Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child in her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:15-16).
These are the words written in a new breastfeeding room, which was opened on February 20 at Our Lady of Periyanayagi Shrine. The shrine is in Konankuppam, Kallakurichi district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and was constructed by Italian Jesuit missionary Father Constantine Joseph Beschi (1680-1747).

Catholic nuns in Kerala continue to demand a ban on a controversial play two months after it was staged at an international theater festival in the southern Indian state. The play allegedly depicts them as lesbians and sexual partners of priests.
The play – “Kakkukali” – in Mala-yalam, Kerala’s local language, was staged Feb 5-14 at the International Theatre Festival of Kerala organized by the state government.

On May 4  sectarian violence broke out in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur. For the past two days, majority ethnic Meitei, who are predominantly Hindu, have clashed with members of the Mostly Christian Kuki tribal group.
For local boxing champion Mary Kom, “The situation in Manipur makes me unhappy. [. . .] “Since last night it has become more frightening.” In view of events, “I ask the state and central governments to take steps and (to) maintain peace and security”. Sadly, “some people have lost family members in this violence.”
In a separate statement, Metropolitan Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore writes: “It is with deep concern that we note the resurgence of the targeting and persecution of Christians in the peaceful state of Manipur in the North-East, where the Christian population comprises 41%.
The prelate goes on to say: “We have received reports that three churches built in 1974 and some houses have been set on fire, and the people have been forced to flee to safer places.” What is more, “there have been disturbing reports in the news and on social media that the Jesuit Fathers serving in these areas have been threatened and made to feel insecure.”
Finally, “It is distressing to hear that despite having a sizable Christian population in Manipur, the community is being made to feel insecure. We are reminded that even the world-famous female boxer Mary Kom hails from this state.”

A papal decision allowing women to vote in the concluding discussions of the Synod on Synodality compels Asia’s national churches to widen the participation of lay people, particularly women, in Church activities, say leading Asian theologians.
A Vatican statement on April 26 said Pope Francis has “approved the extension of participation in the synodal assembly to ‘non-bishops’ — priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, lay men and women,” with voting rights.
It means “the universal Church, as well as local churches, must open their doors to welcome the greater and active participation of women in making crucial decisions about the Church’s activities,” said theologian Father Joseph Ho Thu, who teaches at Vietnam’s Hue Major Seminary.
Theologians across Asia expressed similar views alluding to how national churches have been excluding lay people, particularly women, from bodies that make decisions on their budgeting, ministry programs, volunteer labor, and internal operations.
Despite several resolutions passed in Church seminars and conferences stressing the need for lay participation, men, mostly clerics, continue to head even the offices or commissions meant to protect women’s interests in dioceses, and the regional and national bodies of bishops.

The Commission for Migrants of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India on May 1 drew plans to combat the issues of forced labor and human trafficking in its Agra region comprising 10 dioceses.
Some 30 delegates from these dioceses attended a workshop at Gyandeep Bhawan Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan, to celebrate the International Worker’s Day and address human trafficking and bonded labor that are rampant in the agricultural field, brick kilns and factories of the region.
The participants decided to form a resource team equipped with legal knowledge and adequate skills to effectively address human trafficking which has become a serious issue after the Covid-19 pandemic in region.
They stressed the need for educating Christians on the Church’s social teaching to end injustice against workers.
They noted that the pandemic and the subsequent economic slowdown have worsened migrant workers’ situation. The number of unemployed youth in the country is on rise. Some states have failed to create enough jobs forcing workers to flee to metropolitan cities for livelihood leaving behind their families.

An orphanage serving differently abled children for the past 150 years was raided by government agencies in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The officers of the state units of National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Child Welfare Committee desecrated a church, beat up priests, destroyed computers and ransacked a convent during their May 8 raid of St Francis Orphanage at Shampura in Sagar district under Sagar diocese.
Police also arrested two priests, accusing them of obstructing government officials from discharging their duty. A local sub-divisional magistrate court granted them bail on the same day.
Father Joshy E P, one of the arrested priests, told Matters India on May 9, the police officials beat him and Father Naveen B after they objected to the inspection team members climbing on the altar of a British era church in the campus.
“The police beat and abused us with filthy language in front of everybody,” he said and added, “I was again thrashed on the police vehicle while being taken to the police station.”

More than a hundred Hindu activists forcefully entered a Catholic school in Chhattisgarh to oppose a summer catechetical camp held there for Catholic children.
The intruders, who entered the Vishwadeep School campus around noon on May 7, alleged the program was meant to convert “Hindu” children. The school in Durg, 40 km west of Raipur, the state capital.
On information, police and government officials rushed to the school and pacified the activists, after verifying from the organizers that all the children were Catholics and only some moral lessons were imparted to them.
As many as 197 boys and girls, studying in 8-12 grades, had come to the camp from seven nearby parishes. Bhilai area has many Catholic parishes,
The archdiocese conducts the annual summer catechetical camps or retreats for Catholic children to supplement Sunday catechism classes.
The intruders, belonging to various Hindu organizations, claimed that list showed names of Hindu children. They demanded to know whether the organizers had written permission from the government to conduct the religious program and from the parents for their children to attend it.
Father John Ponnore, the diocesan catechetical director, explained to them that their Catholic parents’ permission was implicit since they had to pay 400 rupees each as fees for meals and accommodation for three days. They also said no permission from the government was needed to organize programs for church members. But the activists ignored the priest.
Vaijayanti Mala Tigga, a parishioner involved in the camp, was a government employee, and the fundamentalists said at least she should have followed the government norms.
On checking the organizers’ laptop, Thashildar Durga Sahu and the BJP local ward member Hema Sharma found no materials for religious conversion. But the fundamentalists alleged that the organizers had deleted the contents.
Father Ponnore explained to them that these children were taught the right use of mobiles, besides providing them sex education.
The police and the authorities made the fundamentalists to return by 4 pm. On hearing the news, some 300 people also gathered outside the gate.