Category: From The States

His missionary experience at St. Edmund Catholic Church in Limbang, a town in Sarawak state in Malaysian Borneo, has left an indelible mark on the life of Father Christu Kolaba-thina, better known as Ravindra Babu.
The Indian priest from St. Joseph Missionary Society of Mill Hill (popularly known as Mill Hill Missionaries) has served as the assistant pastor of a parish in Miri Diocese since September 2018.
The second of five children, Father Ravindra was educated in Catholic schools in India. The first part of his missionary and priestly formation including philosophy studies was completed in India and then he was sent to St Joseph Forma-tion Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, for theological studies.
He spent two years in a missionary experience pro-gram in the Diocese of Kroon-stad in South Africa and was ordained a priest on Feb. 3, 2016, in the Archdiocese of Hyderabad in India.
Limbang Parish is Father’s Ravindra’s second missionary assignment. He landed in his first mission as a priest for Lapok Parish, also in Miri Diocese, in June 2016.

Pastors, priests, heads of schools and parishioners from various parts of Kolkata participated in an Easter Rally that was organized on April 4 evening.
The rally with 1,100-odd participants started from Bishop’s College and culminated with a thanksgiving worship service on the grounds of St James’ School.
The rally included participants from Catholic, Church of North India, Assembly of God and Baptist Churches.
“A year ago we faced the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and the churches were closed but our faith sustained us and this year the churches have opened. For Easter, the message is of hope and peace,” said Catholic Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta.
“Love brings unity and peace destroys hatred and even in hopelessness we should not be in despair… and not give up. We must live as good Christians and good citizens.”

A book written by Father Varghese Alengaden on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his priestly ordination was released at a function March 31 at Indore. Renowned journalist Shravan Garg, who released “Ho Jayega” (It will be done), described the book as “an attitude that helps a person to overcome crises in life.”
He also said that the “Ho Jayega” philosophy enabled Father Alengaden to achieve great things in his life, especially starting the Universal Solidarity Movement of Value Education for Peace (USM) and nurturing it.

A Catholic priest going to conduct Good Friday service in a mission centre in the diocese of Ujjain on April 2 was killed in a road accident.
Father John Nadunilam was going from Jamner town to Kalapipal village, some 10 km northeast, in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. The death occurred when his car collided with a truck in the morning. He was 46.

Catholic media persons in India on April 10 mourned the death of Jesuit    Fr Varghese Paul, a prolific Gujarati writer who started a news agency for South Asia in early 1980s. He was 77. Father Paul, a member of the Gujarat Jesuit province, died at 7:30 am on April 10 at GMERS (Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society) Hospital at Gotri in Vadodara, Gujarat. “He was shifted to the hospital last night. Lately he suffered from Covid besides other illnesses that he was suffering from,” says a message from Father Cedric Prakash, a Gujarat Jesuit.

As many as 46 students of XLRI’s Jamshedpur campus have tested positive for Covid-19. The students who tested positive have been isolated and quarantined within the campus and kept under observation by the resident doctor.

A Catholic priest on April 7 received the Pride of Gujarat Award from the state chief minister Nitin Patel.
Father Jomon Thommana is currently the director of Christ Campus in Rajkot, a major city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. He was the founder director of Christ Educational Foundation and director of Rajkot’s Christ Hospital.
Christ Hospital was the first Covid-19 healthcare institution in Gujarat. It has developed the best medical care facility in Rajkot with the pandemic.
The award recognizes individuals, institutions and companies for their exemplary achievements and contributions towards economic and industrial growth, society, state and nation building.

Two Christian nurses were rescued by police-men from an enraged mob after being accused of blasphemy by their hospital’s staff in Pakistan.
Staff nurse Mariam Lal and student nurse Newish Urooj were detained by police after a first information report (FIR) under section 295-B of the blasphemy law was made by Dr. Mirza Muhammad Ali of Civil Hospital, Faisalabad.
“Labbayk ya Rasool-Allah [Here I am at your service, O Messenger of Allah]” and “Be-heading the only punishment for blasphemer” chanted protesters gathered on April 9 in the emergency department of Civil Hospital. One of them kicked Lal as she entered a police van.
Muhammad Waqas, a ward boy in the hospital, confessed to wounding Lal in a knife attack.
“That filthy daughter of a bitch, a Christian staff, tore away a sticker inscribed with Durood Shareef [a salutation for Prophet Muhammad] from the cupboard,” he said during a meeting with hospital officials.
“I asked her why she did it. A Muslim can’t keep quiet against blasphemy to his prophet. You are all Muslims. I attacked her with a knife, wounding her arm. I would have killed her. My life is to serve.”
Section 295-B of the blasphemy law stipulates that defiling a copy of the Quran is punishable by life imprisonment.

A church dedicated to Saint Teresa of Calcutta was blessed on April 10 at the outskirts of north Kolkata amid pandemic restrictions. Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta, who blessed the church, expressed his joy at the completion of the church building. Vicar general Father Dominic Gomes and Father Anthony Rodricks, dean of North 24 Parganas were among the priests who concelebrated.

The Madhya Pradesh police have arrested an educationist for writing a blog on the ideals of secularism with a blend of spirituality in context of Vedas and Lord Jesus.
The FIR was registered at Narayangarh Police station against Rajendra Prasad Dwi-vedi, a resident of Bhopal and a former District Education Officer, in November 2020 on the complaint of Suresh Sahu, a lawyer and Rashtriya Swaya-msevak Sangh (RSS) activist.
Sahu, a resident of Nara-yangarh of Mandsaur district in his police complaint alleged that Dwivedi has outraged his religious feelings by showing Hinduism in poor light in his blog. Police on April 4 booked Dwivedi under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and sent him to judicial custody.
Sahu further alleged that Dwivedi’s blog ‘Pragyapra-vaah.in’ is in resemblance of RSS’s Prajnapravah.com, a portal that propagates the ideas of Hinduism and nationalism, and he has been publishing articles that propagates the ideas of Christianity.