I am a Catholic Maharashtrian, called East Indian from Vasai… My mother was a rebel (that’s how I got my independent streak). She defied the Church

“And then you went into the real world…

After 10 years of the rarified atmosphere of the seminary I was propelled into St. Michael’s Church, Mahim, to interact with people from all walks of life. I found it difficult. I couldn’t see the relevance of the ponderous topics I had studied, to flesh ‘n’ blood contact. Women were an enigma. My physical body had been totally neglected, the most disowned energy of my life was my sexuality, because of the celibacy that was imposed upon me.

“What are your views on celibacy?

I shocked my superiors by going to meet the late Cardinal Valerian Gracias: ‘I don’t see the rationale in forcing me to sign this’ I protested. ‘I am far too young to make such a commitment.’ The Cardinal was aghast. ‘Just sign it’ he said firmly. He was a towering personality and I was used to being obedient. I signed. Through the years I’ve struggled a great deal to adjust to celibacy. Do you know how many priests including myself identify with the novel ‘Thornbirds’ *? …There was a time when I hoped that the Church would remove celibacy for priests; now I realize that this will not happen in my lifetime. Today I teach young priests not to be inhibited with the opposite sex and to acknowledge their sexuality through yoga*. [[For * signs, see page 96]

“What was your severest crisis?

I was emotionally involved with a woman. I wondered: Should I leave the priesthood, marry her, have children, lead a normal life! I was severely stressed and took refuge in brandy and the occasional cigarette (there are no vows against substance abuse). Eight of my 19 classmates had left the priesthood. I could see myself going the same way. I spoke my heart out to two priests who were also undergoing similar crises. One chose to continue with the priesthood; the other left. The woman went away. I was sunk in the pits of bewilderment and despair… It was 1971… I went to Mother Teresa and sobbed, ‘I want to leave the priesthood and the Church. Mother, help me’… ‘You are God’s anointed’ she said gently, ‘Jesus wants you. Please don’t quit’… [She] remained my guiding force.

“And the other one?

“What about your own addictions?

“What does yoga mean to you?

When I was 55, I had an excruciating spinal pain, which persisted from a 17-year old fall from a scooter. My Guruji put me through 26 positions, one more painful than the other. It took 3 years to set my back right. I am rejuvenated, can even sleep in a lotus position, feel fitter than ever. Yoga is the mainstay of my life.

“Tell us about your de-addiction centres.

[Fr. Joe relates the initiation of Kripa ‘a Sanskrit word that means grace’ on 15 August 1981 in a makeshift shed attached to Mount Carmel’s Church, Bandra.] I provided counselling, yoga and meditation. A recovered alcoholic called Ossie Pereira helped with administration and moral support; a doctor attended to physical ailments. We all dished out Tough Love. Kripa Foundation has burgeoned into a network of 31 centres… I am now consultant to the Archdiocese for drug and alcohol abuse.

“Describe Kripa’s recovery programme.

“Do you take HIV positive addicts?

“What are the yoga techniques that you use?

“How does meditation help you?

“Tell us about your daily routine.

“… I happen to be working in a ministry of healing of people who are marginalized because they are not understood, and the disease they are suffering from is alcoholism, an addiction… I have set myself for this work with the blessings of my superiors and I look at it as a vocation within a vocation… Fr. Parish Priest, Fr. Benji has shown me some of the concerns that you carry about the topic that I am going to share with you… How many of you were able to attend the week-long programme of Fr. Laurence Freeman… [of the WCCM] the 7^th time he has come to Bombay, okay, quite a few, and we have already set meditation groups all over the diocese…

“When the new millennium began, along with it came a spate of spiritual and religious teachings all over the world, but the popularity that was given most to was termed as ‘Eastern disciplines’ and this… raised many questions and concerns about authenticity because naturally all these movements were aimed at some kind of spiritual experience.

