BELIEVING IN PEOPLE
Father Henk Schram's new shelter was Our Lady of Good Voyage in Pettah (Colombo). The old church owed its name to its position near the port. In 1949 it had become the headquarters of the Ceylonese Young Chistian Workers movement. A sculpture of the Mother Virgin, holding in her one hand the Small Child Jesus and in her other hand a sailing-ship, reminded of the meaning of the building for seafarers. There also was a chapel. Furthermore there were little rooms for Henk Schram and Marcel Ayrinhac. The nave of the church had been converted into a meetings hall. The adjacent presbytery contained office and lodging rooms and a small hall, where workers from the quarter could eat.
"We are living in an organ loft, in the middle of the weltering masses of people", Schram wrote to his former superior in the Netherlands. "Just below the roof we were not cold", Ayrinhac remarks. - During the whole year Colombo is hot and humid. - Young Christian Workers called the church Cobweb-hall: it was dusty and dirty. As in the neighbourhood rice was being stored, the windows had to be shut all the time. Ayrinhac and Schram cared little for their living and working spot. Women who were unable to bear the look of that, now and then came to clean, or brought proper meals. For the rest the priests ate the meagre rice-and-curries from neighbouring shops. Schram was smoking cheap cigarettes all day and kept drinking tea, which he allowed to get cold and to which he poured new tea or lemonade.
YCW headquarters was between the important Fort railway-station, the bus-station and the port. Pettah, in the heart of the capital city, was a shopping area for those Ceylonese who were not very rich. It was teeming with small shops and tea-houses and market was being held there. According to Schram there was much criminality. Many people were living on trade in opium. There was also a lot of boys' prostitution. People were living close together in slums. So it was a lively quarter. Schram's and Ayrinhac's shelter soon became an open house for those who stood in need of a chat or advice, or who were involved in the movements. Ayrinhac slept in an old church in another quarter (Kotahena) for some time. He received abandoned children there until a visitor from Rome concluded that it was too dangerous for him.
A warm blooded Frenchman and a Dutch listener
Marcel Ayrinhac was a warm-blooded Frenchman from an extensive cartwright's family. In many respects he was the contrary of Henk Schram, with whom he got on very well. Ayrinhac, a giant, knew poverty by experience. His parental family had been in strained circumstances and he had been a prisoner of war in Germany during five years. Père (Father) Marcel above all is genial. He does not give an impression of having been poring over his books exceedingly. He possesses however a strongly developed feeling for righteousness and is open to others. And he is straightforward. He became acquainted With the ideas of the YCW during captivity.
Ayrinhac's temperament made him explode from time to time, but he went through fire and water for others. When, in 1956, two Tamils were being lynched by a crowd, he pulled one of them into the church and barred the door. On some other occasion he visited a brothel. He had heard that a YCW girl was being kept there. She had been misled by an advertisement and was in danger of disappearing abroad. She told Ayrinhac that there were two other girls in the house. He took all three of them along with him...to the indignation of the brothel keeper and the astonishment of Schram, who would not have operated in that way.
Henk Schram's style was more of a listener's. He listened infinitely and attentively and gave everybody a feeling of being important. He told nobody that he had no time because he was in a conversation with a high-ranking person. He showed empathy and made a note after the conversation, so that his partner got a feeling that Schram remembered a lot about him or her. 'Machang', he often called the other, 'brother-in-law'. Ceylonese had familiar adressing forms. They called a person 'brother' or 'aunt', where Dutch would say 'friend' or 'madam'.
Schram was at one's disposal from early in the morning till late at night. It was not beneath contempt for him, to devote his energies to small issues if they were important for another person. He helped people in getting a job. He also gave a teenager the notion that she did not need feel guilty if her friend held her hand.
Ossie Perera, the Nestor of the YCW, learned from Schram to be patient. "He himself was extremely patient", he says. "Father Schram would not let a person think that he was taking too much of his time. His guidance as a confessor and spiritual director was somewhat new. Sometimes people tend to come and repeat the same set of sins. Schram said: 'Let us concentrate on one weakness of your's. You may tell me about any other things that are worrying you, but each time you come you let me know how many times you lost your temper.' That helped considerably."
