How many catholic leaders an businessmen we have heard of … any guesses??
Well I really don’t remember or any Catholic leaders at national level but only one businessman I have heard of in Catholic community Mr. Glen Saldanha of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals one of the top ten pharma companies in India. So this is our representation in a country of a billion.
Are we lacking in entrepreneurship, leadership capabilities ? this is the question we need to ask to ourselves. We need to to do personal assessment and plan what we can do to prove ourselves. We don’t have anybody in administrative services, ministry (state or central), police forces (Mr. Ronnie Mendonca ex ACP Mumbai Crime Branch has retired).
We need to identify our potential and work towards achieving our dreams. We have a long way to go in a very short time.
Catholic Youth Bridge 
Hi,
We here at “Tyler’s Ride” are attempting to empower today’s youth by showing them a young man who is learning to live a Catholic life.
Please check it out and let us know what you think
The reason I am posting about Tyler’s Ride in an article on Catholic leaders and business is because, to our surprise, the father has really struck a chord with many viewers. I think this may be in part because there are not currently a lot of outlets out there for fathers to express the difficulties inherent in creating financial security for their family while still being present enough to be the kind of role model that is needed to pass on a strong foundation of values.
In this clip the Tyler’s father makes a blog in which he tries to understand the lack of connection he has with his family.
Let us know what you think. We’d love to receive your feedback.
Thanks
@Mark,
We’ll get back to you shortly. Thank you for your comments
Hey. You are correct. But to whom we can blame. Only we catholic parents are responsible for this situation. We are starving for the education of job oriented and we target a particular stream at a mass.
In my opinion, professional achievement is not a function of any religion but of acumen and capability .Having said this, is it that Catholic population in India lack the abilities to make it big? I don’t think so. Perhaps we need to examine some issues which are crucial to this argument.
1. Demographics – A good percentage of the Christian population live in Urban areas. This gives them access to employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
2. Education – From the last census in 2001, Christians are one of the most educated in the country (after Jains I believe)
SO WHAT IS IT THAT WE ARE MISSING? UNDOUBTEDLY ITS SOCIAL CONDITIONING………
I have no factual basis to support this argument but it comes from experience so far. In my opinion our social conditioning is very biased to risk takers. Our community as such is very risk averse, but so is true for the entire Indian population at large, but more so with Christians. We are very comfortable with the salaried jobs we have. Parent dream of their children having well paying jobs and being well settled abroad and they communicate this to their children as being synonymous with success. I think if we run a poll among Christians, we will find entrepreneurship or administrative services as perhaps the least preferred career option.
I also feel that our representation in the administrative services is also abysmally low from an ‘absolute’ perspective (i.e. number of Christians vs other faiths) but from a ‘relative’ perspective (i.e. representation of Christians in relation to its population) we might be putting up a decent show.
There is no one i know (Christian for the sake of this argument) who dreams to serve in the Indian Administrative or Police Services. ‘Why’ you may ask? I wouldn’t say its entirely because of monetary benefits elsewhere, after all its not as if all employed Christians earn more than what the pay scales are in IAS or IPS or other central services. I think its because many of us have a sense of disconnect with Indian Central services and many more never really consider this a platform to launch or make a career, leave alone the agenda to make a difference in society.
The situation is also not very encouraging when you see the number of people choosing to start their own business. Although we do have good number of people who have their own business, the question is do they have what it takes to make it big? Can we have someone to erect a Reliance or Tata from the Catholic community, I think absolutely yes! But I would not like to attribute religion to this because as i said at the start, professional achievement is not a function of any religion but of acumen and capability. Perhaps we need to check if our folks in the community have the necessary resources to make it big.
The crux of the matter is, it does not matter what religion we belong to, what does matter is the dreams we chase. If you ask what should change for the sake of change? I would say the following.
1. Education – Educating the youth about the opportunities available to them to make a difference. Broadening their approach to “career” and aligning what they can do with what they want to do. There are many who are stuck with a career they never liked, many more want to do something different, many want to make a difference but are clueless on how to go about it. Parents too need to be educated so that they can help their children make informed decision as far as career goes. I had a parent come up to me few months back who needed some advice on career options available in finance for her young boy and at the end she insisted that her son take up Banking as a career option. To my surprise, the only compelling reason for it was because she felt the bank loans were on the rise and that meant more jobs! I think its very good to have parents play a role in career decisions of their children but it is ‘criminal’ to enforce something on their children especially so when parents are uterly naive or under the influence of highly misplaced ideas or through sheer ignorance of the current context of a profession. If this continues we loose as a society!
Much of it has to do with options. The point is, if only they are aware of options will they choose the right one. Education or more appropriately enlightment in this respect must be supported and strengthened now!
2. Motivation – It takes a great deal of courage to venture into the unknown. Administrative Services & Entrepreneurship are the present ‘unknowns’ to our youth. One needs to be motivated enough and have assurance of a support system (family, friends etc) that will be with them. This is where parent have to play a major role. Parents need to free their wards of any pressure which are impediments to their dreams.
In my opinion, we will see change when….
– Young ordinary people much of the likes of you and me pursue something that they always wanted to or desire to pursue – be it a social cause, chase a dream to start a venture, excel in their profession, make a difference through service in the political or administrative space or anything else and does so through a proper alignment of skills, passion, desire and needs.
Dear Ms. Miranda,
I was just browsing and saw your post today. It was interesting to read your post.