Mumbai is back!

It was very painful for me.. The Mumbai Massacre! I was glued to TV for 2 days. It hurt me as an Indian. It has hurt India profoundly. It exposed the weaknesses of 'Super Power' India. It also reminded us of the terror of religious fanaticism.

Silver line:: The Muslim community in India came forward to denounce it. They didnt even bury those Islamic terrorists. E Ahmed, union minister who hails from my State Kerala lodged our protest in the UN.

We cannot afford it any more. Enough is enough! We need a full stop to terrorism. Whoever be the party, they have to ensure us - Indians - security, not rhetoric! That was reflected in the 5 state election results, I guess (3:2 - Congress, BJP). Indian voters have matured.

Good news today - Taj is back. Cheers to Ratan Tata. I wonder the way this man has transformed himself in the minds of Indians during the last few years . From a business man to something more than that - a national figure!

PS: I've got a new year resolution - I will visit Taj and spend at least a day there!

Mumbai is back!

It was very painful for me.. The Mumbai Massacre! I was glued to TV for 2 days. It hurt me as an Indian. It has hurt India profoundly. It exposed the weaknesses of 'Super Power' India. It also reminded us of the terror of religious fanaticism.

Silver line:: The Muslim community in India came forward to denounce it. They didnt even bury those Islamic terrorists. E Ahmed, union minister who hails from my State Kerala lodged our protest in the UN.

We cannot afford it any more. Enough is enough! We need a full stop to terrorism. Whoever be the party, they have to ensure us - Indians - security, not rhetoric! That was reflected in the 5 state election results, I guess (3:2 - Congress, BJP). Indian voters have matured.

Good news today - Taj is back. Cheers to Ratan Tata. I wonder the way this man has transformed himself in the minds of Indians during the last few years . From a business man to something more than that - a national figure!

PS: I've got a new year resolution - I will visit Taj and spend at least a day there!

CMIs and Cash (some say, it is Cash Making Institute!)

(Pic::CMIS in New York)
I got the following question from a young Catholic girl, who is my chat friend. I also add my answer to it. This is my conviction.

Why are Chirstian institutions so adamant in making money and investement?(This question was asked in the context of your congregation acha,CMI). Aren't you diverting from the cause of Jesus?

I like this question. It is very pertinent to me, as a CMI. We dont make money for the sake of making money. In reality, we are the great debtors. In my province, we got 100+ priests and it is said that every priest's head carry a debt of around 7-10 lakhs!

Yes we do have great institutions. All of them are for the benefit of humanity and for Church and its people. We are running a University in India (which is just one of the many other initiatives). It's all for good. Do we need to stop them? We can.. Then what will be the fate of those beneficiaries, which belong to all religious groups... of Church and Christians in India? The Xians still flourish and are respected in India only because of these institutions, even if they are a minority. If we abandon them, Christians will go down like the dalits or Muslims.

Now, it is my conviction that, Indian Church should make money. It is not to get 'rich'. But to stand on its own feet. In the past, we were relying of foreign money for our projects. But that is not good for Indian Church and India. If Church needs to stand on its two feet, it should be self-sufficient. Either, the Indian faithful have to contribute heavily or Church should raise it on its own. When Bl Chavara started CMI congregation, all of the initial monasteries were erected using the money from people. But, that scenario has changed. People's mentality does not support that method any more. And Church has got the capacity and human resource to do it on its own. So, it must take that responsibility than passing on it to its people. Moreover, India is in a better economic position now than in the past and so there's no point in importing money from outside. That is not social justice. On the contrary, Indian church should be able to support the missions in other poor nations around the world. That is our responsibility. We received when we were in need, now we have to give it back, when we are in a position to do that. If we are hiding away from that responsibility, we are just irresponsible. There's a danger of victim mentality (out of poverty) in our mindset, which actually hinder us from 'generously giving' to others (other poor missions world around).

If we need to be self reliant, if we need to venture into world missions, we need money. Church in India should do whatever possible in legitimate terms to amass it, so that it can keep sustain what they got in India, expand those services and to share its benefits with the Christ's mission around the world.

India emerges from obscurity as new global force!

An impressive article.. first of its kind in any of the Aussie New papers, I reckon.. Even not published in other fairfax news papers... exclusive to "The Canberra Times"Read here.

Parking at ANU and Canberra Times!

Canberra Times published an article regarding Fellows Oval at ANU and the parking issue titled ANU denials on paving paradise to put up a parking lot on 14th Nov 08. (read the article here: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/anu-denials-on-paving-paradise-to-put-up-a-parking-lot/1360560.aspx)

I wrote a reply. But it was NOT published! I dont know, what's wrong with these Australian Newspapers. They dont seem to accommodate any difference of opinions. Its a shame. Here you can read the reply.

----------------

ANU Parking

I am a research student at ANU. Parking in ANU is a pressing need for me and many others like me. ANU authorities have the right and duty to make sure that the staff and students get adequate parking space, so that they can pursue their academic activities with ease.

The response of the ANU staff and students as described by the article - "ANU denials on paving paradise to put up a parking lot" on 14th November is not completely true. In general, people love to save the Fellows Oval but not at the cost of acute parking shortage in the campus which is going to escalate due to the proposed construction work. As the article observes, the issue of parking came to limelight when "the opponents of the proposal" started circulating mass-emails over the last week. But when students including me send mass-emails seeking opinion about the other viable alternatives to spare Fellow's Oval, it was greeted with threats to suppress the emails by the moderators of IT department, which they allowed to "the opponents" at the very first place. And interestingly there were peaceful civil disobedience from even the staff members by hitting "reply all" button to express their concern for adequate parking in ANU.

The bottom line is ANU should be able to provide adequate parking service to its students and staff. Being a research oriented university, most of the ANU students are involved in research works whose timing cannot be restricted to office hours. That makes them and the staff members who guide them to resort to odd timings which are not supported by (infrequent and insufficient) public transport system in ACT. Moreover, Canberra is spread too much along different suburbs that ANU is not always accessible by bike or foot, unless someone is exceptionally athletic in most cases. Personally, I did my Masters in Melbourne and rode my bike to University and never own a car. I tried public transport in Canberra for first 3 months and it was horrible. Canberra has to increase its population and population density (instead of spreading too much), if it has got any good chance of providing a decent public transport system. And that is going to be a long term objective.

Till then, ANU should provide adequate parking space for its students and staff with reasonable parking fees (as we got now) to all those who want this service to keep ANU a destination for quality researchers from all around the world. If that could be achieved without Fellows Oval, we all welcome that move. But Fellows Oval should not be a hindrance to make this service available to its staff and students. The ecological cost of Fellows Oval could be off-setted by creative means like planting trees in even purchased new land.

Eco Warriors of ANU after me..

It started with an email to ALL @ CECS.

One Rita (I changed name to keep her privacy), encouraged us to Save Fellows oval, which was marked by ANU-parking to turned into a new parking lot. I clicked 'reply all' button to query whether they got any alternative suggestion to provide parking lot which is a pressing need for me and others. Then came a wave of e-mails to ALL@CECS and to me personally.

They want to link Oval & Parking with sustainability. But I got some very unconventional ideas about it. The following is an excerpt from the discussion. I purge the names of people to keep save their privacy.

Rita wrote:
--------------------

Anyone who would like to keep Fellows Oval as a nice green place of recreation, send an email to
parking.feedback@anu.edu.au
(email closes in 2 days).