…They started acknowledging that there is something else which can become very empowering- the other dimension, experienced in man where else, except the brain, and acknowledged that there was such a thing as an awakening or working on the right hemisphere of man’s brain… Some efforts have been made, which are very sincere, to blend science with faith… I will show you some slides taken from the Harvard Medical School that initiated way back in 1967, almost the same time when the Catholic Church welcomed something which originated in Pentecostal and Protestant atmosphere what we call today the [Charismatic] Renewal programme. [This is the first of Fr. JP’s several subtle and some not-so-subtle attacks on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal]. Somewhere at the same time… the famous stress management guru Dr. Howard Benson, a cellular biologist Dr. Joan Borysenko and … Dr. Ivan Kurtz… put together something of a breakthrough in medicine called the mind-body clinic. [Error, see page 96]

“Other attempts have been made which were more superficial and confusing to average people. The explosion of the so-called New Age scenario is one of the such manifestations. It is literally like a blind leading the blind. And hence it was necessary that the Church safeguard her flock from the lies and the half-truths propagated as spirituality. [Fr. JP tries to distance himself from certain aspects of New Age but has already positively expressed some of its tenets, see previous paragraph, and will continue to defend New Age paradigms as we will see].

“…The Catholic Church has always closely been associated with the inclusion of… Eastern disciplines in Catholic spirituality… I know that there are quite a few people [here] who perhaps are carrying other influences [charismatics!] than a very strict Roman Catholic official teaching, er, mindset. In the teaching of the Second Vatican Council… we are taught in two documents… The Church in the Modern World and… on Non-Christian Religions… They offer us a platform to understand what is unfortunately or incorrectly called New Age philosophy… The first Document… is very relevant to this New Age phenomenon which is projected mainly as a culture, a world culture.”

“In 1990 [Wrong. It is actually October 15, 1989], Vatican brought out a… Document, Some Aspects of Christian Meditation precisely to clarify and to support authentic meditation practice.” [Fr. JP quotes selectively from this Document, avoiding the many statements- which I have quoted extensively in several of my earlier write-ups- which will affect his case adversely, including the note no. 1 to n. 2 that says that Zen, Transcendental Meditation and Yoga are Eastern methods of meditation that are inspired by Hinduism and Buddhism.]

“In 1500, the big split took place. A monk, Martin Luther… when he split, he hit the Church at its contemplative branch and he said, he disapproved meditation and preferred plain reading of Scripture, Sola Scriptura. [Luther’s ‘big split’ was in 1517, not 1500] Now, in response… that we may not lose our people and run only after Scripture, to safeguard that, Rome, the Catholic Church, separated the laypeople from the influence of monks who taught meditation. [Is this TRUE?] Now isn’t it interesting that in 1550, to undo this horrible mistake by the Church, came a woman with great strength and courage, a Carmelite nun, none other than a mystic, St. Teresa of Avila. She countered Luther’s influence, championed meditation and other mystical practices and permanently established the phenomenon in the Catholic Church, making it a distinctive feature from Protestantism. [Going again for the Charismatic Renewal!]. So if there is any reservation coming to meditation, you know where the roots are. [What a contrived conclusion!] Understand that. And… people who are explaining the Documents [charismatics who are crusading against New Age meditations, yoga etc.] are not telling the people this. Because they themselves are soaked in this prejudice.”

Why hasn’t Fr. Joe taken cognizance of several cautions like these? He continues:

“In recent times, a man… was working as a civil engineer in Thailand… there he got in touch with these [Buddhist] practices, he left his profession, became a [Benedictine] priest… he did a lot of work in Eastern disciplines and particularly meditation. But when he joined the monastery, his novice master said, ‘Aha, this is from the East. It is satanic’. So in obedience he said ok but he kept on searching, he went back to the Fathers of the Church… a very special [one] was John Cassian… This study of John Cassian impressed the novice master so much… his abbot allowed him to go to Montreal where he started his first monastery of Christian meditation… and it has spread to 60 nations. You can also access it on the Net. It is very easy to remember: World Community of Christian Meditators.org… You get meditations there. You get books of early Christian mystics and of contemplative prayer. This is something which the Cardinal [His Eminence, Ivan Dias] is very keen on starting all over the diocese, because as he said, there is too much of noise in the Church.”

As I said earlier in the ASHRAMS report, a separate report on the WCCM will soon be available. It will explain why Catholics should NOT practise these meditations, visit this website, or read most of their books. Also, Fr. JP does not reveal such important information as this on the Desert Father, that ‘the writings of John Cassian, 365-435 AD… demonstrate the primarily therapeutic concern of this asceticism that sets out TO HEAL THE DISORDER OF SIN and [so] to focus the individual on God’, The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, page 64.]

