{"id":1836,"date":"2012-08-17T09:48:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T09:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2012\/08\/17\/tp-saran-91\/"},"modified":"2019-09-24T18:49:52","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T14:49:52","slug":"tp-saran-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/tp-saran-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Darlmah Naeck flag a non-issue?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Church and the Creole Community<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

By TP Saran<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After his interrogation by the Central Criminal Investigation Department on Monday last, Darlmah Naeck, the sacked editor of Defi Quotidien<\/em> is reported by that paper as saying that the aim of his article was to \u2018provoquer un d\u00e9bat pour aider une partie de la communaut\u00e9 creole qui vit dans la pauvret\u00e9.\u2019 <\/em>He alluded to the Catholic Church\u2019s inattention to the situation of its \u2018ouailles<\/em>\u2019, not giving due recognition to their specific identity and trying to impose instead the values of a supposedly superior European culture; besides, he opined that the Creoles did not do enough for themselves in matters of education. <\/span><\/p>\n

Was he flagging a non-issue? If we go by the reactions of some Creole priests that have been published, then it would seem that the one reproach that can be made to Darlmah Naeck is that he has not done his homework and checked the facts. Indeed, the Creole priests spring to the defence of the Catholic Church to which most Creoles belong, giving examples of how they themselves with its blessings have created several entities throughout the island to guide and help lift the Creoles, and devised special programmes of self-empowerment for the community. <\/span><\/p>\n

Which is exactly what Darlmah Naeck \u2018reproached\u2019 them for not doing. So his information was incomplete, and the Creole community, contrary to Darlmah Naeck\u2019s perception, is <\/em>making progress and consolidating its sense of identity. There is nothing new under the sun, and the remarks of Darlmah Naeck were made by Creoles themselves way back in 1993 \u2013 by no less than Pere Roger Cerveaux who evoked the problem of \u2018malaise<\/em> Creole<\/em>\u2019 in the Church to which he belonged. <\/span><\/p>\n

If Darlmah Naeck had but searched the internet before writing his article, he could have let Creole leaders speak instead, because they had said all this before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alain Romaine, Creole priest, was asked by Alain Gordon Gentil, some years ago, : \u2018En 1994, naissait au sein de l\u2019\u00e9glise catholique, \u00e0 travers le p\u00e8re Roger Cerveaux, ce que l\u2019on a appel\u00e9 le \u201cmalaise cr\u00e9ole\u201d. Douze ans plus tard, les voix se sont calm\u00e9es, o\u00f9 en est ce mouvement voulant faire entendre la voix des Cr\u00e9oles dans l\u2019\u00e9glise? Le malaise a-t-il disparu ou s\u2019est-il amplifi\u00e9?\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

A. Romaine\u2019s reply was: \u2018<\/strong>Pour avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 moi-m\u00eame un des t\u00e9moins privil\u00e9gi\u00e9s, aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s de Roger Cerveaux, je peux dire que ce que Roger a d\u00e9clench\u00e9, c\u2019\u00e9tait le d\u00e9clic. Tout le malaise \u00e9tait l\u00e0. C\u2019est un ensemble d\u2019\u00e9v\u00e9nements qui a fait que la question identitaire – c\u2019est de cela qu\u2019il s\u2019agissait <\/em><\/span>– <\/span><\/em>a fait surface. Le Cr\u00e9ole n\u2019\u00e9tait pas reconnu au sein de l\u2019Eglise.<\/span><\/em>\u2019
\n<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/span>And to the follow-up question<\/span>: <\/span>\u2018Ce cap est pass\u00e9 ? <\/span>Les Cr\u00e9oles sont aujourd\u2019hui reconnus au sein de l\u2019\u00e9glise?\u2019 the confident reply is \u2018Oui\u2019. <\/span>This should comfort Darlmah Naeck, as his concern has been obviously addressed since; only, he was not aware of the fact.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>As for <\/span>Eliezer Francois, leader of MAM, he said: \u2018Je me permets de f\u00e9liciter le p\u00e8re Henri Souchon pour son courage de dire publiquement \u2018L\u2019Eglise doit s\u2019occuper des plus pauvres de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, les plus pauvres sont les ti-cr\u00e9oles.\u2019<\/em> C\u2019est justement ce que MAM r\u00e9clame \u00e0 l\u2019Eglise. Tout en disant BRAVO \u00e0 P\u00e8re Souchon MAM insiste pour que les enfants cr\u00e9oles \u00e9tudient surtout l\u2019anglais, le fran\u00e7ais et les math\u00e9matiques\u2026\u2019 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And: \u2018Lors d\u2019un meeting public tenu \u00e0 Cit\u00e9 Barkly, le 27 d\u00e9cembre 1994, apr\u00e8s une absence de dix ans pass\u00e9e en Australie, je (Eliezer Francois) d\u00e9clarai ceci:
\n\u201cL\u2019Eglise nous a toujours appris \u00e0 faire notre Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa. Eh bien! aujourd\u2019hui, je demande \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9glise de faire son Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa, (C\u2019est ma faute, C\u2019est ma faute, C\u2019est ma tr\u00e8s grande faute) pour n\u2019avoir pas aid\u00e9 les enfants d\u00e9favoris\u00e9s de Barkly, Chebel, Mont Roches, Stanley, Camp Levieux et St Patrick. Car, si seulement l\u2019\u00e9glise avait r\u00e9serv\u00e9 10 places, annuellement, dans chacun de ses coll\u00e8ges; La Confiance, Le BPS, St. Marys et Les<\/em> Lorettes de Rose-Hill pour ces enfants d\u00e9favoris\u00e9s, cela aurait fait LA DIFF\u00c9RENCE.\u201d <\/em><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A round of these schools and colleges will show to Darlmah Naeck that his fears are no longer founded, for in these and similar institutions now Creoles are to be found in plenty.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And about self-empowerment, this is what Alain Romaine had to say: <\/span><\/em>\u2018Ce n\u2019est pas aux autres de faire de la place pour les cr\u00e9oles, c\u2019est \u00e0 lui de se faire sa place avec l\u2019immense potentiel qu\u2019il a.\u2019 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To sum up, therefore, the recognition of Creole identity is now a fait accompli <\/em>in the Catholic Church and the country at large, the Creole priests and civil society have taken many pro-active measures which are ongoing to improve the quality of life of Creoles and are running self-empowerment programmes amongst others, the Creoles are making full use of the educational opportunities offered to them by the Catholic institutions and public schools\/colleges. With all this support and encadrement<\/em> the Creoles are making significant progress and are contributing fully to the construction of the Mauritian nation in various spheres of the country\u2019s activities. All that Darlmah Naeck has to do is to take a look at the wide-ranging representatives who have raised their voices to confirm that the Creoles have moved far from what he thinks their situation is. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, this is confirmed by what was visible on Wednesday throughout the island on the occasion of the festival of Assomption. Chic Creoles of all social classes and ages were found to be celebrating the festival, more so as it was a sunny day. There was not a trace of the vehemence of the social media reaction to Darlmah Naeck\u2019s article, which seemed to concern only a handful rather than the multitude of happy Church-going Creoles. The day continued with festivities mostly at home among family and friends. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there are poor families among Creoles, but they are also present among other communities too, according to the survey that has shown that there are 7000 such families. There are government institutions that are assuming their responsibilities in the matter, and the Creoles have the added advantage of having the solid backing of the Catholic Church. This is an example to follow by the equivalent authorities in other communities, in which they are lagging behind the Creoles. Perhaps the next article of Darlmah Naeck should focus on what lessons in solidarity the Creoles and the Catholic Church can give to other Mauritians. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 17 August 2012<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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