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National

Justice mission claimed 56 Jesuits in 50 years

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As many as 56 Jesuits have lost their lives since their congregation made a commitment to promote a “faith that does justice” and foster reconciliation in society 50 years ago, says an official of the Society of Jesus.

“If we want to stand for justice, we have to pay the price. We have sacrificed many Jesuits and their collaborators as our forefathers worked hard to bring justice and reconciliation in the world,” said Father Xavier Jeyaraj, director of Jesuits’ Rome-based Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat.

Father Jeyaraj, a member of the Calcutta Jesuit province, was addressing around 220 conferrers and their associates in South Asia who have gathered in Delhi to celebrate the golden jubilee of their congregation’s commitment to justice.

“If we want to commit for future, be ready to pay the price,” he told the opening session of the September 26-27 program at Navjeevan Renewal Centre in Old Delhi.

Father Jeyaraj, who went to Rome in 2017 after four years of service as the secretary of Jesuits in Social Action in South Asia, said similar celebrations have taken place in various continents and all of them were occasions to review their ways, re-strengthen themselves to recommit to justice.

The bald and mustachioed diminutive Jesuit, who took up social justice seriously after a shock experience of witnessing the demolition of shanties in Mumbai in 1985, pointed out that the golden jubilee celebration takes place at a time when several crises that grip the world hinder the mission of justice and reconciliation.

“There is a crisis of democracy and leadership, a crisis rising from the growth of religious fundamentalism that destroys unity and harmony and a crisis of environment,” he explained.

He said many people in India cutting across religious and ideologies have paid the price for standing for truth and justice.

From The States

Belagavi: Church-cum-mutt a rare example of religious harmony

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On Sunday mornings, when they are not working in the fields that surround Deshnur, around 200 of the village’s 12,000 people go to Snanika Arulappanavara Virakta Mutt, a shrine where they attend mass that a Catholic priest holds in Kannada.

Yet, not a single inhabitant of the village is Christian. Within the imposing building of large stone blocks, also known as the Church of St John the Baptist, is a tabernacle in the form of a Shiva linga – a reminder that it once was a Lingayat mutt.

The Jesuit priest who conducts mass and runs the church, Menino Gonsalves, introduces himself as Sri Menino Swamy. He wears saffron robes and a rudraksha mala as his congregation worships Jesus and Mary in Lingayat style, burning camphor and agarbatties and with vibhuti smeared on their foreheads.

Since its establishment as a church in 1947, five Christian priests have served in the shrine, said Sri Menino. “We all adopted Hindu names,” he said. “Our founding father, Armado Alvares, called him-self Sri Animananda Swamy. Father Sebastien became Swami Arulananda.”

All the Jesuit priests who have served at the church became vegetarians and wore rudrakshamalas, he said. Sri Menino sees no incongruity in the mingling of Hindu and Christian elements in the mutt. It is an experiment in social integration, Sri Menino said. Prelates of the Catholic Church described the shrine as an example of assimilation of local culture.

Sri Menino, who has been in charge of the church for 11 years, dismissed as an “unnecessary controversy” the uproar on social media about alleged conversions at the shrine, triggered by photographs of Belgaum Bishop Derek Fernandes wearing saffron robes and with a tilak on his forehead during a recent visit to the village.

Asian

Marian pilgrimage boosts business in Pakistani village

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Nasreen was depressed after a stroke left her husband paralyzed on his right side three years ago. Her youngest son took up his father’s job as a mason in the Catholic village of Mariamabad in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

“Suddenly our sole breadwinner became bedridden. The loans kept climbing. I felt helpless as an unskilled housewife,” the 46-year-old mother of five told ucanews.com.

That was until Lahore Arch-diocese announced that the 70th annual pilgrimage to the National Marian Shrine in Mariamabad would be held from Sept. 13-15 under the theme “St Mary: The woman of dialogue.”

More than a million devotees and young people from all over Pakistan travelled to the shrine on foot, by bicycle or in vehicles to pray and intercede with the Blessed Mother for special favours. They lit candles and incense sticks and covered the statue of the Blessed Mother with colourful embroidered dupattas (long scarves).

In keeping with tradition, thousands of Muslims also expressed their personal devotion to Mary, whom the Quran honours as the mother of Jesus, considered a prophet. The non-stop processions head toward a grotto that is a replica of the one in Lourdes, France.

