THE RISHI
MISSION AND THE CATECHUMENATE
Rishi is one of the many names used to designate a
group of so-called outcaste people to be found all over Bangladesh but
particularly in its south-western part, particularly in the districts of
Khulna, Jessore and Satkhira. This is the area where since 1952 the Xaverian
Missionaries have been working. In these three districts, according to very
approximate estimates the Rishi would
number more than 200,000 people. Roughly 10 % of them have become Christian.
These Christians represent almost half of the Catholics of the Khulna Diocese,
to which the above mentioned districts juridically belong.
Ethimologically,
Rishi means ‘wise’ and according to
one of their oral traditions, this group of outcaste people would descend from
a sort of noble group which eventually lost its social standing. The Rishi, however, are known by other less
sympathetic names as well. Among these, the most common are Muchi, Das, Horijon, Dalit etc. Muchi is the most derogatory word and points to the Rishi’s traditional work with animal
hides. The simple pronunciation of the word Muchi
compels the speaker to spit on the ground as if to clean the mouth from the
impurity left behind by its pronunciation. In the Hindu context, the touching
of animal carcasses, particularly of dead cows to the purpose of getting their
hides, creates a sort of taboo at the basis of the impurity and untouchability
complexes. One is born a Muchi and
dies as such. Even after death segregation does not end. The place where the Muchis are burnt (shoshan) is different from that used by and for caste Hindus. A Muchi cannot sit at a tea stall and have
a cup of tea, he cannot have a plate of rice in restaurants, he cannot have his
hair cut etc. because the objects which come into contact with them remain
contaminated. Das is the title this
people are given in schools and offices. It is the name they are registered
with for any official purpose. Even today the Rishi students going to public schools in Chuknagar, occupy the
last places in schoolrooms; some of the teachers too, pride themselves in
calling them ‘das company.’ And Das
means slave, servant. The term Horijon
was introduced by Mahatma Gandhi for all so-called untouchable groups. Horijon literally means ‘sons of Hori’
and Hori is the Hindu divinity Visnu. Despite the benevolent intention of
Gandhiji, the term was taken by most untouchable people as derogative,
paternalist and offensive. Horijon
for many outcastes just meant ‘sons of nobody!’ Dalit instead is a battle name
chosen by the outcaste people themselves following the teaching of Baba Saheb
Ambedkar. This name today gathers large number of outcaste people in India,
roughly 150 million. The term Dalit
is a Sanskrit and Bengali past participle. It means shattered, trampled upon,
dismembered, pulverised etc. It expresses quite well the condition from which
the so-called outcaste people want to be freed, particularly through political
action. For those who want to know more about the untouchability complex, a
real scourge in the Indian subcontinent cultural milieu, can find ample scope
for research as literature on the subject is not lacking. At the level of we
Xaverians, Frs. Luigi Paggi (Como, Italy), Sergio Targa (Brescia, Italy) and John
Fagan (Scotland) are expert on the subject and could entertain those interested
for hours on end. The undersigned, having lived more than 30 years of his life
in close contact with the Rishi, some
years ago has added to his name also the title Das. So now when I need to put my signature on papers I sign as
Antonio Germano Das.
From the
little I have written, without any sort of pretence, because I am not an expert
on the subject, but just a cobbler which by the way, is one of the traditional
works of the Rishi together with shoe
polishing, making etc., it can be seen and understood that any mission to the Rishi cannot elude, without betraying
itself, the complexity and magnitude of questions the Rishi people bring along.
From the
very first moment of their arrival in what then was called East Pakistan, the
Xaverians directed their attention towards the untouchable population of the
then Jessore Diocese, then as now perceived as the last of the last (poorest of
the poor). From the 70s however, particularly because of the new pastoral and
theological environment created by the II Vatican Council, Xaverians more and
more put into practice their preferential choice of the Rishi people. The centrality of the Rishi question later on assumed the contours of specific
concretisations and concerted actions.
a)
CHUKNAGAR-KHAMPUR. Besides the
missions of Simulia, Satkhira and Borodol, made up completely by Rishi converted to Christianity, in the
beginning of the 80s the mission endeavour once again exploded in what then
came to be known as ‘le vie nuove’ or the new ways. The boundary walls of the
old mission, it was felt, seemed there to constrain the missionary spirit.
