By Kamran Chaudhry
Catholics in Pakistan wind down a year of unusual ups and downs that created history, challenging their transition into a self-reliant mature Church from one that relied on overseas missionaries.
In a shocking first in the Church, officials announced on Aug15 that the Vatican had removed Franciscan Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore from office following allegations of financial fraud and sexual misconduct.
The official announcement said Shaw was on a “sabbatical” to help investigate a “difficult situation” in the archdiocese but did not give any reason for removing the 66-year-old from office.
The confusion continues over both his and the archdiocese’s status. Canonically, an episcopal see is considered vacant “upon the death of a bishop, resignation accepted by the Vatican, transfer, or privation made known to the bishop.”
Shaw has not resigned or been transferred, and no privation has been announced, leaving Catholics to guess about the legal status of their archdiocese.
However, Archbishop Benny Mario Travas, appointed apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, has instructed the priests not to mention Shaw’s name during the Eucharistic Prayer. Canonically, it means Shaw is no longer the head of the archdiocese.
On the other hand, Shaw’s photos still decorate parish houses and the archdiocese’s social media pages. Although he has already vacated his official residence in the cathedral complex, some wonder if he will return to his office.
Shaw’s removal, his life incommunicado since August, and the uncertainty about the archdiocesan see are shocking to the young Church of 1.3 million Catholics, which British-era missionaries built up in the last century.
The main bright spot of the year was the Vatican moving ahead with the sainthood cause of a 20-year-old factory worker, Akash Bashir, who was killed when he prevented a suicide bomber from entering a packed church in 2015 in the Lahore archdiocese.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints approved on Oct 24 the diocesan inquiry on Bashir, two years after he was named a Servant of God, starting the process.
However, the Lahore hierarchy could not recognize the sacrifice of Bashir to inspire the Church by making his nomination to sainthood a national event, projecting his life as a model of holiness. For example, not many Catholics in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, know about his grave.
No tomb has been erected for the country’s first “Servant of God” and the first Pakistani Catholic on the path to sainthood.
The shock and surprise weigh more on the Church given its struggles with persecution, social discrimination, lack of government protection, and militant violence in the Muslim-majority nation of 247 million people.
Christians, primarily descendants of socially backward Dalit Hindus who converted in the 19th century, are often targeted in their worship places and communities using the country’s notorious blasphemy laws.
Blasphemy is a crime punishable by death in Pakistan, but cases increased this year, with most targeting religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians. At least 747 people were imprisoned for blasphemy in the first seven months of this year, compared to 213 for the whole of last year, records show.
The struggle against blasphemy, which includes innumerable court cases, weighs down on the Christian community, the vast majority of them living in poverty, as they are pushed away from the social mainstream to engage in menial jobs such as sewer cleaners, street sweepers, house cleaners, brick makers, and farmhands.
Faisalabad diocese is still reeling from a devastating mob attack sparked by a blasphemy allegation that destroyed 26 churches and more than 80 Christian settlements in Jaranwala last year. In May, an elderly Christian man was lynched in Sargodha, again in Punjab province.
Amid the gloom, the Church in Pakistan is set to ordain 40 priests within a year, a historic first that many see as the local Church’s growth toward pastoral self-reliance. Currently, 30 deacons are in their final year of formation, and at least 10 deacons will be ordained priests in a few months.
Until a few decades back, most Pakistani bishops were either overseas missionaries or descendants of Goan Catholic migrants from India who settled in Pakistan. The first indigenous Pakistani diocesan priest named bishop was Bishop John Joseph in 1980. But after he shot himself dead in 1998, outside a court to protest against the blasphemy laws, the Vatican chose to prefer religious priests such as the Franciscans. However, Franciscan Shaw’s removal will further challenge the maturity of local priests, theologians say privately.
Despite the challenges, Catholics also celebrated their growth. Last month, Karachi archdiocese concluded its platinum jubilee year with extensive lay participation. The jubilee follows Islamabad-Rawalpindi Diocese’s 75th anniversary in 2022.
Caritas Pakistan, the Church’s official social service agency, marked its 60th anniversary this year by launching a three-year plantation campaign, continuing an initiative it began in 2016.
Pakistani Catholics look to 2025 as the Jubilee Year of Hope, as announced by Pope Francis, to renew their Church’s mission and introduce fresh perspectives for a new legacy of compassion and outreach.
The year 2025 also marks the 1,700th anniversary of the ecumenical Council of Nicaea, a chance for the Church to start ecumenical actions for all Christians, particularly taking into its confidence the leadership of Protestant Churches in Pakistan.
Catholic-Protestant unity in Pakistan is far from satisfactory, and the council’s anniversary offers an opportunity to build better relations with Protestant Churches, whose faithful form half of the country’s Christians. – UCA News
