Articles
Why Do Catholic Priests become Fanatics?
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 14-Sep-2025
Prior to second Vatican Council the Catholic Church believed that all those who belong to other religions will not get salvation. The second Vatican Council changed this fundamentalist view. Respect for other religions, inter-religious dialogue and inculturation were stressed.
Surprisingly, even after 60 years of Vatican II, there are some Catholic priests and lay Catholics who still try to live in the pre-Vatican era and go around with their fanatic-style of preaching. I wish to present a few stories spread by such groups in the social media (YouTube and WhatsApp), from the pulpit of homily and during prayer meetings.
Story-1: A Buddhist monk died and went to hell. He was surprised to note a few more Buddhist monks there. He asked them why they were there. They gave him a shocking news about the presence of Gautam Buddha. He went close to the crying Buddha to console him. Buddha said to him, “Can you do me a favour?” The monk replied, “Yes.” Buddha said, “Please ask our monks to make arrangements to offer Holy Mass for me in a Catholic Church.”
The monk felt so sad to hear this request from the crying Buddha. On the same day, this monk appeared in the dream of some monks living in his monastery and said, “Please go to a nearby Catholic Church and ask the priest to offer Holy Mass for Gautam Buddha.” The monks did the same. Soon after the Holy Mass was offered, Gautam Buddha reached heaven.
Story-2: In a Tamil video a Catholic priest is seen preaching in a church. He says, Bro. DG Dinakaran, the Evangelist, whose programs used to be telecast on the TV. His son Paul Dinakaran is alive whereas DG Dinakaran died. He was born in a Catholic family at Cuddalore and worked in a bank. Later he joined a Protestant group, started his own ministry, built prayer towers and did good things to the people. He died. But he could not go to heaven.
So, every night he used to appear to his grandchildren in their dreams and request them for Holy Mass to be offered for him in a Catholic Church. Initially, his grandchildren did not understand anything. One day, the children approached their father and said, “Daddy, quite a few times, grandpa appeared in our dreams. He requested us to offer Holy Mass for him in the Roman Catholic Church. Only then he will go to heaven it seems.” Their father said, “Ok, we will do it.”
Do you know where they went? They went to a Catholic Church near Guindy in Chennai and paid money to the priest to offer 8 Holy Masses. On the 8th day, soon after the Holy Mass was offered, Dinakaran’s soul went to heaven. It also rained heavily on that day. The Scripture tells us that when a soul goes to heaven and that too, a converted sinner’s soul goes to heaven, God becomes very happy. As a sign of this, it rained.”
Story-3: One preacher in Tamil Nadu, having his own church/group, recently made some statements about the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni. The brief summary of what he spoke in a prayer meeting is: “Idol worship is going on at Velankanni. Prostitution also is prevalent there. Wherever there is idol worship, there will be prostitution also as both are inseparable. Tsunami in 2004 hit Velankanni very badly and it was God’s punishment.”
This preaching woke up the Catholic community (clergy and laity). Quite many Catholic priests and lay Catholics circulated their ‘protest speeches’ with abusive languages through WhatsApp and YouTube. They condemned the preacher and demanded his apology. They failed to dialogue with the preacher and also do a sincere introspection.
Story-4: A video in Tamil shows a retreat preacher of South India preaching. He speaks vigorously against “Kumbh Aarathi” during the Holy Mass. He tells, “This is against the first of the ten commandments. If I celebrate Mass alone, I do not permit it. But if I am a con-celebrant I just stand helplessly. I am now determined that in future if this Kumbh Aarathi is done in the presence of bishops or even Pope, I shall avoid it and proceed to the altar.”
This video was posted in a WhatsApp group. There were many comments. I noted that some members of the WhatsApp group commented in favour of the priest. One member commented: “Kumbh Aarathi is of Hindu culture and we should not do it in the church.” There were also comments that emphasized the need for promoting inculturation.
Based on these stories I wish to raise the following questions/points for our sincere introspection:
- Why do “fanatic priests” openly preach from the altar the outdated and pre-Vatican ideas?
- Why should they undermine the “spiritual services” rendered by evangelists of other Christian groups?
- Why do the Catholic priests and lay Catholics have the “triumphalist mentality” and think themselves as superior and consider non-Christians as inferior? Why should they involve in “petty word war”?
- In reality, most Christian groups and evangelists lead “better Christian life” than the “name-sake Catholics and clergies.”
- Why do some “fanatic Christians/Catholics” get into propagating against people of other religions and their religious practices?
- Are these fanatic priests trying to use these messages/stories as their “marketing strategy” to motivate the Catholics to offer more Holy Masses for the departed souls, especially during November?
- If Holy Mass is considered as a “visa to heaven’, then, the Hell and Purgatory (if they exist) should be empty as billions of Holy Masses are offered all over the world round the clock.
- Hinduism is rooted in Indian culture whereas the Catholic Church is rooted in Roman/Western culture. All the liturgical celebrations, prayers and paraphernalia are alien to Indian culture.
- Sanskrit is an Indian language and Hinduism uses it extensively. So, it cannot be called Hindu language. Likewise, we cannot brand the Indian cultural practices as “Hindu culture”.
- Based on the recommendations of Vatican II, renewal processes were initiated by late Fr. Amalorpavadass and team at NBCLC. Also, the Indian Missionary Society (IMS) made contributions in this line. But such initiatives have slowly died down with the death of their charismatic leaders.
- When will the Catholic church come out of “clergy/liturgy-centred life” and lead “Christ/people-centred life”?
- Are we not responsible for converting Christianity into mere “Churchianity”?
- Is CBCI/CCBI really serious about establishing a truly Indian Church?
- Do we want to be Roman Catholics or Indian Catholics? The choice is ours.
The important lesson from the above stories is: Rise above religious fanaticism and become spiritual and more humane. Let us always remember the “criteria of Final Judgement” mentioned in Matthew chapter 25 verses 31-46.
(The author is a freelance journalist who writes columns on social and religious issues. He can be reached at mlsatyan55@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal)
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