Struggling with and choosing for celibacy
Henk Schram kept his own short-comings under control fairly well. It is true, in letters and diary-notes he sighs that he must become holier or has to fight against his selfishness, in practice it didn't turn out that badly. A matter Schram struggled with, is celibacy. As a student he fell in love with a girl, with whom he kept being friends for decades and for whom he entertained feelings he experienced for no one else. "Am I not allowed to have one person to be completely one with, who is a support but carries upward?", he noted about her in his diary. "If you were in church every morning, I would meet you there. I love you so. So and even more I must be prepared to deal with Christ, to meet Him really and meet the whole world in Him."
Schram kept choosing for priesthood and adhered to celibacy not only because it was difficult not to do so. A priest had to love everybody and should not be hindered by obligations towards one person or family. Ideal love also had, Schram thought, universal traits. Sin firstly meant selfishness. Matrimony was a school in which men and women could learn to love. Another cardinal virtue Schram propagated, was perseverance. He himself was persevering. He and his girl friend tried to bring each other onto a higher plane, closer to God. They sublimated their love and would have experienced it as bringing down each others if they had indulged sexually. "These days I frequently thought of her", Schram noted on August 5th, 1958. "Sometimes it seemed to me as if the devil wanted to abuse this love of one person for leading me and her away from Christ. Every moment I must try to do God's will and come out stronger."
Schram learnt to handle his feelings. By that he could be in support of others. In 1961 he came to a sister's aid. "There is nothing wrong with you", he wrote her. "It is normal, that off and on you think of the fact that you could have had children and a dear husband. I am sure however that your vocation is the monastery. You are walking on the normal road of people who are conscientious and who are growing towards renewed and greater and deep views of their vocation." Schram made himself familiar with an attitude of prudence which is typical for a Roman Catholic priest: he seldom laid himself open regarding his deepest feelings and would not touch a person easily. He fully concentrated on the other. People who have been friends with him for many years, can not tell much more about his feelings than that he enjoyed small things and kept wondering at the Lord and His creation.
Devotional, clerical and authoritarian Catholicism
The Roman Catholic church of Henk Schram's time above all was devotional, clerical and authoritarian. There was prevailing a tight structure of commanding and obeying among the religious themselves and between them and most lay persons. Salvation primarily was sought for in churchliness and morally correct behaviour. Charity and moral elevation - also of one's fellow-men - had a place in that. Lay persons played a part through organizations like the (sacramental) Legion of Mary and the Vincent de Paul Society (which offered material aid). As a rule, however, they were subordinate to the priest, and the organizations did not lend themselves to debate.
Generally, striving after social-economic reforms was held in little respect among the clergy, if it was appreciated at all. "So far, here in Ceylon, the social doctrine of the Church has not been preached and the ordinary worker does not even know of such things as Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno (papal encyclicals on the workers' issue)", a Young Christian Worker reported to international headquarters in 1953. "We hear from the pulpits sermons denouncing communism almost every Sunday, but the dignity of the worker, his rights and claims are not touched upon. We hear it being preached that it is a sin to steal from the employer, but we do not hear it being preached that it is a sin for the employer to deny the worker his just dues. Nor does the employer give to the worker anything more than what he is bound by letter of law, and a poor law at that." This dominating attitude among the clergy is not astonishing, considering their education and good understanding with the top of society. Ceylon in this respect did not differ considerably from the Netherlands. Among the clergy was prevailing a certain interest, and the material support priests enjoyed from notable laypersons did not invite them to change direction.
Characteristic are events around a bus-magnate. Former Young Christian Workers and Students are still indignant at how this man made burn the houses of poor people who refused to yield their land to him. He enjoyed protection from the police and from politicians. Schram's colleague Lucien Schmitt knows the man. "He did not pay his workers well", he tells, "but he was in good contact with the priests. When he was decorated by the British Empire, he invited many people, among whom fifteen priests, to drink a glass of champagne at his home. Poor people saw us entering there." Schram found it painful, but he nevertheless set foot in the well screened house.
