Pope proposes, they dispose…. Where’s compassion, benevolence and empathy?

The saga of a college professor


(NOTE: Kothamangalam diocese which runs the college on Sunday decided to reinstate the professor. Better late than never. Some consolation for the professor but it won't bring back his wife. This blog was written before the diocese's action).

  Pope Francis once asked priests: how many of them “cry when faced with the suffering of a child, the destruction of a family, before the many people who cannot find their path”?

 He asked on another occasion: what it means to be a priest? He himself explained: “as Jesus, priests are moved by their sheep, and like the Good Shepherd, a priest is a man of compassion and mercy, who is close to his flock and is a servant of all.”

 The pontiff’s sage advice seems to be falling on deaf ears even within the Catholic Church. This infelicitous incident involving a Kerala professor happened in a Catholic community in Kerala, India, is a proof.

 The wife of the Kerala professor, whose palm was chopped off by a religious group over alleged blasphemy, committed suicide at her house last week. The family was going through a financial crisis following Joseph's dismissal from his job from a college run by Roman Catholic diocese. Media reports alleged that his wife committed suicide after college officials were reluctant to reinstate him. Please read the stories using the following links to get a full picture about the suicide.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/wife-of-kerala-professor-whose-palm-was-chopped-off-commits-suicide/1/350345.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Action-demanded-against-college-for-Salomis-suicide/articleshow/32378253.cms

 The professor’s case should have been handled more sensitively and caringly. It’s a wounded family, physically, financially and emotionally.

  This could be an aberration or a stray incident. But it rocked the conscience of the society, including me. This college is my alma mater. My father also taught in this college.

  My intention is not to find the merits or demerits of the developments that led to the suicide of the professor’s wife. This happened in a Catholic institution (Newman College), managed by priests, and the person who committed suicide was a Catholic. I’m nobody to judge the institution or the priests managing it.

  The fact remains that a poor woman shed her blood. Who’s responsible for this blood? I don’t know. 

 Where’s the compassion, benevolence, empathy and sympathy?  I have been reading, studying and analyzing the papal documents – encyclicals, exhortations, meditations and homilies – for quite some time now. Popes send out the right messages and signals but the flock continue to go hither and thither. In simple words, Pope's words are ignored by some clergy down the heirarchy.

   The local church authorities might have been annoyed by the attitude of the professor. But If you go by the Vatican’s advice, it’s for the priests to show compassion and mercy. I don’t want to say they are cocking a snook at the Pope.

  Pope once noted that a priest shows compassion “in all his attitude, in his way of welcoming, listening, advising and absolving.”  "Sterile priests do not help the Church,” he said and referred to the Church as a “field hospital” where injuries are treated.
  Many are wounded by material problems, by scandals, even in the Church and by “the illusions of the world. “We priests must be there, close to these people,” Pope said.
  Sadly, the professor's case amply demostrates that this doesn't happen all the time.
  But I’m fully convinced that the Church is Holy… and my consolation is that 99 per cent of the sheep want to follow the Good Shepherd.