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  • Hark The Herald

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    teodesouza
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    We have come a long way from the times of Jesus Christ thanks to the material progress of humanity, but this progress is sadly accompanied by a corresponding moral regression in terms of values that the Christmas message brought to mankind, namely a call to meet the humans around each one and be ready to sacrifice one’s life prospects and the life itself to the well-being of those marginalized by social structures and with no hope to sustain them in life. That is not among the market offers, and the end result of such option draws resistance, threats and even death. The Goan society has witnessed something of it and there may be more in store.

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    Hark the Herald

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    We have come a long way from the times of Jesus Christ thanks to the material progress of humanity, but this progress is sadly accompanied by a corresponding moral regression in terms of values that the Christmas message brought to mankind, namely a call to meet the humans around each one and be ready to sacrifice one’s life prospects and the life itself to the well-being of those marginalized by social structures and with no hope to sustain them in life. That is not among the market offers, and the end result of such option draws resistance, threats and even death. The Goan society has witnessed something of it and there may be more in store.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Baixe no formato PDF ou leia online no Scribd
    Sinalizar o conteúdo como inadequado
    8 visualizações2 páginas

    Hark The Herald

    Enviado por

    teodesouza
    We have come a long way from the times of Jesus Christ thanks to the material progress of humanity, but this progress is sadly accompanied by a corresponding moral regression in terms of values that the Christmas message brought to mankind, namely a call to meet the humans around each one and be ready to sacrifice one’s life prospects and the life itself to the well-being of those marginalized by social structures and with no hope to sustain them in life. That is not among the market offers, and the end result of such option draws resistance, threats and even death. The Goan society has witnessed something of it and there may be more in store.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Baixe no formato PDF ou leia online no Scribd
    Sinalizar o conteúdo como inadequado
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    ‘sarean015 Detalserint The marketing agents have taken over with attractive Christmas sales and deals! ven weeks before the Christmas season rings in with the classic carol tunes like ‘Hark the Herald, it is sad that it is no longer the angels that sing. The market- ing agents have taken over with attractive Christmas sales and deals! In the place of the real stable where Christ was born, the real smells that must have sur rounded the newly born, the deodorizing products and branches of artificial trees now decorate the cribs open to competitions which en- hance the sales and profits for the markets. We have come a long way from the times of Jesus Christ thanks to the material progress of humanity, but this progress is sadly accom- panied by a corresponding moral regression in terms of values that the Christmas message broughtto mankind, namely a call to meet the hu- mans around each one and be ready to sacrifice one’s life prospects and the life itself to the well-being of those mar- ginalized by social structures and with no hope to sustain them in life, That is not among the market offers, and the end result of such option draws resistance, threats and even death. The Goan society has witnessed something of it and there may be more in store. Christians form only a part the blessings of the Popes. It mattered much for the politics of pre-modern Eu- rope, when the Papacy was threatened by the loss of large numbers of its faithful to the rich countries of Northern Europe which were adopting Protestant Refor- mation. Loss of faithful meant loss of income. The Renaissance Popes resorted toa generous distribution of blessings in exchange of bringing into its religious fold fresh converts from the newly “discovered” lands by the Iberian nations. ‘The fading authority of me- Gieval Popes was still recog- nized by the poor South European nations which re- mained faithful to. their Catholic traditions. This en- abled them to put aside their differences and gain exclu- sive monopoly rights in the markets of Asia and Latin ‘America. The Church saw no problem in authorizing holy wars against the Muslims who had occupied the Holy land, or in ignoring the abuses of African slavery on a massive scale, or in collab- rating with anti-semitism through the tribunals of Holy Inquisition. However laudable the re- cent post-colonial repen- tance of the Church authorities forsuch a past, its impact on the lives of many sections of mankind cannot of the Church goes back to the early times of imperial Rome, a few centuries after Jesus was born. The so-called Constantinism and Caesaro papism replaced the humble cribs of nascent Christianity with bastlicas worthy of im- perial might. From there to the medieval Christendom ruled by the Canon Law of the Church was the next step favoured by the needs of Eu- rope after the colapse of the Roman empire. Even though Christ was born in Asia, the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome was sufficient for theological manipulation to justify its choice asthe capital of Chris tendom, So twill continue as long as Western politics find some use for it, even though in the contemporary global- ized world there could be many other choices for the administrative centre of the Catholic Church. It did not appear ridiculous to Euro- peans to recognize a sover- eign Vatican state with a place in the United Nations. It is part of their past, but makes little sense to men of good will and other religions elsewhere in the world. ‘As a typical feature of the Western politics, following the decolonization, the Vati- can became aware of the feel- ings of newly independent countries and the association of the Catholic Church in their minds with the colonial past. A Vatican Council was convoked to redefine the Church and the colonial mis sion churches were recog- nized as local chuwrhec we ‘sarean015 ofthe mankind, and in many countries like India it is a small minority, often viewed with distrust and as a fifth column of the foreign pow- ers, particularly the West, which took it around the globe and used itas a conven- ent tool for its colonial ex- ploration, The Goan history is, part of that process. and under the» Portuguese “Padroado’, a system of Crown patronage of the Church, through which the Portuguese expansion got Detalserint be erased or forgotten. It lives on and influences some oF the tragic events ofthe contern- porary politics. Christmas mes- sage was vitiated by the very Church that presemtsitselfas the guardian of that message. All justifications in the name oF human frailty and definitions ofthe Church as made of sin- ful people seem lame. They provide no guarantee that any lessons have been learnt and past abuses will not recur, ‘The political manipulation presented asa retum tothe local churches ofthe time of St Paula classic manager of the early church and whose letters are read at Masses throughout the liturgical year. It was a master political stroke for preventing a political back- lash in the decolonized world ‘whore most of the practicing Christians now live. ‘To conclude this brief his- torical survey from the first Christmas to the Christmases that provide us a yearly sea- son for merry-making, the harking herald may need to sing a revised version of his message, more atuned to the political economy that con trols our lives and increases the bondage of mankind, cry- ing for a Saviour who is not himself bonded to the inter ests of any institution (Teotonio R, de Souza is the founder-

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