Sanyas inspires Syro-Malabar Church10/10/2007 2:49:54 AM Courtesy:www.newindpress.com
KOCHI: The Church is taking lessons from Hinduism for the training of priests.Christian priests with strong moorings in Hindu sanyas will lead the Church in the 21st century if the new ‘Charter for priestly formation in the Syro-Malabar Church’ is anything to go by. The charter recommends an introductory course on sanyas in Hinduism in the second year orientation programme for the seminarians.“This is a preliminary course on Hinduism in general. This course should help the seminarians to come into touch with the four ashrams of Indian tradition and to make them aware of the food habits of sanyasis,” says the charter. It also suggests that minor seminaris should bring in Hindu sanyasis to give the future priests proper orientations in this line. “Inputs in this regard by a learned and experienced sanyasi will be helpful for the seminarians to incorporate traditional Indian elements in his lifestyle,” it says.A basic course on computer application and accountancy are the other highlights of the new guidelines for the priestly formation. Spoken English training, coaching for public speaking, a course on management and leadership also await the seminarians in the initial years.The recommendations are being circulated among the clergy leadership and they will be discussed in the seminar on priestly formation at Mount St Thomas here which will begin on Wednesday. The seminar will give an outline for the new syllabus for priestly formation on the basis of the charter recommendation.
KOCHI: The Church is taking lessons from Hinduism for the training of priests.Christian priests with strong moorings in Hindu sanyas will lead the Church in the 21st century if the new ‘Charter for priestly formation in the Syro-Malabar Church’ is anything to go by. The charter recommends an introductory course on sanyas in Hinduism in the second year orientation programme for the seminarians.“This is a preliminary course on Hinduism in general. This course should help the seminarians to come into touch with the four ashrams of Indian tradition and to make them aware of the food habits of sanyasis,” says the charter. It also suggests that minor seminaris should bring in Hindu sanyasis to give the future priests proper orientations in this line. “Inputs in this regard by a learned and experienced sanyasi will be helpful for the seminarians to incorporate traditional Indian elements in his lifestyle,” it says.A basic course on computer application and accountancy are the other highlights of the new guidelines for the priestly formation. Spoken English training, coaching for public speaking, a course on management and leadership also await the seminarians in the initial years.The recommendations are being circulated among the clergy leadership and they will be discussed in the seminar on priestly formation at Mount St Thomas here which will begin on Wednesday. The seminar will give an outline for the new syllabus for priestly formation on the basis of the charter recommendation.
K.Venugopal 10/10/2007 7:45:32 AM
Becoming a Christian priest, as I understand it, is to become a warrior to conquer the world in the name of Christ. Becoming a Sanyasi is to undertake a pilgrimage to discover the divinity of creation. To conquer the world for Christ it would be useful to know English, computer science, the technique of moving in sheep's attire to accomplish the wolf's task etc. If ever any priest approaches a Sanyasi, all he has to tell the priest is to discard the notion that Christ came for anyone else's salvation except his own. If the priest understands that spirituality cannot be achieved by organisational techniques, he would either become a Sanyasi or add a stint of military training to his curriculum to achieve his goal of conquering the world for Christ.
Re: Sanyas inspires Syro-Malabar Church pvas 10/10/2007 11:38:35 AM
I suspect that this new initiative of the church is just another way to facilitate conversions. Now with christian sanyasis on the prowl, it is going to be difficult for the poor, gullible, uneducated Indians to tell the difference between hindu sanyasis and christian evangelical ones. These poor victims are going to be converted by these christian priests dressed up as Sanyasis. I have to agree with the comments of Shri. K. Venugopal (earlier comments). If the church's actual reason for doing all this is christian conversion (which I'm sure it is!), then they might be better off learning sword-play, kung-fu, and horseback-riding, which might all come in more handy in their violent crusades to convert the world. After all, this is how they converted the whole of Europe to christianity - on a horseback and a sword in their hands, and plenty of crosses in their saddle-bags to plant one every few meters. I suggest that the church leave all the true spiritual quests - that lead to divine revelations, enlightenment and betterment of mankind - to the hindu Sanyasis.
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