Author:
Publication: ZENIT.org-Avvenire
Date: May 13, 2002
Bishop Anthony Lobo notes shift
towards Catholic schooling
A leading figure of the Catholic
Church in Pakistan, said that the country is not the bastion of fundamentalism
that Western media would lead one to believe.
Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad
and Rawalpindi, born into a Catholic family of Goa, then British India
and today Pakistan, is a friend of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
President Musharraf was a student
in a secondary school where the Bishop taught.
This Pakistan strongman has undergone
a metamorphosis from a Muslim dictator and protector of the Taliban and
Al Qaeda to a pro-Western liberal leader. "He is the best there is," the
Bishop added succinctly.
"Abroad, I discover that Pakistan's
image is very negative: fundamentalism and intolerance, violence, corruption,
and drug sales. We, who live there, do not think this is the only reality."
The Bishop acknowledged the limits
at the religious level, but explained, "There is no official policy of
persecution. Catholics, 2 million among a population of 150 million Muslims,
are marginalized for social and historical reasons. 250 years ago, those
who converted belonged to excluded social levels: the landless," the Bishop
added.
"The colonial authority gave land
to those who converted; this is the reason many went to live in 'Christian
villages.' This is why today there are no influential or rich Christians.
They are a very small middle class, with little education and a monthly
income of between $50-100."
"Now, following September 11, the
Musharraf government is returning to Catholics schools that were nationalized
20 years ago," the Bishop continued. "After so many years, we do not have
a body of teachers to make the Catholic schools function, and a good part
of the reason for our presence is to 'give witness' by offering good schools,
good hospitals."
"However, it is a good sign. I think
that the country today is prepared to leave fundamentalism behind, and
to return to the ideas of the founders: a modern, progressive, and tolerant
State. In a recent referendum, Muslim fundamentalists obtained only 5%
of the votes. The great majority of Pakistanis does not really like them,"
the Bishop said.
"Believe me, fundamentalism is a
frankenstein created by the United States to serve an anti-Soviet purpose,
which has turned against its creators," Bishop Lobo concluded.
