Many faith traditions converge in Mumbai. Hindus (67%), Muslims (19%), Jains (4%), Parsis (.4%), Christians (4%), Catholics, Jews, Buddhists (5%), Sikhs (.6%) all reside here with, what appears now to be, relative harmony. The people embrace faith traditions, whether their own or those of other faiths. What a great place to learn about the different religions.
CATHOLICISM in MUMBAI
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| Our Church in Mumbai - St Stephen's |
To continue the comparison, (with perhaps somewhat old stats - 2006 in both cases):
Parishes: Mumbai - 121, Cincinnati - 221
Diocesan Priests: Mumbai - 277, Cincinnati - 291
Religious Priests: Mumbai - 283, Cincinnati - 223
Male Religious: Mumbai - 383, Cincinnati - 362
Female Religious: Mumbai - 1530, Cincinnati - 1036
The real difference in the counts for the two dioceses is in the number of parishes, fewer parishes, same number of priests, thus creating a better situation for priests per parish. I have heard of some churches in the near suburbs of Mumbai (Bandra) with 6 priests.
Although Mumbai has fewer parishes, in the suburb Bandra, there are 9 Catholic churches within a 3 km (less than 2 mile) radius. I printed off a Mass schedule for these churches and they all have at least 4 Masses on Sundays, sometimes up to 7 Masses on Sundays, as well as 1 or 2 on Saturdays!. In addition, many of these churches have 3 daily Masses. So, Catholicism is alive and well in Mumbai.
My helper (staff) Helen is Catholic. Today, she was telling me about St Michael's Church in Mahim, Mumbai. This is a pilgrimage church, and people regularly do Wedneday novenas there. They offer novena services throughout the day on Wednesdays.
I found the Wikipedia information about the church very interesting:
"Not only Christians, but also adherents of other faiths congregate to pay their respects to the Virgin Mary and attend mass every Wednesday. Devotees believe that visiting the Church on nine consecutive Wednesdays (Novena) will grant their wishes. They offer floral garlands according to the Hindu customs and repeat prayers before the image.[1] Some of them offer wax figures of what they desire, for example, a wax house. According to Father Hugh Fonseca, around 40-50,000 devotees visit the church every week.[3]
The weekly Novena services were started in 1948, when a priest Fr. Edward Placidus Fernandes from Mumbai noticed a similar ritual celebrating Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at Belfast, Northern Ireland, during his visit to Europe. Fr. Fernandes brought with him a picture touched to the original Our Lady of Perpetual Succourpicture at Rome. On the 8th of September, 1948 - the Birthday of Mary, concurrent with a Wednesday that year, Fr. Fernandes as the vicar held the first Novena services. Initially, only two services were held every Wednesday, but today from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm, the thirteen services are held in various languages: English,Konkani, Marathi, Tamil and Hindi.[4]"
Helen has been going for the novena service every Wednesday since her 16 year old daughter was born, changing only her wish/request for each interval of nine weeks. Helen, like many others, is a very devout Catholic.
Another example occurred at a local furniture shop, owned by a man in the Bandra suburb. As I entered the store at 10:30 to talk to the owner about some furniture we were considering, he said that he would be with me in 10 minutes. He was standing at his desk, but then I realized that he was performing a ritual - making an offering and saying a prayer in front of the wooden crucifix on the wall. Afterwards, he came over to me, and he told me that he was saying a prayer of thanks to "his God, because without Him he would be nothing." He always starts his day at the shop in this way.
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| Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount in Bandra - known as Mount Mary Church |
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