2 Solutions

There are several orders of nuns and religious sisters studying at the Temple of Wisdom in the Garden of Earthly Delights, Carmelites, Mother Teresa's lot, and you can see how the habit has morphed from western enclosed order with wimples to a more indian style of sari. There is one group in particular. On her own yeah she is ok looking but when you see four of them walk in they look like an order of supermodels. Skyblue saris, but with designer cuts and no veil. Not sure what they are the solution to but they will definitely do. And until then I am sure I can come up with a few things.

Second solution and this is to restore make anew the Patriachate of the Gate of India with a Syro-Malabar Catholicos working in synergetic parallel to the Patriarch of the East Indies in Goa. Fasting on Fridays. To start I'll just skip evening meal. Skipping Tiffin is just well open to pelagianistic confusion and come on. This morning's homily all about fasting. The boys really go to town with their homilies when they get a chance. I am not entirely convinced they are not just out on the tickle neither.

Problem with the hierarchical set up familiar to those who understand either the Church or Stamp Clubs or how groups work, the Roman Rite and Eastern Rite Churches are divided geographically. If you live in Goa you are in a Roman Rite area regardless of your baptism. In Kerala you are in a Syro-Malabar jurisdiction. The problem is the boys won't play together. For now the Roman Rite Archbishop of Bangalore allows the Syro-Malabar priests to come but the DVK is listed as a Roman Rite Institute and they remain at his disposal.

Now if they could accept the concept of breathing with two lungs, that Indians especially can recover their twin heritage by attending liturgies in both styles, and learning the history of both rites, the theology spirituality and styles of admin. For the latter the Syro-malabar have yogams where temporal authority reverts to the laics with an Archdeacon, and spritual authority is given to the Bishops and priests. Ah but people never share their toys. First request made to us by our parents and it never really seems fair.

There may be a way of combining the sky-blue willowy lissom sari nuns and fasting to establish this dual patriarchy. What I suggest is that whatever the rite the alternate is also offered, at every level, so in seminaries and institutes and parishes. We will still have to learn to play nicely and share toys. Essentially the Patriarch of Goa gets ultimate power over the Roman Rite priests and the 22 Eastern Rite Churches have ultimate power over theirs but all are free to wander about throughout all of India at the request of any local Bishop. Each diocese having two Bishops one Roman and one Oriental.

On that history thing. I read almost first day an intro to a book stating that you'd have to be expert in sanskrit syriac latin greek eastern and western theology and history to begin to analyse the source material to prove that Mar Toma the Apostle first converted the Indians. So the author suggested I take his word for it. In the past western theologians had disagreed now they are coming around. The truth is more interesting. It's not quite the dossier but it seems the evidence trail goes cold in the fourth century AD at Edessa. Before then it's circumstantial. But if you think about it so is the evidence for the historical Jesus, and the Battle of Hastings. I am gonna read up a fairly recent book summarizing all the arguments. It will make a nice break from liturgy before the three week course begins next Sunday.

Oh yeah there was a widow. Doubt she makes pastries and her eldest son was my age, so I took that as not the sign of the times. Fr Jose has offered to take me around various sites the CMI run here and after initially thinking he might be serious he probably meant it in an Indian way to make myself feel at home, which until they turn this place into a university, which is the what they said they want to do at the beginning of that Bible Study course, I shall. After that I am off. Temple of Wisdom in a garden of earthly delights with a blue sari'd model collection is more me.