By Rahul Bedi
The National (United Arab Emirates)
June 10, 2008
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080610/FOREIGN/7241856/1103/NEWS&Profile=1103
NEW DELHI // A paucity of Roman Catholic priests in North America and Europe has led to devotees outsourcing prayers to Indian clergymen.
Known as holy mass intentions, these benedictions are recited mostly in the southern state of Kerala, where the majority of India's Catholic population of 25 million lives, but also in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
"This is a long-standing arrangement that has been arrived at between local and overseas bishops," said Babu Joseph, the spokesman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India in New Delhi.
It is based on the Catholic tradition of sharing resources, Fr Joseph said.
 |
| More recently, prayer requests had also started arriving via e-mail, a sign of the increasing popularity of information technology even in the ecclesiastical realm. Photo by Alexei Kidel |
Church officials said they received a slew of requests for devotions, including special remembrances for deceased relatives, prayers for newborns, newlyweds and travellers, and appeals for divine intervention in exams and business deals.
Most such holy intentions are delivered in the local language – Malayalam in Kerala and Tamil in Tamil Nadu – with just a handful in English limited to one priest per day, Fr Joseph said.
Church authorities said the requests made each month to various dioceses came either directly from the Vatican, local bishops or other religious bodies.
More recently, prayer requests had also started arriving via e-mail, a sign of the increasing popularity of information technology even in the ecclesiastical realm.
They also come with an offering of US$5 (Dh18.4) each, between three and four times the amount locals pay for the same prayer, resulting in the prayers being called "dollar masses" by Indians.
At the same time, Indian Catholic priests are helping to plug the clergy gap elsewhere in the world, with hundreds flocking to churches across Europe, the United States, Latin America and Africa.
"Many priests were travelling to take up church positions overseas, but of late, their numbers are declining as Indian churches too are slowly beginning to face a paucity of qualified personnel," Fr Joseph said. Proficiency in English and other languages has helped Indians adapt more quickly to positions overseas.
Although their Catholic brothers are tending to the needs of the Christian faithful, India's Hindu Brahmin priests are also finding their calling in the West and wherever else India's Hindu majority are seeking their fortunes. Equipped with their geometrical-shaped urns, holy water from the Ganges River and a variety of incense, most Brahmin priests stay about a decade in their posting, ministering to the spiritual needs of Indians overseas.
Potential recruits need to be proficient in Sanskrit, the language of Hindu scriptures, and have a working knowledge of English, before entering special seminaries for several months of training and to hone their priestly skills. Their curriculum includes a detailed study of ancient Hindu texts, dexterity in performing such complex rituals as marriages, child naming ceremonies and conducting death rites, in addition to reciting lengthy and complicated Sanskrit prayers for a variety of occasions.
Over the decades, Hindu religious organisations and trusts like the Temple Society in North America have imported Brahmin priests from India, as has the South Indian Religious Society in Singapore. The Temple Society said the proliferation of Hindu temples overseas had proved a godsend for Indian priests eager to move to richer pastures.
A name-giving ceremony for a child, for instance, in Singapore costs 51 Singapore dollars (Dh137), the sacred thread ceremony, essential for all traditional Brahmins, about S$101 and a marriage S$251, more than three times the price in India.
According to Hindu tradition, figures with a one such as 11, 31 or 101 are auspicious. Charges for all rituals and ceremonies double when conducted at home and not at the local temple.
Some overseas temples have even permitted their priests to freelance but collect a percentage – much like a church tithe – of the income earned.
Contact: rbedi@thenational.ae
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.