As a child, Ma Wai practiced Buddhism, the predominant religion in her Myanmar village. But a few months ago, aged 50, she joined the Catholic Church.
Ma Wai began to “get a sense of Christianity” in 2008 after she married a Catholic when she was 34. That was 16 years ago after she fell in love with Stephen Soe Htet Aung.
She was born the eldest of five children of her Buddhist parents, who belonged to a mix of Bamar-Karen tribes in a village on the outskirts of Hinthada township in Irrawaddy division, southern Myanmar.
Most of the 200 families in the village are Buddhists, with a few Christians.
“I knew that Christians revere Jesus Christ, but I had no idea about Catholicism,” the woman said.
Marrying Soe, she said, opened her “eyes to the world of Christianity,” particularly to Catholicism.
Interfaith marriages are common in Myanmar, forming at least half in Catholic parishes, mostly Catholics and Buddhists, a Church source estimated.
In such marriages, the non-Catholic person need not change religion. However, to have a Catholic marriage, Church law insists the bride and groom agree to baptize their children in the Catholic faith.
Ma Wai said her husband “never pressured” her to change her faith.
Daily Archives: March 13, 2024
Restore space denied to Christian Dalits, demands national conference
A national conference on synod has called for restoring the space denied to Dalit Christians in the Church and society.
The February 16-17 conference on “Synodal Church: Voice of the Marginalized in India,” studied the Dalit Empowerment Policy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, 2016, that mandates an end to caste practices and promotes inclusive communities. The policy also focuses on the denied space of Dalit Christians in the Church and society.
“The very focus of the Synodal Church is mission, communion, and participation,” asserted Cardinal Anthony Poola, archbishop of Hyderabad, who presided over the conference held at the Indian Social Institute in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
The first cardinal from the Dalit community said everyone should be included in the mission of the Catholic Church so that no one feels left behind. “The marginalized should participate in the Church where their voice should be heard,” he asserted.
The program was organized by the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in collaboration with the Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
The participants were Dalit Catholics from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
The conference prepared a memorandum that reiterated the need to give to the Dalit Christians in India their denied space and taking steps to empower them.
Educator gets bail after India’s top court intervention
India’s Supreme Court has granted interim bail to a Christian educator, who was arrested in December on a slew of complaints including attempts to murder and violating an anti-conversion law.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, on March 4 ordered the release of Rajendra Bihari Lal, vice-chancellor of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHAUTS).
The British-era institution was established in 1910 and is based in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad, in northern Indian Uttar Pradesh state.
The state police arrested Lal on Dec. 31, 2023, following a complaint from Diwakar Nath Tripathi, a local leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs the state government.
Earlier, Lal’s bail pleas were turned down by a local court and the state high court.
“We direct by way of an ad interim order that the petitioner be released on interim bail,” the Supreme Court order said.
Police have registered several cases against Lal under the state’s strident anti-conversion law that criminalizes religious conversion without prior sanction from the government.
In the latest case registered in Naini police station in Prayagraj district, Lal is accused of attempting to kill the complainant, Tripathi.
Tripathi’s complaint said two men who accompanied Lal in a vehicle opened fire at him while he was returning home after a morning walk.
“It is a baseless and fabricated case,” a close ally of Lal told UCA News on March 5.
Patna women pledge to save constitution, democracy
Some 200 women, representing mostly slums in the eastern Indian city of Patna, celebrated the International Women’s Day by pledging to protect the country’s Constitution and democracy.
The March 6 program was inspired by the “Kittur Declaration” that urged Indian women to fight for the land and rights of people of the country, women’s dignity and livelihood.
The declaration was issued by more than 3,500 women from across the country who gathered at Kittur town in Karnataka on February 21 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Rani Chennamma, a folk hero in Karnataka and the 19th century queen of Kittur princely state who revolted against the British.
At Kittur, some 460 km northwest of Bengaluru, the women’s organizations launched “Naanoo Rani Chennamma” (I too am Rani Chennamma), a nationwide campaign to secure the rights as enshrined in the Constitution, to preserve the social fabric, restore communal harmony and to stand up for the rights of citizens to Reclaim India and reject authoritarianism.
The Kittur declaration was released at Patna too. The participants gathered at Aashray Abhiyan (campaign for shelter), an NGO managed by a Catholic nun in Patna, with the theme, “Role of women in saving the Constitution and democracy of India.”
Felicitas Roelofsen, a cancer surgeon from Germany, was the chief guest, and the special guest was Mukund Singh, spokesperson of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party. Uma Dafftarur from the Am Admi Party also attended.
India’s pro-Hindu party’s tokenism for Muslims, Christians
Social and religious divisions are crystal clear in the politics of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the first list of 195 candidates released by the party’s election committee, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chief decision maker, there are only two names from religious minorities — one Muslim and one Christian.
Both minority candidates in the list released on March 2 will be contesting from the communist-ruled southern Kerala state, where the pro-Hindu BJP hardly has any presence.
Anil Antony, a Catholic will be the BJP’s candidate from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency with nearly 40 percent Christian voters. The pro-Hindu party is banking on them to wrest the seat from rival Congress, whose Anto Antony Punnathaniyil has represented it in India’s parliament for three terms since 2009.
Anil is the son of veteran Congress leader and former defense minister A. K. Antony, an octogenarian and self-professed agnostic. The father has often advocated the philosophy of Kerala’s foremost social reformer Sree Narayana Guru — a champion of equality and justice.
