In view of Nov. 2 All Souls Day, Catholic Church officials in Goa have advised not to use plastic and other toxic items to decorate graves to beat pollution and to safeguard environment.
The Church’s social welfare wing Caritas, in a letter to all parish priests and chaplains in the state, said these items should be shunned particularly on the occasion of All Souls Day, when Catholics visit and decorate their ancestors’ graves and pray for the departed souls.
Inside a two-story building within the crowded Bakshi Nagar area of Jammu and Kash-mir state, 35-year-old Emma-nuel Appan is preparing break-fast for aged and abandoned charity home residents in his care. Wearing a T-shirt and with a rosary around his neck, the young Catholic layman hands out cups of tea. It has been more than a year since Appan volunteered to work at the Little Teresa Home for the elderly and destitute managed by a charity called “Friends of Birds of the Air.” This charity movement, began operating some 25 years ago in southern Kerala state and has since spread to most other states. The Little Teresa Home opened three years ago. It provides food, shelter and medical care as well as emotional support to residents, who are mostly aged between 70-80.
“I choose this life for me and I am in love with it.” “God has made me a multi-tasked person,” he says light-heartedly. Fr Boby John of Jammu-Srina-gar Diocese, who heads the Little Teresa Home, praised the selfless efforts of volunteers such as Appan.
Catholic bishops have joined indigenous people in Jharkhand to oppose a planned corridor for wild life as it threatens to displace thousands of people in 214 villages. The govt. has identified 296 hectares of land plans to build a “wild life corridor” for elephants over four districts in the state. Bp Vincent Barwa said the plan is difficult for people to understand “because on one hand the government claims to be acting to protect the forest and tribal people, but on the other it moves to displace them.” Bishop Barwa, said the pro-Hindu government has made to marginalize tribal people and take over their lands on behalf of industrial companies.
The Believers Church has filed a defamation case against the head of the southern India’s top Protestant group for allegedly issuing statements against their supreme head and constitution.
Father Sijo Panthappallil, spokesperson of the Kerala-based Believers Church, issued a statement on October 16 saying their Bishop Joju Mathew of Niranom filed the case against Bishop Thomas K. Oommen, moderator of Church of South India (CSI).
The Judicial First Class Magistrate in Alleppy has admitted the case for issuing what he says are defamatory statements against their supreme head Archbishop K.P.Yohannan Metropolitan and other bishops. The petition claims the Believers Church was established with historical and constitutional episcopacy. Questioning the Church’s epis-copacy and making misleading and defamatory statements against their leaders were unfortunate and motivated by malice and personal hatred, it says. The petitioner states that the ceremonial consecration of K.P.Yohannan as the first bishop of the Church was solemnized by none other than former CSI Moderator Bishop K.J.Samuel in February 2003. The consecration ceremony was attended by renowned personalities in the socio-political spheres. The petition also alleged that the CSI moderator has been propagating that the CSI had never considered K.P.Yohannan as a bishop.
Kolkata will host a national colloquium on “Future of Christian Higher Education and Contemporary Transitions in India” on November 16 to launch the 80th year of Salesian College Sonada.
“For the first time, the colloquium will witness five Catholic universities of India,” Principal of Salesian College Dr George Thadathil told Matters to India on Oct. 22.
The event will be held at Don Bosco School Park Circus in Kolkata.
Father Thadthil adds, “The topic is pertinent in the contemporary educational scenario in India and the rising number of subtle attempts in the saffronization of educational establishments in the country.”
He expressed the hope that, “the colloquium while exposing the alarming trends in higher education will also inspire a growing number of Christian Institutions of educational excellence to upgrade them- selves to serve minorities and marginalized groups.” Salesian College Sonada, Darjeeling with a campus in Sliguri planes, a constituent college of North Bengal University, has applied for Autonomous status since two years. The Catholic Universities invited to participate in the colloquium include: Assam Don Bosco University Guwahati, Christ University Bangalore, St Xavier University Bhubaneswar, St Xavier University Kolkata, and St Joseph University Kohima, Nagaland.
The colloquium will discuss topics such as: Mission in Higher Education and Contemporary Transitions in India; Church’s Social Concern and Challenges from Corporates in Higher Education.
Among the speakers are: Chancellor of Don Bosco Univeristy Fr V.M. Thomas; Former Principal of Delhi’s St Stephen’s College Dr Valson Thampu; Vice-Chancellor of Christ University Dr Thomas C. Mathew; Professor of Eminence in Sociology & HoD Social Work Tezpur Central University Dr Virginius Xaxa; and Jesuit Higher Education Commission Coordinator Dr Xavier Alphonse.
