The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-06-20
Rome And India:
Contacts Between Church,
Indian Leaders, Numerous
by Erik v. Kuehnelt-L eddihn

In spite of all the obstacles in the way OF Catho-
Lie progress, contacts between the Church and the
leaders of India are numerous. Regular diplomatic
relations exist between that country and the Vatican,
a Papal Internuncio resides in Delhi and an Indian
envoy is accredited to the Vatican.
AS a matter of fact all leading Asiatic nations
Japan, Free China, Vietnam, lndonesla, Paklstar,
Syria, Lebanon, etc. have ties with the Eternal City.
Another point Of contact is furnished by schools.
The Catholic schools on the primary, secondary, and
university level teach an overwhelming number OF
non Catholics who heavily outnvmber the faithful.
Rapidly our educational institutions are beconl-
ing extremely popular and fashionable. At the begin
ming of each scholastic year Indian parents make the
most desperate efforts in order to get their children
accepted by these schools which, enthusiastically ana
morally, have the highest qualifications.
Since Indian social life rests on mutual gifts the
efforts to bride the school principals should not be
viewed with moral apprehension and condemned as
unethical.
The Hindu merchant who wanted to slip 1000
rupees into the hand of a Monsignor in order to
gain admission for his boy in a high school, or the
wealthy Mosiem landowner in Southern Paksfan who
promised 5000 rupees 1000 dolIars) and . trip
around the world to a Franciscan if he we're to accept
his son in the mission SCHOOL, am citing actual
eases-are not acting in bad faith.
In the Red Fort of Agra ! met a Sikh accompar-
led by his son who studied with the Jesuits in OAR
feeling. There was this strapling y%oungster with tur-
ban, knife, and comb (s prescribed by his religion,
but smack across his blazer was stitched the Jesuit
'IHS" with the three nails and the words SURSUM
CORDA in large letters.
Was that father happy about his sons luck to
learn excellent English $50 important in lndia) under
school! The situation would, however, have been
quite different had the son shown any desire to be
baptized.
Here lies the tragedy. Still, our faith with its
symbols and notions is slowly but perceptibly per-
meating India. Already in Ceylon, halfway between
Colombo and Handy, in a very primitive roadhouse
where | drank tea | saw, side by side, the pictures
of Stain, Queen Elizabeth II, and Our Lady.
Tr 1r1.a Onn nrY1ont oy.n C1rrf ~nnInr rrInfc
of the Sasred Heart being sold together with pictures
of Our Lord Krishna caressing shepardesses and of
SILVA dancing within a wheel
Sometimes the anticathoie bias takes more
vicious forms. The Indian constitution forbids all re-
ligious discrimination and Article 70 expressly per.
mits government aid TO religious school, which is
forthcoming in many cases.
The Maharadjas who had invited religious orders
and paid for Catholic schools-as for instance, the
Maharadja of Jaipur who introduced the JesuitS as
educators-were deposed in 1948.
Yet st. Xavier high school in Jaipur now gets
liberal subsidies from the Federal Government.
There are, however, Paul BlanshardS Hindu
version, like Judge Niyogi who wrote and published
two years ago the infamous Niyogi Report full of old
standard accusations against the Catholic Church,
filched from all imaginable sources. Zone of the in
ordinations claimed that the conversion of a%borigin-
ais to the Catholic Church prevents them from be-
coming true Hindus).
The present mood among the missionaries and
their largely Indian) bishops is to wait patiently until
the nationalist effervescence, due to the recent Iiber.
alton, will have subsidized. Persecution, Of course,
would be too big . word for fhe situation in India,
yet one can speak about pressure.
1t is a curious fact that the Church in neighbor-
ing Mohammedan Pakistan got a better deal. Whereas
the Indian government is correct toward the Church
and treats her indifferently according to existing
laws, the radically anti-Communist government of
Pakistan is more favorably disposed.
The Pakistan Mosem feels a real kinship towards
the Church (Moslems are not pagans in the strict
sense of the term, and thus the atmosphere in PAX
istan is a friendlier one.
1878. A symposium on devc