Carlo Torriani

SWARGA DWAR

The conversion of a catholic missionary

presented by

Card. Simon Pimenta

PIME Publications, PIME Regional House, Eluru - 534 0-07, A.P., India

ANTI-LEPROSY WEEK

Letter No.39, February 1991

Dear Friends,

    Also in India, at the end of January, every year, we celebrate Anti-Leprosy Week. On 30^th of January, the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi is also remembered.  In Bombay it was celebrated with a march of different schools students and with a meeting at  Mafatlal Auditorium with Sunil Dutt, a popular actor, as chief guest. In this occasion a token of appreciation was given to some patients who had completed their treatment, to some medical students who had done some research on leprosy, and to the different heads of the voluntary organisations engaged in leprosy control.

    I was also there. The auditorium was full with 500 people. Looking at the audience I noticed a white spot in the crowd created by a group of religious sisters who were sitting together. My first reaction was of surprise, since I was expecting much more religious sister engaged in leprosy control. In fact some congregations that work for leprosy patients did not come. But one consideration came to my mind. A meeting of leprosy workers, fifty years ago, would have been full of missionaries, men and women, since at that time nearly all the work for leprosy patients was done by Christian missionaries.

Now instead there are people of any walk of life taking care of them. And particularly, governments and public health authorities have started a National Leprosy Control Program. This is wonderful!

    From my point of view, as missionary, I should also be happy. This is a case of anonymous evangelisation and true inculturation. I was reading recently that inculturation  is the incarnation into life of the Christian message in a concrete cultural area in such a way that it becomes the principle of  inspiration and transformation of a given culture.

    In India we had been lucky to have the example of Mahatma Gandhi who, against the objection of many of his collaborators, kept in his ashram a leprosy patient by name Pashture Shastri, to whom himself was giving treatment. At that time treatment was only chaulmugra oil. There is a famous photo of Gandhi massaging this patient.

    Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is like a man who throws the seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces.” So we must be happy when we see the good ideas (evangelion in Greek language) spread around also without a Christian label. The important is that they spread….We can witness to it.