lay dominican, I have seen some pretty good evidence that the “Thomist” Church existed in India centuries before the Portugese arrived into Goa in 1510. I believe that some of the unique Indianess of the Thomist Church there (which, who knows, may have been founded in 2nd century) was wiped away when the Portugese superimposed their Church over the old one. As for repression of the locals, I guess it was the same as the Spanish in South America at the same time.
On today’s India, however, I may be wrong… something else may be at work. Mother Teresa set up tremendous missionary work in India helping the “dalits”, the untouchables in India, who by virtue of their lowest caste are very much discriminated against in some of the most humiliating ways in Hindu society. The Buddha, I believe, actually broke from Hinduism partly because of Hinduism’s deeply entrenched caste system. There may be some real fear among Hindu Nationalists that Christianity’s message of “no slave or master” and equality in the sight of God frightens certain entrenched elements in Indian society. I’ve heard years ago expressed the hope that one day there will be a mass conversion of the dalits to Christianity. However, even when Christianity in certain places succeeds, it finds itself still banging against the wall of the caste system.
As for Catholic missionary work into Asia, sometimes with reason, Christianity has been interpreted as “foreign”, “colonizing”, and meddling. Don’t no if this helps. God Bless.