There was a much felt need to come out from those walls and invent a new sort
of missionary presence, closer to the people, to their sufferings and joys. It
thus happened that Fr. Luigi Paggi, coming out of Satkhira parish where he had
been parish priest, established himself in the Rishi para of Chuknagar.
He used to live in a hut very similar to those of the people he was living
with. Chuknagar, halfway between Khulna and Satkhira, is situated in an area
with a high concentration of so-called outcaste people. Fr. Luigi’s settling in
Chuknagar was a strategic choice. Only after a couple of years from the
beginning of Fr. Luigi’s experience, Fr. Pier Lupi established himself in
Khampur Rishi Para, a place about
b)
THE WAYS OF THE MISSION. The above
is just a very concise introduction to the ‘now’ of the mission. The ideas
behind both the experiences of Chuknagar and Khampur were to respect the Rishi people and make them the
protagonists of their own history and destiny. From the beginning thus
conversion to Christianity was positively excluded. The fathers did not want
the Rishi people to think of their
presence as to a game of ‘do ut des’. Gratuity was and still is the way of the
mission in Chuknagar-Khampur. Khampur in fact after the departure of Fr. Lupi
remained under the responsibility of the fathers in Chuknagar. As a matter of
fact, Fr. Luigi, the founder of the Chuknagar mission, has started a liberation
movement among the Rishi of the area
which has turned out to be unstoppable and irreversible. The real strength of
this movement is education, intended in its Anglo-Sassoon meaning as global
human promotion, of which alphabetisation is just the starting point. The Rishi people have understood that
education is the tool at their disposal needed to come out from centuries of
seclusion and marginalisation. This movement has taken roots so much so that in
almost any Rishi Para children do go
to school. 13 are the villages linked to Chuknagar, but the movement has gone
far beyond these 13 villages thanks also to organisations and groups who work
side by side with us, with the same intentions and motivations. The method
devised by Fr. Luigi, and backbone of the movement which he started, is that of
the Tuition Programme. What is it? The students (from class IV to SSC, i.e.
Secondary School Certificate) who attend normal classes at government schools
come to the mission or to other centres situated in each village for a two-hour
tuition on the three main subjects, i.e. Bangla, English and Mathematics. The
kind of impact this Tuition Programme is having, can be seen by the following:
next year 63 will be our SSC candidates, of whom 30 girls. In the beginning the
programme gathered its teachers from the Muslim and Hindu population. Fr. Luigi
himself worked as a teacher for long years. But as soon as the first Rishi people were ready, they took over
from their Muslim and Hindu colleagues. Now they are all Rishi. The programme employs 40 of them. They are actually college
students who offer 2 hours tuition every day to their younger brothers and
sisters. In so doing they receive a small salary which helps them in their own
studies. On the one hand they give and on the other they receive. Apart from
the Tuition Programme the mission in Chuknagar houses other activities always
related to the Rishi struggle. To
talk of them would imply another huge chapter.
3.THE CATECHUMENATE: A JOURNEY TO CHRISTIAN FAITH.
After about 20 years of Xaverian presence in Chuknagar, the first students,
likely moved by the witness of Fr. Luigi and the others who came to stay with
him and after him, formally asked to become Christian. Fr. Luigi, from the very
beginning very suspicious about such requests, eventually convinced himself
that it was not in his right to deny the way of salvation to those who
insistently desired it. So the dialogue master-disciple (guru-shissho) got completion and fulfilment in the first 10 Rishi students who adhered to Christ.
The experience of these first students became contagious so that after them
others started making the same kind of request. In the year 2001, to respond to
this new challenge arising from the mission in Chuknagar, I was asked to come
to Chuknagar and formally start the Catechumenate. The mission had to maintain
its original outlook, that of being a place open to all, Muslims and Hindus
alike. The novelty was only in the Rishi’s
attempt to walk in the way of Christ. In the meantime Fr. Luigi left Chuknagar
to follow the inspiration of a new calling. He went to live with the Munda
people at the extreme Southwest of the country, right on the border with the
tropical forest of the Sundarbons. Fr. Sergio Targa, 25 years younger than me,
took his place. All the activities of the mission linked to human promotion
received new impulse and creativity. I had thus the time to prepare myself and
devise a serious process of catechumenate.
a) SOME
PREMISES. We know the importance the
catechumenate had in the early church. We also know that in Africa the
catechumenate still remains the milestone on the way to the Christian faith.