Cheers

--------------------
Jaison Paul wrote:

Have you got suggestion for any other place for parking? Parking is a
pressing need for me and many.

Jaison

--------------------
W J wrote:

Hi Jaison,
By making more parking area available is not solving the parking problem. This new parking area will be filled up the moment it become available and more parking area will be needed because more people will take their car to campus.
The answer is to encourage to those who can take public transport or bike to do so.
Please don't try to solve the sort term problem by causing long term problem.

--------------------
Jaison Paul wrote:

That's quite interesting.. I shared one of my genuine concerns. But I
get 'bashed'!

You did not answer nor addressed my concern. I am a research student
here who moved from Melbourne. If you are taking about public
transport system in Melbourne or Sydney, I can understand that. Where
is public transport in ACT? I depended on it for first 3 months..
HORRIBLE. Lucky that I could afford a car at last. Then about bikes..
Canberra is spread all around the place.. Not everybody, unless you
are so athletic and could bear 'cold cold' weather could resort to
biking.

So, dont be too emotional in the name of 'nature and nostalgia'. If
you dont have answers to the genuine problems of students like me.,
dont suggest anything. If you want to save oval, its good and fine.
But, WE NEED PARKING.

Jaison Paul

-----------------
J D Wrote:

Jaison,

Neither have you answered or addressed the concern in the email to which you were replying. To complain about the quality of the public transport here and then to support policies which will encourage people not to use it seems strange, to say the least.

-----------------
Jaison Paul Wrote:

This was the mail to which I replied: "Anyone who would like to keep Fellows Oval as a nice green place of recreation, send an email to parking.feedback@anu.edu.au". And my response was spot on.. Parking is a pressing need for me and many and "Fellows Oval as a nice green place of recreation" does not get more importance than that. Those who want to save it should come up with better suggestions.

I am not the person, who wants to play the "cool, nice guy" when it comes to ecology or sustainability. Here is my reply to another mail I got yesterday. That's my stand:

"I am not against saving the oval. But those who are for it should suggest means to provide Parking as well. I have also wrote article about Ecology and Sustainability in the past, when I was in India. But when I came to Australia and seeing "how we take of the planet's resources", I stopped writing it. An oval wont do any good to our status of world's worst emitters. For that we (AUS) has to shut down its coal power reactors or reduce the use of electricity to half or at least turn off half of street lights.

Best wishes in saving the planet."

The problem seems to link Sustainability issue with Oval and parking. Actually there's no link between them. The real challenge of sustainability demands too much, which will really hurt us and that we dont want to talk at all. So, we pretend to be "cool, nice guys" regarding these issues just to cover up our unwillingness to take the real issue head on . Coz it will hurt us - the developed world.

If we want to offset ecological cost of Fellows oval, what we could do is to purchase some land somewhere else and plant some trees there. That shouldn't be in Aus itself, may be in any of the Pacific islands or even in Christmas island - that will give 'refugees' some job.

And about public transport.. I support it fully.. But where is it? And there's no genuine effort to make it happen. Kevin 474 could give some 6 billion to car industry in Aus - bail out, but not to increase public transport facilities.. coz, there's no money in it.. economy of surplus.. That's what matters to us dear.. sorry. If you want to save the planet, do something in that line, not the 'feel good' flashy stuff.

I arrest my case.. coz I know, I am not going to save the world, when the ones who have the responsibility to take care of it is not up to it. Btw, I am an Indian. Thanks.

Jaison

Balance of power shifts to India!

That was the heading of "The Canberra Times" today. Very well said. India ends the Australian dominance in Cricket with a 2-0 series victory and retaining Boarder-Gavaskar Trophy. India outplayed Aus in every department. Congrats to Dhoni as the winning captain. The tactics were brutal and merciless. The same old medicine of Aus, but this time to them! Well deserved win.

The most gracious moment was when Dhoni asked Sourav Ganguly to take the captaincy after the 9th wicket fall. What a tribute to retiring Dada! Truely Indian attitude by Dhoni - respect the elders. Well done.

As I commented in an online newspaper, it's an Obama era. The black and brown and even the yellow will take the lead. What matters is only skills and just (not equal) opportunities.. Let's make sure that these things are taken care of.. and let the rest - the power swing according to it..

Why Australia is upfront in climate change debate?

I had this question in my mind for a while.. And something which I admire Australia for. In my recent visit to Toronto and New York, I shared this view to my friends over there. Australia is really well ahead of them in ecological sustainability matters. They do really care about it and identify it as a major issue. But not the cultures of US and Canada I witnessed, the media I listened, the people I met there.

But then why Australia is well ahead?

Usually Australia goes after US.. But in this case even the government is well ahead of US.. WHY?

I think, I got a practical and may be the most reasonable answer. Australia is the one who is more prone to the negative effects of climate change. Being the driest continent on earth and already experiencing series of droughts and dwindling food basket, Australia feels the pinch of climate change already. And the political leadership can easily see it and calls the whole world to stop it - the climate change disaster! Even the people from pacific nation may have to be absorbed into Australia, which they dont want.

Now, Australia want not only US but India and China on board to tackle climate change.

Well, India and China should come on board, but with conditions. If it is basically to ensure the well off of Australia (and other "developed" countries), there should be a price attached to it. The climate change discussions in the future also should include the matter of climate change refugees (eg. from pacific islands) and immigration.

That is, India and China should come on the board with the assurance that those "developed nations" whose well being is to be ensured by climate action should be bound to accept climate change refugees. They also should open their borders for immigration from India and China, who have got the largest population on earth, because their effort is going to benefit them.

Tail piece: I listened to radio yesterday saying that the first climate change refugees from one of the pacific islands were displaced to Papua New Gunnia (PNG). Where was Australia, the champion of climate change debate? A'nt they clever? Or they may be preparing Christmas Islands for them.. lol

When is Australia going to get its first Aboriginal PM?

We got a black American president. Well.. When is Australia going to get its first Aboriginal PM? 40 years from now? How will it happen, huh? Australia does not allow them to come to the mainstream of social and political life and take their rightful position.. They dont have a definite plan to educate them or a reservation policy as in India. Australia does not have a single aboriginal person in its both houses of government.

There's a loooong way to go for the Aussies white supremacy.. The signs are written very clear on the walls.. not an aboriginal, black, brown, asian face on the many online/newspapers or in television media.. If at all something is there, that is just to portray the negativity - like the Gautham Gambir event in Cricket at the moment (only exception may be Sachin who gets comparatively good comments in Aussie media). As a person live in Australia I do really feel this. There's no racism in the peripherals .. but a lack of willingness to accept the goodness in minorities - aboriginals, asian, Indians without the barrier of color.

Australia has to work hard to come out of this divisive problem...

Ironically America shows India the way!

Till now I thought Indians are better than Americans in political inclusion.. India had a dalit president and got a female president at the moment. The Chief Justice is a dalit too.. But America never had a woman or black president..But Obama's presidency changes all. India never had a dalit PM nor in the near vicinity... May be Mayawathi could make it. Even then, we can only FOLLOW America! Moreover, Obama was born of a Kenyan father who is/was a Muslim. India (I dont blame all Indian, but some extremists) finds it difficult to accept an Italian lady who happened to be Catholic even if she is been elected by people to the parliament and supported by her party. WE GOT A LOOOONG WAY TO GO.. And.. ironically, America shows us the way..