Fear of fading of religion
What may have played a part in Ceylon, is fear of fading of religion. In theory Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam can be clearly distinguished one from the other. Where people are living closely together, however, this does not work, certainly not if people don't lose themselves in theological finesses. Just as Ceylonese Buddhists didn't see any wrong in resorting to a Hindu god and Hindus worshipped the Lord Buddha, Roman Catholics also could borrow right and left. "Ninety percent of the psyche of a Sri Lankan Christian is Buddhist", is the opinion of Basil Fernando, a Sri Lankan human rights watch. "People use basic Christian words, but on a deeper level the beliefs regarding God and soul and so on are still the local beliefs. For most Christians there is no big problem about having many gods. When they have troubles, they go to half Buddhist, half Hindu priests. Blessing is most of the time not to bring good spirits, but to keep the evil spirits away. Evil spirits often mean: from this world. Anybody who has something more than the poor man is afraid that there will be some repercussions because other people may be jealous: they can curse you with the evil eye, evil ear or evil mouth. It has a lot to do with the very profound poverty in the country. Moreover, two-thousand-five-hundred years of psychology can not be erased by three-hundred years of very superficial Christianity."
The attitude of the Roman Catholic hierarchy was: attributing a non-religious meaning to part of the phenomena. A dark spot on a baby's forehead became 'a Tamil custom to ward off infectual diseases, so a cultural custom, a beauty-mark'. A visit to a non-Catholic priest or sorcerer on the other hand, or having a thread tied around one's wrist, was forbidden as being 'superstitious' and could lead to ex-communication. Ex-communications were not rare in the 1950's. They also hit people who hadn't their marriage blessed by a Catholic priest. Ex-communication was lifted after public penance: holding a candle during Sunday-mass. "People were afraid of that", a priest explains, "because the whole church would know that they were sinners." Priests also refused acts which they considered being at variance with Roman Catholic religion, like blessing houses or marriages at a time that had been fixed by an astrologer. Incorporation was another possible reaction. Age-old sceneries of 'pagan' miraculous events got a Catholic tinge. Exorcism belonged to the heritage of the Roman Catholic church since ancient times; foreign missionaries were also involved.
The most difficult and dangerous reef...
How Henk Schram behaved in this respect, is not clear. In part of what he saw - but people hid a lot from a priest - he may have recognized something from his youth. In the Netherlands also what scribes recorded and what was preached from the pulpit was not the same as what common-believers experienced, although all of them used the same words and rituals. It seems, however, that Schram showed some openness. "The most difficult and dangerous reef in a missionary's life is the spirit of criticism", he revealed one and a half years after his arrival in Ceylon. "It closes the minds and undermines the spirit of apostolate. The main requirements are humility - because difficult acts of obeisance are demanded - and an open mind of adapting as much as possible to the country, morals and soul of the population."
Basil Fernando: "The local idea of a priest was that he could perform miracles. 'Miracles' meant very often: simple things people could not explain, like psychological problems. Once a man was frightened after seeing on a board 'Schram, scram!' Schram slapped him and said: 'Don't be afraid, nothing will happen to you!' Dealing with fear and things like that - a person of Schram's temperament, with a lot of empathy, could play that role. He also played the role of counsellor very well, for many people. Being a foreigner, he could act more freely: for example, when a couple who wanted to marry had problems because they belonged to different castes."
'Rerum Novarum' and 'Quadragesimo Anno'
Archbishop Thomas Cooray was conservative in doctrinal matters. In social-economic matters he did not hold clearly fixed opinions. He thought that the Holy Spirit perhaps was working through others in a way he could not understand. Vicar general Gérard Fortin was well-informed of developments in Europe. Just like his archbishop he saw the importance of social action. That gave room to people like Henk Schram, who frequently made use of church documents that had been approved at a high level. His most weighty documents before 1961 were the encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno.
Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) presupposes that differences in skill and vigour lead to inequality in fortune and that this will benefit community. Another presupposition is that every person is obliged to maintain his life. That means that labour is not just merchandise and that private property is a natural right. The distinct classes must co-operate. Workers must do their work properly and may not use violence while defending their interests. Employers must take into account the religious-moral interests of their workers and are not allowed to demand a performance that is too heavy or at variance with age or sex. Above all employers have to reward their employees justly and make the poor share in their abundance. Waste and cupidity should be opposed, while the church founds or supports institutions for the relief of workers' needs. Because the wealth of the states only originates from the efforts of the workers, the government has to see to it that the workers get a dwelling, clothes and subsistence security. Being allowed to organize, is a natural right. The state has to protect this, provided that morals, justice and security are not endangered by that.
Pope Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931) establishes despotic economic domination by a few, who as a rule are managers of capital that has been entrusted to them. This leads to struggle for economic domination itself, for domination of the state, and for domination among the states. The state may not restrict private ownership of goods if the possession of them does not entail too far-reaching preponderance. If public interest demands so, the state may regulate the use of owners' rights. The state also must protect social legal order and further international economic co-operation. Employers and employees have a right to a fair share of the yield. It would be nice, if employees would also get a share in the property, management or profits of an enterprise. The salaries must be sufficient for providing maintenance and suitable comfort for the workers and their families. As a rule the interests of the company, employment of as many workers as possible and other salaries should be taken into account. One of the reasons for that is, that other people must be able to pay higher prices, which may be a result of higher salaries in a company.
How to see God in fellow-men?
Henk Schram and Marcel Ayrinhac helped in spreading social doctrine of the church from the study to society. They put other accents than most other priests: they taught how to see God in fellow-men. Ayrinhac's present-day ideas probably are not exactly those of half a century ago. If they are, he can not have trumpetted them. In his words however resounds how people experienced him and what also can be found in Schram at the time. Father Marcel: "I have not gone to Ceylon in order to convert, but to preach the Gospel. That means: to love one another. Tearing people away from their culture by converting them is terrible. Our dogmas, the architecture of the churches were not those of the country: that's not normal!? It also can not be preached, that Christianity is the only true religion! A Buddhist who loves his neighbour is like a Christian who lives in a Christian way. And as to Hindu polytheism: what do you think of our angels, archangels and saints?"
"Henk Schram showed the other side of religious life", Edna de Silva, a friend of his, remarks. "He used to say: `God will ask you on Judgment Day about what you did when He was hungry. He won't ask you about Sunday mass.' Once, after he had said that there might be more important things than attending holy mass, archbishop Cooray invited him for a talk. `It is dangerous, what you say: the people can't understand that. You must only say what they can fully understand!', Thomas Cooray said. `Then we must take care to that people understand it!', Henk Schram replied." Schram did not mean that attending mass was of little value. He always stressed that religion should not be restricted to church. Believing meant: being a Christian twenty-four hours a day. "Father Schram showed that fighting against evils in society is religion", Joe Ferdinandusz, a former (Young) Christian Worker, testifies. "Penance could be: going for the trade union meeting when you could go for a film. The Treaty, the Incarnation and the Redemption became something living within us, something that is our daily lives. My faith became more and more meaningful, more and more relevant."
Religion as a living conception
Religion was a living conception to Schram. God's Plan is the title of a note - probably for a group meeting - from his hand. It runs as follows:
"God sees the typewriter. I should try to see the typewriter the way God sees it, but I can never see it entirely the way God sees, because of my imperfection. I must always try however to see it more the way God sees it. As a typist in office, my job is to use a certain gadget - called typewriter - to convey certain ideas from one group of people to another group of people, offering a certain service or receiving a certain service, e.g. milkpowder, tea, transport, agricultural instruments etc. which material is needed by certain people (members of society, brothers and sisters in Christ) for their living or well-being. Thus I serve society, which means all members, directly or indirectly, who are members of society. I am a link...I make `one'...I give...Giving [I am] ready to receive! Because society through different channels `pays me back', returns to me `in thanks' the necessary food (money is condensed food, leisure, tea etc.), which I need to maintain myself in order that I may continue serving `society'. God sees the typewriter and its history. The thousands of people, who have made it possible for you to handle this typewriter, at this moment. The care you take to type, expresses your gratefulness to God, those who made it for you to be used and to do service and in return maintain yourself and others depending on you."
