Inculturation and Liturgical Adaptation in the Catholic Church: The Case of Arati

This paper examines the complex question of inculturation in the Catholic liturgy in India, focusing on the ritual of Arati as a case study. Drawing from the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), subsequent magisterial documents such as Varietates legitimae (1994), the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001), the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and episcopal directives in India (including the “Twelve Points of Adaptation,” 1969, and the CCBI directives of 2016), the study situates Arati within the broader theology and practice of liturgical inculturation. While proponents such as D. S. Amalorpavadass and the NBCLC argued that Arati could be authentically Christianized as a gesture of offering homage to Christ, critics highlight the risks of syncretism, liturgical redundancy, and semiotic ambiguity. The historical reception of Arati reveals both pastoral enthusiasm and persistent controversy, underscoring the importance of episcopal oversight and theological clarity. The analysis concludes that Arati can serve as a meaningful symbol of Indian Catholic identity if reinterpreted Christologically, carefully integrated into the liturgy, and explicitly distinguished from non-Christian ritual. This case illustrates the wider dynamics of inculturation in the Catholic Church: the creative embodiment of faith in local cultures balanced with fidelity to the unity of the Roman Rite.