A bishop in north India has cancelled Christmas festivities attracting tens of thousands of people amid increased security concerns in the run-up to the country’s general elections.
More than 50,000 people in Lucknow city were expected at the annual Christmas ‘Dance Drama’ on the steps of the Catholic cathedral, but on Saturday, December 6th, Bishop Gerald Mathias intervened, citing continuing tensions before the poll due within a few months. The bishop cancelled other activities as well, including an annual invitation to the Chief Minister Mayawathi of Uttar Pradesh state, the Governor of Lucknow, the chief justice and other dignitaries to attend an event including carols, brief speeches and a meal.
Announcing the cancellations to ACN staff visiting Lucknow on a project assessment visit to northern India, Fr. Ignatius D’Souza, the vicar general, said people across the city would be disappointed but that the decision was unavoidable. He said, “We are concerned about fundamentalist activity. The extremists’ strategy is very long term and they might see our diocesan Christmas activities as an opportunity to take action….Although we have very good security arrangements for the events and have an excellent relationship with the local police department here, we can’t be too careful. You don’t know the mind of those wanting to stir up trouble.”
Fr. D’Souza explained that the run-up to major elections was always a time of increased security concerns with the risk of aggressive acts by extremist political parties determined to influence voting by fair means or foul. Fr. D’Souza added, “Every time there are general elections, there are people wanting to inflame tensions.”
Across India, the Church is on alert following recurring attacks in which up to 500 died in Orissa state, but also in Karnataka state in the south-west, where the destruction of churches was entirely unexpected in a very Catholic area.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has recently sent out a message urging dioceses to scale down Christmas festivities while leaving each bishop to make the final decision.
Bishop Mathias was encouraged to scale back the festivities by local Muslim leaders who at Saturday’s meeting announced they were reducing Eid celebrations.
For the performers of the Christmas Dance Drama, who include seminarians and novice Sisters and Brothers, the decision to halt the festivities will be keenly felt as rehearsals were already underway.
Drawing heavily on local culture, the annual dance drama enacts selected Scriptural texts from across the Bible, concentrating on the Nativity. Due to have taken place on Christmas Day, the two open-air performances attract a mostly non-Christian audience to St. Joseph’s Cathedral in the heart of Lucknow, which is a majority Hindu area but which has a 20 percent Muslim population. The Church presents the drama as a key means of outreach in a city of three million where Catholics are barely 4,000 in number.
According to Fr. D’Souza, an exhibition celebrating the Christmas story would go ahead in the cathedral compound as usual and that people were welcome to enter and light a candle according to local custom. Other events Bishop Mathias cancelled include a Christmas Day gathering for 15 or more priests from Lucknow and celebrations held five days later involving clergy and religious from across the diocese.
Fr. D’Souza stressed that the cancellations were made in an act of solidarity with Christians in Orissa who would be marking the first anniversary of atrocities in Kandhamal where churches were ransacked and whole village communities were forced from their homes.