Working from the other
Henk Schram worked from the other. The Belgian missionary Michel Dumortier gives an illustration. Dumortier: "I was working in the country. Feudal relationships prevailed there. When a gentleman approached, those of lower rank had to take off headgear, make way and bow, while the gentleman did not even look at them. In the church there were benches only for people of high rank; the others had to be standing, even when the rich were not present. I did not like that. So I made put there benches also for the poor. That was not gratefully accepted. `Be honest', Schram said to me, `yóú wanted those benches. Are you sure, the poor wanted them?' He would not have done what I did."
Schram wanted to have springing as much as possible from the other person. The other one should not get the feeling that not he himself, but Schram had led to a conclusion or behaviour. Vivian Silvaa: "Father Schram helped the young workers to relate the gospel to reality. He never took the worker by his ear and said: `Do this!' He did not take the place of the worker. He went on discussing with the people. Only if a fellow could not come to a conclusion, Schram would help to have a solution. Everyone was however free in drawing his own conclusions." Schram did not try to convince people of fixed ideas he might have had. People were not oxen, which could be put to a cart. The kernel of his creed is enclosed in a slogan which has remained all along with former Christian Worker Britto Motha: "Perseverance, universality, humility, generosity - if you have these four values, you are a truly human person."
"This people is natural”
Right from the start Henk Schram had a high opinion of the Ceylonese and the Oriental. "This people is natural, be it covered with a thin layer of European civilization. The varnish is that thin, that one can look through it easily", he wrote to his former superior in the Netherlands on 14 August 1946, six weeks after his arrival in Ceylon. "This people is natural people - that is also the cause of passionate rebellions and gyrations in the East. There is high running nationalism, as an expression of becoming conscious of [their] own power. However, because it is natural people, it has a more healthy disposition than is the case in Europe for reaching a healthy culture. In Europe a sick culture, which even is no more a culture, has to be cured. Here the healthy nature only needs to develop into a healthy culture."
It was the Ceylonese, who had to make true all of it. Father Siri Oscar Abayaratne, who has been a chaplain of the YCS (Young Christian Students), YCW and CWM (Christian Workers Movement), once showed himself amazed because Schram, who tried to work and live with the workers, had not studied the vernacular thoroughly. "Oscar", was the reaction, "I did try, but I am beginning to think that it is not very important for me: my job is now to help these laypeople to come on their own. They must be able to lead other people. Why should I be the leader? I am a foreigner." Abayaratne: "Schram never wanted to become a public figure. He just wanted quietly to get people to stand on their feet. He wanted everybody to take the initiative. He wanted everybody to be a responsible person. And he wanted everybody to be able to reflect and look back on their own lives and actions. He used to promote a renewal of life, of which initiative, responsibility and reflective thinking were the first phase, irrespective of whether the question was personal or collective action."
Subtle
Henk Schram's way of acting was subtle. A woman who found that her husband invested too much time in social activities, was made interested in a group that was looking after domestic servants... Her involvement made her less critical of her husband's frequent absence and milder towards her servants. Schram's working method also testified to realism. The rich people from the village where Michel Dumortier was the parish priest one day wanted to organize a national lottery for the benefit of the `sports club'. In fact it was only for their tennis-hall. Dumortier was furious and wanted to make public what was wrong in the village. "Don't offer resistance: you won't win", Schram advised him. "You and the YCW better co-operate and ask a share of the profits in return."
Prudent Schram certainly not would show his disagreement with the church hierarchy openly. This would have been mortal. In Ceylonese culture it was improper, to criticize a person clearly. It was even insulting, to do so in private. Who wanted to change one other's mind, had to act cautiously. Schram knew how to choose the right words at the right moment. Towards his superiors he showed himself obedient. He did not encourage (Young) Christian Workers to take an official stand in opposition to the church hierarchy, although statements of the hierarchy sometimes were listened to with a smile.
