A police probe has been initiated into a Catholic-run orphanage in Sagar Diocese in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh following allegations that its inmates were given beef and taught the Bible, among other charges.
Church leaders denied the charges and said they were part of a well-orchestrated malicious campaign to defame the Church, especially by those who have an eye on the orphanage’s land.
This is the third such incident targeting a Catholic-run institution in the diocese within a month. A joint team of police and district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) members visited St. Francis Orphanage in Shampura in Sagar district on Dec. 6 following a complaint that the orphanage authorities had supplied beef to the inmates and tried to teach the Bible, among other charges.
“The team interacted with students and took statements of five boys and five girls and also those of officials,” orphanage director Father Sinto Varghese told on Dec. 9.
“The following day another team of CWC members, mostly women, visited the orphanage and took statements from all the girls.” The orphanage is home to 44 children – 21 girls and 23 boys – aged up to 19.
“Local police, judges and CWC members regularly visit it and inspect its running as per the government guidelines and we do not know suddenly where the cow meat and other charges came from,” Father Varghese said.
“Where will we get cow meat?” asked the priest as cow slaughter and consumption of beef are prohibited in the state. “We provide chicken as per the government food menu and those who don’t eat meat are given vegetables and other stuff they require.”

Archbishop Sebastian Durairaj of Bhopal has urged authorities to end the continuing violence against Christians in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
“A section of our community is feeling insecure. That is why we met Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who has assured us of appropriate act-ion,” the archbishop is reported to have said in a video message released after his meeting with the minister on Dec. 7.
He also appealed for action in the recent attack on St. Joseph School in Vidisha district by a 500-strong mob of Hindutva activists alleging the school management was converting students to Christianity.
The newly appointed arch-bishop, who is based in state capital Bhopal, told that he raised the issue of increasing attacks against Christians and their institutions in the state.
“He asked me ‘Do you convert people?’ and I replied ‘No, we don’t,’” Archbishop Durairaj said about his interaction with Mishra.

Women in India on December 13 decried a “blatantly misogynistic” and regressive” question a national school board asked its tenth grade students.
“The education ministry must seriously do an enquiry, and the one made the question/statement should be punished severely,” says Sister Joel Urumpil, a social worker in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, reacting to the news about the question set by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The question that appeared in the reading comprehension section held December 10 contained sentences like “women gaining independence is the main reason for a wide variety of social and family problems.”
Sister Urumpil, a member of the Sisters of Charity Nazareth, wants a nationwide out-rage by progressive men, women’s groups, students, Members Parliament of both houses, educational institutions. “Media should be urged to expose the rotten mindset and cry foul,” she told Matters India.
The issue drew national attention December 13 when Congress party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi raised the “blatantly misogynistic” and “shockingly regressive passage” in the parliament.

The Indian Catholic Women Movement, an ecumenical forum, has expressed “deep distress and anguish” at the killing of civilians in a messed-up counter-insurgency operation in Nagaland.
“The killing of innocent lives calls for a just probe into the matter, in order to identify why and how the operation went wrong. It is important to end the ambush mentality of armed forces to restore a sense of safety and security to the people of Nagaland,” says a statement from the movement issued on December 9.
The text of the statement:
We the members of ICWM express our deep distress and anger at the killing of unarmed civilians and a soldier in the messed-up counter insurgency operation by the Assam Rifles in the Mon District of Nagaland on 5 December 2021.
The Mon incident needs to be seen against the backdrop of the patiently crafted cease-fire in place and peace negotiations backed by almost all Naga groups, amidst the high tension in the region. In this situation, that calls for joint vigilance and action by political leadership, security forces and civil society, extra caution and sensitivity is needed on the part of security forces towards local communities. In this highly volatile context, the state machinery needs to act with great prudence and care towards civilians so that trust can be re-built and peace restored.

A missionary Nun, Betsy Devasia, working in Guwahati, Assam, was conferred with 11th International Human Rights Award for her contribution to women development in the region by Delhi-based Inter-national Human Rights Council on 10 December 2021 at the India Islamic Centre Auditorium, New Delhi.
Sister Betsy Devasia, born on July 1, 1947 as the second child, to Mr. Devasia and Rosamma Pulippara in Kerala’s Kottayam district, has been working in Northeast India for the last 30 years.
“I am not sure if I deserve this honour”, said the septuagenarian Holy Cross Nun. “Serving the people of Northeast India in various roles since 1988 and as Director of Women Development Centre (WDC), Guwahati, since 2008, has been the most rewarding experience of my life. That is an award in itself”.
The WDC, established in the year 2000 as a millennium gift to the women in Northeast India by Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Menamparampil, has been catering to the women from rural areas of the region with slew of initiatives to empower them to take their lives forward.
One of the major activities of WDC is educating school dropped out tribal girls to complete their schooling through National Open School. Started with five students in 2005, more than 500 tribal girls from Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Naga-land, Tripura, Mizoram and Assam have completed their secondary education. The current batch has 65 students.
Accepting the award, Sister Devasia said, “My award is to be able to see the lives of these underprivileged children change completely. The underconfident girls who through our educational portals are never the same. They leave our campus with confidence and courage to face the world to make positive contribution to make it a better place to live in.” Many of the girls who completed their secondary education through WDC have gone on to do higher studies including Masters Degree and 20 of them currently working in various Government and private departments in the region, including a motivational speaker, nurses and a radiologist.

Pope Francis has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Ranchi as the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Daltonganj.
The appointment was announced on December 8 in Rome. “This appointment is an additional to his present office as Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi,” says a press release from Father Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (Latin rite).

The national forum of Catholic theologians in India on November 28 mourned the death of Salesian Father Dominic Veliath as a great loss for the Church in the country.
The 79-year-old internationally reputed theologian died November 27 in Bengaluru.
The Church in India has lost “a great theologian who lived Christian faith with deep commitment” in the death of Father Veliath, says a condolence message from the Indian Theological Association. Father Veliath was the executive secretary of the Doctrinal Commission of the Indian bishops that organized annual dialogues between theologians and prelates.
The message also noted with gratitude Father Veliath’s long association with the theologians’ forum. He was its secretary during 1989-1992 and the president from 1992 to 1995. “It is a great loss for the members” of the association, says the message issued by the forum president and executive board members.