jai adivasi calendar

Jesus with beer bottle and a cigarette

The recent controversy over the picture of Jesus with beer bottle in one hand and a cigarette in another in the popular Catholic magazine “Doot” has brought so much negative attention both in Church as well as in the secular print media. All of us are aware of the fact that a group of people are taking the centre stage by constantly attacking individuals and institutions while at the same time enjoying so much popularity and attention. Why is it we as the Church and Society at large become helpless at the hands of this handful of people who are bent on destroying the ‘unity’-the very foundation of any community or society?

I would like to share with you my reflection on this current issue which affects our Church and there by initiate some discussion and debate. Scientifically our brains are programmed to pay greater attention to danger, harmful things which come on our way than things which are positive and good. if you want proof, read Gujarati news papers and watch Gujarati news. A significant percentage of the news coverage are about robbery, rape and all social evils.

There are many good things happening in our church. There are so many silent lay people, priests, sisters and youth doing wonderful things for the Church and the society and we hardly notice these things. But when someone does the opposite, files a case against easy targets in the church, all of us sit and take notice of the person. In other words, we are the people who give importance, give space, and make them 'heroes'. We are the consumers of the negative news, thereby producing 'heroes' who destroy the very fabric which unites the Church and the Society.

Coming back to Doot controversy, the readers of the Doot know that the Doot magazine has consistently stood for traditional Catholicism and faith. So by and large the readers have forgiven or hardly taken notice of the 'blunder' the designers and the editors have done. But the trouble mongers are using this 'negligence' as an opportunity to malign the editorial team. And today, the talk of the town is about the person who has filed the case against the editorial team. once again we have made the trouble mongers as hero. He has received all the attention which he craved.

It is in this context, i urge the leaders of the Church and Society to take stalk of the current situations and answer some of the relevant questions emerging from the prevailing context: we need to ask ourselves some basic questions on why we have come to this situation? Why we give so much importance to these thugs? Why the Christian society is not able to counter these handful of people? why we consume negative literature? Why we fail to notice so much good things which are done by so many people? why do we not speak and share about some of the living saints of our church? why people who are evil in their intention and deeds get maximum popularity in the church and the society? How do we make sure that this handful of people do not proliferate?

You are welcome to add your reflection on this issue.

posina farm house

posina

this photo is taken at posina, in Sabarkantha district. it is a farm house where fr. Peter D'Souza is staying. the mountains as backdrop and the trees for shelter, i felt myself enjoying the nature

classical chola sculptures from Nageshwan temple, Kumbakonam

The elegant posture of this man is an expression of confidence of the chola artists had in the material they handled - often hard granite stones (unlike the sandstone with which the northindian artists carved), the subject matter, and in the technique. It also shows the royal and regal positions the chola enjoyed at that point of the time. when i first saw these sculptures during the slide show presented by Prof. Jeyaram Poduval, at MSU, i understood for the first time the meaning of 'classical' in Indian art.

chola sculptures

These sculptures stand in the niche of the Nageswaran temple. These are found on the outside of the garbhagraha wall. Intrestingly, the 12th century chola temple has been incorporated by the later additions. In this particular scultpture you can see how the artist has done the modelling of the human body, the fold of the flesh all showing the maturity of the period in art. The chola artists not only acheived the classical idiom in bronze but also in the hard granite stone.