The Kerala High Court has dismissed the plea of Robin Vadakkumchery, a former Ca-tholic priest convicted of raping a minor, to grant him bail so that he could “marry the survivor.”
The court said it could find no merit the petition.
Dismissing the plea, Justice Sunil Thomas stated that granting the plea would be like giving judicial approval for the marriage.
A POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court convicted Robin and sentenced him to 20 years in prison for raping and impregnating the minor girl.
The High Court also said it cannot allow a compromise or take a lenient view in matters related to sexual offences. The court reportedly cited the trial court’s finding that the survivor was a minor during the time of the assault, stating that it still remains and that granting bail to Robin and allowing them to get married would be like giving it legal sanctity.
In 2016, the survivor, a 16-year-old girl was studying in the eleventh grade in a church-backed school in Kannur district where Robin was the manager. He sexually assaulted her, who gave birth to a child in February 2017. Initially, the accused and the church had immensely pressurized the family of the survivor and had even forced her father to confess that he was the one who raped and impregnated his daughter. But later, the survivor’s family alleged that were pressurized and threatened by the Church.
Daily Archives: March 1, 2021
Uttar Pradesh assembly passes religious conversion bill amid din
Amid protests by the Opposition, the Uttar Pradesh Legisla-tive Assembly on February 24 passed by voice vote a Bill aimed at curbing religious conversions by fraudulent or any other undue means, including through marriage.
The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2021 seeks to replace the ordinance promulgated in November 2020 that provides for imprisonment up to 10 years and a maximum fine of 50,000 rupees for violators.
The Bill was passed in the House even as Aradhana Misra, the Congress Legislative Party leader, and Lalji Verma, the leader of BSP in the Assembly, protested.
Under the Bill, a marriage will be declared “null and void” if the conversion is solely for that purpose, and those wishing to change their religion after marriage need to apply to the district magistrate.
The Bill mainly envisages that no person shall convert, either directly or indirectly from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage nor shall any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion.
The onus to prove that the conversion has not been done forcibly will lie on the person accused of the act and the convert, it said.
An aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge an FIR about such conversion, according to the Bill.
BJP leaders had said the legislation intends to counter alleged attempts to convert Hindu women to Islam in the guise of marriage, which right-wing Hindu activists refer to as ‘love jihad’.
Withdraw all steps taken on deep sea fishing: Kerala bishops
The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council has asked the state government to withdraw all steps it had taken on deep sea fishing off the coast. The act of the Kerala government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a foreign firm without consulting the fishermen community or heeding the coastal people’s concerns is objectionable, says a statement the bishops’ council issued on February 23.
The bishops, however, welcomed the government move to retract the agreement that brought great relief to the coastal community.
Although the government has withdrawn the agreement amid public protests, all the steps it had taken since 2018 to implement the project remain in force, the bishops point out.
Bishops’spokesperson Father Jacob G Palackapilly, who signed the press release, says fishermen community fears that the company would implement the project in some other way.
560 UK Churches Ready to Welcome Hong Kong Wave
On February 14, a local Chinese church’s multilingual service was broadcast live on BBC Radio 4, the United Kingdom’s most popular radio station, for the first time in history—a gesture of welcome to the hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents expected to migrate to the country under a new visa provision.
“This feels like a watershed moment for the Church in the UK,” wrote Mark Nam, an Anglican priest in Bristol. “I never dreamed I would be alive to hear Chinese songs and voices broadcast across the nation for Sunday Worship like this.”
Nam is among hundreds of pastors, ministry leaders, and laypeople who are preparing local churches for what could be the largest planned migration to the country in over half a century.
As of January 31, nearly three million British overseas nationals in Hong Kong are said to be eligible for this new passport program, which will allow them and their families to live and work in the UK and to apply for British citizenship within six years. The UK government expects over 300,000 to register and estimates that at least 130,000 will arrive in 2021 alone.
Political tensions are high in Hong Kong, particularly for pro-democracy activists—including Christians—who have become the target of a crackdown from Chinese authorities in the region. While the government has committed to open the door for everyone who applies, Christian leaders believe the church should be waiting on the doorstep to welcome them.
“It’s in our DNA; it’s in our doctrine,” said Krish Kandiah, a former pastor, missionary, and adoption reform advocate who has rallied local Christians around the Hong Kong Ready initiative. “The welcome is an important part of what the church is about, and we don’t always get it right, but we’re keen now.”
Singapore pastor apologizes for asking women to dress modestly
A Protestant pastor in Singapore has issued an apology following a heavy backlash from young netizens after asking women “to refrain from reveal-ing or provocative dressing” in order to avoid inciting “lustful thoughts” in men.
Pastor Joanne Chow, 38, a mother of two and youth minister of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church in Singapore, came under fire after she posted PowerPoint slides in blog post on Christian website Thirst on Feb. 21, titled “In the fight against sexual temptation, defence is not enough.”
“Can I also make a special appeal to the girls? Let’s help our brothers by not dressing in a revealing or provocative way. Of course you don’t have control over their lustful thoughts, and it may not be a sin to wear that skin tight dress or post that bikini photo, but if we can help our brothers, why not?” she wrote in the post.