But here, in Bangladesh, as far as my knowledge goes, we have no experience of
this kind, which we can confront to. In Khulna Diocese I came to know of an
attempt of catechumenate done by the Jesuit Fathers at the beginning of the last
century. I used to read very passionately the diaries they wrote on their
mission work. When I was regional superior of the Xaverians (1995-1999), I put
them in a computer, edited them (4 volumes) and distributed them to our Bishop,
to the Xaverians and to the Diocesan Priests for a platform of studies on them.
But there was no follow up.
The
Jesuit Fathers started the Satkhira and Baradal mission in 1917. They used to
come from Calcutta, go around visiting villages for one month and then go back.
I found the mention of a catechumenate in January 1921. Fr. Wauters S.J., who
was the founder of the Satkhira mission, used to send the catechumens from
different villages at Jogodonanandokati, which was a sub-station of Simulia
Mission, where, at that time, the PIME Fathers worked. Probably it was a 3-4
days gathering, but there is no mention of the kind of teaching. In the diaries
this catechumenate gathering occurred 5 times. The last time it was directed by
Fr. Dontaine S.J., who was the helper and successor of Fr. Wauters S.J. This
time the people present, altogether, were 82. Fr. Dontaine S.J. made this
remark in the diaries: “I make the mistake of giving the baro khana the
2nd day, after which some 28 people leave!” After this remark there
is no mention any where of the catechumenate. Probably, because of this
experience, Fr. Dontaine S.J closed it down.
b) THE
METHOD. Still now so many questions
are waiting for an answer: From where and how to start? Old Testament? New
Testament? And then how long will the catechumenate last? One year, two years,
four years time? And what about the connection between what we learn and what
we live? Who will judge about that?
i. DISHIPLESHIP OR SENSE OF BELONGING TO A
COMMUNITY? Right from the
beginning so many questions arose within me about the process of conversion
started in Chuknagar. I know that Fr. Luigi’s approach was that of discipleship
based on the principle that the way of becoming Christian should be the way of
becoming disciples of Jesus. No doubt about the excellence of this method which
should be anyway integrated with the vision of the church as of a community of
disciples. The individual approach on the one hand offers the advantage of a
freedom of choice and therefore of a deeper understanding of one’s faith, but
on the other hand it presents some difficulties.
-
THE DIFFICULTIES were related first
of all to the original community (somaj), which they belonged to, i.e.
the Hindu Somaj. At the beginning I noticed that instead of transforming
the environment through the impact of their presence, the new converted on the
contrary were still stuck on the old mentality, undergoing its negative
influence. This attitude emerged especially on the occurrence of some Hindu
festivals and ceremonies as, for instance, Shib puja, Namjoggo, Shraddho,
Manot, etc. Conversion, instead, is not just a change of clothes, but the
need to be reborn (Jn 3:3). As
Christians we have to be open to every culture and religion being able to
discern the values and keeping the identity of Jesus disciples. When I started
the catechumenate with a group of adult people, very often they used to ask me to
prepare a list of the catechumens to be presented to the local chairman in
order to get a kind of approval (shikriti) from him. I strongly opposed
this request by telling them that the approval that comes from outside has no
meaning. The real approval (shikriti) comes from our inside. If we do
not have the courage to show ourselves for what we are, then there is no
meaning of becoming Christians. Little by little they understood and now nobody
asks anymore for the approval from the local chairman.
-
THEN THERE WERE ALSO difficulties
related to the larger Christian Community as such. There was a lack of sense of
belonging. The Community of St. Joseph’s (Khulna) to which we are supposed to
refer was far away (
ii.
PERSONAL PREPARATION: - Long term
preparation. Being aware of the importance of my role in this approach to
the Christian faith, in order to have an up-to-dated vision of the teaching of
the Church, I studied, on a regular bases, the Catechism of the Catholic Church
in the Bengali language. It was hard, but it helped me very much in refreshing
my knowledge and in preparing my program.
-
Immediate preparation.
For every encounter, I try to prepare well ahead what I’m going to say. For
each group I have a register, where I note down their presence, the subject we
are going to discuss and, from time to time, I write down also some remarks.
iii.
PROGRAMMING THE CLASSES FOR
DIFFERENT GROUPS. Since the beginning I tried to make clear to every body the
importance of the journey we started: - it’s a long-term journey that will last
at least 4 years;
-
what we learn is not just a lesson
we pick up, but it’s a way of living: we’ll try to conjugate into life what we
learn;
-
finally we consider the Liturgy as
the place where we celebrate our faith.
iv.