However, while it has propelled a Catholic in the southern state, the BJP has dropped John Barla, a tribal Catholic, who is serving as a junior minister for minority affairs in the present Modi cabinet.
Barla was elected in 2019 from Alipurduar constituency in West Bengal and has been championing the rights of tea garden workers in West Bengal and Assam states in eastern India.
Barla’s exclusion from the list of candidates came as a surprise to many in Delhi’s political circles as he was Modi’s go-to man in times of crisis, especially amid rising attacks on Christians and their institutions over the past few years.
Catholic nuns empower distressed Nepali women
On a spring afternoon in early March, Usha Rokka took a break from sewing ladies’ handbags ordered by a customer to give snacks to her seven-year-old son who just returned from school.
The 25-year-old single mother has been living in a tiny, rented one-room house in Pokhara, the tourist city in western Nepal since leaving her abusive husband and in-laws seven years ago.
She and her son have a simple, happy life thanks to Rokka’s thriving home-based business that a group of Good Shepherd nuns helped her start as part of their project supporting vulnerable women.
The business yields up to 30,000 rupees (US$277) a month, enough to pay for Rokka’s house rent, daily essentials, utilities, and schooling.
Rokka still remembers her nightmarish days years ago when she attempted to commit suicide twice out of frustration as she failed to find a job to support the family. She fled her in-law’s house in Kushma, a two-hour drive from Pokhara and came to the city in 2018.
“The first time, a fisherman saved my life when I jumped into Phewa Lake and then a neighbor took me to the hospital when she heard my son crying after I drank poison,” she said.
“I couldn’t feed my son properly. I was being mentally tortured by my husband and the people in the village,” she added.
Dowry is considered a social malpractice in many countries as it is blamed for endemic domestic abuse against brides. Despite being illegal in most countries the practice is still prevalent in many parts of South Asia.
Police rescue woman from blasphemy mob in Pakistan
A police officer who saved a woman accused of blasphemy from a mob of 200 men in eastern Pakistan has described how she had to negotiate with the crowd to lead her to safety.
The woman, who has not been named for security reasons, was surrounded in a Lahore restaurant by men who wrongly claimed her shirt was adorned with verses from the Koran.
Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in ultra-conservative Pakistan, where mobs have lynched people they deem to have insulted Islam.
Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, an assistant superintendent with Punjab police, was among the first officers on the scene on Sunday.
“The crowd was pretty charged, and they were chanting slogans. They were talking about how people who commit blasphemy must be punished,” Naqvi told AFP.
A video shared on social media showed the woman sitting in a corner of a cafe protecting her face with her hands.
Crowds were later heard chanting: “The only punishment for blasphemy is beheading.”
“There was a confusion and nobody was willing to listen to us. We feared that if the dialogue didn’t begin, the woman’s life would be in danger,” Naqvi added.
In the end, Naqvi appealed with the crowd to let police determine whether Pakistan’s blasphemy laws had been breached.
Officers then formed a human chain to help lead the woman out of the restaurant.
The woman was in fact wearing a shirt with the Arabic word for “beautiful” written on it.
Pakistani Christians ‘fasting and praying’ against unrest and violence
In a world often divided by global conflicts and tensions, Pakistan’s current situation is a distressing practical representation of the negative impact that wars have on international peace and harmony. This South Asian country, embroiled in global wars, has had its share of difficulties in maintaining stability and finding comfort in the face of hardship.
For the people of Pakistan, Christian prayers are a glimmer of hope and strength in the midst of chaos. Christian prayers are more than just words spoken in space; they are a channel to the supernatural and a way to ask for comfort, direction and help from an infinite being. Both individuals and communities can find the courage to persevere and overcome obstacles precisely through prayer.
Christian prayers provide comfort and firmness in times of turmoil. Believers believe that prayer can repair broken relationships, be a source of miracles and bring peace. Through prayer, they gain the strength to persevere in faith in the face of suffering.
Another significant habit with strong roots in Christianity is fasting. This is a renunciation of eating, or certain foods, for a specific period of time, often combined with prayer and meditation. Fasting is a spiritual activity that helps people get closer to God and strengthens their resolve in the current situation in Pakistan.
Asia is no more on the margins of global Catholicism
As the Catholic Church witnesses the constant emergence of new spiritual movements, devotional networks, and religious initiatives, their recognition and institutionalization are complex processes. The Church as a whole needs time to carefully discern their spiritual value, orthodoxy, and contribution to the body of Christ.
But these processes of growth and regulation, renewal and discernment, creativity and obedience keep the Church alive. Initiatives that may come from the Holy Spirit need to be recognized as such by other parts of the Body of Christ – including the head of the Church.
“Yet, this long discernment is not only happening between the Roman centre and some local communities. It is rarely limited to some localities only. It takes almost the whole Church – with numerous mediators and encounters – to truly recognize the vitality, renewal, and challenges that the Holy Spirit brings to us.
Singapore hosted the March 1-5 extraordinary International Congress of the Flame of Love. About 60 delegates came from all around the world to spend five days of retreat and work.
Over the past few years, the Flame of Love has rapidly grown across all continents. Taking many members by surprise, the new movement is now present in more than 50 countries – including Singapore, India, the Philippines, etc. With more people involved and national associations established, the Flame of Love needs to adapt its structures to let the Vatican discern an inter-national recognition.