1

INTRODUCTION

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The British rule in North East India exposed the tribals of the region to

Christianity leading to significant changes in their lives. In the beginning, Christian

missionaries from America and Europe worked hard in the region to offer them the

benefits of education and socio-cultural and economic advancements. Later on when

they were replaced by the missionaries from mainland India, they continued this noble

task of the church. Notwithstanding the unforeseen future and difficulties encountered by

the missionaries, they continued with their humanitarian services that are reflected in all

round development. The people of Nagaland, therefore, owe their indebtedness to the

missionaries for their selfless work. It is well known that though a minority, Catholic

Church in Nagaland, through spiritual welfare, educational services, health care,

promotion of culture, social services, commitment to justice and peace, dialogue, and

developmental activities has influenced positively this small hilly state within a span of

sixty years. She tries to fulfill her commitment to people through various works and

permeates this reality as a duty as expected and demanded of her. Among all services

rendered by the Church it is the educational service that has changed the economic and

social life of the people of the state. Catholic education thus aims not at mere intellectual

formation of the pupils, but as an agent to bring all-round development in their social,

moral and religious life.

The contribution of Christianity to the socio-economic development of the North

East has been immense, although the main purpose of all the three major Christian

denominations namely the Presbyterians, the Baptists and the Catholics, was

evangelization (Passah, 1996). The term ‘evangelization’ in ordinary sense meant

2

‘preaching.’ Hence earlier it was believed that church’s involvement in any socio-

economic activities was considered a shift from the main mission. However, from the

19th century, the church has been actively involved in various socio-economic activities

as she believes that her call to mission is not only for spiritual life but also for the

wellbeing of the whole person. As Desrochers (1982) wrote, “the document ‘Justice in

the World’, considers action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation

of the world as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel” (p. 21). Today

the entry of the Catholic Church, therefore, into various activities ranging from schools,

colleges, hostels for boys, girls, working men and women, dispensaries, mobile clinics,

rural health centres, hospitals, orphanages, crèches, homes for the aged and the destitute,

social welfare and tribal welfare centres, leprosaria, agricultural and technical training

centres, vocational centres, banks, cooperatives, rural developmental centres, etc. are

signs of her commitment to improving the living conditions of the people across the

globe irrespective of religion. Evangelization is, therefore, bringing or conveying good

news into all strata of humanity and forming men and women into new persons who

would be ready and willing to live for and have concern for others. It is based on this

principle and understanding of the term ‘evangelization’ that the Catholic Church in

Nagaland has, in spite of many limitations, ventured into many ministries that would

bring holistic welfare to all.

The study on the ‘Impact of Catholic Church on Naga Society’ is expected to

throw light on three significant areas of interests. In the first place the attempt to study

the beginning and growth of the Catholic Church in relation to the Baptist Church in

Nagaland would enable her to know the people’s response towards her and her place in

the state. Secondly, the establishment of the church and her various humanitarian

services despite strong opposition from different quarters and difficulties encountered by

the Catholic missionaries would help her to examine her role in the overall development

3

of the people and the state. And most importantly an assessment of the contribution the

church has impacted in various fields would enable her to commit herself more

effectively for the common good and welfare of the people in the future.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

It is expected that a review of literature on the Catholic Church in the North East

in general and Nagaland in particular would provide sufficient information on the

purpose, need and activities of the church.

History of the Catholic Missions in North East India by C. Becker is based on

personal and first-hand experience lived through many long years of dedicated

missionary work in Assam, including the Hills which include Nagaland. This book also

mentions about the departure of the German Salvatorian missionaries after the outbreak

of World War I and the subsequent taking over of the mission work by the Jesuits,

followed by the Salesians. Another book by the same author is Early History of the

Catholic Missions in North East India. This book narrates the glorious history of Assam

which includes the political history under the native princes and the British; and various

religious practices of the people and the initiative taken by the Catholic missionaries to

venture into the North East. These two books are actually the first books on the Catholic

Church in North East India and so they are a valuable source.

