(A reflection on
the Catholic Directory of India 1912, in the light of the latest Catholic
Directory of India 2013)
During my school days I hated history,
perhaps because it was taught so badly. Today, history fascinates me, be it of
the country, the origin of the universe, or the church in India.
This article is a study of the Catholic
Directory of India (CDI) 1912, in the light of my preliminary review of the CDI
2013, “A Glance at the Catholic Directory”. It is interesting and enlightening
to study two CDIs a century apart. It is often a study in contrasts, and a wake
up call for all those who are complacent with where the church is today, and
where it is heading.
First the bare facts. The CDI 1912 was
published by the Catholic Supply Society Madras. It had 546 pages and was
priced at seven rupees six annas. It was the 62nd annual issue of
the Madras Catholic Directory and Annual General Register. It covered the
territory entrusted to the Apostolic Delegation of India, which then included
India Ceylon and Malacca (modern Malaysia). The CDI also covered Burma, as it
was a part of the then British (Indian) empire. However, since the compilers of
CDI 1912 have usually bifurcated the statistical data of India, Burma and Ceylon
(IBC) I have, wherever possible, taken the data for India only, for the
purposes of this study. We need to bear in mind that modern day Pakistan and
Bangladesh were then a part of India, both politically and ecclesiastically. I
do not think that their present day exclusion would radically affect a
comparative study of the data in the CDIs of 1912 and 2013.
In
1912 India had 8 archbishops, 18 bishops and 5 Vicars Apostolic for the
Syro-Malabar rite. The Syro-Malankara rite was not, at that time, re-united to
the Catholic Church. The Census of India 1911 statistics are relied on for some
of the data. There were 2,103,636 Catholics and 89,550 catechumens (the latter
unheard of today). Among the clergy, 958 were European and 1596 were native
(the original terminology has been retained). There were 561 Lay brothers and
2961 Religious Sisters. Over the century the number of priests has shot up from
2554 to 22,451 (almost 9 times), allowing for the exclusion of Pakistan and
Bangladesh and the inclusion of the Malankara rite. The Catholic population had
an eight-fold increase from 2,103,636 to 17,535,429. It is a pity that the CDI
2013 does not have the figures for Religious Brothers and Sisters, but I would
hazard a guess that Sisters would have gone up about 25 times, whereas Brothers
would be up about three times (as being a “Brother” is considered being lower
than a “Father”). The priest to Catholics ratio has actually gone down 5% from
1:824 in 1912 to 1:781 in 2013. So much for tall claims about plentiful vocations!
There were 2375 catechists in 1912. They are
not even counted today. In the 12 colleges, 1509 of the 3575 students were
Catholics (42%). Are we anywhere near that percentage today? We have become
outsiders in our own institutions. There were a total of 4914 churches, chapels
and oratories. We now have 10,715 parishes. Strangely, in 1969 we had 3513
parishes and 10,025 mission stations, while in 1990 we had 6,277 parishes and
17,467 mission stations. The CDI 2013 is silent on the mission stations. Have
they ceased to exist, or do they not matter? Do “institutions” only count? From
a missionary and pastoral church have we now become an institutionalized one?
The mandarins of the church in India must give us an answer, not an
explanation.
There were 3,564 institutions in 1912, which
went up to 8,877 in 1969, and 22,865 in 1990 (post Vatican II, that stressed
de-institutionalizing and de-structuring).
The figure for 2013 is 23,104, which seems grossly erroneous, given the
Catholic Church’s proclivity for buying up more and more properties.
A century ago the church administration/
hierarchy came under two different Vatican Congregations. The old see of Goa,
which included Daman, Mylapore and Cochin, came under the Congregation for
Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, commonly called the Padroado; whereas the
rest came under the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith (Propaganda
Fide). Among the latter there were only 5 Indian bishops from among the
Syro-Malabar Vicariate. All the Latin rite diocese had European bishops – 27 of
them.
Another interesting observation is that only
the Goa (Padroado) dioceses and Syro-Malabar Vicariates had diocesan clergy.
All the other dioceses were entrusted to Religious Orders. Leading the pack
were the Capuchins with 6, followed by the Jesuits and Paris Foreign Missions
(PIME) with 5 each, and the Mill Hill Missionaries, Fransalians and Discalced
Carmelites with 2 each. There were no Salesians, the pioneering missionaries of
the North East. Barring Kashmir, which had the Mill Hills, the vast “cow belt”
of North India was under the Capuchins. Unfortunately they, especially those
from Italy, had absolutely no clue about missionary work or evangelization.
They remained largely confined to cantonments and railway colonies.
In today’s IT enabled world data collection
and sorting is child’s play. But back in 1912 there were no calculators or
telephones, let alone mobiles, email and computers. Yet the compilers of these
CDIs worked with what we once euphemistically called “missionary zeal”, to
leave us a wealth of information. There are even figures of infant and adult
baptisms, marriages and communions. Truly we must salute the missionaries of
yesteryears, and emulate their sacrifice and dedication.
