Archbishop Menamparampil: ‘whispering the Gospel in Asia’, not out of fear but out of intimacy
The Archbishop Emeritus of Guwahati spoke to the Asian Missionary Congress. While nationalists see Christians as foreigners, “we defend the values of our people”. As missionaries, too little is being done, but bringing Jesus can heal “negative memories” and “build more relationships”.
Penang (AsiaNews) - Today's feast of Saint Francis Xavier was a special occasion to reflect on the mission of Christians in Asia, which was the focus of the Great Pilgrimage of Hope, the recent missionary congress held by the continent's Churches in Penang, Malaysia. Mgr Thomas Menamparampil, Salesian theologian and Archbishop Emeritus of Guwahati in northeast India, was among the speakers at this important gathering.
The 89-year-old prelate is seen a teacher by many Asian Catholics. As such Pope Benedict XVI entrusted him one year with the meditations for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum. In his address, he offered a lucid talk on how to live as Christians in a pluralistic community. Below we publish a transcript of extensive excerpts from his speech, unedited by the author.
How can we live as Christians in a pluralistic society? Our reality is that of a minority. In many places, we are even a micro-minority. We are humbly called the salt of the earth, which means not the entire mass, but only the salt of the earth.
Today, we also live in a post-colonial period; a sort of cultural and nationalist pride exists in every country. This is legitimate in itself, but a bit exaggerated. It is often thought that we Christians represent the West, that some cultural traditions we have adopted –dress, food, and other things – have made us "Westerners" and therefore minorities.
But Christianity comes from the East, from Asia. We keep repeating it to our Indian brothers and sisters; it comes from Asia, it was born here, among you. But since Christianity arrived via the West, the stigma remains. We too can even have a way of thinking that is too influenced by Western attitudes. In other words, we can become uprooted in our own society. A little soul-searching would be helpful here.
Are we uprooted? If we are truly missionaries, we should not be... I have known missionaries who came to northeastern India; they were "Westerners” but they set roots very quickly. They identified strongly with the local community, which accepted them. They identified with the politics and culture, with the fundamental concerns of our civilisation, with our Asian religious values, self-denial, for example, harmony, peace.
When you intimately understand the fundamental concerns of the civilisation, culture, and society you work for, then you reach the soul of a community. This is why I like to use the expression "whispering the Gospel to the soul of Asia". The more we identify with it, the more we become part of it.
We have said it many times: we must be Christians loyal to the country, to the culture, to the traditions of society; we must also fight – together with our non-Christian friends, our neighbours – for the traditional value systems that preserve what is precious in our civilisation. We must stand with the leaders of civil society, with those who defend these values, who have a certain measure of dignity, especially today when politics has become so damaged.
Today, the king of society is the one who boasts. It has almost become a form of spirituality. The man who makes money or the politician who sings the praises of his successes. But we do not identify with this type of leader. Even as a minority, while we cannot influence everything, we can act with a sense of responsibility, for the common good, with commitment, exerting an influence especially on the thinking element in society.
We need to be present in universities, in the media, in markets, in parliament, at least through a network of friends and institutions, not to gain favours from the government, but to uphold value systems. We must nurture planters of ideals, presenters of visions, supporters of energy, inspirers of the soul: writers, professors, teachers, real people. If we stand among them as missionaries, we too become one of them.
Many of these intellectuals ask me: “Father, what do you think?” In important moments, they ask for your opinion: this is evangelisation. Together, when we are at this level, we exert great influence. We act as honest and responsible citizens.
All this is the first part. But we must also share what is most precious in our hearts: our faith in Jesus. "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel." Of course, it is not easy to convey a message, especially when you are a minority. The media is not in our hands.
And yet, we insert ourselves wherever society needs us: poverty, development, education, health. And this gives us a huge advantage. Despite being a minority, we shape the minds of millions of people. People come to our hospitals. Through our institutions, we can have a huge impact. Provided we truly overcome cultural barriers.
I belong to southern India. I am a stranger in northeastern India, a complete stranger. But if we are good missionaries, we insert ourselves in our communities. We must be like Saint Patrick, who became Irish; Boniface, who became German, Saxon, and so on.
But I will be honest: on this issue, most of us missionaries are underperforming; we are at 30 per cent, 40 per cent of what we are able to do. We are failing our motivation, we are losing it because of cultural barriers. It is a sad thing. Very few are fully integrated in the culture.
We need to build more relationships, gradually become intimate with the people we meet. We cannot be that way with two thousand children, of course, but we can have an intimate moment with each of them at any given moment.
Intimacy also means paying attention to shifts in collective mood. During the pandemic, there was a certain mood. During the war, there was another. Perhaps today's Gospel calls for joy. But we must pay attention to the general atmosphere, to prejudices in society, to negative memories: the Holocaust, on the one hand, Hiroshima, on the other. Even in our country, for example, Hindus have negative memories of Islamic and British rule. We must be a little cautious with these negative memories. Handle these things with sensitivity.
Healing society's negative memories is also part of evangelisation. It is not easy. Gandhi himself said: “I have not been able to completely remove the prejudices our Hindu friends have against our Muslim friends.”
Furthermore, we are not neutral in this: we do not entirely belong to the mindset of some, and this requires caution. But as missionaries, this attitude must be part of the way we relate to people. We are called to bring healing to our own and other communities. What matters are the kind words we use, the symbols we show those who suffered centuries ago but still bear the memory of their wounds.
We must pay more attention to the areas receptive to the Christian message. In northern and northeastern India, northern Thailand and Burma, southern China, and Vietnam, 200 million people belong to tribal groups. I have visited many of them; the readings I shared with them touched them. If they are in our areas, we must give them special attention. I am thinking of our area in northeastern India. at the beginning of the last century, there were 2,000 Catholics. Now there are two million. In this, our Protestant brothers are ahead of us.
If I use the expression "whispering the Gospel”, it is not out of fear or even prudence (which is partly necessary). It is precisely to emphasise intimacy, personal closeness. Jesus whispered in the Upper Room, he whispered to the Samaritan woman. Whispering is that kind of personal, intimate, profound conversation that conveys a profound message. It is not about lecturing "from above”. This may perhaps apply to Christians who already believe, but when you share something new with someone, when you discuss, the style is one of intimacy.
I think of the leader of a tribal group in my area. Thanks to our friendship, one evening I was able to have a long conversation with him. And step by step, I was able to lead him to baptism; now, after 20 or 30 years, he, his family, his village, his tribe, have all come to the faith. But this happened only through intimate sharing.
If we become capable of this, there is joy in sharing such a life-giving message as the one Jesus gave us. May this be our experience.
* Archbishop Emeritus of Guwahati
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