My mum's sms

As I watched the winning speech of Barak Obama on BBC online streaming video, I received an sms from my mum in my small village in India - "Thank God, for Obama win".

Amazing how the whole world is looking at it..

As Obama exhorted, the climb will be steep. Hope he will be able to get them (and the whole world) there...

Finally, its Obama!

Finally Obama wins.. or about to win.. as I write this, the magic number of 270 has not yet come. But it is sure that he will. Not a landslide in big scale. But a reasonable landslide!

What does it mean. As somebody suggested America by-passed a civil war! If Obama weren't elected the black America would have felt cheated. That is over now. And a great PR success for America, something to be proud of in the midst of all negatives - the wars, the economy, etc, etc.

Good for World? Hopefully. As I commented earlier, the rhetoric and composure of Obama should help America to adjust themselves to the changing power shift in the emerging world order. Hopefully he will catalyze that shift. God save America and the world!

Sarah Palin

What to say... I would like Obama to win (the US elections), but my vote (if I had) would go to Palin..

It's a dilemma.. Obama - as the first African American, I would like to be seen as the president of US. I dont know much about his 'change' rhetoric.. But as an alternative to 'BUSHism' it is good.

But.. Palin..

The introduction of Palin - a mother of 5 and a pro-life supporter, changes the whole scenario.. It's very hard to see those values (represented by Palin like, family, life, etc ) to be seen aloud in the public arena for quite a long time. To have 5 kids and to give birth to a babe, knowing that he would have Down's Syndrome is quite noble, challenging and heroic. And these values are essential for the survival of human race and to put themselves (at least) little higher than animal instincts.

And if those values comes into the mainstream of society, I would welcome them whole heartedly.. There's no second thought.

Sorry Obama.. unless until you don't have answer to Palin, my heart still goes for you, but not the vote!

India wins it FIRST ever individual Gold medal in Olympics!!

Congrats Abhinav Bindra !!! You have made us proud.

He has won FIRST ever individual Olympic gold for India. He won gold in men's 10-metre Air Rifle event in Beijing 2008. It's only a beginning, I am sure. We are coming... may be bit behind China.. may be 10 - 20 yrs.. We'll be there!!

WYD and the Colonial hang-over

One of the beautiful parts of World Youth Day final Mass was the gospel procession by the Pacific Islanders. I was there, right beside. It was really beautiful, touching (watch it here) . But,... that's a BIG BUT!

The end of the gospel precession really tasted bitter.. The symbolism! The Pacific Islanders 'entrust the Gospel' to a European convoy (at least all looked like Europeans). Then they takes it to the alter, as the Islanders passively look at it! Black and White!

Just reminded everybody of the new Cadbury ad on the TV. The Pacific Islanders wage war over coffee and the Emperor wins, only to see that European colonials came to take the throne.

Dont think that I am too critical. But there are things to be fixed up. In God, there's no race. When we do a liturgy for WYD, which is supposed to celebrate the universality of Church, these things should get right. The powerful symbolism could have all changed, if we had, at least a black or brown person among the convoy who received Gospel from the Pacific Islanders.

Tail piece: During the Saturday vigil, one of the Indian young pilgrims told me. "Look father they pray in almost every language on earth. But why not in any of Indian languages?". He was right. The representation of Indian subcontinental languages were almost nil, except for one of the prayers of the faithful during the final Mass in SriLankan Sinhalees.

I want to answer RIGHT to my fellow young pilgrims from Asia next time. After all Jesus was an Asian and Asia is the cradle of Christianity!

On US, Oil and Obama!

I got a mail from Mr John D of Carnegie as a reply to my post "There's a Silver-lining everywhere man".. I post his mails and my replies with his permission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaison, I disagree with your views on uncle sam taking possession of Iraqi oil. The truth is that right now Iraq needs American expertise to modernise and fully develop oil production but once this is achieved you should expect that this expertise will be transferred to the Iraqis themselves. There is no 'uncle sam' in Saudi Arabia, the Saudis nationalised their oil industry decades ago when the likes of Getty and Texaco were invited to leave the country. There in no 'uncle sam' in Iran, or Kuwait or the UAE and we know only too well what that caring intelligent socialist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela thinks of dear old uncle sam. Russia, which almost certainly holds the world's largest reserves of oil, is steadily squeezing out every multinational - the American were never there (what a surprise) but now Shell and BP are on the verge of throwing in the towel as the Russians move to take full control. Contrary to the popular view America's principal interest is there needs to be an unfettered world oil market and one which is not threatened by idiotic mullahs and other crazy dictators such as Libya's Kaddafi who has just banned oil exports to Switzerland because that country threw his son, Hannibal, (true) out of the country for assaulting his Filipino servants. See what I mean?

John D

Carnegie

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi John,

Good to hear from you.

I'm not pessimistic.

I do agree with you that " right now Iraq needs American expertise". But the RIGHT NOW (The situation that is been created in Iraq) seems to sit perfect into a BIG picture, which could have been very well created! This wouldn't be not only my perception. Most of the world agrees with me, in this regard (aka, Iraq war was for oil).

"There is no 'uncle sam' in Saudi Arabia".. well, something very similar to 'banana republic'!

And regarding the other big stuffs you told about Chavez of Venezuela or Russia or Libya.. I must say, I am not in a position to comment at the moment.. coz I havent really put my mind into it.

Look, I think, you have been offended (I dont know whether, you are a US citizen or hails from US, etc).. I never meant any offense. There's a lot of good things about Uncle Sam. May be the best thing happening at the moment would be "Barak Obama". And much much more.. But every one, whether persons or nations need to be refined. And I am sure that 'Uncle Sam' will also take the lead in this regard(they are always at the forefront of everything!). Let's pray for that and hope for that.

Jaison CMI

PS: If you dont mind shall I post your reply in my blog? It's a good comment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please go ahead and post my reply, if it stimulates others to join the debate so much the better.

You may be disappointed at the end of the day because, if I'm right, and I do believe I am, John McCain will win the election. I draw as a parallel the year of 1960 when the youthful charismatic John F Kennedy on just managed to defeat the dour uninspiring Richard Nixon. Why? Because Kennedy had to overcome a silent but deep-seated antipathy towards catholics and I do recall at the time catholics everywhere rejoicing that their man had managed to crawl over line.

Barack Obama has a far more daunting hurdle to clear - he is a black man, and despite current polls suggesting he is leading McCain (only just) I keep thinking of 1960 and that 'silent deep-seated antipathy'. The problem for Obama is this malaise has a habit of finally revealing itself only within the enclosed anonymity of the voting booth.

We shall see....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's okay John... It's upto Americans to decide what they want, what image they want to give to the rest of the world.

I have published them in my Blog.

Jaison CMI

Winston Churchill won the war, but Clement Attlee was elected PM

I was just reflecting about WYD!

It was great success - as an event. The government has done a wonderful job. They poured out money and support. The infrastructure - public transport, randwick, barangaroo, security - was excellent. The pilgrims were excellent - their happiness, joy and discipline were exemplary. Sydniers were so welcoming. The Church organization did a good job - the billeting, hospitality, the ceremonies - esp, the Way of the Cross and final Mass were excellent.

