AAP = Aam Aadmi Pope

James Kottoor

INDIAN CURRENTS 03 - 09 February 2014 37

(The writer can be contacted at:

jameskottoor@gmail.com)

The new full form of AAP

is: Aam Aadmi Pope.

He in fact was the first

to herald the dawn of aam aadmi

culture in Vatican and among the

high and mighty world leaders.

He did it after sweeping out the

VVIP Imperial culture telling all

in their face: “Carnival time is

over”. Only he was not called aam

aadmi Pope then.

Now the mindboggling

challenge hurled at over 200

bishops who are to meet at the

Catholic Bishops Conference

of India (CBCI) conference due

to begin in Palai, Kerala, on

February 5 is simply this: Become

Aaam Aadmi Pastors like Pope

Francis. Will their week-long

sitting succeed to give at least an

Aam Aadmi facelift and the much

needed structural change to the

Indian Episcopal conference?

Pappa Francis has been always

talking of a “poor church for

the poor”. Our bishops surely

can do this instantly and at little

cost. How? Just imitate the new

political outfit called Aam Aadmi

Party (AAP) even if it may look

humiliating for those expected to

be role models in society. Bowing

to truth, wherever you find it, is

not humiliating, but ennobling.

Simply declare and proclaim at

the very outset:

“We the Catholic Bishops of

India renounce and reject for

good the VVIP, flashy, flamboyant

culture starting with our addiction

to a soothing royal, imperial, godly

but outdated honorific titles and

appellations like: Your Eminence,

Your Grace, Your Highness, Your

Excellency, Monsignor, Most Rev.,

Very Rev., Rt. Rev., and so on

and the all too costly life style in

palaces and moving about in posh

cars – even imported bulletproof

ones reportedly -- and all sorts of

dressing up for public display like

the newly-weds, in silk and satin,

gold and silver and matching

head gears reminiscent of princes

of a dead bygone era, and the

company of a coterie of “yesmen”

when in public space.”

Ordinaries with Small “o”

Technically and canonically,

Bishops are known as

“Ordinaries” and “Servants of

Servants” with capital “O” and

“S”. It costs far less to become

real ordinaries and servants like

the rest of us with “o” and “s”

in the lower case. Bishops would

then become more Jesus-like who

started off his life from a cattle

shed. He had no place to lay his

head; he walked the dusty roads

of Palestine dressed like any other

Jew though he bitterly criticized

the “long tussles” of High

Priests of his time. The famous

limousine he borrowed for his

triumphal entry into Jerusalem

was an ass and his final crown a

ring of thorns, his burial place a

borrowed tomb.

Our Bishops could further add:

“Call us instead Brother Cardinal,

Brother Archbishop, Brother

Bishop, Brother Priest only,” since

imitating Barak Obama called “Mr.

President” may look too secular for

a religious Indian culture. This is

what Kejriwal did when he gave up

security and red beacon culture and

won the hearts of people instantly.

Why? Because what makes more

sense for the country-bred ordinary

people with little or no education

is semblance than substance, being

carried away more by outward

appearances. Signs and symbols

and body language of leaders who

readily mix with them, sit with

them, walk with them, listen to

them and talk to them from the

heart not from the head capture

their hearts. Prepared speeches

delivered with eloquence from

distant public podiums will make

no sense to them. That is what

Pappa Francis means when he says

that Bishops should have the “smell

of the sheep” which they cannot

have if they are “Airport Bishops”

more in the air than on earth in their

dioceses among their flock.

