US never tires of coming up with new jobs to outsource. India as faithfully as ever, never runs out of the human resources to provide the needed outsourcing service to the Americans (Read more on Food Outsourcing , Protest Outsourcing, India-Backoffice of the World). A symbiotic relationship, may I say?
So what's new on the outsourcing radar? Christian Prayer Outsourcing.
With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the US, priests in India are now picking up some of the work of saying special-purpose Mass for North American churches. The New York Times reports, "With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the United States, Indian priests are picking up some of their work, saying Mass for special intentions, in a sacred if unusual version of outsourcing".
Kerala with its high concentration of Catholic Christians receives the bulk of this work load. Requests arrive via e-mail or snail-mail. Majority of the requests for the masses arrive via the Vatican, the bishops and religious bodies to selected churches in Kerala. Additional service requests also come from Canada and Europe for conducting functions to remember deceased ones and conduct thanksgiving ceremonies.
"A prayer request from America costs about 5 dollars which makes for good supplemental income for the local priest", says the Times.
Well the latest in the trend is the sophistication that is coming to the whole job. Special ICT (Information and Communication Technology) aided offices have started sprouting in Mumbai and other major Indian cities that offer instant prayers to individuals from America and Europe. All one has to do is call and request a prayer in the name of the individual and the call center guy from India will lead them through a prayer process and seek blessings from the Almighty, all over the phone. Must be easy money, you must be wondering. Well, I too thought so until I came across this piece as reported by Larknews. It describes a call centre guy who ended up being thrown on the street after he goofed up (Quite Funny what he said) while seeking blessings for the mother of a lady who had called up from America. Tough luck, I must say.
Well, gone are the days when you were speculating what the next big wave in outsourcing would be. Given the trend, you just have to look at the morning newspaper to see what the Americans have decided to outsource next.
So what's new on the outsourcing radar? Christian Prayer Outsourcing.
With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the US, priests in India are now picking up some of the work of saying special-purpose Mass for North American churches. The New York Times reports, "With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the United States, Indian priests are picking up some of their work, saying Mass for special intentions, in a sacred if unusual version of outsourcing".
Kerala with its high concentration of Catholic Christians receives the bulk of this work load. Requests arrive via e-mail or snail-mail. Majority of the requests for the masses arrive via the Vatican, the bishops and religious bodies to selected churches in Kerala. Additional service requests also come from Canada and Europe for conducting functions to remember deceased ones and conduct thanksgiving ceremonies.
"A prayer request from America costs about 5 dollars which makes for good supplemental income for the local priest", says the Times.
Well the latest in the trend is the sophistication that is coming to the whole job. Special ICT (Information and Communication Technology) aided offices have started sprouting in Mumbai and other major Indian cities that offer instant prayers to individuals from America and Europe. All one has to do is call and request a prayer in the name of the individual and the call center guy from India will lead them through a prayer process and seek blessings from the Almighty, all over the phone. Must be easy money, you must be wondering. Well, I too thought so until I came across this piece as reported by Larknews. It describes a call centre guy who ended up being thrown on the street after he goofed up (Quite Funny what he said) while seeking blessings for the mother of a lady who had called up from America. Tough luck, I must say.
Well, gone are the days when you were speculating what the next big wave in outsourcing would be. Given the trend, you just have to look at the morning newspaper to see what the Americans have decided to outsource next.
Comments