The CDI 1912 has an article “The Census of
Christianity” by one Rev (not Fr) J.C. Houpert SJ. Several of his statements
bear repetition. I quote: “Comparisons of our decennial results for the number
of Catholics, with those of British Indian Governments since 1871 shows that the
church census gives somewhat higher figures”. We need to recall that the
British began the censuses in 1871. Even today the Govt census is far more
objective and scientific than the church’s method of data gathering. So to the
church’s claims (not only of Catholics) are far higher than what the Census of
India shows.
“The number of Catholics in India has nearly
doubled in the last forty years, and the number of European priests far more
than doubled; while that of the sisters both foreign and indigenous has
increased six fold … Public churches and chapels more than doubled … the
schools and colleges trebled, and charitable institutions increased more than
four fold”. The pattern does not seem to have changed.
In 1901, for every 1000 Catholics in the Indian
empire, 28 were European, 34 were Eurasian and 934 (93%) were natives. Today we
can legitimately claim that we are authentically Indian (at least in numbers).
We would be even more authentically so, if we were not so dependent on foreign
aid. Houpert now makes the stunning observation that the figures “show that
action taken for the starting of provincial or all India Catholic associations
is in no way premature”. Sadly, 100 years later, the Indian hierarchy still
acts as though the time is not ripe for organized lay leadership! I hold the hierarchy and clergy responsible
for this glaring act of omission. Some blame must also be shared by a spineless
and ignorant lay leadership that is unable or unwilling to assert its
ecclesiological and canonical rights.
Houpert’s next observation encapsulates the
history of the church in India. “It is now a settled fact, that after a
checkered life-history, from the apostolic age downward, through a stagnant,
long millennium, followed by the balmy days of French and Portuguese missionary
zeal, inspite of the hostility of the Dutch, the suppression of the Society of
Jesus, the persecution of Tipu, and the internal troubles about rites and
jurisdiction, the Catholic Church has again, for the last sixty years,
alongwith the pacific and liberal British rule, led with vigour her vast
enterprise in India”. Most impartial historians will agree with Houpert’s
observation that the church in India was stagnant for well nigh 1500 years,
confined to the Malabar coast from apostolic times till the advent of European
missionaries. The question of jurisdiction between the Goa based Padroado and
the rest was also a deterrent, dividing the church in erstwhile Bombay and
Madras-Mylapore.
Houpert was a man ahead of his times (most
Jesuits think they are)! He says, “All
work on Catholicism in India would lose much of its relative value, were it to
omit the large non-Catholic bodies that live by its side … Both Catholics and
Protestants increase chiefly by pioneer work among aborigines and semi-Hindus
and by a favourable birth rate among Christians”. In an era of fierce
inter-denominational rivalry, Houpert was talking of an ecumenical approach.
Besides, the mission thrust among tribals (aborigines) and dalits (semi-Hindus)
remains unchanged.
Houpert treats us to some more interesting
statistics. In 1881 Syrian non-Catholics at 205,000 exceeded Syrian Catholics
at 200,000. By 1911 the equations had changed – Syrian Catholics at 345,963 had
far outstripped the non-Catholics at 248,000. Would really love to know how
this came about?
The all India Decadal Growth Rate (DGR) of
Catholics and Protestants is also an eye opener. For Catholics the DGR from
1871/1881/1891/1901 to 1911 was 22.6%, 17.6%, 16.4% and 14.1% - a gradual
tapering off, similar to today. In contrast the Protestant DGR for the same
period was 66%, 272.0%, 50.8% and 50.4%. How do we explain the difference in
DGR? Again Houpert provides the answer.
In the IBC, in 1901, the priest to Catholics ratio was 1:841, but the
pastor to Protestants ratio was much better at 1:457. Taking into account all
missionary personnel the Catholic ratio was 1:197, and for the Protestants it
was 1:37. The Protestants obviously invested more in people than in
institutions. Houpert says, “The relatively extensive use of native mission
agency of all ranks seems to be the strong point of Protestant evangelizing
methods both in Asia and in Africa”. I fully endorse this view. Those who have
doubts are referred to the book “Lay Catechists – Their Formation in India’,
edited by Rev C. M. Paul SDB, and my own review of that book “A Scathing
Indictment” published in my book “An Unfinished Symphony”. A highly
clericalised Catholic Church has used its catechists, its frontline troops, as
church-bearers rather than as Christ-bearers (Christophers). Sad indeed.
I end this century old flashback in Houpert’s
own words, “We do not expect the advent of a Church Triumphant before her time
… she is instituted as a Church Militant, for conflict not for rest”.
Unfortunately, 100 years later, the Catholic Church in India has chosen to
eschew conflict (challenges) and preferred to prematurely rest on its laurels.
It has assumed all the trappings of a Church Triumphant! Did I hear somebody
say “Pilgrim Church”? It is as anathema and inimical to us as is Vatican II.
If we don’t learn the lessons of history, we
are bound to commit the same blunders. Yes, history repeats itself because we
don’t look back, before hastening forward.
May 2013
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