Bishop Ivan Pereira of Jammu–Srinagar in northern India has asked the national government to ensure the safety of Muslim Rohingya refugees threatened by right-wing Hindu groups.
Death threats have caused more than 1,200 Rohingya to flee from the Jammu region where they have been sheltering since 2012 when ethnic violence flared in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in India, has long endured a violent secessionist conflict involving local Muslims who want the region to become fully independent or join with Pakistan. Jammu–Srinagar Diocese covers the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir. Some Hindu groups fear the presence of Rohingya could exacerbate the internal violence.
Bishop Pereira stressed that it was strife in Myanmar’s Rakhine State that forced them to leave their homes. The Indian federal government has announced plans to deport roughly 40,000 “illegal” Rohingya from India. Of the state’s 12.5 million people, the Jammu region has roughly 6 million people, 62% of them Hindus and the rest nearly all Muslims.
A tribal organisation held a rally in Ranchi on Oct. 23 against the Jharkhand government’s Anti-Conversion Bill and its proposed amendments in the 2013 Land Acquisition Act. The Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (ASA) organised the rally at Morabadi ground of Ranchi. “The government’s policies are anti-tribal. The state government is working against the sentiments of indigenous and tribal people. There is need to fight against the wrong policies of the state government,” Salkhan Murmu, president of AASA, said at the rally.
He said “The Anti-conversion Law and Amendment in the 2013 Land Acquisition Bill by the state is a cruel joke. We oppose both actions of the state government.” The BJP-led Jharkhand government has passed the Religious Independence Bill 2017. If a person is found guilty of converting a person then he will be liable to three years imprisonment. The state government has passed from the assembly to amend the 2013 Land Acquisition Act so that land can be acquired for industrial and other purposes. Tribal people numbering around 10,000 participated in the rally.
South Asian Jesuits are seeking collaboration with secular groups and marginalized people to make the region more tolerant and peaceful. ‘Collaboration and network for harmony’ was the theme that 112 leaders of Jesuits in Social Action (JESA) discussed on October 13-15 in Pune, western India. Program organizer and JESA secretary Father Stanislaus Jebamalai told ucanews.com the meeting focused on the ideals of freedom, justice and tolerance. JESA was started in 1973 to coordinate the work of Jesuit social workers in South Asia. The Pune gathering came two months after the Jesuit Conference of South Asia circulated a document that stressed South Asian nations were struggling against economic inequalities, caste discrimination and cultural hegemony. The statement noted that in India and Pakistan fundamentalist forces threatened religious minorities as well as progressive individuals and organizations.
Tamil actor Vijay thanked his fans and supporters in the film industry for defending his film Mersal, which was criticised by BJP leaders. BJP accused that Vijay, “a practising Christian,” was running a “hatred campaign” against the Narendra Modi government.
Vijay’s thank you message broke almost a week’s silence by the actor after the film was attacked. In his message, for the first time, the actor also used his full Christian name, C.Joseph Vijay.
While the controversy first began over ‘Mersal’ discussing the Centre’s pet projects like Goods and Service Tax and Digital India, BJP national secretary H. Raja turned it into a communal issue citing Vijay’s religion.
Raja shared a copy of the actor’s voter ID card showing his full name, Joseph Vijay, captioning it “Truth is bitter.”
In a fitting reply to those who targeted his Christian roots, Vijay issued the thanks note on a letter pad with his name in red and bold, wrote “Jesus Saves.”
Sources close to him said it was for the first time he introduced himself as C. Joseph Vijay before his fans.
“He was always Vijay to everyone. Who bothers about the surname of an actor? He has rarely issued similar public statements for his fans as most such communications were video messages. I do not remember him using his official name in a public statement addressing fans. When politicians try to put him in bad light for having a Christian identity, this is a strong reply,” said a source.
S A Chandrasekhar, Vijay’s father and noted Tamil director-producer, had earlier reacted to BJP’s accusations. Chandra-sekhar said that he left the columns of religion and caste vacant when he admitted his son to school.
“Why is a national leader worrying about my son’s Christian surname? Why is that significant in the life of an artiste? What is the problem even if he is a practising Christian? We see cinema as a medium, but they see it as a weapon and get scared of dialogues,” he said.
There are no Muslim or Christian terrorists because terrorists are no more religious once they embrace terror, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said. “People cease to be Muslim, Christian or any group the moment they became terrorists,” the Dalai Lama said at a public reception here on the second day of a three-day visit to Manipur.
The Tibetan leader also said that he does not like the “America first” slogan of US President Donald Trump.
A strong votary of non-violence, the Nobel Prize winner said violence does not solve any problem.
