The National Convention of the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace was held in Hyderabad. The complaint: “India’s poor are getting poorer by the day; the rich and powerful continue to benefit at their expense and accumulate outrageous amounts of wealth.” They ask for greater courage from the Church and its congregations.
Hyderabad () – From September 22 to 24, the 17th National Convention of the Forum of Indian Religious for Justice and Peace was held in Hyderabad. The event was attended by 63 religious men and women from 16 states of India, representing 20 different congregations. “Deepening our identity as religious: responding to the signs of the times” was the central theme of the meeting. The head of the Forum, Sister Dorothy Fernandes, from the Congregation of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, spoke with : “Following the path traced by those who have preceded us, we have renewed our commitment to be together with those who live in the peripheries,” he commented.
In her opening speech at the Forum, Sr. M. Nirmalini, president of the Conference of Religious of India, recalled that Pope Francis invited “to wake up the world” through the consecrated life, “bearing witness that there is another way of being, acting and living, a way of prophetic life. And in this sense, in the final document, the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace expressed its deep concern about the current situation in India.
“The situation of our nation is deteriorating on all fronts,” the document read. “The poor in India are getting poorer every day; the rich and powerful continue to benefit at their expense and accumulate outrageous amounts of wealth. Adivasis (Tribal Peoples, ed.), Dalits, Scheduled Castes and other groups are dispossessed and continue to be denied their due dignity, equality and justice. Minorities (especially Muslims and Christians) are the target of hate speech and persecution by a regime that systematically and continuously denigrates and demonizes them with a divisive and violent agenda. Intolerance is on the rise.”
In the document, the clerics cite the new National Education Policy that “clearly harms the poor and minorities and targets only a small section of the wealthy and elite.” They denounce the widespread corruption and patronage, the repression of freedom of expression and human rights: those “who stand against the regime are dragged to court, falsely accused, assaulted, imprisoned and even killed, as we have painfully seen with the death of our brother Stan Swamy, who passed away while in police custody.
But the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace also questions the “silences” of the Indian Church. Although Pope Francis calls for “synodality”, the local Church remains locked into clericalism and a patriarchal mentality, and caste-based discrimination is still practiced today.
In this context, the religious renew their commitment to “continually deepen our identity as radical disciples of Jesus and to have the courage of the prophets, to respond to the signs of the times”. They are convinced that “personal transformation is the first step towards social transformation.” “We will continue to strive,” they write, “to build more inclusive communities that overcome religious, caste, gender and ethnic divisions, as well as all forms of sectarianism.” Lastly, they urge their congregations to carry out “programs on the Indian Constitution and social analysis”, necessarily exposing the realities of the poor. Finally, they demand that “an unequivocal, visible and clear position of support for the victims of abuse both within the Church and in society in general” be adopted.