Francis became an aam aadmi

at one shot when he described

BY James kottoo r

Aam Aadmi Pope and Aam Aadmi Pastors

Two Shades of AAP

Agenda

38 INDIAN CURRENTS 03 - 09 February 2014

himself: “I am a sinner”. How

much more could he belittle or

humiliate himself before the

whole world? He went on to

say: it is human not only to make

mistakes but even to commit sins,

to equate himself or empathize

with frail humans. He tells a

pregnant deserted lady that he

would baptize her baby when

borne; tells a youngster in distress

to call him “tu” in the singular to

make him feel easy and equal in

his company; lives in community

in common apartment; serves tea

for himself and even for the guard

at his door; carries own handbag

and queues up to board a plane;

delights to visit drug infested

slums. Still the wonder is, he is

not yet accused of being a “friend

of drunkards and prostitutes or

insane” as Jesus his Master was

accused of in His time. In short

humility, simplicity, equality,

approachability, availability and

closeness to the poor (aam aadmi)

everywhere are the hallmarks of

Francis’ papacy, all of which call

for imitation, not imposition, by

Bishops in India and elsewhere.

But it looks Pope’s example has

created ripples and responses

more outside than inside the

Catholic Church. Archbishop

Mar Kurillos of Jacobite Church

of Thiruvalla, Kerala, in his

pastoral letter read in all churches

said that the church should say

good bye to gold and silver

crosses, flag posts, fireworks, etc.

imitating the simplicity of Pope

Francis, according to reports.

Similarly in the secular domain

AAP’s popularity with the poor

has prompted even rival parties

like Congress and BJP to imitate

Kejriwal’s example. But none

of these seems to have made an

impact on the hierarchical life style

in the Catholic Church. This is a

serious point for the consideration

of the CBCI meeting in Palai.

Church Citizens, not Laity

The common people in the

Church now call themselves

Church Citizens since the word

‘laity’ has become obsolete and

fraught with various pejorative

connotations and insinuations

pointing to their lowest status in

the Catholic hierarchical ladder,

similar to ‘Sudras’ in Caste system.

The low castes are considered

good only to be ordered about

because of their assumed

ignorance, illiteracy, incompetence

and slavish attitudes.

Church citizens put them on a

par with bishops, cardinals and

Pope. That is what Pope Francis

wants them to be. So they ask why

they are not part of the Biennial

Assembly of the Church in India.

The Pope had said it explicitly; the

Church should be a communion

of all believers -- Pope, Bishops

and all the faithful. Thinking

with the church does not mean

thinking with bishops. Infallibility

of the church is vested in the whole

church, thinking and acting alike

in mind and heart. It was to find

out the heart beats of ordinary

folks on challenges the family faces

today that Pope Francis ordered

in last October an opinion poll at

parish level, which is in progress in

many countries; sadly it is not even

announced in India.

The role of Bishops is that of

elected political representatives, to

work as servants, not masters. The

faithful are the masters, as “We

the people” are masters in Indian

democracy. Left to themselves

Bishops are like generals who

are nothing and can do nothing

without the army. So the present

gathering of Bishops alone in Palai

is a non-starter as the assembly of

the Church since the laity is and

was acknowledged to be, not only

“in the forefront of the church

but of being the Church” itself

long ago by Pope Pius XII, and

confirmed by Vatican II.

The second moot question is

the theme of the CBCI meet --

“Reformed Church reforming

society”. The phrase “Reformed

Church” reminds one of the prayer

of the Pharisee in the temple. It is an

insult to the intentions, intelligence

and explicit statement of Vatican

II which says unequivocally that

the Church is and has to be always

in dire need of reform (Semper

Reformanda is the phrase used).

So the theme is a non-starter too.

First the church has to put its own

house in order before thinking

of the society outside which is

ahead of the church -- by 200 years

as observed by late Cardinal of

Milan -- in thinking, dialoguing,

discussing through teleconferences

and taking fast decisions.

Ideal Reformed Church

The journey towards an ideal

reformed church is going to be

a very tedious long, journey to

the roots of Christianity, to those

utopian apostolic times when they

had everything in common. In those

days each one worked according to

his capacity and got according to

his needs and therefore no one was

in need or want in the community.