Only one thing failed. the PR - public relations. It was a disaster. Except the official media (particularly new corp print media), all others tired their level best to tarnish the Catholic fest, by blowing the sex scandals and atheist/liberal views out of proportion in their prime time and space. The internet was the ugliest thing. I followed it till Thursday. Hopeless.

The Church (in Aus) didn't see that it was coming. When it came, it didn't know how to address it, when it addressed, it failed miserably.

Cardinal Pell did a wonderful job in bringing and conducting WYD in Aus. But many a time he failed to reap the fruits of it, by allowing himself to be exposed to unwanted controversies. Whether it was how he dealt the "sex abuse cases of the priests" (in this case a man who died in prison before 10 years) or "more western babies" or "un-linking climate change from human activity" (what the hell on earth a Cardinal should comment on the relationship between climate change and human activity (aka pollution) during WYD. It belongs to scientists and does not belong to religions to prove or disprove it, let science do it. May be on the basis of that we could postulate moral implications!), he was a PR failure.

He is good man, with lot of convictions. He was the right person to conduct WYD (except PR could have been given to a different team).

It was Winston Churchill who won the World War II as the PM of England. But it was Clement Attlee who succeeded him after the War. I heard that the people of England did a right thing by ditching their war hero over a moderate face. They had known that they wanted a moderate face to heal the wounds of war.

I think Rome will learn from history. I think, Pell will be taken to Vatican for greater roles in the Church. Australia (esp, Sydney) will have a new face - a moderate, happy face!

CHRIST University, India - The first ever Catholic university in India

Here is the much awaited good news: Christ became University!! (as reported in www.cmi.in) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India, in its notification of 22 July 2008, has declared Christ College, located in Bangalore, Karnataka, as 'Deemed-to-be- University’. Christ College, till now Autonomous College, is now a University Rev. Dr. Augustine Thottakara, CMI, Rector Dharmaram College, President of the Board of Trustees of Christ College, and President of the Governing Body, has been elected as the Chancellor and President of Christ University by the Governing Body according to the directives of UGC. The Chancellor and President has appointed, according to the UGC Rules, Father Dr. Thomas C. Mathew, CMI, hitherto Principal, Christ College Autonomous, as the Vice Chancellor of the University. Other office-bearers will be elected/appointed in due course of time. Hearty Congratulations!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is my reply to cmigroup mail:

It's a great moment of pride in the history of Indian Catholics. It's a decisive moment in the history of CMI congregation. Blessed Chavara would be shedding tears of happiness in heaven! My heartfelt congratulations to all - especially Fr Chatamparmabil, the Vice-chancellor of Christ University (and not forgetting all previous and present visionaries of Christ and Dharmaram) - who worked hard to realize this dream. Well done. Let our Lord continue to bless!

Jaison Paul Mulerikkal
12 Chewings Street
Page, ACT 2614
Canberra, Australia

Globalisation of Human Resource and Climate Change

Immigration must be cut to tackle climate change, says study - as reported by (Herald Sun). (IMMIGRATION must be slashed if Australia has any chance of seriously tackling climate change, says a Monash University study.)

I found that it was absurd and send a reply like this:

The term 'scientific' , 'research' and 'monash' are just decorative in this article. This is the most ABSURD thing that I have heard in the recent past. It seems that they are talking about "Australia warming" rather than "global warming"! Migration is only people moving from one part of the world to another. It's not going to affect the global warming. Or if the argument is to deprive people belonging to resource-less regions of the world (at the moment - like India or China) to confine to their regions, the policy will backfire. Then there wont be any moral ground for resource-ful countries (like Australia) to preach/persuade those countries. And those countries cannot be intimidated by economic or military pressures anymore. Like globalisation of resources, the globalisation of human resources cannot be reverted and should be continued (in a faster pace) without fail. And if we can read between these lines, there's one more thing to be done - which is the RIGHT thing to do - "Like all Australians they'll be living at twice the standard of living of current residents if the Government's predictions for per capita economic growth are correct,'' - BRING DOWN the CONSUMPTION of resources in resource-ful regions/countries of the world, because the the Globe's resources are limited.

"Convincing Victory" of India

The Manmohan Singh government in India survived a confidence motion yesterday to go ahead with the Civil Nuclear Deal with US.

It was a "convincing victory"! Victory of the WILL of the people of India. We do have difference of opinions. That we have showed in the oppositions to the Deal. But in spite of our differences, as a nation, we are ready to go forward and claim our place in the history. We are determined.

The bribing allegations is only a part of the game (the BJP and Communists want to save their face). We all know that politicians receive money. In India, we call it as bribing and in the "developed world" they call it as lobbying (just makes it legal.. so no bribing..hihi). Only thing whether it was caught red-handed. But, even IBN-CNN went backward and not yet produced anything and which shows that there wont be much to come and even if something appear, its credibility will be heavily disputed. So no fuss as well. (It's time in India to stop horse trading and to find ways to find legal ways for acquiring money in politics, to support politicians to sustain).

The Singh is really King!

World Youth Day an awakening time for all Australians of goodwill

The following is an article send by me to the Print Media in Australia during WYD 08 and was not published!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As tens of thousands of young people from around the world flock together in Sydney for World Youth Day, it gives all Australians of goodwill to look deep into their own spiritual and religious self. As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rightly puts it, these youngsters have come here as 'pilgrims of peace' rather than marching for a war as most youngsters have done in the past. It is really a history-making event.

As one among those young ones who is going to be in Sydney for the WYD celebrations and hosted around 70 of those young happy pilgrims in our parish, I am happy to confirm that they are proud young Catholics, who are determined to follow their leader and God - Jesus - and his Church. They got first hand experience of the Catholic Church and its teachings and they are well aware of its failures in the past too. Even then they love their God and Church. The big question before all people of goodwill in Australia would be, "What these young people have to convey to us?"

In spite of all apparent failures of Catholic Church - like the recent priest sex scandals in the Western countries and ruthless attack from various philosophies - whether it is communism or atheism or consumerism - the youth of the world comes to the beautiful realization that there are no other system or philosophy that has ever succeeded as Christ and his Church throughout the history of humankind.

Many of the allegations surfaced against Church at the wake of this great awakening of Spirit along with World Youth Day are misleading and many other stories have been allowed to explode without proportion.

Priest sex abuse scandals are very much confined to certain cultures and regions in Catholic Church and that cannot be attributed universally to Catholic Church. Church has repeatedly assured its assistance to heal the wounds of victims and is ready to refine its processes. But at the same time, since priests comes from the families, it could very well be the reflection of deep wounds within the society and those elements in the cultural psyche may have to be healed and refined to address these issues in the long run.

In almost every online newspaper bloggers and many articles in leading newspapers have alleged that Catholic Church is responsible for almost every wars in the history of mankind. When we read the history and especially when we try to read between the lines of history books, it is very clear that the wars were started by some crooked people who were cleaver enough to drag even religion into it and finally put all their blame on religions, including Catholic Church. And they just hid themselves into the deep abbeys of history as centuries pass by. Blaming Catholicism for all the wars in history is as absurd as saying that the war on Iraq was a Christian war on Muslims! But it is as clear as sunlight that it was the bloody oil greed of the West to keep enjoying their cars created Iraq war. But still after 200 years some Dan Brown could "uncover the truth" and say it was Catholic Church who put up that war, because it is the only institution, which survives the test of time (even not any state), and popularly could give the status of a "cult". It is always a fashion to blame a "cult".

