I came across a letter in The Naga Mirror, on Facebook, posted by Bartholomew Humtsoe, written by a Mr. Atonoka Swu and addressed to the Bishop and Priests of the Catholic Churches in Nagaland. Apparently, he was visited by, “The Spirit of The Lord”, who told him to tell the Naga Catholics to sever ties with, “Vatican” Catholic because “they are going after Lucifer worship.” He prayed for conformation and was taken, in a dream, to see the Catholics worship Hanuman and bluebottle flies in their Church; and in which Church he also saw “many beetlenut trees.” He woke up from this dream and “prayed for this Subject again” and The Lord, “show me visions that there were Elephants and Deers’ (?) Idols made of clay and hey(hay?).” He hesitated until he bought a new “mobile” (most probably a Smartphone) and was, “surprised to see some conformations from the messages and activities of Pope Francis in ‘Vetican’.”
I was flabbergasted by this unadulterated rot and filth put forth under the alleged authority of “The Spirit of The lord” (The Lord in question being debatable, for Beelzebub too is a Demon Spirit and “The Lord of the Flies”; and bluebottle flies would be at his beck and call). But I was amazed and more than impressed at the magnitude of lunacy that can be concealed in an apparently sane person. I also felt a kind of perverse pride in the fact that the owner of this level of madness was a Sumi. But leaving aside the despicable contents of the letter, the insanity of its author and the fact that the spirit in question needed some spelling lessons; I was disappointed in the fact that many young Naga Protestants so badly misunderstood The Catholic Church. I feel that I should share what know to be true on the Catholic Faith and their Priestly Hierarchy:-
- Catholics do NOT worship Mary or the various Saints. They pray to Mary and the Saints to intercede on their behalf with God. They hold God in more respect, awe and reverence than we do. They are not as fortunate, as we Protestants are, as to have direct contact with God through their dreams, nor do they have visionaries (paid and/or free) to talk with God on their behalf, nor do they have numerous Preachers selling Salvation via donations to the thousands of “Worthy Causes” and “Charities” which appear on the many “God/Christian Channels. “Their Leaders do not depend on Hindu Sadhus, astrologers and palmists to know what only God Himself knows, which is the future (unlike many Protestant Naga Leaders).
They do not depend on the internet to get conformation on their Faith, Biases and Dogmas. Truly, Catholics are a primitive lot when compared to Protestants. In short, Catholics do not have the contempt bred by familiarity with God as so many Protestants seem to have.
- His Holiness, The Pope, is elected from amongst the Cardinals and Archbishops; the Spiritual “First among Equals”. The Cardinals and Archbishops rise to their eminence through the ranks of the Church hierarchy and begin as Priests. A Catholic decides to become a Priest or a Nun because he or she feels the need to answer The Call to serve Christ. The Seminaries where they study Theology have a common standard across the world; they do not sprout out in every corner like weeds after the rain, as our Protestant Bible Schools and Colleges seem to do so.
Catholic bashing is a favourite sport among many Protestants; it derives from the human need to distance ourselves from those who we derive our roots and from who we have split away. It is the same as the Anti-Semitism practised by all early Christians and which is so prevalent even today. Christianity owes everything to Judaism, and Christ Himself was born as a Jew. But the Christians felt the need to distance themselves from Judaism and the Jews for many reasons, and, in my humble opinion, the main reason being to show people of other faiths that Christianity was separate from Judaism. So instead of embracing our commonalities, we chose to highlight our differences. The atrocities that Christians have committed on the Jews are unimaginable; for Jews lived in relative peace and harmony with other faiths and other rulers and governments; but they suffered under Christian Rulers and Christian Governments.
In a similar vein, Protestants feel the need to distance ourselves from Catholics. Instead of acknowledging that we derive our roots from Catholicism and embracing our commonalities, we choose to highlight our differences; and unfortunately, many Protestant Bigots, Morons and Idiots feel that The Vatican (or Vetican, if you please) and, His Holiness, The Pope, are fair targets, because they know that based on The Scriptures, there is little to tell us apart.Do some of us feel jealous that the Catholic Church has managed to remain intact ever since Martin Luther started the Protestant movement, while we Protestants seem to be splitting right, left and centre with alarming frequency? How many different churches and denominations can we Nagas own up to having and following, respectively? Off the top of my head, I can name seven denominations that are current among the Sumis; and that does not include the Catholics. How many Bible Colleges and Schools can you count in Nagaland? Ten years back, an elder of my village told me he had counted more than twenty Bible Institutions in Dimapur alone!
If we must view the Catholics and Catholicism as separate and different, view them as another Flock of Christian Sheep led by a different Shepherd. For we Protestants have too many flocks run by too many shepherds who can hardly be distinguished from the wolves that prey on us. We have enough troubles within us without the visions and dream of lunatics and madmen pointing out imaginary dangers while our shepherds join with the wolves to slaughter us.
