The Critique

                              Don Bosco was declared the Patron of Youth by Pope John Paul II in 1989. He received his mission: to be Father to the young, in a dream at the tender age of nine. He nurtured this call throughout his life and never wasted an opportunity to gather boys and direct them to God. He did not do this as a spiritual director, (at least no at first!) but rather as a friend, a companion and a seminarian. As a young boy, he would attract youngsters with his magic tricks, tightrope skills, games etc and then get them to recite the rosary with him or recount to them the Sunday sermon (which he remembered thanks to his prodigious memory). Already then, he had ingeniously found a way to combine religion and entertainment. His entertainment was necer for entertainment sake but rather a façade or an advertisment for religious instruction. Even as a young pries...

Have you ever thought about what life must be like behind bars? What ‘confinement’ really implies? In a world where ideals like freedom, equality and justice are juggled about in a society that closes upon itself; where every whistleblower is snubbed humiliatingly in public or dastardly eliminated in their ostensible privacy; where people belonging to a certain region, religion, caste are stereotyped and discriminated;  women by virtue of their gender are looked down upon by a largely patriarchal society; or where innocent people ignominiously languish in the darkness of prison cells made to hold criminals. I cannot help but express my consternation. Excuse my candor but I honestly fail to see freedom, equality and justice being realized. The Preamble of our Constitution clearly states that the Indian society is free, equal and just. These words are written in the upper case and are in bold, just to assert their effect and implications. If we have to make any progress in this...

Director: José Padilha Cast: Joel Kinnaman , Gary Oldman ,  Michael Keaton , and  Samuel L. Jackson Duration: 1hr 21mins Security is a human need. All of us look to be secure and safe. In order to uphold and ensure this need we have the police department. In our technological age, we have all sorts of gadgets for promoting personal and public security. With the phenomenal developments in robotics, we are moving towards new frontiers. Robocop, is a science fiction film portraying a half robot half man vigilante. Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) was a regular cop who was trying to bust up a drug ring. Things went awry, thanks to some moles in the police department and an attempt was made on his life leaving him for dead. His life was saved by giving him a robotic body. Thus, emerges Robocop. This part man-more machine, created a huge sensation by helping lower the crime rate and solving cases faster and more efficiently. The story is set in the thick of a discussion wh...

Below are some of the key issues the Special General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation 1971, dealt with: POVERTY: We ought to be genuine in the living of poverty. It must be evangelical more than juridical. It should take on the honest imitation of Christ. It should help us to concretely witness to personal detachment and solidarity with the poor. It must be characterized by courageous confidence in God and by tireless work. Poverty must be WITNESS and SERVICE. OBEDIENCE: Obedience and authority are to be recognized for the common good. It helps us share in the offering of Christ. It is a search for the will of God through openness and frank dialogue. The SGC warns against paternalism and infantilism. It demands purity of heart and overcoming of self. CHASTITY: The community must be a family. Family spirit is fostered in a friendly atmosphere. Chastity is portrayed as purity, dedication and gift of oneself. FORMATION: The aim of formation is to help the sem...

Faith is yielding to God and letting him work wonders in and through us. First, we need to acknowledge that God wants to use us to do wonderful things. He has promised us so in the scriptures. Faith is like believing there is a world outside the cocoon. Some of us are too tired, afraid, disbelieving, faithless… to think of anything outside of our little cocoons. Those who break through realize that there is a big, bright, beautiful world out there, as opposed to the cramped, dinghy surroundings of the cocoon. Faith is trusting in the beyond not readily perceptible. It is tinged with hope of things to come and promises to be fulfilled. Caterpillars without hope do not turn into butterflies. The path to achieve the butterfly form is not easy at all. It is difficult and draining. At times, it seems impossible. The cocoon might appear too hard to crack through but with faith and effort it is possible. Alas, so many have tried and found it to be true. This metamorphosis is a personal...

Immortality, afterlife, spirits and the like have always fascinated and intrigued me. But, deep within me is a fear of an encounter with the supernatural thanks to Hollywood horror. My belief in it exists nonetheless. Recently, I stumbled on a book whose title aroused my curiosity and got me reading. Immortality: The Scientific Evidence by Alson J. Smith, presents scientifically observed, tested and documented evidence for the existence of souls after death and the possibility of communicating across ‘natural’ boundaries of physicality determined by space and time. I confess that this book has made me pensive. As Catholics, we believe in the Resurrection and life after death. We believe in heaven, hell, purgatory, even though we are not quite sure how they function or what they are like. Despite all this, I’m sure we still feel at least slightly uncomfortable to think that the dead still hang around on earth and are nearer to us then we would like to expect. Their ability to po...

All of us are aware of the necessity of peace for the smooth running of life and its structures. Evangelization happens primarily through dialogue and such dialogue can be effective only in an ambient of peace. Hence, Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium , emphasizes the need for dialogue and highlights certain important areas that the Church must look into when evangelizing. The Pope indicates that Evangelization involves dialogue in three areas: 1) With states 2) With society including culture and sciences 3) With other believers The standpoint from which the church speaks is that which faith offers, along with two thousand years of experience and the present life and suffering of human beings. This forms the background from which the Church enters into dialogue. (1) Dialogue with the State The Church is responsible for proclaiming a Gospel of Peace. She seeks to cooperate with national and international authorities, committed to a simila...

We have a Father in Heaven , Gilbert Choondal, Kristu Jyoti Publications, 1999, ISBN 81-87370-08-4, Rs. 25, Pp. 63 The book aims at providing a deeper and more personal understanding of the Lord’s prayer. A step by step approach is utilized, taking each invocation independently. The book could be used as a textbook for catechesis and is done attractively. Appropriate pictures, anecdotes, points for reflection are provided for each statement of the prayer, thus allowing for personalization. The layout is neat and pleasing to the eye. At the end of the book, a few hymns related to ‘God as Father’ are provided along with a short dialogue reflecting the role of God as Father. The book is a wonderful resource for catechists, youth directors and others interested in teaching or knowing the faith.