I haven't heard any Catholics annoy the Mardi Gras Parade nor requesting the court to allow them to do so. But still the young Catholics who pay their way for their faith party could very well be legally annoyed in this country. Even still they are blamed for intolerance towards those people. No homosexual genes have yet been identified and the concept is not accepted unequivocally in scientific and medical circles yet. So, it may be premature to pressurize Church to make decisions on those issues. The Church is always as compassionate as Jesus - who welcomed everybody into his companionship - to those people but may reserve the right to gently remind them against their behaviour as long as it is not proved otherwise without doubt. The Catholic youth do understand the Church's position.

As many wanted to portray, Biblical God is not a jealous, murderous God. It was the understanding of the God by the humans that went on a transformation as we witness in Bible from Old Testament to New Testament. As Jesus himself made it clear he had come to perfect the law. The nature of God as a loving merciful father is been truly and perfectly revealed in Jesus and the New Testament Bible is a witness to it. There is no point in trying to understand the nature of God without reference to New Testament revelation about Jesus Christ, and every attempt to ignore it is an attempt to misguide masses by feeding half-baked truths.

Another allegation is that Catholic Church is the root cause of the whole AIDS epidemic in the world and especially in Africa. The best practice against AIDS, as everyone would agree, is committed married life as a lifelong union of both the man and woman involved in marriage. With any scientific procedure we can compare the successful rate of "committed married life" and the use of condoms against AIDS and see the conclusions (pretty well we all know what the result would be). And if Catholic Church wants to promote the best option for the Catholic youth and the youth of the world, the youth do understand and respect that stand.

World Youth Day is a wake up call, especially for the youngsters and young couples of Australia to decide in what direction they want to mould their personal life, family, society and their Church. It is a call to be inspired by Jesus and the great Catholics like Francis of Assisi - a true ecologist, Mother Theresa - a true humanitarian or the great Australian educator - Mary McKillop. It is also a call to be inspired by those thousands of cheering happy young faces around Sydney who find their meaning and peace in a loving God and his vibrant Church.

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Jaison Mulerikkal CMI is an Indian Carmelite priest, belonging to the Eastern Catholic rite of Syro-Malabar and a research student at Department of Computer Science, Australian National University. He lives in St Matthew's Parish presbytery, Page, ACT. He can be accessed at his website www.memyviews.com

WYD & Priest sex abuse in the Australain Church

The Australian media has been running a vicious campaign against Catholic Church during WYD (world youth day). They dig up decades old 'priest's sex abuse' cases and trying to put Church on the back-foot. I honestly think that there's a ploy behind it... (and Church authorities have failed to foresee it too)

The Church is not unaware of the sex-scandal issues in the West. The Western church has to fight it's daemons. But what we are witnessing is systematic, biased and out-of-proportionate attempt by the Australian media (especially Fairfax media newspapers (online as well) and ABC television) to humiliate and demoralize the Church in the wake of all good things happening in Sydney. God save Australia!

Here is comment by me on one of their articles in Herald Sun online
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It seems that the media and a section of community (those who oppose Catholic Church for various other reasons) are using priest sex abuse cases as an instrument to destroy the morale of Catholic church in the wake of a great awakening in the society. We all sympathize with the victims and actions must be taken. But it has to be differentiated from what we are witnessing at Sydney at the moment. God bless Australia!

Posted by: Jaison 11:29am today (16th July 2008)
Comment 29 of 32

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/comments/0,22023,24028147-662,00.html

It's been published!

The condom debate - continues

to my previous post (letter to Herald Sun), Lara of Melbourne responded as follows:

HAHAHAHA...you're a "good" Catholic Jaison, of course you believe in "committed married life as a lifelong union of the man and woman involved in marriage", what we're saying is that many of your fellow Youth Day Catholics are not practicing what you are, thusly they require the extra protection afforded by common sense and CONDOMS. It's naive and stupid to think that everyone is going to behave as they should, because God knows they won't - human beings never do. Religion is outdated and science is beginning to prevail, the world is not the innocent place it used to be and sex before marriage and at disgustingly young ages is rife nowadays - Catholics have to get with the program and understand that in today's world, it's better to be SAFE than SORRY. Safe sex is not a joke, Jaison, it's probably saved a lot of people you know from unwanted pregnancies and STDs.

AND HERE IS MY RESPONSE

That's another great joke Lara of Melbourne! Almost every noble civilizations in the world does believe in that Lara - "committed married life as a lifelong union of the man and woman involved in marriage" - its not an invention of Catholic Church. That's why we call those civilizations as civilized. Please dont undermine at least your fellow-Australians. Then the word 'science'. I am not afraid of that. I myself is a research student of science. With any scientific procedure you compare the successful rate of "committed married life" and your condoms against AIDS and bring the conclusions (pretty well we all know what it would be). And if Catholic Church wants to promote the best option for the youth of the world, please respect that. And very sad to learn that you dont believe in the innocence of humanity anymore (and most probably the ideology you represent)! That would be a miserable life. I pity. My prayers

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/comments/0,22023,24003622-662,00.html

World Youth Day condom protest comic, says Catholic Church

There's a World Youth Day condom protest! The Church reply was really funny!

This is my reply to that article in Herald Sun
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I agree with Bishop Fisher. It will be a comedy. I am going to WYD. But I don't really understand the logic of those people who plan to promote "health issues" (as they claim) during WYD. If they are serous about their cause, they should organize different programs or events for the same. Please dont do it at the expense of Pope! (That's the real joke!). And regarding the best practice against AIDS, I would say the best solution is committed married life as a lifelong union of both the man and woman involved in marriage. Without any doubt that would bring the best positive result against AIDS (or any other venereal diseases). The youth of the world (of course of Australia too) deserve the best. So let them distribute a replica "marriage ring" to the youth of the world (as a symbol) to give them best chances against AIDS. YesToPope!

INDIAaaaa!!

It was a pleasant sight to see Kevin Rudd (Australian PM) moving around Manmohan Singh (Indian PM) to get attention at the G8 meeting, even though he pretends to distance himself from India at home (Australia). What a wonderful era that I am living in! (I am studying in Aus, at the moment). Aus will come to India's way (they would rather grab the opportunity) in selling Uranium in the very near future, I'm very sure!

There's a silver lining.. everywhere man!

The Oil prices are sky-rocketing. Now here is a news! Iraq govt.(?) plans to open up their market for foreign oil corporations!

What a happy ending. I Think, the plan of Uncle Sam works well. The stage is perfectly set to explore (exploit) the Iraqi oil. Feeling the pinch of oil price hike NOBODY - no public, no NGOs will question the sale of Iraqi oil! The whole world has been beautifully tamed! Now, it's upto the Big corporations to get into the market and make profit! After all war is a bloody business.

And there's silver lining mate.. even in the oil price hike... The oil corportes can easily get a hold on to Iraqi oil.

I feel for the Iraqi people. They lost their cities and people, now they are going to loose their wealth as well for cheap. They say the Iraqi govt clinches the deal. Who are they.. the puppets of Uncle Sam..

What an achievement!

The news from Daily Telegraph on July 02, 2008 12:00am goes like this:

THE average Australian woman has 13 different sex partners in her life, a major online survey has found.

What an achievement! As one of the readers commented, it is serial monogamy! Or may be deceptive polygamy! Or just way of life!