The Catholic Church in North-East India, 1890-1990, edited by S. Karotemprel

is a comprehensive study on the Catholic Church in North East India. It gives an account

of the beginning and establishment of the church and the role she has played in the

overall development of the region especially in the religious, political cultural,

educational, medical and humanitarian fields. It is a collection of articles contributed by

eminent personalities of the North East who have been associated with it for a number of

years and hence the observation and suggestions are significant. The article ‘A Historical

4

Survey of the Catholic Church in North East India from 1627 to 1969’ by Kottuppallil

George gives a bird’s eye view of the origin of the church in this part of India.

Puthenpurakal, Joseph through his article ‘Evangelization among the Nagaland Tribes’

throws light on the beginning of Christianity among the Nagas and the works of the

Catholic Church among them. The writings of many others in the book provide ample

information on the topic ‘Impact of Catholic Church on Naga Society’.

Another important book on the Catholic Church in North East India is Impact of

Christianity on North East India edited by J. Puthenpurakal. It is also a collection of

articles mostly written by scholars of the North East itself. The writers, belonging to

different walks of life, address very objectively a wide range of works of the Catholic

Church in the region and make many valuable suggestions as well. The book has been

divided into various sections like theology, history and socio-cultural aspects,

development, case studies etc to have an overall view of the church. Since it discusses

wide range of issues pertaining to the contributions of the Catholic Church the researcher

has access to many of the information provided there particularly on the social impact of

the church.

Fredrick S. Downs, a historian and a prolific writer on North East Church History

in his book Christianity in North East India throws sufficient light on various ways the

tribes of the North East mainly the Khasis, Garos, Nagas, Mizos, and a small section of

Assamese became Christians. What is significant in this book is the role played by the

British in the Christianization of the North East. He spells out very objectively in the

book activities of different denominations and how they have contributed to the

betterment of the people irrespective of their religious affiliation.

A significant account of information about the British and the Nagas is given by

Neivetso Venuh in his book British Colonization and Restructuring of Naga Polity. He

mentions that the Nagas were a people with their special socio-cultural and political

5

history prior to the occupation by the British. This book gives an account of the state and

the people in brief followed by the pre-colonial polity and the British occupation of the

Naga Hills. With the occupation, there undergoes a change in the socio, political,

economic and religious life of the people followed by the rise of nationalism.

Through her book The Nagas: A Missionary Challenge, Angeline Lotsüro,

exposes the origin of Christianity among the Nagas with a brief explanation on the

Nagas’ origin, social, political, economic and religious life prior to their acceptance of

Christianity. Christianity is very much still peripheral for the Nagas that is very much

visible in their life, she has mentioned. Therefore, it is a great challenge for the

missionaries to present the teachings of Christianity to bear fruit in their life.

An authority on the beginning of Baptist Christianity in Nagaland is Joseph

Puthenpurakal. Baptist Missions in Nagaland authored by him is a sum total of how the

Baptist missionaries entered into a different world of culture of the Nagas to propagate

the teachings of Christianity and the struggles and the success stories they faced and

enjoyed. This book also deals with the contributions Christianity has brought in the field

of education, medical service, literature, music and songs to enrich the lives of the Nagas

and finally enabled them to give up their war-like nature. Since it is a thoroughly

researched book on the beginning of Christianity and works of the American Baptist

missionaries, it provides valuable information to the research topic.

Bendangyabang, Ao in his book History of Christianity in Nagaland: the Ao

Naga Tribal Christian Mission Enterprise 1872-1972 deals with the beginning of Baptist

Christianity in Nagaland particularly among the Ao tribe by the foreign missionaries

followed by their service to other tribes. It is descriptive in nature. The Ao missionaries

contributed a great deal in religious and educational life of other tribes as well. His other

book titled ‘History of Christianity in Nagaland: A Source Material, is a researched

book. This book narrates the mission works of the pioneer foreign missionaries in the

6

Naga Hills and also shares their views, experiences and impression about their work in

the hills.