It was the beginning of Christian

Communism, when all did what

they said: “All that is mine is yours”

unlike present day communists

who say: “All that is yours is mine,”

as stated by famous Bishop Fulton

J. Sheen of revered memory.

In such a Church the present

day spiritual leaders – Bishops

and priests or the so-called clergy

– would confine themselves to

prayer, preaching and moral

guidance without fear or favour

(Contemplata tradere = handing

over what they absorbed through

contemplation) and never touch

money to fight the “Idolatry of

Money” in Francis’ words. Money

Humility, simplicity, equality, approachability,

availability and closeness to the poor (aam

aadmi) everywhere are the hallmarks of

Francis’ papacy, all of which call for imitation,

not imposition, by Bishops in India and

elsewhere >>>

Agenda

INDIAN CURRENTS 03 - 09 February 2014 39

Any Rite is all right, but the craze for

promoting one’s own Rite is disastrous, as

bad as creating divisions untold in place of

unity of all followers dreamt of and prayed

for by Jesus >>>

and prayer of Jesus who built no

church of brick and mortar but

predicted the downfall of their

only Jerusalem temple built by

human hands, as a forewarning

to temples yet to be built by brick

and mortar.

To replace it he also predicted:

“Destroy this temple; I will replace

it in three days.” He did it with his

resurrection and all through life he

was busy building and repairing,

not divisive immovable temples,

but living, walking temples of

flesh and blood -- healing the

sick, the blind, the lame, and

the paralyzed; raising the dead;

feeding the hungry; comforting the

afflicted, oppressed and outcast.

They belonged to all sections of

humanity, but hardly to his own

Jewish blood group which today

is promoted under the guise of

Rite, Community, Patriarchy etc.

Secondly what are these

divided churches? Multiplying

own brand of parishes, dioceses

in all continents -- in the US,

in Australia, in Middle East, in

Europe, raising funds in Euro

and dollar to buy one’s own posh

headquarters very near to the power

centre in Vatican? In doing this

are they spreading the “odour of

matters to take care of the material

needs of the poor, orphans and

widows would instead be handled

by seven or more honest experts

prayed over and chosen, as it used

to be in the Apostolic Church. At

present we can only prayerfully

dream of, and hope against hope

that this utopia comes true one

day. Only none of us may live to

see it happen.

Spreading Rite or Good News?

Two other moot questions

pestering the Indian Church

-- the Syro Malabar Church in

particular -- are: The Rite question

and Defining the concept of

evangelisation. Both need

elaborate discussion, not possible

here. As for Rites, any Rite is all

right, but the craze for promoting

one’s own Rite is disastrous, as

bad as creating divisions untold

in place of unity of all followers

dreamt of and prayed for by Jesus.

It is as bad as promoting religious

colonies and territorial expansion

as the be-all and end-all of all

Rites forgetting Jesus’ words: “My

kingdom is not of this world.”

It is on the same footing as the

universally accepted scandal

called: “Divided churches”,

diametrically opposed to the will

Jesus” or the suffocating stench of a

particular church-brand, and acting

like “I am of Peter,” and “I am of

Paul”? Is this evangelisation meant

to spread the good news of “glory

to God in the highest and peace to

men of good will” worldwide in the

fraternal unity of all humans or is it

not promoting divisive tendencies,

nay divisions within subdivisions

endless as in our accursed caste

system? These are explosive issues

which, if not checked in time, are

bound to explode smashing to

smithereens all tall claims these

divisive forces are indulging in as a

sport of kite flying.

In any case the thinking sections

of Church citizens seem to be very

much exercised over these issues.

Parallel meetings and prayer

processions of Church citizens are

being planned by a Knanaya group

on February 7 in Palai seeking

an end to practising endogamy

(purity of blood) which is against

the teachings of Jesus, Church

laws and human rights. A twoday

seminar is also being held in

Ernakulam on February 8 and 9

by Church Citizens excluded from

the CBCI meet to plan out future

strategy including establishing

direct contact with the easily

approachable Francis Papa. So

the coming days are going to be

challenging times of prayer and

honest introspection to find the

right path for the growth of true

discipleship in Jesus for all church

citizens.

(The writer can be contacted at:

jameskottoor@gmail.com)