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

ARE WE REALLY CHRISTIANS ?

 Letter No. 33, July 1988.

Dear Friends,

    I read on our magazine: “Mondo e Missione” (Feb.1988) the impressions of Fr. Francesco Gabriele, Capuchin of Pescara, after his Journey to India with a group from “Amici dei Lebbrosi”.

“I had been in India for 15 days. After coming back to Italy I lost all my interest in our radio, TV, newspapers. May be because the problems and news that I find in them they not problems compared to the real ones that remain in the dark. Now I understand why the Gospel must be preached to the poor.”

Dear Fr. Gabriele, what you say is really true. I too when I come back to Italy have the same feeling. We missionaries come back to Italy, according to the rules, to update ourselves. That means to keep in touch with reality. But you say: “ Now I am reconsidering our culture, out theology on the light of what I have seen in India”. I think that you are right. I think that you should continue to repeat this warning in Italy to all Italians, to all the Europeans: it is necessary to reconsider our culture, our theology and, I would say, particularly our economic system, our way of living in general. We missionaries very often forget to say these things because we are busy on the other side of the bridge and also because we are afraid of offending our “benefactors”. We depend on the donations of our fellow-country men, how can we raise the voice and tell them: “you must change your life, change your culture, your theology and economy”? Their donations keep our mouth shut.

    We missionaries should be more open and courageous to give a feedback to our countrymen, also if we have to risk receiving less donations. We need the courage to say that the money they give to us is the product of an international system that exploits the countries of the Third World. It would be better for the Europeans to give a better price for the raw material that comes from the third world and to charge less the finished products they send back, it would be better not to compete in selling arms to the third world countries.

    I know that this is only one aspect of the problem, but very often this aspect is forgotten. I know that the donations to the missionaries are not only the product of exploitation, but also the product of self-denial of hundred of poor and honest persons who give out of their hard earned salary.

But it is time we realise that there is not only personal selfishness but also a collective or structural selfishness hidden under the names like “national interest”, “defence of civilisation”, “cultural values”.

It is time to know that our elected ministers sometime do what we will never dare to as a person. Those who help the missionaries must be the first to demand that the nation should not do what they will never do: selling arms, closing the door to asylum seekers, selling outdated and dangerous technologies.

    I know that my charitable work, my Christian witnessing, my livelihood depend from the “donations for the missions”, but I think that the time has come to risk to have less donations but more international justice. If the Europeans will pay more the cotton, iron ore, leather, groundnuts, tea, coffee, may be the people will have less money for donations for the missions, but India will gain more.

Just in these days the president of the World Bank, Mr. Barber B. Conable, speaking at San Francisco to the World Council Affairs said: “The developing nations are forced to transfer to the industrialised nations more money than what they receive.”

    I know also that supposing India receives more income from the international commerce, non necessarily and immediately the poor of India will get a benefit. We need also internal reforms. But there is no use in telling others to reform themselves I we are not ready to do ours that will make possible theirs.

    You, Fr. Gabriele, close your latter saying: “After an experience of this kind we may ask ourselves how sincere Christians we are” and you add that you are “rethinking our theology”. In fact the economic system that we have spoken of has his foundation in the culture and the theology. We have  build up a Catholic Theology (with capital letters) that is just the contrary of a catholic theology (with small letters) that is universal, useful for all. According to the theology we learnt in the seminary salvation is only for the baptised and practising catholic: Extra Ecclesia nulla salus. We have forgotten the first beatitude:” Happy the poor: theirs is the kingdom of God”.

    Dear Fr. Gabriele, what you wrote tell from the top of the roof of Europe: “ I doubt that we are Christians”.