A forum for Catholic nuns, brothers and priests practicing as lawyers says time has come for the self-examination of the Supreme Court of India. “It is the right time for the Apex Court for its self-exa-mination,” the National Lawyers Forum of Religious and Priests (NLFRP) stated on August 22 after observing that certain moves of the apex court have evoked bar associations across India to organize protests and demonstrations.
The forum says it was disturbed by the court’s full bench on August 20 holding Prashant Bhushan, a noted lawyer, guilty of criminal contempt of court for two tweets.
Bhushan was drawn into the case for the tweets dated on July 27 and 29 on Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and the Supreme Court. One tweet was about a photograph of Justice Bobde astride a bike and another on how posterity would perceive the role played by the apex court in the past six years.
On August 14, the apex court found the tweets offensive and scandalizing the court. Bhushan said the tweets embodied his bona fide belief and that it would be contemptuous on his part to apologize for something he believes in. He also said he would cheerfully submit to whatever punishment the court imposed on him.
The forum for Catholic religious and priests termed as “unfortunate” that the court finding the tweets undermining “the dignity and authority of the institution of the Supreme Court of India and the Chief Justice of India and directly affronts the majesty of law.”
The forum has declared its solidarity to Bhushan as it finds him not just an individual but the “voice of millions of people and an icon of Right to Expression of our times.”

A 106-year-old dilapidated hospital has become a state-of-the-art healthcare facility in Maharashtra, thanks to a Catholic priest.

Giving a new lease of life to the Morarji Gokaldas Rural Hospital in Mahabaleshwar is among several success stories of Father Tomy Kariyilakulam, who has revolutionized the healthcare scenario of Satara district after he entered the western Indian state a quarter century ago.

“This could be a role model for India to improve public health delivery, without privatization or corporatization,” the 54-year-old priest, popularly called Father Tomy, told Matters India.

The member of the Kerala-based Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament says he draws on “unique collaboration” among the state government, Red Cross of India and corporate houses to improve a few hospitals and nearly 80 public health centers in the district.

The Mahabaleshwar hospital, a government enterprise, boasts of a hoary past as its foundation stone was laid in 1914 by Lord Thomas Willingdon, the then governor of Bombay. It was originally meant for the use of locals and British tourists.

Despite its hoary past, the hospital — sprawled on an 11-acre forest land adjacent to the Mahabaleshwar market — was a decript structure that resembled “a ghost house” when the Catholic priest started the renovation works at the invitation of the Maharashtra government.

Doctor Amrish Vaidya of Mumbai, whose family has a 100-year-old association with Mahabaleshwar, thanks the Catholic priest for converting “a very basic rural” healthcare institution into a well-equipped facility. “It is now ready for the next level of care for the local population,” he said at the soft launch of renovated hospital on May 8.

Priest Fr. Jose Puthussery of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam–Angamaly received the award in the short film screenwriting competition organized by the Kerala Chalachithra Academy on the problems faced by Malayalees all over the world in connection with the lock down during the Corona period.

During this Kovid period, the Short Film Screenwriting Competition was another initiative of the Kerala Chalachithra Academy. The competition was organized with the cultural mission of promoting the creative expressions of the artists during the lockdown period and documenting the artistic response of the filmmakers of Kerala to this difficult time. The screenplay is based on the theme ‘Isolation and Survival’.

Out of the 737 screenplays sent, one of the ten screenplays selected is by Fr. Jose Puthussery. He is at present abroad for strides.

A small state in India’s troubled northeast has managed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic much better than some larger states with more resources.

Mizoram is tucked away between Myanmar and Bangladesh, about 1,500 miles from New Delhi. It registered its first case on March 24—the day on which the country went into nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Since then, the number of cases in Mizoram rose to 918 as of Aug. 24, but there have been no deaths.

The number of Covid-19 cases in India was reported at 3.1 million on August 24, with 57,542 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, United States. India is third after the United States and Brazil.

The government of the state, led by Chief Minister Pu Zoramthanga, decided to take immediate action as the pandemic started. A former militant leader, he enlisted the help of community organizations such as the Central Young Mizo Association and church leaders. About 85 percent of the state’s population is Christian and such organizations play an important role.

Every village and locality in urban areas has a local task force to deal with Covid-19. They coordinate with district-level teams, who in turn report to a state-level team.

On August 9, when a paramilitary officer from the Chaltlang Lily Veng area of Aizawl tested positive for Covid-19, the local task force took charge. They declared a lockdown in the locality. Volunteers managed to trace 136 people who had met the officer. Thirteen of them tested positive.

