Skip to main content

Labelling a Jesuit a Marxist? It's like saying if you use a plane, you become American

Jesuits: Cedric Prakash, Stan Swamy
By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*
A thirteen- fourteen-year-old has many dreams! That's an impressionable age; at the cusp of finishing school. It is also a time when one tastes a different kind of freedom: to go for camps with boys of your own age (not with ones family). Such camps and outings were always enjoyed to the hilt. The ones, however, which still remain etched in my memory are the mission camps to the Jesuit missions in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Being a Bombay Boy, a trip to the rural areas was a very special experience: the silence and simplicity of the villages were a marked difference from the hustle and bustle of a big city; on the other hand, the warmth and hospitality of the locals despite their abject poverty always meant much.
Then there were the Jesuits (several Spaniards among them) who had given up every comfort which could have been theirs, to live a life identifying with the local people: sharing their joys and sorrows, building bridges, educating them to a more dignified and equitable life. Cant help looking back and say that today, I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
Then there were the college years: it was a joy and pride to be a Xavierite, particularly as it entered its centenary year. St. Xaviers College, Bombay has always been special, most alumni will vouch for that! Four memorable years: the classroom was just one arena for education but there were many more: a whole range of co-curricular activities that helped one to grow.
Then there were the Jesuits of the college all stalwarts in their own right. In the College Social Service League one was provided with ample opportunity to reach out to the slum-dwellers in Dharavi or the Adivasis of Talasari. There was the influx of refugees into West Bengal in the wake of the war of liberation in East Pakistan and, of course, the Xavierites went all the way to Salt Lake City to serve the displaced.
I will never forget that Spanish Jesuit, who after tough class hours, would go to be with the street urchins in VT or Churchgate or Bombay Central Railway Stations, encouraging some of them to find some security and safety in the Snehasadan Home in Andheri. These were great human beings who transcended narrow confines, that is why I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
The years in the AICUF (All India Catholic University Federation) were also special: first as a member and then for a year as a full-timer in Madras. AICUF, a student movement has shaped several National leaders both women and men committed to the task of nation-building and serving the poor and underprivileged, the exploited and the excluded of the country. The intellectual, spiritual and social formation one received in the AICUF was tremendous.
The Directors, Advisers, Chaplains at that time, were mostly Jesuits: they mentored and guided, challenged and guided the young students who looked up to them. Those were the years when we had the watershed moments: first in Poonamallee and then in Goa.
In both places as youth, we had the hunger and thirst to see a new India. Our basic pledge was We were born in an unjust society and we are determined not to leave it as we have found it We launched Project Know India encouraging youth like us, to spend at least a year among the less privileged in the villages and slums of India. Some did so; it was a transformative experience for them. All thanks to the vision and the commitment of the Jesuits; that is why I say without hesitation that I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
The defining programmes at that time were the ones on social awareness. These opened our eyes and hearts to what was happening around us. We had opportunities to do social analysis: to see and understand in an objective and studied manner the painful realities that gripped so many in society.
Many questions: why are only some children able to access quality education? Why are there so many child labourers in the country? Why do the poor, become poorer and the rich, richer? Why are there no adequate health care facilities in the remote tribal areas? Why do people have to leave their villages to eke out an existence in the cities? Why are the Adivasis deprived of their natural habitat: jal, jungle aur jameen? Who profits from their impoverishment? Above all, what would Jesus do if he were around today?
Such questions and many more relevant ones, challenged us: made us look at our own lives in comparison to the vast majority. Deprivation and injustice were their lot; we had to conscientize ourselves and others to be the change we want to see. Many of these programmes were conducted at the Jesuit Indian Social Institute in Bangalore. The ability to see things differently and to have the motivation to do something about it were certainly because of the Jesuits and that is why I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
From the early sixties, the Church has been responding in a contextual and meaningful way to the women and men of our times. The Second Vatican Council had a fundamental question, "What does it mean to be the Church of God in the modern world? The path-breaking Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world Gaudium et Spes, was an apt response to what St Pope John XXIII envisaged as the sum and substance of a historic intervention.
Earlier, in his Encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris he underlined the inviolability of human rights and the four non-negotiables of Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty, which are prerequisites for sustainable peace; with that profound statement: There is a saying of St. Augustine which has particular relevance in this context: 'Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but mighty bands of robbers'."
Fifty years ago in 1971, the Synod of Bishops declared:
"Even though it is not for us to elaborate a very profound analysis of the situation of the world, we have nevertheless been able to perceive the serious injustices which are building around the world of men a network of domination, oppression and abuses which stifle freedom and which keep the greater part of humanity from sharing in the building up of a more just and more fraternal world."
I entered the Society of Jesus in 1974, just before the pathbreaking 32nd General Congregation of the Jesuits which unequivocally stated that “the mission of the Society of Jesus today is the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement." For reconciliation with God demands the reconciliation of people with one another; that is why I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
Since the earliest days of my formation, in keeping with the faith-justice mandate of the Jesuits, and together with my companions, I was exposed to the grim realities which ordinary people experience all the time. These included being with displaced slumdwellers and helping in their rehabilitation in the construction of low-cost houses; manual work in watershed programmes in the Adivasi heartland; working as an ordinary labourer with Adivasis, in the preliminary work on the Narmada Dam (the Adivasis were exploited by powerful contractors and given a pittance for their hard work).
