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Journalism of Courage
In the last few years, whenever there has been any protest against a work of art on behalf of the Catholic community, Joseph Dias, 50, has always been at the forefront — be it the call to ban Ekta Kapoor’s production Kya Super Kool Hain Hum for “caricatured portrayal of a Catholic priest”, the protest against the film Da Vinci Code and later Angels and Demons, or more recently, Kaizaad Kotwal’s play Agnes of God.
The founder and general secretary of Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), Dias’s profile on the organisation’s webpage calls him a “Christian activist for the last 25 years”. While the name of his organisation may come across as contradictory, Dias says it was formed to take up cudgels on behalf of the minority community. “We are often misrepresented, ridiculed, stereotyped,” says Dias, who launched the CSF a few years ago.
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Mostly referred to as ‘Bro Joe’, Dias, a former freelance journalist, was also the founder of a charity organisation called The Cross in the late ‘90s. The organisation was dissolved after allegations of financial misappropriation. The CSF is currently fighting similar allegations.
When asked about these charges, Dias replies that they have no bearing with his current fight against Agnes of God, a play that is accused of “misrepresenting the religious belief of the Christian community”.
In the press statement issued by Cardinal Oswald Gracious, dated September 29, the church seems to have distanced itself from Dias’s call for a ban, although it said it had “serious reservations” regarding the play. “The Catholic Church upholds a broadminded openness towards literature and art, and does not clamour for bans on literary and artistic works,” said the statement.
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