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Catholics call Assam church attack a hate crime

Church officials in India want police to conduct a thorough probe into an attack on a Catholic Church in Assam, saying it could be part of a plan to create religious-based divisions in the north-eastern state ahead of Christmas. Parishioners of St Thomas Church in Chapatoli, in Dibrugarh Diocese said they found their church vandalized on Dec. […]

‘Will not rest until Dalit Christians get their due’

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Dec. 19 said that he would stand by the Christian community till the Dalit Christians are accorded the status of Scheduled Castes. Speaking at the Christmas celebrations held at Lutheran English Medium School here, Mr Naidu said that Dalit Christians have lost many opportunities as they do not have […]

Odisha chief minister joins Christmas program

Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik joined a Christmas program in Bhubaneswar organized by the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar on December 21, 2018. “This is the fourth time he is joining the programs organized by the Archdiocese of Cuttak-Bhubaneswar. Three times for Christmas and once to name a road after Mother Teresa,” said Benjamin Simon a Catholic […]

Christian gathering attacked during Sunday prayers in Maharashtra

Beer bottles were smashed on the heads of churchgoers who formed a ring around the rest of the congregation: to protect them from an armed group that had barged into a church in Maharashtra two days before Christmas, some of the victims and the pastor said on Dec. 24. The 40-strong congregation attending the Sunday […]

Church leaders seek justice for slain Indian journalist

Catholic and other church leaders have joined journalists and rights’ groups in demanding a detailed investigation into the murder of an investigative reporter – a tribal Christian – in India’s eastern Jharkhand State. The body of Amit Topno, who extensively covered a local tribal resistance movement, was found under a bridge near the state’s capital, […]

Sixth church set to become Hindu temple

The Ahmedabad-based Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan has bought a 30-year-old church in Portsmouth of Virginia, United States, and plans to convert it into a Swaminarayan temple. According to reports, the Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan has already converted eight churches across the world into Hindu temples. Five of them are in the US. The temple trust has converted […]

Four Kandhamal survivors ordained as Capuchin priests

Four survivors of the worst anti-Christian violence in modern India were ordained as Capuchin priests on Dec.27. “God chose you like Moses to be faithful, responsible to lead the people,” Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur, who led the ordination ceremony, told the newly ordained during his homily. Around 1,500 people, including 47 priests and […]

Corruption in Indian state worries church leaders

Rhythmic cheering echoed around the streets of Chechema village as hundreds of Naga people, most of them Christians, began pulling a huge rectangular stone. The traditional stone-pulling ceremony performed by the Angami Naga tribal people in Nagaland in northeast India was the highlight of the Dec. 1-10. Hornbill Festival sponsored by the Christian-majority state. The […]