Such engagements continued all through my life as a Jesuit, because the person and message of Jesus, the teachings of the Church and the directives of the Jesuits were clear and unambiguous: to take sides with the poor and the oppressed, the marginalised and the minorities, the excluded and the exploited, all who are vulnerable and suffering.
It has always been a stand for human rights, justice, reconciliation and peace; a stand for the values enshrined in our Constitution and the democratic rights of every single citizen. It has certainly meant being on the wrong side of the powerful, vested interests, of the lustful lobbies (sometimes even those whom you regard as ‘friends’) who have no qualms of conscience of keeping the poor impoverished, even as they amass huge fortunes.
Reconciliation with God demands the reconciliation of people with one another; that is why I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
It has meant taking on those who have kept people divided in the name of religion, through divisive policies, hate speeches and nefarious communal misdeeds. It has meant standing up to those who want to destroy the sacred pluralistic fabric of the country and sell the nation for their own profiteering. The journey has not been easy -but I am happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
In 1986, "The Mission", a powerful British drama film was released. The film is about the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th-century South America. It is about the stand which the Spanish Jesuits take to protect the identity of a remote South American tribe (the Guarani Indian people, an indigenous people of the Amazon). It is intertwined in the political pressures of a colonial power, the predatory racism of European settlers who are basically pro-slavery and the pragmatic needs of the Jesuits (and Church) of that time.
"The Mission" is based on historical facts surrounding the 1750 Treaty of Madrid in which Spain ceded part of its territories in Paraguay to Portugal, mainly the areas where the Jesuits had their missions. There is an important subtext to the movie: the impending suppression of the Society of Jesus in most parts of Western Europe (beginning in 1759, formalised in 1773 and which ended only in 1814).
The film portrays the resilience of the Guarani people despite all odds and the efforts of the Jesuits to accompany them in order to protect their rights, their customs and above all from being swallowed in the lucrative slave-market of that time.
The film deals with bureaucratic hassles, political and religious machinations, intrigue, greed for power and profits among other human frailties; however, at the same time it also focuses on the challenges and hostilities that one must face when one attempts to take on the system, the powers (vested interests). Above all, it is a film about mission, what it entails when disciples of Jesus actually demonstrate that unflinching prophetic courage to go forth to the peripheries. The film truly makes me happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
It is an Ignatian Year: the 500th anniversary of the conversion of St Ignatius following the painful event when his legs were shattered by a cannonball on May 20, 152, as he defended the citadel of Pamplona from the French. Announcing the Ignatian Year, the Jesuit Superior General Fr Arturo Sosa writes:
“The Universal Apostolic Preferences (2019-2029) have confirmed the call to our personal, community and institutional conversion, which is necessary for our greater spiritual and apostolic freedom and adaptability. Let us take this opportunity to let God transform our life-mission according to his will.
He adds:
"The Ignatian year 2021-22 will therefore be for us a privileged occasion to hear the cry of the poor, the excluded, and those whose dignity has not been respected, in all the diverse social and cultural circumstances in which we live and work. It is a listening which moves our hearts and compels us to draw closer to the poor, to walk with them in seeking justice and reconciliation”.
Reason enough for me to be happy and humbled to be a Jesuit today.
When a shoddy article written by a so-called alumnus, replete with falsehood and half-truths, divisive and manipulative in nature, is brought to my notice, I really do not wonder! In an India, where godified media rules the roost, where crony capitalists spinelessly toe the line of a fascist regime, where justice and truth are conveniently sacrificed at the altar of injustice and ‘feku-isms’, where the poor are at the receiving end of a rotten and inhuman system such trash is on expected lines.
Labelling a Jesuit, a Marxist? Marx must be smirking! Almost like saying that if you use a plane, you become American or if you sit in a train in India, you become a British! Fr Stan Swamy gave his life for the Adivasis in their struggle for a more humane, just and dignified life; denigrating in any way, this Prophet and Martyr, is just pathetic -- the handiwork of someone who is unable to digest the plain truth! Above all, playing one against the other of the same family is an age-old trick. (“Father, you were so nice, not like the Jesuits of today!”).
Jesuits do not easily fall prey to such gimmicks; inspite of differences, we know there is a strong bond among us: a union of hearts and minds based on the vision of Ignatius of Loyola and entrusted with a mission today! We also have a Jesuit in Pope Francis who in his Encyclical Fratelli Tutti emphasises:
“The Church is a home with open doors, because she is a mother. And in imitation of Mary, the mother of Jesus, we want to be a Church that serves, that leaves home and goes forth from its places of worship, goes forth from its sacristies, in order to accompany life, to sustain hope, to be the sign of unity to build bridges, to break down walls, to sow seeds of reconciliation."
Need we say more?
As we celebrate St Ignatius Loyola: the fire that lit other fires- I say from the very depth of my being, that: I am really happy and humbled to be a Jesuit!
---
*Human rights, reconciliation and peace activist/writer

Comments

Unknown said…
Cedrick Prakash has rightly identified the loopholes and false re-presentation of some facts about Chennai Jesuits and South Asian Jesuits in general in Sanghi idealogues write-up on Chennai Jesuits. But Jesuits in South Asia need to reflect on the cultural shift that happened to them as a result of opting for the poor. "Cutural Marxism" has slowly replaced the ideals of Ignatius Loyola . This re-interpretation of Jesuit Charism using Paulo Frier and other Marxian thinkers has resulted in the radicalisation of young Jesuits of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Now they are in Key positions increasing the Subrersiveness of the slowly decaying order in the Catholic Church.

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi*  This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk  The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman*  Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...