The first book on the Catholic Church in Nagaland, A Brief History of the

Catholic Church in Nagaland, is written by David Syiemlieh, an academician and writer

who had written a number of books and articles mainly on North East India. This book

spells out the origin and history of the Catholic Church in Nagaland for about thirty five

years of its existence beginning from the year 1950. A short background of the Nagas is

given in nutshell in the beginning part of the book, followed by the starting of Catholic

mission among the Angami and Lotha tribes almost same time and then to other tribes in

the state. Since it is the first work of its kind in giving information about the Catholic

Church in Nagaland it is indeed a source book for the readers.

The first two Catholic communities established in Nagaland are among the

Angami and Lotha tribes. Thomas Vattoth through his A Star Over Tenyimia highlights

the beginning of the Catholic mission among the Angami tribe with whom the church

first began her association. The book deals with the activities of the Catholic Church in

Kohima and surrounding areas for about fifteen years starting from 1949 to 1963. The

church began her contact officially with the Nagas, from Shillong the then head quarter

of the church in the North East, after the Second World War. The works of Fr.

Marocchino who alone struggled hard to establish the church in Kohima and

neighbouring Angami villages are given due importance in the book.

In the person of Hokishe Sema one finds a prolific thinker, writer, and social

worker. His book Emergence of Nagaland gives a summary of the life of the Nagas from

their ancestry to till the acceptance of Christianity in a simple language, acceptable to all

readers. Another Naga versatile writer is Visier Sanyu who in his book A History of

Nagas and Nagaland gives in detail the early life of the Nagas and the social and

political institutions of the Nagas. Historical presentation of events and stories of the

7

Nagas’ origin, ancestry and early life is presented to us by M. Alemchiba in his book, A

Brief Historical Account of Nagaland. Other prominent writers of Naga history are J. H.

Hutton and J. P. Mills who have written on the major tribes of Nagaland in a descriptive

manner.

The review of literature dealt with matter directly relating to the topic, ‘The

Impact of Catholic Church on Naga Society’.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

The evangelization works in Nagaland by the Catholic Church is integrally linked

with an overall effort to be a new way of being the church. The American Baptists in

particular and few other denominations in the state do share among themselves a glorious

history of evangelization of the state over the past 140 years. Baptist Church’s history,

work and presence have had great consequences on the beginning and growth of the

Catholic Church in the state as the latter had to face hostility and intimidation from the

former very often. On the other hand many Naga people also expressed their desire in

clear terms to have the Catholic Church planted into this soil to bring about all round

progress as the state was lagging behind in all forms of development. In her efforts to be

a contributing church in terms of effecting overall development and well being of all

people in spiritual, educational, cultural, economic, and social life, she plans and

coordinates all her activities towards that end. Notwithstanding opposition and struggles

she has to face, she invests all her available resources like time, money and human

resources to benefit majority poor people especially in rural areas. In terms of

effectiveness, quality service and dedication the motive of the Catholic Church is

indisputable during the past sixty years. This study intends to examine and evaluate the

efforts of the church, to know whether the church has responded positively to the

demands of the people for which the church has been founded. The church knows she

has still many more miles to travel to reach out to more people to offer her services. It is,

8

therefore, a matter of importance that the research should evaluate the works of the

church so far, for the better future to let the people enjoy the advantages of her services.

HYPOTHESIS

The earliest Christian contact with the North East goes back to more than three

centuries. The Catholic mission was the first of the foreign Christian missions to the

North East, followed by the Baptist missions. However, the latter was the first to get in

touch with the people of Nagaland and begin the work in 1871. It was after a period of

seven decades that the Catholic Church could enter this land and begin her works. With

this background, the following hypotheses are proposed for analysis in the study. Firstly,

in spite of this long gap, the Catholic mission could reach out to all the tribes within a

short period of time. Secondly, the society felt the impact of her activities in the religious

and cultural, social, educational, political and economic fields.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The present study attempts to examine how the Catholic Church began in