Global Mission of CMIs

Today I have received a copy of the Report of the first session of XXXVI Ordinary General Synaxis of CMI Congregation (religious order, which I belong to).

To my great surprise, No. 10 of the report says:

In the light of the discussions and deliberations the Synaxis arrived at a consensus that there would be 4 major thrusts in our Congregation for the next 6 years.

1. Reorientation of our community as a spiritual movement
2. Global mission
3. To be with the marginalized always and everywhere
4. Affordable quality education for poor

It continues, Guided by the charism of founding fathers, this transformation will help us take new and bold initiatives in the areas of global mission.

I am really glad. This was the gist of my one-page working paper send to the General Synaxis (You read it as a post somewhere below.. My friend - Micheal's comment came as a reply to that post). With the collective will of synaxis fathers, it has been come out as a major thrust of the congregation for the next 6 years. Let CMIs surges into the world with a new mission of Christ. Jay Yesu!

Final comments to the reply by Micheal

I Michael, Thanks for the reply. However, I don't want to go on for ever in an unending cycle of message-reply. Just putting my last cents.

First of all, as a human person, I have got ultimate respect for you and your views as Chirst would have. As you have mentioned earlier, we may have to agree to disagree on certain issues. That's it. Hope that wont hinder our friendship (it's an online one, I know. But that's how 'friendships' are defined these days!).

As you have agreed "..a definitive cause of homosexuality has not been found..", I think, it's premature to comment on the issues more than what I have said.

The tail piece: Who is this USA? You said "No LEGITIMATE mental health or medical association in the USA supports or agrees with NARTH's practises and claims." I didn't ask the opinion of any "medical association in the USA"? We are not in a mood to accept anything because it comes from USA. There are many associations and cultures who also reflect/research on these issues. Hope you will try to listen to them too.

Peace

Banana Republic!

Today there was a shocking article in Canberra Times - Why bananas are a parable for our times by Johann Hari.

I just googled and found that it was originally published by "The Independent" (Read the story).

The story tell us the fact behind the "banana republics", the cruel intension of Western corporates (esp, United Fruit) in 'ordaining' mock governments in African nations, just to grow bananas, it's commercialization, and the awaiting death of the banana itself!

He comments: " What happened? They (the corporates) had one good entrepreneurial idea – and to squeeze every tiny drop of profit from it, they destroyed democracies, burned down rainforests, and ended up killing the fruit itself."

Shocking! .. and insightful!

With love, to Micheal

Dear Micheal,

I appreciate your genuine efforts to express your views. Thanks a lot for that.

Yes, we all know that Catholicism is declining in the Western world in a fast pace. It's not only Catholicism - the other Christian denominations are the ones who loose their ground much faster. I can see that in Australia. Australia is supposed to be an Anglican fortress because of its British migrant history. Anglican and other protestant churches were the predominant churches in Australia till near past. But in spite of an overall decline in its performance, Catholic church now emerges as the single largest and most vibrant church in Australia. As far as the reports we receive, this trend is continuing around the Western world.

I just mentioned this to show that the problem of "erosion of faith" is not simply the problem of Catholic church. May be they are better positioned to tackle it.

Now about the 3 reasons you have put forward to explain the decline in Church performance.

The child-sex scandals in the Western Catholic church is a shame. We all share the shame and responsibility. That's human fault. That's what we call sin (we call a spade a spade). We accept it and repent. Necessary measures have to be taken to handle the issue. But that cannot be the reason to put whole universal community at gun-point. I always felt that Western media, the so called 'liberals' and champions of child-welfare - attacked Church with a kind of vengeance. That's not right and not acceptable. Christ gave more respect to the woman caught in adultery!

Sins of few priests won't bankrupt the moral strength of Pope Benedict or the Church. They are up and arm against Church not simply because some priests abused children, but because even in face of that humiliation, Church tried to uphold its moral stands against many other issues, which that section of the society wanted to change.

Now, the second point: homosexuality. I have never touched this area before. I didn't want to involve! Since you have raised the issue, I am putting my few cents.

Homosexuality is still a point of debate. As you claim, no one has categorically proved anything regarding homosexuality. It not like the Galilee incident where Church clinged to the notion of a earth-centric planetary system! Church is much open and progressive now. The whole argument about homosexuality (as an inborn/genetic/personality thing) is very pre-mature to comment. Those who push for homosexuality claims are going far more than the science itself (which cannot be the answer for all question, after all). Remember, science first told light is a particle, then a wave, then particle-wave and so on and so forth. Let's don't jump into conclusions.

Here are few links which deals with this issue (the last link is the public comments, it's interesting to go thru them):

http://www.narth.com/docs/istheregene.html

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4529843&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/comments?type=story&id=4529843

The final one. Yes, I am from India. Church is flourishing there in spite of our struggles in living in a highly pluralistic society. You may categorize it as one of the "countries with low levels of ...". I get your point, religion/church is for the poor and uneducated.

About 400 years back, when the first colonial shipmen came to India, to do trade, India controlled 23% of world's wealth (which no other country had ever done in the history). Yes, we did have our mistakes in handling those "guests" and our own infightings. We lost - a bit. But just bouncing back, with all the lessons learned from history.

I just said this to mention that the Catholicism in India has a legacy of 2000 years - from St Thomas, one of the apostles of Jesus (The so called US was not even known that time) and we have seen everything - history, culture, wealth, vedas, knowledge, sastras (science), maths, exploitation, poverty, freedom, democracy, market - and survived. And we will - the Church will. I can see the contempt in that argument (typical to many of my Western friends), but you got it wrong there Micheal.

Peace!
=====================================================
PS: This is a response to the message by Mr Micheal, which can be accessed as the previous post

With love, from Michael

I received the following mail from a friend in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. I quote it with his permission. My reply will be the next post
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I came across your blogs via verveearth. As a former Catholic, I was intrigued by some of your posts, especially your thoughts about re-energizing the Church in the West. From my perspective, you are battling a losing cause for a number of reasons. A recent survey showed that 10% of the U.S. Population consists of "former Catholics." In my own family, other than my elderly mother and one sister, everyone has either joined a different denomination - e.g., Lutheran or Episcopal - or no longer attends church services at all. In my own case, I have joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church where I enjoy the same mass each Sunday without the morally bankrupt and falsely sanctimonius hierarchy and non-stop anti-gay propaganda. Here are a few reasons for the Church's decline in the USA:

First, I believe until the Vatican does a thorough house cleaning of the members of the hierarchy who enabled and/or covered up sex abuse - and by house cleaning I mean complete removal from office - there will be a continued exodus of people from the Catholic Church. Simply removing the guilty priests and doing nothing to those who shuffled them from parish to parish and/or intimidated victims and there families to stay quiet will not cut it and shows from Benedict XVI on down that the hierarch is morally bankrupt and have no legitinate authority to dictate to anyone what is morally right.

Second, with the increases in medical and mental health knowledge concernig homosexuality, the Church's continued anti-gay stance will only drive away the younger generations. One study with in the last year found that 58% of those under 30 years of age viewed orthodox Christianity negatively in large part because of its homophobia.

Third, an educated population that has access to information on science and any number of other topics will not blindly swallow what the Church is peddling, particualr in light of the two previous issues. Thus, it is no surprise that the Church is growing predominately in countries with low levels of education and knowledge.

