~ A. Maria Arul Raja, SJ (Vidyajyoti College's Arul Kadal Centre--Chennai, India) Daniel Pilario, CM (St. Vincent School of Theology, Adamson University--Manila, Philippines) Rev. Pilario's part of this World Catholicism Week 2012 session aims to see the Eucharist from the perspectives of many social locations in the Global South where hunger, suffering, and poverty are part of the everyday landscape. It tries to evaluate the recent Vatican direction and contemporary theological reflections on Eucharistic theology vis-à-vis this stark reality of our times. If there are millions in the world today who live on less than $1 a day, how does this impact our Eucharistic celebrations? In his part of the session, Fr. Arul Raja addresses the South Asian socio-cultural location which, under the grip of the centuries-old culture of exclusion and casteism, has reduced over 250 million to "untouchables" (i.e., the Dalits). But the Eucharist necessitates the ongoing promotion of the culture of community-building towards communion. How can those committed to the Eucharistic Lord seek to break the caste-minded culture of exclusion and sustain the communion-minded culture of egalitarianism?
