A diocese in Kerala has come up with a welfare scheme to help families with five or more children.
The initiative of Palai diocese’s Family Apostolate seeks to offer a monthly financial assistance of 1,500 rupees to couples who are married after the year 2000 and have five or more children.
Women deliver their fourth children onward are entitled for free delivery care at a hospital run by the Church. Children born as the fourth or subsequently in a family will get scholarships to study in Church-managed engineering college. The scheme, announced as part of the year of the family celebrations by the Syro Malabar Church, is now going viral in the social media and has evoked mixed reactions from the public.
Confirming its authenticity, Father Joseph Kuttiankal, director of the Family Apostolate, said the scheme was planned as an assistance to the large families, especially in the post Covid-19 scenario.
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Weightlifter inspires Philippines with Olympic victory, Catholic devotion
Philippine Catholic bishops congratulated the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, not only for her victory but for her show of faith and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Diaz’s triumph came in the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting event on July 26. She also set an Olympic record after lifting a combined weight of 224 kilograms.
After completing her final lift in a very close competition, Diaz held her hands to her face, burst into tears and clutched at her Miraculous Medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary hanging from her neck.
“Thank you, Lord, thank you Lord,” she cried repeatedly after the winning lift.
Later on the podium at the medals ceremony, Diaz pointed heavenward after singing the Philippine national anthem, then made the Sign of the Cross before stepping down and shouting “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” (“Long live the Philippines!”)
Diaz’s inspirational victory and public display of her Catholic faith touched the hearts of church leaders and Filipino Catholics watching from home and quickly went viral on social media.
“We admire her devotion to the Blessed Mother as she carried in her victory her great faith in God,” said Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the country’s bishops’ conference. “Hidilyn is a true weightlifter who draws her strength from her love for the country and her deep Catholic faith.”
Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila said Diaz has given inspiration to all Filipinos.
Prayers held for Oscar Fernandes’ speedy recovery
A special prayer service was held at the Mother of Sorrows Church in Udupi for the recovery of Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, who is under treatment at a private hospital here following a head injury Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo of Udupi conducted the July 23 prayer service. The 80-year-old former federal minister was admitted to Yenepoya Speciality Hospital in Mangaluru on July 18 after he suffered a fall while doing yoga at his apartment in the city, family sources said.
Dioceses helping victims and people displaced by floods in Maharashtra
More than 136 people have died in floods and landslides in Konkan, along the coast of the Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa. Due to strong monsoons, a landslide killed 49 people among tribal Katkari in the mission area of the Archdiocese of Mumbai in Raigad, one of the most affected districts.
Dalit, tribal students face struggle in Indian schools
A report by India’s Ministry of Education highlights the high dropout rate among students from Dalit and tribal backgrounds. The data released by former federal education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is contained in the Unified District Information on School Education (UDISE) 2019-20 report.
Midday meals leave a long-lasting impact: study
Girls who had access to the free lunches provided at government schools, had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not, says a new study on the inter-generational benefits of India’s midday meal scheme published in Nature Communications this week.
Using nationally representative data on cohorts of mothers and their children spanning 23 years, the paper showed that by 2016, the prevalence of stunting was significantly lower in areas where the mid scheme was implemented in 2005.
Some 30 Christians arrested under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law
Police recently arrested nine Christians in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly violating the state’s controversial anti-conversion law, which criminalises religious conversion and denies bail to those accused.
The case is cited in a study by International Christian Concern (ICC), a Christian advocacy group, which reports a recent rise in anti-Christian complaints.
The document quotes one of the Christians, Sadhu Srinivas Gautham, who said that about 25 Hindu radicals stormed a prayer meeting last Sunday in Gangapur town, accusing those present of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity.
“They raged against me,” Gautham said. “It was as if they wanted to kill me on the spot. However, police arrived and escorted us to the police station” where he and six other Christians were charged with violating the anti-conversion law. “They told us we should renounce our Christian faith and go back to Hinduism.”
According to the anti-conversion law, approved last February, “Ghar Wapsi” (homecoming), the reconversion to Hindu-ism, is not forced conversion, even if it is often accompanied by threats and intimi-dation.
According to the ICC, 30 Christians were arrested so far this month; that is up from previous months.
Tripura Church celebrates first World Day of Grandparents
Many parishes of Agartala diocese in the north-eastern state of Tripura on July 25 celebrated the first World Day of Grandpa-rents, declared by Pope Francis.
“Our parishes have traditionally been celebrating the Senior Citizens Day on the Sunday prior or after the feast of Saints Joachim and Anna, the grandpa-rents of Jesus. This year we are celebrating it as World Day of Grandparents and elderly people as suggested by the Holy Father, Bishop Lumen Monteiro of Agartala told Matters India.
Pope Francis instituted the world day for the elderly through a letter dated May 31. The Pope wants the annual celebration on the fourth Sunday in July, close to the feast of the Blessed Virgin’s parents.
Assuring the senior citizens, the Pope said, “I am well aware that this Message comes to you at a difficult time: the pandemic swept down on us like an unexpected and furious storm; it has been a time of trial for everyone, but especially for us elderly persons.”
Pope also said he wanted to celebrate the day, in this particular year, as a long period of isolation ends and social life slowly resumes. “May every grandfather, every grandmother, every older person, especially those among us who are most alone, receive the visit of an angel.”
Catholic priest arrested in Tamil Nadu for hate speech
A Catholic priest in Tamil Nadu’s Kanniyakumari district was arrested July 24 for spreading hate and enmity between religious groups. Father George Ponnaiah, parish priest from Panavilai, triggered a row by allegedly making disparaging remarks about ‘Bharat Mata’ and Hindu religion. The Kuzhithurai diocese condemned his comments made on July 18.
Addressing a meeting at Arumanai in protest against the closure of churches, the ban on conducting prayers in houses and the denial of permission for renovating or constructing churches on private ‘patta’ lands, he alleg-ed remarked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
According to Father Ponnaiah, M.R. Gandhi, a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Nagercoil, was responsible for the Mandaikaadu communal riots in 1982. He said the DMK’s victory in the assembly election was the “alms given by the Christians and the Muslims.”
His speech was condemned, among others, by State Minorities Commission chairman S Peter Alphonse.
Muslim businessman aids church construction in Abu Dhabi
An Indian Muslim billionaire businessman, based in United Arab Emirates, has come forward to help build a Protestant church in its capital city of Abu Dhabi.
Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, popularly known as M A Yusuff Ali on July 23 donated 500,000 dirhams (US$136,147 or 10,138,771 Indian rupees) for the construction of a worshipping centre of the Church of South India in Abu Dhabi. Ali is the chairperson and managing director of Lulu Group International, a multinational conglomerate company that operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies. Church of South India parish in Abu Dhabi Father Lalji M Philip received the check from Ali.
The church will be built on 4.37 acres of land donated by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces and the de facto ruler of Abu Dhabi.