An area in front of the Church of St Mary and St Joseph was allocated for a weekend market. The selection of goods and services included Christian gifts, souvenirs, gospel CDs, toys, clothing, food, beverages and even tattoo parlours.

International

Populism is pushing democracy to the brink, warns new cardinal

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Democracy is under threat due to the rising tide of populism, according to a new Luxembourg cardinal who is urging the church to stand against anti-democratic forces present in politics.

Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, who made a cardinal by Pope Francis on 5th October, said the simple answers offered by populist politics will not solve complex problems and end up leaving people even more disillusioned. “The church has a very clear standpoint. We are against populism, we are in favour of human rights and we are in favour of democracy. And democracy is in danger because civilisation is changing,” he told The Tablet.

The interview is published on the day the Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament was unlawful, although Hollerich spoke to before the ruling was announced by Lady Hale.

Cardinal-designate Hollerich, 61, who is President of Comece (the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union), said the pace of change caused by digitisation raises questions about how democracies can function in the future.

“Populism in that sense is very dangerous because the questions are not asked anymore,” he said. “You give a very simple answer – and simple answers are popular nowadays. It’s much more difficult to present a complex situation and find complex solutions. But people will also be disillusioned.” “If the United Kingdom is not a member of the European Union, it is still a European country, and we need to have good relations,” he explains. “So we should do everything to have the best deal, and compromises have to be found, and that is very important for me.”

National

Indian bishop says Church needs ‘to clean our own house’ on Dalit rights

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Despite guidelines supporting Dalit Christians – formerly known as “untouchable” – not every church leader is working in their defense, according to one Indian bishop.

“We still have to clean up our own house,” Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak told Crux. “In some places, sadly, the caste system is still there, in spite of us being Christians, and Dalit Christians suffer because of it still. It’s a very scandalous image of the church, but it’s there.”

“I don’t see so much of a hardship, but a continuation of persecution that we’ve faced. But we also have to trust in our judiciary system: If someone is accused of something, you have to go to the court.

Our challenge is that even in the case of the Khandamal violence, we had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to get permission to help our own people, because the local judges wouldn’t allow us to. We had to fight it out.

That’s still happening today: We have to go all the way to the Supreme Court. This is the case of rights for Dalit Christians, that has been in the Court for over 15 years. They represent some 20 million people, who are suffering exclusion in the name of religion, but nobody seems to be taking it seriously and the government is lingering.

However, the information we have is that in the month of September there will be a hearing.

“At a bishops’ conference level, we released a series of policies on Dalit Christians, but in the end, it’s up to each bishop and each diocese to guarantee that these don’t remain as just a document. And on the bishops doing more at a local level, I believe there’s still much to be done. We still have to clean up our own house. In some places, sadly, the caste system is still there, in spite of us being Christians, and Dalit Christians suffer because of it still. It’s a very scandalous image of the Church, but it’s there.”

From The States

Over 200 cases of violence against Christians in India reported

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More than 200 incidents of violence against Christians reported in India, according to data compiled by advocacy group, New Delhi-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) – India.

According to ADF-India, 218 incidents in 243 days of 2019, 159 mob violence incidents and 27 incidents a month were recorded. Since the beginning of this year, the reported incidents of violence against Christians have been reported on United Christian Forum (UCF) toll-free helpline number. “Modus operandi followed in all 159 cases of mob violence are the same. A mob accompanied by the police arrives at the prayer service, shouts slogans and beats up the members of the congregation including women and children. Then the pastors are arrested or detained by the police under the false allegation of conversion,” A C Michael, development director for ADF- India, said in a press statement.

According to him, in some cases, friendly media is taken along to ensure publication of their side of story. What’s more important to notice is that till today none of these false allegations have ever been sustained in a court of law. In fact, almost all of the arrested pastors have either been released on bail or acquitted as the police or the unruly crowd has failed to provide evidence of forceful conversions.

“It will not be exaggeration if it is stated that many Christians are experiencing restrictions of their freedom to practice their faith in one way or the other in a large part of India’s territory that is 23 states out of 28 states of India,” he said.

Uttar Pradesh leads the chart with 51 incidents followed by 41 in Tamil Nadu, 24 in Chhattisgarh, 17 in Jharkhand, 16 in Karnataka, 14 in Telangana, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, 9 in Maharashtra, 6 in Haryana, 5 in Bihar, 4 in Delhi, 3 in Odisha, 2 each in Himachal Pradesh,

Asian

Dream new South Asia of cooperation, harmony: Pattery

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The head of the Jesuits in South Asia has called for a new South Asian Association of Regional Corporation that encourages greater economic exchanges and more socio-political harmony.

