The Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church has called for finding solutions to the problems faced by families and the larger society by taking into consideration the perspectives of the laity.

It was observed that the progress made by lay people has significantly influenced the multifarious activities of the church. Priests and church officials should try to understand the sentiments of the laity regarding issues such as unemployment, housing, diseases, alcoholism, consumption of addictive substances and frictions in families. The church attached critical importance to renewal of families. The priests and the church officials should constantly communicate with the laity for the comprehensive understanding of problems faced by families and society which called for novel solutions, reported the Hindu.

The Synod took pride in social activities undertaken by the laity such as the running of old-age homes, orphanages, and institutions for mentally challenged children and distribution of food in hospitals. The Synod held at Kakkanad Mount St Thomas concluded.

A government-funded institute for tribal advance-ment in the eastern Indian State of Odisha has become the nation’s first tribal university, however Christian leaders have expressed doubts as to how much it will achieve. The central criticism is that the focus will continue to be on teaching the Hindu religion and culture rather than on preserving tribal traditions. The Federal Ministry of Human Resource Development on August 25 awarded “deemed university” status to the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, a facility for indigenous children from kindergarten to postgraduate level.

The institute, based in Odisha’s capital, Bhubaneswar, was established in 1992. It offers residential education to some 25,000 “poorest of the poor” indigenous children and plans to educate some 200,000 children in the next decade, its website states. Among those who believe the new status will not help tribal people is Father Nicholas Barla, Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India Commission for Tribal Affairs. He says in the past 25 years of existence the institute had “done more harm that good.”

Heads of more than 40 minority schools in the national capital met on September 2 to seek ways to remain alert to attempts to erode constitutional freedoms and protections provided to such institutions.

They belonged to the Forum for Minority Schools in Delhi and Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), brought them together. The meeting at the CBCI Centre “was a step towards creating a joint platform for exchange of ideas and concerns relating to minority education institutions,” says a press release issued by Bishop Mascarenhas, who is also the conference’s spokesperson.

The meeting, the prelate noted, came as these institutions have gone to the court challenging orders of the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education regarding refund of fees. The minority schools also face statements and policy matters regulating admission and staff administration and other concerns. These moves affect the constitutional freedoms and protections provided to such institutions, it added.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) is to soon release a set of guidelines to prevent and deal with sexual harassment, esp-ecially of women, in Church-run institutions. The document titled “CBCI Guidelines to Deal with Sexual Harassment at Workplace” will be released on Sept 14 at a press conference at the CBCI Centre in New Delhi.

“The Church, while wanting to ensure the protection and respect for women at workplace and without in any way under-estimating the seriousness of sexual harassment of women at workplace, wants to address all forms of sexual harassment at work place,” said the Council for Women of the CBCI, in a statement on Sept 11. The statement signed by council chairperson, Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas of Gurgaon and secretary, Sr Talisha Nadu-kudiyil SD, explained that document will be “gender in-clusive and has been formula-ted to create a safe, healthy and loving environment that enables its employees to work without the fear of prejudice, bias and sexual harassment and creates a mechanism for pre-vention of any form of harass-ment.”

An acute lack of space has forced Christian ceme-teries in New Delhi to reuse graves after five years, with a Catholic priest advocating that Christians opt for crema-tion. The Indian Christian Cemetery Committee that manages two cemeteries for various Christian deno-minations in New Delhi, announced that from Sept. 1 burial plots to families of the deceased will be given only for five years.

Reverend Samson R. Nath, the committee chairman said this was because “very soon we will have no space to bury our dead.”

He said requests to the Delhi government for more land for use as cemeteries have not been successful.

“Asking people to opt for cremation will be the last resort when we will have no other choice. It is a very sensitive issue,” said Reve-rend Nath, a Methodist. The lack of space for Christian and Muslim graveyards has been a growing concern in Delhi and other Indian cities, the Delhi high court in July observed. As the population increased, the death rate also increased but cemetery land remained the same.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision on September 3 to induct former bureaucrat K.J. Alphons into his council of ministers has left the BJP’s long-standing leaders out in the cold. Not surprisingly, the state head office of the Bharatiya Janata Party here looked deserted when Alphons took oath even though Kerala was getting its first representation in the three-year-old Modi government.

But there was celebration in Alphons’ hometown Manimala in Kottayam district.

Newly inducted Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing what a good Christian is supposed to do. Addressing a public rece-ption on Sept 10 at Muvattupuzha near Kochi, the Minister of State for Tourism said, “People ask why I, a Christian, joined BJP. My answer to them is that Modi is doing what a good Christian is supposed to do. I would do whatever possible to realise the PM’s dream of creating a new India where all Indians can live with dignity.”