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Founder of Protestant movement returns to Catholic Church

The founder of a prominent non-denominational movement in India has returned to the Catholic faith of his baptism, after more than a decade as a Pentecostal pastor and traveling preacher. Sajith Joseph, 36, was confirmed Dec. 21, 2019 at St Mary’s Cathedral in Punalur in the southern Indian State of Kerala. His family and nearly […]

Salesians educate 300 poor children in Rajasthan villages

The Don Bosco Development Society is providing education in 10 villages in the State of Rajasthan, for 300 extremely poor and disadvantaged children, including children of farmers and workers in quarries. The educational project is supported by the van Ameringen Foundation, which provides funds for innovative and practical programs for early intervention. Don Bosco Development […]

Kerala Church welcomes state check on religious education

A church official in the southern Indian State of Kerala has welcomed a direction from the state’s High Court for privately run schools not to impart religious education without government permission. The court ruled on whether schools unaided by the state can promote a particular religion to the exclusion of other religions in elementary schools. “It is […]

Card. Tagle bids farewell to hometown

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila bade farewell to his hometown in Cavite province, south of Manila, on Jan. 20, before his expected departure for Rome. The Manila prelate was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in last month. The 62-year-old cardinal is only the second Asian to lead the congregation, […]

Church hospitals agree to implement Mizoram government project

The Non-Governmental Hospital Association of Mizoram (NGHAM), an umbrella body of all private and church-run hospitals in the northeastern Indian state, has expressed their willingness to implement a healthcare scheme. Officials of the state health department said the association after its meeting on January 24 informed Health Minister R. Lalthangliana of its willingness to implement […]

India dropping Republic Day hymn upsets Christian leaders

The Indian government’s decision to stop its army band playing a traditional Christian hymn during a Republic Day celebration has dismayed Christian leaders. The Christian hymn Abide With Me has been part of the closing ceremony called Beating the Retreat, since India began celebrating Republic Day in 1950. However, from this year onward, the tune […]

Marx deplores export of fundamentalist Islam

Germany’s Catholic and Protestant leaders have mounted a coordinated new-year attack on the way some states in the Middle East are “exporting” fundamentalist Islam. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the president of the German bishops’ conference, and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the chairman of the German Protestant Churches, writing in the weekly Welt am Sonntag, criticised the way certain […]

Morality of drone warfare questioned after attack on Iranian general

It wasn’t an unusual request from a church leader. Still, its significance stems from its context and its timing: a few hours after the overnight killing of Iran’s top military leader, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. “Welcome to the new year!” Bishop Stika wrote. “Congress and the President are […]