South Asia like rest of the world currently witnesses “an upsurge of the right-wing, with a lethal combination of nationalism and religion, the ongoing weakening of democratic processes and the apathy of the youth for social concerns,” says Father George Pattery, president of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia.

He was addressing the opening session of a two-day program to celebrate the 50 years of Jesuit commitment to social justice and reconciliation. Around 220 Jesuit social activists and their collaborators are attending the September 26-27 program at Navjeevan Renewal Center in Old Delhi.

The Jesuits in Social Action and the Vidyajyoti College of Theology, joint organizers of the program, terms it as convention to “walk with the poor, the outcastes of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice.”

“Across the world there is an upsurge of the right-wing, with a lethal combination of nationalism and religion, the ongoing weakening of democratic processes and the apathy of the youth for social concerns. “And the young man went away sad because he was a man of riches’- the world seems to have been numbed into sadness of the plenty of the rich!”

South Asia is no exception. Majoritarian religious nationalism, the near-total compliance of the media to the desires of the ruling Govt, the populist methods over-ridding true democratic processes and the mob rule with the silent condoning by the Govts mark our situation today. While Sri Lanka is struggling with the terrorist threats, Bangladesh and Pakistan are on thin democratic threads, Afghanistan remain uncertain about its future. We, Jesuits of South Asia have to begin to dream of a South Asia, cradle of many religions and cultures, to grow into a credible socio-political entity to bring in fresh thinking. As Fr Arthuro Sosa said to us: “I want South Asian Jesuits to be players in international relations and peace initiative in S. Asia.” Fr George Pattery said.

National

Canonization process of Arunachal Martyrs gains momentum

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The Canonization process of the French Missionaries, Fathers Nicolas Michael Krick and Augustin-Etienne Bourry, who were martyred in Arunachal Pradesh 165 years ago, gained momentum with the constitution and inauguration of the Diocesan Board of Inquiry at St Peter’s Church, Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh. In the presence of Priests, Women Religious and a large number of people from around eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh, the new members of the Diocesan Board of Inquiry took oath to discharge their duties faithfully according to the norms of the Church, du-ring a solemn Eucharistic celebration at the Catholic Church in the capital town of Lohit District.

The work of the beatification of the two French Missionaries belonging to the France’s Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP) or the Society of the Parish Foreign Missions is actively promoted by the Bishop George Pallipparambil of Miao Diocese.

The two French missionaries were killed by Mishmi Chief of Somme village, bordering China, on their way to Tibet in the year 1854.

From The States

Dark days are ahead for India: Justice Katju

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“Something has happened in India which reminds me of what happened in Germany during the Nazi era.

After Hitler took power in January 1933 almost the whole of Germany went mad, people shouting ‘Heil Hitler,’ ‘Sieg Heil,’ ‘Juden Verecke’ and adoring that madman like hypnotized zombies. One can see it all on YouTube.

Germans are such highly cultured people, who produced great scientists like Max Planck and Einstein, great writers like Goethe and Schiller, great poets like Heine, great musicians like Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, great reformers like Mart-in Luther, great philosophers like Kant, Nietzsche, Hegel and Marx, great mathematicians like Leibnitz, Gauss and Riemann, and great statesmen like Frederick the Great and Bismarck. I found every German I met to be a fine person…

The same has happened now to most Indians. Ever since the BJP, which is a right wing Hindu neo-fascist party come to power in 2014, a huge communal propaganda has been unleashed in India against the Indian minorities (particularly the Muslims) by hate speeches, accusing them of killing cows, seducing Hindu girls (love jihad ) etc thus poisoning the minds of most Hindus, who are the majority in India.”

[Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and former Chairman, Press Council of India.]

Asian

Pak blasphemy accused acquitted after nearly 20 years

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The Pakistan Supreme Court on September 25 acquitted a blasphemy accused who was earlier sentenced to death by the trial and high court, after nearly two decades.

The apex court, in its judgment, observed that the prosecution failed to prove the case against the accused, Wajeehul Hassan, who had earlier challenged his conviction, The Express Tribune reported.

Hassan was accused by a lawyer in 1998 for writing blasphemous letters to him.

During the hearing, Justice Sajjad Shah observed that the prosecution had failed to prove that the letters were written by Hassan and dismissed the case.