New Life

Last weekend I had the privilege of being godparent to a very close friend of mine who converted to Catholicism.Oh,no-no evangelists involved in the situation-this is a highly educated,smart,entrepreneurial mother of two who decided to become Catholic.
I had to clarify this because I know a couple of of friends from back home who live here,who find two things annoying about Catholic schools here-the "reservation" system and the "evangelization" of their kids.While I have the highest respect for my friends and consider myself an Indian as much as a Christian I would love to clarify both those issues.
The first one goes like this:Christian schools back home have the reservation system too,but do you have any idea what the percentage of catholics is back home?A recent article in the magazine Time pegged it at 1%.So if 100 people apply for a class with 50 seats in a catholic school,and they have a preference for catholic kids-they still get ,from a statistical point of view,just one kid applying and the kids obviously gets in.So the rest of the applicants never feel the pinch.Coming over to the US, the percentage of Catholics(I am quoting the numbers from the same article again) is close to 25% and if 100 kids apply for say 30 seats( a more realistic number here),25 are Catholic and they all get in and we are left with 5 seats for the rest of the applicants-unfair?I don't know.So being in the majority often affects you perception of fairness because things come easy and one is never aware of how the other half looks at things at all!
The second issue unfortunately is controversial but I am going to give my perspective here.It might make sense or not,sound fair or not,be just or not-but here goes:
Hinduism is polytheistic-many Gods.But all three judeo-christian religions are monotheistic-one God.In the process of convincing prospective converts, monotheistic religions need to convince them not only that their God is the true God,but that ALL other Gods are not Gods at all.Their one true God cannot be part of a pantheon of Gods.Early christian evangelists in Greece and elsewhere faced this problem-people were very welcoming of Christianity and worshipped the new God right alongside the old ones.So the evangelists had to literally shout from the rooftops that there is but one God and he is the ONLY way to salvation.
Most Christian educational institutions in India tread very carefully when teaching this to children in school.Considering that Christians are in such small numbers back home,most schools have some form of what is called Moral Instruction for non-christians in lieu of Catechism-religious education being one of the goals of such institutions.I went to a Catholic school and while we went to Catechism,my non-catholic classmates had Moral Science(variously called Moral Instruction,Value Education....).The idea was not to tread on too many toes or have any controversy come up because if everyone was taught Catechism,then every child would be made to learn that there is but one God and no other-which is a terribly controversial and incendiary statement to make in a country with a majority of polytheistic worshippers.So they sensibly avoid that confrontation.
Again, in the US,where the vast majority of the populace is Christian,there are no compunctions about teaching that because,obviously you are not challenging anyone's beliefs are you?Are they trying to evangelize?Oh,no! Just stating facts!Which to someone from back home,who happens to be in the minority here, seems terribly like proselytizing -which it obviously isn't !!There are enough Christians to go around and I don't think making more converts is the aim of any of these institutions.

There,I'm done talking about it!!

Coming back to my friend's Baptism,we had the opportunity to converse with the Rev.John Vlazny,ArchBishop of Portland and came away very impressed with his wit and charm and charisma!He does not have any of the standoffishness that one associates with clergy in high places and I was thinking to myself,"Hope we luck out on our next Bishop too,who is actually  being installed tomorrow as the new Archbishop of Portland". He is much younger and looks promising,but I think he will have to work really hard to match the Rev.Vlazny in his appeal.The thought that crossed my mind was actually,"Wow!The laity does matter-it is not always about the clergy!!" The new Pope has amply proved his preference in this regard and I hope the new Bishop takes his cue from his emeritus as well as the new Pope.
So in true Christian spirit,Welcome Home Lucy Ye!!