For Schram everybody belonged to the family of Christians or humanity
For Henk Schram an additional reason for being diplomatic, was that he did not want to repel anybody. Poor and rich, young and old, priest and layperson: according to Schram everybody belonged to the family of Catholics or humanity and was called for working in society. Schram became centre of people who - all of them in their own field - devoted themselves. Schram was unable or unwilling to accept non-Catholics as full-fledged members of the YCS, the YCW or the CWM. Co-operation with non-Catholics however was not excluded by that and was to become an important element in the movements.
Schram had relatively many friends among the well-to-do. Most of them had English as their native tongue. Similarities in culture and interests were another favourable factor. Well-to-do were also the first ones to spend a weekend or holidays with, as it is difficult for poor people to lodge a guest or to afford holidays. Schram can not have felt inward disunity from his friendships. The papal word that the social classes had to co-operate was `written on his body'. In Ceylon for a long time Schram did not want the class-war he saw in Europe. The poor needed the rich, he thought. Friendly physicians, entrepreneurs, lawyers and other highly educated did good service to lower ranking people (Young) Christian Workers stood up for. Even in Marxist oriented trade unions highly educated - so well-to-do - people played a prominent part. It took some time, before people from simple origines could play a leading role in society on a large scale.
"Everyone is a child of God and has an equal right to the Kingdom", Schram stressed. His starting point was that people in principle are good, also if they have made a false step. Sister Cecilia Durt: "Father Schram was having breakfast once in our place. A man came and told him: `Father, I want to have a job.' Schram gave him the address of a placement bureau. Afterwards he told us: `This man just came out of prison. Each time he gets a job, but after some time he gets into trouble. He has a kind of habit of stealing, but still I want to help him, because I think that he is very much alone. He has a lot of wounds in his heart. Maybe one day before dying, he will remember that some people trusted him - that will help him to meet God.' This was a very, very simple way of saying: we are brothers and sisters, whatever are our mistakes."
Street boys
Henk Schram and Marcel Ayrinhac and their (Young) Christian Workers saw too much misery for condemning anyone rashly. In a personal note Schram gives an example. "Father Marcel and me", he writes, "fished boys of about fourteen from the streets who had been deserted by their parents. They allowed themselves to be used as male prostitutes. Would I have become other in their position? René, a Frenchman, one evening entered looking tensed up. A boy who was sitting on the pavement near our door had presented himself for money. Pat, who saw that something was wrong with René, looked at him and said: would you have done better, if you had come into the world like he? You are not better!"
The attitute of both fathers commanded respect. A purse that had been picked from a visitor was taken back within half an hour. Marcel Ayrinhac: "We came on spots where another one did not dare to show himself at that hour. In the alley behind our's there have been committed murders. Nobody ever touched us. The people from the quarter protected us."
"Make headway...slowly!"
The layperson according to Schram had an own task. Joe Ferdinandusz: "Father Schram said: the lay apostolate proper is not doing the work of the hierarchy, is not bringing people to the church and for mass. You must be a living witness in your work place, in your home, in your street, in your political party, in your trade union for Christ. And you must draw others to Christ through your giving-up yourself to help them."
The approach Schram propagated, required patience; everybody had to attain the object. "Patience, my boy, patience, patience!", tempestuous Anton Wilson remembers from Schram's mouth. Wilson: "Even in the YCW I used to say radical things. I wanted to move the rest of the gang with the same speed. Father Schram said: it won't work: each one has his own pace; make headway...slowly!"
© JO SCHOORMANS
aVivian Silva from about 1957 to about 1975 has been active in respectively the Young Christian Students and the (Young) Christian Workers Movement, among others as a fulltimer and as (national) secretary and president. He collects documents regarding those movements, on which he is publishing himself, and is active in the Christian Family Movement.
)The CWM was founded in 1953 because young workers were guided too much by seniors. Another reason was: facilitating the spread of the YCW among Sinhala speaking blue collar workers. `Students' here means `high school pupils'.
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