Michael

http://michael-in-norfolk.blogspot.com/

xt3.com - The WYD Social Networking Site

visit my Web home

I am very happy that WYD Sydney is coming out with its social networking site - xt3.com! (Christ in 3rd Millennium).

However, I feel that the ways of God are mysterious. In the first week of May 2007, I had a meeting with Mr Paolo Damante, Assistant Project Officer, DID Melbourne as per the direction of Bishop Christopher Prowse. Since I was a postgraduate student of IT at RMIT, Bishop Christopher asked me to give some creative ideas regarding WYD website (basically his intention was to look into DID site). Since I was aware of the possibilities of an Internet virtual community along with WYD08, I shared this idea with Paolo with allpossible details at that time. But nothing heard for quite a long time.

So, I prepared a 'one-page proposal' and send it as an email to Bp Anthony Fischer, chairman of WYD committee on 16th July 2007. On reply I got the above letter. It says that they were at that time finalizing plans to establish an online catholic community.

I am happy! It has been realized...

Holy Spirit could inspire several people simultaneously with the same idea!

The War!

Go to my Web Home


Lance Corporal Jason Mark, a young Australian soldier was killed in Afghanistan today (28th April 08).

Then a Habiz made a comment on Herald Sun on the story:
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well big deal millions people get kill in Iraq and Afghan! there are human too but no one has sympathy for them

Posted by: Habiz of Broadii 10:03am today
Comment 16 of 84
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Within hours the forum was filled with the following comments. It reminds me that human being, whether white or black (or brown), muslim or christian has a long way to go... to reach the perfection and peace.

Here are those comments.... (u can also see my comment at Comment 57 of 84). Have a look at the last one->dreadful!

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well big deal millions people get kill in Iraq and Afghan! there are human too but no one has sympathy for them

Posted by: Habiz of Broadii 10:03am today
Comment 16 of 84
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Habiz, i hope one day you suffer the loss of a close family member, so some weak dog can say "big deal" behind the safety of their computer screen. Have some respect for the people who risk their lives in an attempt to make this world a better place.. Only days ago im sure you enjoyed a Public Holiday... And from the sound of it, thats all it meant to you. To nearly every Australian, ANZAC day was a day to remember and honour the returned and fallen soldiers of war. Yet here you are tarnishing the death of a commited Australian solier, a father of two and a husband You, Habiz are a discrace.

Posted by: Daniel of frankson 10:26am today
Comment 20 of 84
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Have a little respect for a soldier of one of the best forces in the world. Remember these guys are sent overseas. Obviously Habiz we would not have have seen you at ANZAC day. Who says there is no sympathy for people who get killed in Iraq/Afgan, they are also killing there own there, remember that.

Posted by: Simon of Melbourne 10:31am today
Comment 22 of 84
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Habiz of Broadii: Do you stand erect or do you still walk on all fours get real mate evolve like the rest of us humans you goose

Posted by: stephen clark of st kilda 10:57am today
Comment 28 of 84
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Sincere condolences to the family of the late L/C Marks,may he he rest in peace. Habiz your comments are disrespectful and very foolish. I admit to not being an expert on the Iraq/Afghanistan war situations, perhaps some one can inform me why people are in uproar over our troops being in Iraq yet are mostly silent on them being in Afghanistan, in fact i believe more of our troops have lost their lives in Afghanistan than Iraq. Why does Rudd play up the withdrawal of troops from Iraq yet continues to leave 1000+ in Afghanistan. What is the difference?

Posted by: grumpy of north of gepps cross 11:04am today
Comment 30 of 84

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Habiz and Lyn have both made valid points. They have made rational statements that aren't driven by immediate emotion. Whilst you may not agree with their angles or views they have a right to speak their minds. Greatest sympathies to the family of the deceased soldier, but any society that can say they have only had 5 citizens die in the Afghan conflict is a lucky one. For this we can thank those soldiers and a government who seeks to protect our interests. I also doubt Habiz's name is actually that- if I wanted to stir the pot here I'd use a foreign name too.

Posted by: Wayne of Port Melb 11:43am today
Comment 39 of 84

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I am an European migrant of 55 years living in this wonderful and bountiful country (I came here with my mum when I was little) and its when I read comments like yours Habiz I know that I can be racist. For it is the likes of you and others like you that are not welcomed in this country. You come here and reap off the benefits, but you have no respect for our culture or its people. Go get lost BACK TO WHERE YOUR FROM PATHETIC MORON and let the true Australians mourn our brave serviceman, my sincerest condolences to Lance Corporal Jason Marks family may He Rest in Peace

Posted by: annie of st albans 1:23pm today
Comment 49 of 84

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Habiz you moron.....go home....what? too scared....that's right being protected by Australia.....how ironic....can't believe we protect and waste our time with low life's like you......RIP & thank you Jason Marks, my condolences to his family.....

Posted by: Love it or leave it of Australia 1:32pm today
Comment 53 of 84
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With due respect to the fallen soldier, let me say, "Habiz of Broadii", you made a very valid point. We don't want too may hypocrites in this country. We also feel for those innocent lives in the war-torn countries.

Posted by: Jaison of Canberra 1:49pm today
Comment 57 of 84
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Does anyone apart from Habiz know where Habiz was born? Why are people assuming that he wasn't born here? Is it because his opinions are offensive? Nobody has suggested that Lyn of Melbourne was born elsewhere, even though her comments are just as (stupid and) offensive. In fact at least Habiz (kind of) has a point: we do need to remember that this war has killed many people, from both sides, as well as those that don't have a side. And Amanda of Melbourne, yes you are a racist. Is that something to be proud of?

Posted by: Brendan of Melbourne 3:53pm today
Comment 64 of 84
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PEOPLE, leave habiz alone....hes from the illiterate and ignorant suburb of broadii, what do you expect???

Posted by: Jeff 4:06pm today
Comment 65 of 84
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I was at a suburban Anzac Service yesterday and was one of over 150 people who listened to a speech conducted by a young Sergeant who has recently returned from Afghanistan. What he said was spine-chilling, then to hear of the death of Lance Corporal Marks todays makes the Sergeant even more chilling. Many of those in attendance, including myself, had tears in their eyes listening to this young man talk of what dangers our soldiers are in while trying to help nearby communities to the same freedom we accept as our right. Maybe Lyn and Habiz need to seek out such returned servicemen as this Sergeant and hear their story. I send my Deepest Condolences to Lance Corporal Mark's family and friends. May he rest in peace and LEST WE FORGET.

Posted by: Elayne of Melbourne 4:24pm today
Comment 72 of 84

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WAR....what is it good for.........Absolutley everything, freedom, alliance, the almighty green back and fighting for your beleifs, and the most imprtant yours and our future

Posted by: Dwayne of Melbourne 4:21pm today
Comment 70 of 84

The Olympic Torch Relay at Canberra

I just witnessed the Olympic Torch relay at Canberra. (I just made it, after having a quick Thursday meeting with my supervisor - Peter Strazdins).

All were anticipating a pro-Tibetan protest during the relay. But what happened was a wave of pro-china supporters. Virtually, Canberra was in Red. Every were red Chinese flags - waved by the "Chinese students". That's what they said - students! But it appeared that there was a very systematic effort behind it - most probably orchestrated by Chinese authorities. I am a student for 3+ years in Australia. All the time with the majority of Chinese students. I never witnessed such a kind of nationalistic feeling among the Chinese students. Most of them do not know about the international politics or even their internal affairs. If they have to come in large numbers like this (nearly 5 - 6 thousands), there should be some magic!

