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Indian Church leaders scramble to defuse ‘crusader’ row

Church leaders have met the top leader of Sikhism after Sikhs objected to being called “crusaders” by unidentified pastors in a northern Indian Punjab state. The pastors alle-gedly called Sikh community members “crusaders” following a spate of attacks on the state’s Christians, who were accused of forced conversions. Christians account for 10 percent of Punjab’s […]

Odia Family Relieved As Catholic Nun Liberates Them From Bondage

A family in Odisha now thanks a Catholic nun for rescuing them from bonded labour in the southern Indian state. “I can finally breathe freely. I thank Sister Sujata pro-fusely,” says Deepthi Singh, who was held in bondage along with her husband in a brick kiln in Karnataka state’s Mallur district. The 22-year-old pregnant woman […]

Indian Church leaders back Amnesty’s Manipur relief camp call

Church leaders have concu-rred with a global rights group report that relief camps in Mani-pur in India’s northeast are “in dire need of support” after secta-rian strife uprooted more than 50,000 and killed over 220 people, most of them Christians. ”There is no doubt, Amnesty International has come out with the reality existing in Manipur” […]

Christian leaders ask India to repeal anti-conversion laws

A delegation of Christian leaders has urged India’s federal government to ask 11 states to repeal the sweeping anti-conversion laws, which they say target Christians. “The anti-conversion law has been weaponized to target religious minorities,” an eight-member delegation from the United Christian Forum (UCF) told federal minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju. The delegation met the […]

Indian heads International Catholic Biblical Society

The Society of Paul superior general Father Domenico Solliman has appointed Father Jose Pottayil as the director of the Madrid-based International Catholic Biblical So-ciety that was set up a hundred years ago by Venerable James Alberione, the congregation’s founder. Father Pottayil is the first Asian and Indian to head the society known as SOBICAIN (Società […]

Jesuit heads Tamil Nadu’s Minorities Commission

The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has appointed Jesuit Father Joe Arun as the chairperson of its 10 member Minorities Commission. A government notification on July 23 said the appointment is for 3 years. The 59-year-old Jesuit is the secretary for the higher education secretariat of Jesuit Conference of South Asia and Director of […]

Catholic Priest Who Fought Land Sharks In Vasai Dies

A Catholic priest, who had gone beyond his priestly duties to fight illegal land grabbers and promote peace and communal harmony even at risk to his safety, died July 25 after a prolonged illness. Father Francis D’Britto of the western Indian Vasai diocese was known for his involvement in public movements such as the Harit […]

7 Indian Christians accused of violating conversion law

Seven Christians have been accused of violating the stringent anti-conversion law in two separate incidents in the northern Indian Uttar Pradesh state. Police arrested Pastor Ram Udeshy Sahani, Babulal Sahani and Vinod Kumar on July 14 in Maharajanj district. They were charged with converting a man by allegedly offering money and promising miraculous healing, according […]