colaco, a lay leader
and a member of the SCC national service team, explained to the gathering how Catholics
can become catalysts for social transformation through a faith-based response to the
challenges by continuously serving their neighborhood through love. However, “the
chosen people of God have become frozen people of God,” he regretted.
Fr. Vijay
Thomas, national convener, urged the CBCI to bestow upon SCC the prominence it deserves
in the Church. He also wants the conference to encourage priests, religious and lay
people to become animators for the movement. As a practical step, he suggested conducting
month-long training program every year for diocesan animators. The movement has
already set up at national level, a council, a resource team and a media desk. Fr.
Thomas urged setting up similar units in all 166 dioceses in the country.Source: MI