Nagaland from the background of the Baptist Church, as the entry of the former was

much at a later period than the latter in the state. It tries to assess the vision and mission

of the pioneer missionaries in establishing the church at different parts of the state in the

midst of opposition and in the absence of even minimum facilities. It aims to discover

the growth, expansion and various developments of the church with the sole intention of

reaching out to maximum number of people in the state so as to render the benefit of the

services like education, medical and social services. The study also intends to know the

reason for the many misconceptions people had of the church and the wide spread

propaganda against the Catholics from beginning till date. Some of the hindrances to the

growth of the church like language, political barriers, cultural differences, lack of

personnel, ignorance, superstition etc are expected to be given consideration in the study.

9

To assess various agencies that helped towards the consolidation of the Church in

due course of time is another objective of this study. Most importantly, this study aims at

an introspection into the contributions the church has made on the society at large

through her religious and cultural, educational, social, political and economic services

and to know whether she plays as an agent of change in the Naga society and a major

player for the growth and development of the present and future generations and the

state. Lastly the research suggests concrete plans to bring in fresh dimension to the works

of the church to reach out to people in order to offer them maximum wellbeing.

METHODOLOGY

Based on the hypotheses and objectives, the use of historical, quantitative and

qualitative methods are justified in the study. The tools for collection of data have been

the primary sources which include interview, oral tradition and questionnaire; and the

secondary sources. In the first place the data collected from various sources connected

with the socio-cultural events, situations leading to the beginning, growth and impact of

the Catholic Church on Naga society is compared and analyzed and on the basis of these

findings conclusion has been drawn. The two methods primarily chosen for the

collection of data were the questionnaire schedule and interview schedule. The first

method was primarily based on the collection of quantitative data while the second

qualitative. Hence the study is basically dependent on both quantitative and qualitative

data. The quantitative tool is essential to test the hypotheses as it largely depends on its

findings. The qualitative data specifies clearly each instance and therefore, both data

reinforce each other in the study.

SAMPLE SELECTION FOR QUESTIONNAIRE SCHEDULE AND FIELD WORK

Based on the total population and number of Catholics and institutions in a given

place the whole state is covered in the collection of data. An added reason for the

selection of the whole state is because of the presence of the Catholic Church in all the

10

districts of the state. Given below is the total number of respondents according to district

wise: Kohima 50, Dimapur 50, Wokha 30, Phek 30, Kiphire 25, Peren 25, Tuensang 20,

Mon 15, Zunheboto 15, Longleng 10, and Mokokchung 10.

Respondents belonging to different walks of life have been selected for the

questionnaire to get the correct data to test the hypotheses. Also people belonging to four

different age groups with six categories of educational background were taken into

account. From eachdistrict people residing in the towns but many hailing from the

villages were selected to form the sample for the study. The respondents included

teachers, pastors, village elders, public leaders, government employees, educated

unemployed etc who were briefed about the subject matter personally and had the

questionnaire given out to respond. Besides that most of them were also interviewed to

get the precise data. The reason for the choice of respondents lay in the fact that they are

very often the decision makers in their own place and play a great role in the life of the

people there. One notable feature is that most of the selected respondents belong to

Baptist Christianity so as to avoid any favouritism and to obtain objective view of the

subject matter. More than 80% of the respondents belong to youth. Table 0.1 shows the

age group of the respondents.

Table 0.1

Age of the Respondents

AgeDistribution of Respondents

Frequency Percentage15-30 175 62.531-45 82 29.346-60 18 6.4

Above 60 5 1.8Total 280 100.0

Most of the respondents have been selected from the educated category in order

to get balanced response as uneducated can be biased towards a group. So in this

11

questionnaire the data provided by them is given the weightage. A clear picture of the

educational background of the respondents is shown in Table 0.2

Table 0.2

Educational Qualification of the Respondents

EducationDistribution of Respondents

Frequency PercentagePost Graduate 43 15.4

Graduate 141 50.4Post Matric 70 25.0Matriculate 14 5.0

Others 7 2.5Under Matriculate 5 1.7

Total 280 100.0

Among the respondents the researcher tries to give equal representation to people

belonging to both urban and rural areas of the state and so 53.2% and 46.8% of the

respondents are from urban and rural areas respectively. Presentation of the respondents’

home setting is given in Table 0.3.

