"India has shown increase in number of priests and seminarians"Cardinal Hommes
Velankanni:- An Indian Priests Congress, organised by the Clergy Commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, was inaugurated at Velankanni, one of world's most popular Christian pilgrim centres.
Over a 900 priests from more than 140 dioceses across India gathered here to mark the Year of Priests.
Welcoming the gathering, Bishop Devadass Ambrose of Thanjavur said the congress, with a such a large gathering of priests, was a unique event in the history of India, the Thanjavur diocese and the Velankanni Shrine, during the Year of Priests.
The prelate, recalling the history of the Basilica of Our Lady of Health Velankanni, said the shrine came to prominence at the end of 16th century with three recorded miracles. It became a parish in 1771 and was elevated to the status of Basilica in 1961.
He said thousands of pilgrims from across the country and abroad flock to Velankanni, a place of prayer 24x7 with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and daily Mass in different languages. It is also a place of theological study, he added.
The bishop said in his welcome address that priests were the backbone of the Church--to administer the Sacraments, preach the Word of God and catechise people.
"Today, priests are working in difficult terrain, face opposition within and outside. This Congress should enable us to retreat from work, retrospect and reorganise our lives," he said.
Prefect, Congregation for Clergy, Vatican, Claudio Cardinal Hummes, in his keynote address said: "The Year of Priests presents the Church with an opportunity to say yet again to all her priests that she loves them, venerates them, and being proud of them, recognises what they are and all that they do, both in the local ecclesial communities, in the midst of the people, and in the forefront of the mission.
Stating statistics, the Cardinal said: "According to the latest figures published by the Vatican, there were around 408,000 priests in the world by the end of 2008, an increase of one thousand over the preceding year. As we know, in many so-called Christian countries, especially in the West, there is a notable fall in the number of priests and also of seminarians, a phenomenon which carries with it a few problems for the Church in the future.
"However, notwithstanding the fact that there has been a small rise in the number of priests and seminarians in the world, such an increase is not in proportion nor is it adequate to the growth in the world population, even of Catholics," he said.
The Cardinal spoke about India and its rich tradition "With regard to India, the Vatican statistics demonstrate an increase of priests and seminarians, thanks be to God. The same fact is shown in many mission lands. The origins of Christianity in India, of course, according to ancient tradition, allow us to consider the history as far back as the Apostle Thomas, who preached to the Parthans, Medians, Persians, Ircanians, and then reached India, where he preached the Gospel and established Christian communities, and later was martyred and buried. In the succeeding centuries, his remains were taken to Edessa and finally to Ortona in Italy, while in India a group known as the Thomas Christians endured through the centuries."
He said a new phase began with the arrival of the Portuguese explorers and with the extraordinary missionary work of St. Francis Xavier in the sixteenth century.
Today the Church in India encompasses the Latin Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar Church and the Syro-Malankara Church. These various liturgical and spiritual traditions make the Church really beautiful, and this richness will be able to contribute to the evangelisation of this great land.
"We see here a flowering Church today, though not without serious challenges. However, notwithstanding the two thousand years' presence of Christianity in India, there is much to do here; there are still great apostolic and missionary challenges to confront. Only 2 per cent of the population is Catholic," he added.
"Something which I would like to highlight here is the recent canonisation of the first woman saint of India, Saint Alphonsa, a simple religious nun who lived in our tines and showed to the universal Church that holiness is attainable through ordinary life and patient suffering," the prelate said.
The beatification of the Albanian born missionary, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who became an adopted daughter of India and is one of the most admired figures of the contemporary world due to her solidarity with the poor and the marginalised, has brought to the limelight the authenticity of the missionary Church in India, he said.
The Cardinal appealed to the gathering: "Dear priests, following in the footsteps of so many missionary men and women, continue to be true missionaries both towards the non-Christians and towards the baptised of your own parishes who have grown distant and thus need to be re-evangelised. One must, as a good shepherd, go out in search of the sheep that are far away. The mission will certainly renew you in the understanding and realisation of your priestly identity and of your ministry."
Archbishop Malayappan Chinnappa of Madras-Mylapore appreciated the noble initiative to bring the priests together by organising the congress.
The three-day meet was inaugurated with a concelebrated Mass presided by Claudio Cardinal Hummes in the Velankanni shrine. Elaborate arrangements were in place to accommodate the participants.