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Education still main focus for Sri Lankan archbishop

The now retired Archbishop Oswald Gomis of Colombo faced huge challenges during the takeover of Sri Lanka’s Catholic-run schools by the state in the 1960s. The government policy was “certainly not a good thing” and was intended to hit Catholics, said the 85-year-old archbishop, who was honoured by President Maithripala Sirisena for his outstanding religious […]

Kerala’s Christian community is pride of India: President Kovind

President Ram Nath Kovind on August 9 lavished praise on the Christian community in Kerala, saying it was a symbol of India’s non-negotiable commit-ment to diversity and pluralism. Inaugurating the centenary celebrations of St Thomas College, Kovind said the community’s heritage and history was a matter of “immense pride” for the country. “The Christian community […]

Indian state ‘treats Christians as terrorists’

All nine Catholic bishops of India’s north-eastern Jharkhand State have sought federal intervention to stop Christians being treated like terrorists as part of alleged state government harassment. The bishops told governor Draupadi Murmu, who is the representative of the Indian president, that the state government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had used […]

Ethnic Khasia Christians fight to keep land in Bangladesh

After nearly a decade resisting eviction from ancestral land, ethnic Khasia Christians in Bangladesh are still uncertain whether the land they have lived on for generations will become their own. About 700 ethnic Khasia from 86 families in two villages have been battling to resist eviction by Nahar Tea Estate in Moulvi-bazar district since 2010. […]

Interfaith charity run aims to build churches in Indonesia

Over 3,500 people, mostly Catholics, joined a charity run organized by Indonesia’s Jakarta Archdiocese to raise money to build churches in various parts of the country. Jakarta has declared 2018 the “Year of Unity.” The “Run4U” campaign on July 29, one of a number of Church-led fund-raising runs in recent years, offered people the chance […]

A priest’s pain: Crosses destroyed, ban on catechism, the vaccine scandal

The Chinese authorities have been eliminating visible Christian signs, crosses and engravings for several months due to a campaign of “synicization.” This adds to the ban on meetings even in summer, with young people under the age of 18, who are also forbidden to attend mass. At the same time, the scandal of ineffective vaccines […]

New archbishop installed in India’s troubled Jharkhand state

In a ceremony lasting over two hours, Archbishop Felix Toppo was installed as the new Archbishop of Ranchi in St Mary’s Cathedral. Ranchi is the capital of the eastern Indian State of Jharkhand. The state has a large proportion of India’s marginalized tribal people, who exist outside of Hinduism’s traditional caste system, and many of […]

Bishops’ event focuses on how to beat India’s divisive politics

A Catholic Church-organized program in New Delhi has called on Indian politicians to cease being divisive and using religion as a way of attracting votes. Prominent opposition leader Mamta Banerjee was among several speakers voicing concerns over the divisions in Indian society during an assembly organized by the Indian Catholic bishops’ conference on July 31. […]