Australia was really intimidated by the "soft-power" of China. When I was with the crowd I could feel it very clearly. They was not in favor, but felt the pressure to defy it.

When Dalai Lama comes to Australia, they flock around him in thousands. But when it matters to their "dollars" (China is their largest trade-partner), they simply keep quite - unlike many other Western countries. Reasons are quite evident: they are really small and geographically very near to China. They are the first one to be tamed by the Chinese. That's been done.

Tail piece: Australia under Mandarin speaking Kevin Rudd is keeping a great distance from India - may be under the influence of China (or India's previous adherence to Howard ministry). He is not in the good book of US too. We could even expect a rift within the Asia-Pacefic solution between Aus, US and Japan. It may depend upon how India closes in to US.

Support Tibet, but India and China should be Bhai-Bhai!

Proud to be an Indian which is the home of Tibetan Exile Government and Dalai Lama. Tibetans should be grateful for what India is doing to them (nearly a million of them in India). I dont think, they want to push India into any kind of trouble with China.

Commonsense suggest that we dont want to make China unhappy either. As neighbours and the emerging world powers, India and China should come closer and work together for the betterment of both civilizations. It will be the perfect Eastern block against the West. But China should have the wisdom to understand that. So also India.

Tibetans should continue to receive the hospitality from India but their issue has to be sorted out with China by themselves or with the help of other world powers (after all we are doing the best in the world to Tibetans by giving them asylum. The Tibetan Government in exile runs from Indian soil. We practice what others even fear to preach. So, let others do the rest)

JESUS’ CONSCIOUSLY CREATED DREAMS

This was the kind of dreams that Jesus fostered in his life. He was consciously thinking about himself, his Father and the world around him. His conscious reflection enabled him to discover himself as the Son of God at the age of twelve. So he replied his parents,“ Why more you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)

The Dreams Jesus Dreamt

"We are such stuff as our dreams are made of"
Shakespeare.

The dreams, which produce great results in human life, are not those unconscious acts, which come to us as a matter of chance. Rather, they are the decisions or choices we make in the depth of our existence. They are the conscious acts of thinking big about new paradigms and about the future, which in turn becomes the part of one’s own conscious and subconscious levels of mind.

It is the conscious act of creating in one’s mind of the experiences one desire in the future as if it were there and now. According to David Copperfield, “ dreams aren’t a matter of chance but a matter of choice. When I dream I am refreshing my future.”

These explanations suggest two fundamental aspects of the act of dreaming.
1. Dreams are conscious acts
2. Dreams create a mental picture of the future.

Re-Orienting CMI Mission Thrusts

These are the excerpts from the paper, I have submitted to the CMI General Synaxis 2008:
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Re-Orienting Our Mission Thrusts
Position Paper Submitted to the CMI General Synaxis 2008

1. Introduction
When we put the General Synaxis 2008 in the perspective of the needs of the universal Church and the emerging importance of India in the new world order, we shall perceive an urgent need to re-orient our mission thrusts. This paper discusses the emerging need to shift our mission policy and proposes relevant suggestions to equip our selves to take up those challenges.

2. Background
• Changing World Order: Emergence of India as one of the economic super powers along with China has dramatically changed the image of India and Indians in the world scenario in the last few years. The acquisition of British and European Steel companies by Tatas and Mittal, the acquisition of luxury car brands - Land Rover and Jaguar - by Tatas and the success of Indian IT companies around the globe have triggered this movement. It is been taken up by booming Indian market index – sensex and success of Indian corporate firms and Indian CEOs around the globe. The world now believes that India and Indians can do something and no more they are considered to be ‘under-developed’.

The ripples of this booming effect are seen in the Catholic Church too. The appointment of Cardinal Ivan Dias as the prefect of Congregation for Evangelisation - for the first time by an Asian - is to be seen as a sign of growing confidence in Indians by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Very recently, a Syro-Malabar priest from Ernakulam diocese – Fr Francis Kolenchery is appointed as the Dean of the Cathedral at the capital city of Australia – Canberra.

The world is ready to accept Indian leadership in almost every realm.

• Re-evangelisation Needs of the West: Though the church was originated in Asia, it was the conversion of the West, especially Europe that gave its tremendous growth. The European Church took the needs of universal church on its shoulders for most of the time in the history. But the heavy responsibly is taking it’s own toll at the moment. The human mistakes made during this process – the failures in the Middle Ages till the recent sex scandals of Catholic priests in the West – have alienated Western Church from the main stream of the society. So, now there is great need for the re-evangelisation of those (Western) cultures. The local churches in those cultures are not able to take up leadership in this area for many reasons viz, lack of vocations, the disintegration of the institution of family in those cultures, etc. Without the re-evangelisation of the West, the future of Catholic – universal- church seems very gloomy.

• Mission Challenges in India: The mission in North India is also facing new challenges. With the apparent Hindu extremist revival, chances of direct evangelisation has hit an all time low. What we can do is to concentrate on the indirect means of evangelisation to prepare the culture till we get a breakthrough. There is a need to calm down and to go slow (It does not mean that we are giving up or retreating. It’s only a strategic reflective period).

3. Re-orientation Strategy
Church is missionary. It cannot stop preaching. The present context of the world order and the mission context in India urge us to redirect our zeal and resources to more productive and urgent areas. The re-evangelisation of the West emerges as the most impending and viable challenge for the Indian church for the time being.

This is because of the following reasons: firstly, the seeds of faith are already in Western culture and the field is getting fertile enough to re-embrace the religious and Christian values. The overheated Western culture (in terms of economy and social life) because of it consumerist and individualistic value system is looking for a break and they find it in their roots – the Christian foundations. What is challenging is the incapacity of the Western Church to take leadership in this changing time, because of its lack of vocations and the cultural baggage.

Indian church, with its 16 million Catholics, vast pool of personal and material resources and the new found acceptance in the new world order is in a very good position to take up this challenge. The Indian Church – especially Syro-Malabar Church is still youthful and does not carry a cultural baggage of inquisitions or crusades so that we can talk to the confused Western youngsters in a convincing manner. As the major religious congregation in the Syro-Malabar church, it becomes the duty and opportunity of CMI congregation to take the lead in this leadership quest.

Secondly, the re-Christianisation of the West will have the most far-reaching positive impacts for the Catholic Church. Whether it is the evangelisation of Africa or the Asian countries, a re-Christianised West will be the key to its future. A dying Western Catholic church will be an irreparable loss.

4. Practical Steps

1. Take up more meaningful mission tasks in the Western world, like forming CMI communities, Retreat/Spirituality centres, youth initiatives, investments in Western catholic resources, etc.
2. Start/Takeover educational institutions, especially in English speaking Western countries, with our expertise in educational field in India and out-side India (Most of our fathers working in those countries help running the Catholics schools along with the Parishes).
3. Increase the percentage of priests who can go and serve in Western countries.
   

5. Conclusion
What we are aiming at is the true globalisation of our mission works by which we shall serve the universal Church better. This will also provide reasonable challenges for the coming young generations to motivate them to take up CMI vocation in a dramatically changing world.

Jaison Paul Mulerikkal CMI
Email: jaisonmpaul@gmail.com
29th February 2008