Table 0.3

Home setting of the Respondents

Homesetting

Distribution of Respondents

Frequency PercentageRural 149 53.2Urban 131 46.8Total 280 100.0

The field work for the questionnaire schedule began on 5 March 2012 and ended

on 30 August 2012. They were collected back from the concerned people by the

researcher personally. For the analysis of the questionnaire the data is classified and

tabulated through SPSS system.

SAMPLE SELECTION FOR INTERVIEW SCHEDULE AND FIELD WORK

Besides the questionnaire schedule the researcher has interviewed nearly one

hundred people from a cross-section of people in order to get deep into the matter that

12

would reinforce each other in study. While the questionnaire mainly dealt with the

external manifestation of one’s conviction, the interview provides the internal conviction

of the interviewee on a particular topic. Interview enables the interviewee to go beyond

what is presumed on a specific issue to dig out the ‘why’ of things. The interviewees

included religious leaders both men and women, political leaders, church elders, village

elders, student leaders, etc belonging to different denominations and hailing from all the

districts of the state. Nearly 60 % of them were from the remote areas keeping in mind

the topic of the research. The selection of the interviewees was based on their

educational qualification and leadership abilities. Hence all the interviewees of this study

fall under these said categories as they were expected to give their objective and

unbiased views.

The interview schedule began on 30 December 2006 and continued till 6 October

2012; of course intermittently. Before the scheduled interview they were formally

informed of the purpose of the study. The interviews were loosely structured and quite

informal on the topic to let the flow of conversation continue without interruption; but

they were guided in nature.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTERS

As mentioned, the purpose of this study is to know the way the church got

established in the midst of Baptist Christianity that opposed throughout, and to analyze

the contributions the church has made from its inception till date. In order to place the

study in the true context the first chapter deals with ‘Land and Peoples.’ In this, the

topography of Nagaland, different races in India, origin and migration of the Nagas, the

meaning of the term ‘Naga,’ settlement of the Nagas and social, political, economic, and

religious life of the Nagas have been explained. The second chapter ‘Beginning of

Catholic Church in Relation to Baptist Church’ begins with Christianity in North East

India. It is followed by the British policy in the North East and the beginning of Catholic

13

mission in the North East. A short description of the beginning of Baptist mission in

Nagaland to place the beginning of Catholic mission in Nagaland is explained next. The

arrival of the fist Catholic missionaries and the starting of Catholic mission among the

Angami tribe in Kohima are briefed in the following pages. Simultaneously there was a

move among the Lotha tribe in Lakhuti under Wokha district to become Catholics, is

given concise explanation. The spread and growth of the Catholic Church is explained in

the third chapter under the title, ‘Growth of the Church.’ In this chapter the expansion of

the church to other parts of state and her various activities are given explanation. The

fourth chapter, ‘The Impact-Social, Political, Economic, Religious and Cultural and

Educational’ is actually the central part of the study. The contributions of the Catholic

Church in all the fields from the beginning till date with the support of primary sources

which include interviews and questionnaire, and the secondary sources have been

explained. The study concludes with the summary of what have been explained in the

previous chapters under the title ‘Conclusion.’ Findings of the study are a self-discovery

to move forward with firm resolution to serve the people of the state with renewed

enthusiasm and commitment. It is to learn from history to create history by joining hands

together with all denominations to build up a beautiful state of prosperity, development

and peace by applying the principle of synergy. The positive contribution the church has

made so far and looking forward to the contributions she will have made in the future she

is hopeful of rendering a better service from now. In the words of Bishop Robert

Kerketta (1998), “we cannot foretell the future,…we would want the church to be a

vibrant church bringing peace, harmony and prosperity, both spiritual and temporal, to

all people without any distinction of caste, creed and language, rendering glory to God

and service to mankind (p. 280).