PEOPLE ENGAGED IN THE PROCESS. When
I started, I was alone. Then I invited a PIME Sister, Sr. Teresa Gomes, at that
time in charge of the formation house at Khalispur (Khulna) to come to
Chuknagar and teach new songs to the catechumens. She accepted the invitation
and for one year she came, once a week, on Thursday afternoon; she used to stay
over night and leave the next afternoon. Sr. Teresa could not come anymore. So
I asked Mr. Mothi Singh, a catechist from Baradal, whom I knew since my old
years in Baradal, to come and to replace Sr. Teresa. Mothi accepted and for one
year did the work: taught new songs and initiated boys and girls to play
the harmonium and the tobla.
Unfortunately, towards the end of 2005, Fr. Sergio left Chuknagar and went to
work in Noluakuri (Mymensingh). So, for the last 3 years, all the complex
activities of the mission in Chuknagar have thus been revolving around me. This
is certainly a heavy task for my not so young age! For this reason I decided to
have at my side Mr. Martin Sudhangsho Das as catechist. He would help me in
running the classes and keep in touch with the local people: Christians, Muslim
and Hindus. At the beginning of this year, two didimonis Mrs. Dipali Das
and Mrs. Golapi Das joined us in the venture. All of them, Martin, Dipali and
Golapi are former shissho of Fr. Luigi.
v.
TEACHING AIDS (sussidii). The
teaching is basically a Bible teaching:
-
Nuton Manusher Abirbhab. It
is a splendid synthesis of the history of Salvation. It was prepared by the
then Xaverian Fr. Lucio Ceci and published for the first time in 1974. To my
knowledge, here in Bangladesh, we do not have any other text we can compare to
this one for its essentiality and simplicity. In 1994, Fr. Marcello Storgato
S.X., then director of the Training Centre in Jessore, made of it a new
splendid edition. Usually I start with this book as basic text at all levels.
-
Christodikhaprarthider Bible (4
volumes). It is the Bengali translation of a Spanish commentary of the Bible,
prepared and edited by Fr. Giovanni Martoccia S.X. I use this text with the
college students.
-
Commentaries on
the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and Acts of the Apostles available at
Jessore Training Centre.
-
Prakton Sondhi porichiti:
available at JTC, it is an introduction to the Old Testament. I started using
it this year with a group who is at the final stage of the journey.
-
Nuton Nyom Porichiti:
an introduction to the New Testament presented in a special number of the
magazine Mongolbarta.
-
Catholic Mandali Dharma Shikkha.
During the whole journey the Catechism of the Catholic Church together with the
Bible accompanies us. But we make a special use of it in the last two years of
the catechumenate as immediate preparation to the reception of the sacraments
of the Christian initiation.
-
The Jubilee Bible
of Fr. Carlo Rubini OSB. I distributed already one hundred copies of this Bible
and make a large use of it.
vi.
THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CATECHUMEN.
Officially we start the catechetical year on January through a ceremony and
with the presence of some respectable people. On that occasion we accept also
those who want to start the journey to the Christian Faith. The adult ones have
to make a written request with the motivations. Those who are under age make
also a written request, which has to be signed by their parents or guardians.
c) PRESENT SITUATION. After a period of 5 years, a group of 51 people, young and
adult, in the Easter vigil of 2006 received the Sacraments of Initiation at the
hands of the Bishop of Khulna in the cathedral church. We have now a total
number of 15 couples baptised with their children. All together the Christians
are 65. With the exception of two-three families, all the other families from
the para either come by themselves or send their children to join the
venture. Year after year other people joined the catechumenate. Right now we
have 8 groups divided according to age and level of instruction. The total
number of catechumens is now 150. The small but expanding Christian community
in Chuknagar has not got yet a proper place where to worship. We celebrate the
day of the Lord in a classroom.
d) ANY EXTENSION OF THE CATECHUMENATE? Many requests came from the villages where
we are present with the Tuition Program. I could not accept these requests for
two main reasons: first of all, being alone, I prefer to consolidate this
new-born community; secondly, almost in every village, there is the presence of
other Christian denominations and I do not want to increase the confusion among
the local people.
Chuknagar
22. 08. 08
Fr. Antonio Germano Das, s.x.