“The state utilized the time of the lockdown in coordinating effectively among various departments, such as health, home, and disaster management, and the community organizations,” said Priscilla C. Ngaihte, an adviser with Public Health Foundation of India. “They also prioritized strengthening their health infrastructure over other things.”

The National Youth Commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ of India has decided to address the mental wellbeing of young people amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In these times of uncertainty, the commission is committed to paying attention to the psychological and mental wellbeing of young people, said its executive secretary Father Chetan Machado.

The Delhi diocesan priest issued a press note on August 23 after holding the annual consultative meeting (virtual) of national youth leaders of various Catholic Youth Movements in India.

The participants included two young representatives from youth movements such as the Indian Catholic Youth Movement, Young Catholic Students/Young Student Movement, Youth United for Christ, Salesian Youth Movement, Jesus Youth, St. Vincent De Paul Society and Focolare along with the advisory board of the commission and special invitees.

The annual meeting deliberated on the present a scenario of youth ministry, exchange of ideas and needs of young people. The youth commission plans to collaborate with other youth movements in India after discussion.

NYC is the umbrella body for all Catholic youth activities in the country.

“It may be mere coincidence that this article is written at a time when Asia in general and India in particular are facing the greatest threat to human freedom from ideologies and ideologues that present themselves as the unquestionable advocates of progress. But what triggered this writer to venture into this area is a surreptitiously engineered amnesia to black out Christianity from the map of India’s freedom struggle.
The Christian contribution to India’s freedom is quite evident from the fact that a Marthoma Christian from Kerala – Thevarthundiyil Titus – became almost the other self of Mahatma Gandhi in Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad. In the 1887 Madras meeting of the Indian National Congress, out of 607 delegates 35 were Christians.” Writes Joe Palathunkal.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias has cautioned the priests of his Bombay archdiocese to not let their guard down as they have resumed pastoral activities as the administration has relaxed lock-down norms.
The cardinal’s caution came in the wake of some priests succumbing to Covid-19. “It is with extremely deep sadness that we received the news of the passing into eternity of our two dear brother priests: Fathers Dominic Alves and Johnny Nicholas. Earlier we were shocked to learn of the passing away of Father Simplicius Khess, a Dominican helping out at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Pokhran. We were not prepared for these departures. We pray for them,” Cardinal Gracias said August 15 while addressing the priests of Bombay archdiocese.
“This is a good occasion for us to remind ourselves not to let our guard down. Please observe strictly the norms for wearing masks, social distancing and Covid-19 washing of hands,” says the 75-year-old prelate, who heads the Catholic Church India as the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.

He has warned especially priests with hypertension and diabetes. “Those with comorbidities have to be particularly careful; especially if you have diabetes, hypertension or some lung infection,” he added.

Tension escalated in parts of India’s Kerala State as police used force to take over some churches of a Christian faction following a court order, aiming to give them to a rival camp.
In pre-dawn operations, police took over three churches of the Jacobite faction on be-half of the Malankara Orthodox faction. Police used force to remove hundreds of protesters including Jacobite priests and bishops.
“Women, children and bishops were subjected to cruel police brutality,” said a statement by Jacobite bishops after they met in an emergency Synod on Aug. 20.
They also registered their protest against the “inhuman and unjust” attitude of the Supreme Court that resulted in “the rushed move to take over the churches of the Jacobite Church.”
The Synod decided to organize protests at their churches while following Covid-19 protocols. The Synod also declared the severance of “all sacra-mental and spiritual relation-ship” with the Orthodox fact-ion, said Joseph Mar Gregorios, the metropolitan trustee and senior bishop of the Jacobite Church. More than 1,100 churches in the Jacobite Church’s possession are under the threat of forceful acquisition after the court order, said Biby Kadavumbhagam, who edits an official publication of the Jacobite faction.

Indian bishops and the country’s oldest lay Catholic organization have urged church members to stand in solidarity with the poor, who have been marginalized even more during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the nation is still following federal government guidelines to restrict social gatherings, the All India Catholic Union (AICU) held its annual general meeting through a webinar.

The meeting was inaugurated by Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), in Mumbai on Aug. 16.

He said that Pope St John Paul II and Pope Francis had stressed that foreign debt, with manipulated taxes and interests of the creditors, should be cancelled.

“All Indian citizens are equal to us in dignity before God; and as Catholics, all people in the world are equal to us in dignity,” Archbishop Machado said.