Chow’s post was triggered by revelations of the sexual abuses of Ravi Zacharias (1946-2020), an internationally famous Indian-Canadian evangelical preacher and Christian apologist who founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM).
“I realize that my comment on dressing modestly has sparked many responses and comments, and even angered many people. I’m truly sorry if it has hurt any-one, especially victims of sexual abuse. I understand how it ended up coming across as insensitive and that it caused offence to some in light of the recent revelations around Ravi Zacharias,” Chow wrote.
Catholic university traces Philippine Christian roots
A Catholic university in the Philippines has launched a series of online lectures on church history tracing the country’s journey to Catholicism since the arrival of the Spanish.
The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) wants people to know how Christianity spread in a country composed of thousands of islands.
The lectures titled the “Philippine Church History Webinar Series” are being held every Saturday from February 13 until April 17, to mark the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first set foot in the Philippines as part of a Spanish expedition in 1521.
They also aim to deepen a sense of history in appreciating the Catholic faith as a gift.
“The webinar series will examine and analyze the challenges and responses that the Church encountered as it expanded and developed throughout the Philippine islands,” the department said in a social media post. Distinguished Catholic historians Paul Dumol and Grace Conception are among the speakers.
Iraq: Full of historic sites important to understanding Christianity
Pope Francis hopes to embark on the first-ever papal visit to the biblical land of Iraq in early March in a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts to the place known in Arabic as the “land of the two rivers” — the mighty Tigris and Euphrates — and once renowned as Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilization.”
The Garden of Eden is believed possibly to have been in ancient Iraq, but certainly the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel were located there. Jews exiled to ancient Iraq in Old Testament times, such as the prophet Daniel, experienced God’s miraculous grace; Daniel was rescued from the lion’s den and his friends from the fiery furnace.
“The pontiff said he looks forward to visiting our country, which is also where Abraham began his journey,” Cardinal Louis Sako of Baghdad said of the March 5-8 trip.
The historically rich country is full of religious sites important to understanding the antecedents of the Christian faith, making the visit significant for Pope Francis. Here’s a snapshot of some of these places.
Old Testament patriarch Abraham is recognized as the father of faith in one God by Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike and was born in the southern town of Ur. The place, which dates back to 6000 B.C., lies on a former course of the Euphrates and is one of Iraq’s oldest sites.
The pope will see a dry, flat, and ocher- coloured plain renowned for its well-preserved stepped platform or ziggurat, which dates back to the third millennium B.C. Also, some of the earliest known writing, cuneiform, has been uncovered at Ur.
Around 2000 B.C., Ur was a bustling urban centre, drawing traders from both the Mediterranean and the Indian subcontinent, until its conquest by Alexander the Great a few centuries before Christ. Pope Francis will participate in an interreligious meeting there.
Expert sees changing religious landscape in the Middle East
A Jordan native and expert on Islamic affairs has said the Middle East is currently undergoing an in-depth reflection on the role of religion in society and governance, leading to a changing religious landscape in the region.
“Violence perpetrated in the name of religion contributed to this change,” said Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, Bureau Chief for Islam at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
“The quest for enhanced liberty and better life conditions also contributed to reflecting on the role of religion in society and to eliciting religious responses to particular questions and doubts,” Akasheh told Crux.
Akasheh stressed that while he is Jordanian and follows developments in issues of social and religious interest in the Middle East closely, he has not lived in the country for years, and thus “cannot claim to have an extensive and complete vision of the reality.”
Saving the Middle East’s Last Bastion of Christianity
At September’s annual In Defense of Christians (IDC) 2020 summit, an IDC board member described Lebanon as the “last bastion of Christianity in the Middle East.” Recently, the advocacy organization hosted a panel discussion titled “The U.S. Needs a Better Lebanon Policy,” which brought together Lebanese and American politicians, clergymen, and experts to discuss how to save Lebanon — and why the changes in policy must be dramatic.
“If Lebanon fails, it may be a small state, but it’s where all the triangles in the Near East touch,” concluded Nicholson.
Beijing sets new rules that ignore Vatican deal
The Chinese Communist Party has promulgated an order establishing a procedure for the selection of Catholic bishops in China that makes no provision for any papal role in the process.
On 11 February, the magazine Bitter Winter translated the new regulations, that will come into force on 1 May, into English, and the Catholic News Agency summarised the new process: “China’s state-run Catholic Church and bishops’ conference will select, approve, and ordain episcopal candidates – with no mention of the Vatican’s involvement in the process,” it said.
In September 2018 the Vatican and Beijing struck a still secret deal understood to provide for the Communist Party offering three names of possible bishops to the Pope, who would choose one of them.
Pope Francis told reporters at that time that the agreement envisions “a dialogue about potential candidates. The matter is carried out through dialogue. But the appointment is made by Rome; the appointment is by the pope. This is clear.”
Vatican officials have defended the September 2018 deal as a good first step towards ensuring greater freedom and security for the Catholic community in China. This would be achieved by bringing about one Church, in a process that combined the Chinese Patriotic Church, under the authority of the Communist Party, with the Under-ground Church whose first allegiance in ecclesial matters is to Rome.
This secret deal expired on 22 October 2020 and was renewed on the same day. The Vatican issued a communique saying Beijing and Rome had “agreed to extend the experi-mental implementation phase of the provisional agreement for another two years.”