Referring to Some Aspects, Fr. JP’s next refuge is in the hesychastic [see page 61] desert tradition of spirituality. “Greek orthodox was quite Eastern. Do it in an Eastern way. How? Use the breath. When you breathe in, you say Lord Jesus Son of the Living God, and when breathing out, Have mercy on me a sinner.”

Coming to the February 2003, Jesus Christ, the Bearer… [VPRNA], “…With regard to these teachings, how do they figure in the Document? It’s not a Document actually, as it says, the very first sentence… please, it is not a dogma, but it is a Provisional Report, it’s a study, an ongoing study… this is a combination study of two major desks… and several other dicasteries have pooled in their findings because this phenomenon of New Age is a crazy phenomenon abroad [laughs]. I mean you have no idea what all kinds of crazy things are being done, and all of them are very sincere- they really want- they are searching for God and therefore we must understand this movement so that we can use the real elements- this is what the second part says…” [There is no first part or ‘second part’]

“When I was in Rome on the 19^th of October, we had an opportunity to meet the one who heads this desk [Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue] and he said, you know we are waiting for more theologians from India to tell us, because these people who made this study have no idea of your culture… and what they are referring to. They are only referring to in a vague way because they have heard that Vipassana, Yoga and all has become very popular. But they don’t know what this whole thing is all about. So we are waiting for you theologians to give us a feedback. And one of the first persons to give the feedback was the Vidya Jyothi whole team of theologians, and Bishop Dabre on his own. And we are putting together also in Bombay some responses [God help us !!!] coming from our long practice. I mean we have been in these disciplines for 35 to 36 years, teaching all over the world, and practicing this, and putting it into convents and monasteries and seminaries and all that. So, to teach our people about the revival of pagan religion with a mixture of both Eastern disciplines and modern psychology, this you must sift for the so-called teachings, and then realize that New Age is a cultural revolution…” [Again he calls New Age ‘cultural’, not spiritual]

“Pope John Paul II… addressing the Bishops of the United States with regard to this particular Document [said] ‘Pastors must honestly ask whether they have paid sufficient attention to the thirst of the human heart for the true Living Water which only Christ our Redeemer can give’. From there the very title of the Document is taken.”

Wrong again, Father. The title derives from the New Age astrological Age of Aquarius*, the ‘Water Bearer’ of an alternative spirituality to that of Christianity, one that rejects the notion of sin and the need for a Redeemer in Christ and offers eastern meditational techniques and ‘cosmic-energy’ based healing therapies for body-mind-soul holism.

It is difficult for me to follow the logic here. Maybe the reader can: Fr. JP says, “…Our sharing in the Trinitarian life is not only as adopted but as one with the Son. This is what we using this practice can come to propagate. And so the New Age responds to a deep longing in many of our contemporaries whether Christian or not, for a form of religion which is more integrated and less pervaded by dogmatism and authority. [Remember Bro. Martin et al?]

“Let me tell you, all the Westerners who have run away from religion, they got fed up, sick and tired, and today many of us are getting sick and tired, and that too some of our separated brethren are capitalizing on. Making use of it. Both ways they talk, you see, and blame us of dogmatism and authoritative attitudes towards people…”

“And there was a tiny little voice of an old [Bede was just 63 in 1969] man who stood up there and told the whole assembly, ‘If the Church in India did not respond to the call of contemplation, it might as well fold up as it has folded up in the West.’ Whose voice? Eh? BEDE GRIFFITHS. [Fr. Joe mimicked Bede’s voice when quoting him, so he obviously was on familiar terms with him]… And so, in response to the call of the Council, the Church in India, especially the two leading Benedictines, along with Fr. Bede there was Abhishiktananda, I wonder how many of you have cared to read one of his books- some hands are going up I see- and several other… priests like Fr. Amalorpavadass from Bangalore, they set up research and studies of Indian scriptures and practice ...through community living in ASHRAMS… a breakthrough book that came about in a Hindu-Christian-Catholic dialogue was The River of Compassion. You know what the River… is? It is a re-reading of the Bhagavad Gita through the Gospel of St. John, by Bede Griffiths. Hence there has been a proper discernment and understanding [!] of certain teachings referred to as Eastern disciplines.” *Age of Aquarius, see pages 34, 53, 54