India, a land of abundance and enduring democracy, has slipped below neighbour Bangladesh in the poverty index and will have to work hard to play the big brother role in South Asia. More than seven decades after their country escaped its British colonial legacy, Indians are relatively worse off than their counterparts in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan in the Global Hunger Index.

Ten diocesan priests from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry have released a book on the Church financial administrative culture. “It was a soul searching process while we prepared the book Akkarai (concern) 2020,” Father Devasagayaraj M Zackarias, one of the authors and a former national secretary of the Indian bishops’ office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.

Pope Francis has appointed Divine Word Father Sebastian Maria Michael, a noted sociologist and writer, as a consulter of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. Father Michael is the director of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Arch-diocese of Bombay. He is a professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai, and honorary director, Institute of Indian Culture, Mumbai.

A court has set aside India’s only communist government’s order to acquire more than 2,000 acres of land belonging to a Christian denomination for a proposed airport in Kerala State.
The Kerala high court, the top court in the southern Indian state, on Oct. 16 quashed a notification issued by the state government to initiate the process for acquiring 2,253 acres of rubber plantation in possession of the Believers’ Church.

Church and political leaders in India have condemned the gang rape and murder of a Dalit woman in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The 19-year-old died in national capital Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Sept. 29 after she was raped in Hathras on Sept. 14. She was taken to Safdarjung on Sept. 28 from Aligarh Muslim University Medical College.
“There are no words that can describe this inhuman and barbaric act. We condemn the heinous crime committed on the poor Dalit girl and destroying her family. It’s a very unfortunate and sad thing to happen in a democratic country where a crime was committed weeks ago but the administration is still in the dark,” Bishop Gerald John Mathias of Lucknow told.
“Crimes and atrocities against Dalits and the downtrodden are nothing new in this part of the country. You take any newspaper or scan a television channel you can read about their plight, the injustice done towards Dalits.
“The main reason behind the rape cases in the state is the mentality of the people here who think of women as objects and treat women as second-class citizens. Unless that mentality changes, we will hear about crimes like these every other day.” The bishop, who is based in the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, said people have no fear of the law and don’t hesitate to take the law into their hands, which is very dangerous for civil society.
According to media reports, four upper-caste men attacked the Dalit woman in Hathras. She suffered multiple fractures, paralysis and a deep gash on her tongue.
Based on the complaint filed by her parents, four men have been arrested and charged with gang rape and attempted murder.
Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, a human rights activist, told that “the brutal gang rape and the subsequent murder of the Dalit woman in Hathras should make us all hang our heads in shame. This is a heinous crime which we condemn in no uncertain terms.”

In New Delhi, some 200 people gathered at downtown Jantar Mantar to observe the National Day of Solidarity for Father Stan Swamy.
Prominent human rights activists such as Shabanam Hashmi, Harsh Mander and Apoorvanand Jha addressed the gathering. According to them, the government has exposed itself by arresting a Jesuit priest who has worked for the rights of poor tribal communities for more than three decades.
India Matters India Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan (save Narmada campaign), who joined the program through Zoom meeting, said her heart beats for Father Stan, who “worked for Atmanirbhar Adivasi” (self-reliant Tribal).
At Guwahati in Assam, the gateway to northeastern India, an ecumenical program was organized to show solidarity with Father Swamy. The participants demanded immediate release of the Jesuit priest all Intellectuals and activists who have been arrested for standing with the poor and the marginalized.
India_Matters India-Guwahati meeting Intellectuals, editors, politicians from the Northeast also had a virtual meeting that attracted over a hundred participants to express their solidarity with Father Swamy and other human rights activists who appear to be arbitrarily implicated by the law enforcement agencies, in what is being seen in liberal circles as an effort to intimidate those who speak up.
In Bengaluru, capital of the southern Indian State of Karnataka, large number of people cutting across religions, formed a 3-kilometer human chain against what they described as “the illegal treatment and arrest of Father Stan Swamy.”
In Kochi, Kerala, various Christian denominations on October 11 demanded the release of Father Swamy, who was arrested in what they called “in gross violation of human rights and democratic norms.”
In a statement, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council expressed shock at the arrest of the Jesuit priest.
In Patna, Bihar, many social and human rights organizations joined a protest rally to express solidarity with Father Swamy. Some hundred people waved posters and chanted for the release of the priest, who they said was legally ‘abdu-cted’ by the NIA on trumped up charges.

Bosco Youth of Bangalore Archdiocese has celebrated the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi Jayanti) by pledging a greener nature.
Around 41 Bosco youth and their animators on October 2 planted more than 1,000 saplings at Kishore Farm, Manchanahalli, Chikka-ballapur district about 60 km from Bengaluru city. It was part of a mega rural plantation drive organized by the Lions Club International, Region IV.
It was yet another opportunity for the members of Bosco Youth to pledge towards a greener nature, Fathers William D’Souza, the regional director of Bosco Youth, Karnataka, explained.
He said the youth group is guided by the motto “Together Towards a Better World.”

Caritas India, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s social wing, has bagged the award for the best non-govern-mental organization for health-care services during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Federal Health Minister Harsh Vardhan presented the award to Father Paul Moonjely, director of Caritas India, on Oct. 2 in a virtual ceremony organized by media group India Today.
“The institutional strength of the Church as a humanitarian collective helped us to team up and reach out to the last mile with the amazing support of the church leadership,” Father Moonjely said in his message after receiving the award.
“I dedicate this award to all our Covid warriors, health workers and volunteers in different parts of the country at community and institutional levels.”
The Healthgiri Awards 2020 acknowledged the invin-cible spirit of corona warriors who have led the battle against the pandemic. The awards are the reincarnated version of the Safaigiri Awards held annually on Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the father of the nation.
This year’s event was held in the national capital to honor the pioneering efforts of corona warriors from all walks of life.
During the Covid-19 humanitarian response, Caritas India went the extra mile to show solidarity with and provide support for the vulnerable and marginalized sections of society.

St Pius X College, the major seminary of the Arch-diocese of Bombay, October 5 celebrated its sixty years of existence.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, celebrated the thanksgiving Mass at the seminary located at Goregaon West.
The seminary has been instrumental in training ‘Ambassadors for Christ’ for Western India and beyond, the cardinal said. He also thanked all associated with the establishment and growth of the seminary since 1960.
The cardinal prayed that the seminary continue to send forth messengers for Christ.
The seminary is named after Pope Pius X (1835–1914), who was known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting liturgical reforms and scholastic philosophy and theology.
Seminary training in Bombay Archdiocese had many beginnings starting as early as 1770.

Catholics and Jesuits in the eastern Indian State of Jharkhand are mourning a Belgian priest who worked tirelessly to educate tribal people and the downtrodden.
Father Louis Francken died on Oct. 5 in Constant Lievens Hospital and Research Centre in Mandar, a suburb of Ranchi, the state capital. He was 82 and died of age-related illnesses.
“His first love was education and until the end he was dedicated to his work educating tribal people and the downtrodden so that they can become self-dependent and improve their socioeconomic conditions in society,” Father Ajay Soreng, secretary to the Ranchi Jesuit provincial, told.