Category: From The States

Christians in India face persecution “in all areas of public and private life,” according to a study by the Christian Aid group Open Doors. In majority Hindu India, “Christians are persecuted in all areas of public and private life, and anti-conversion laws (currently in nine states, with more considering adoption) are abused to harass and intimidate Christians,” according to the organization. Although few people are actually convicted under the anti-conversion laws, related cases “can drag on for years.” According to the U.S.-based Open Doors, “Hindu extremists” in India “believe that all Indians should be Hindus, and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background.”

In a distressing development for Andhra Pradesh, several Anglican schools, which did decades long yeoman service in taking free education to the most oppressed sections of the society, have shut down over the years. Even as these schools shut down one after the other, there was gross inaction and negligence from successive governments of the day and officials who let them suffer a silent death.

The Indian government on January 25 honoured a deceased Spanish Jesuit missionary with one of the nation´s highest civilian awards. Father Carlos Gonzalvez Valles, who died Nov. 9, 2020, in Madrid, capital of Spain, is among 102 chosen for Padma Shri (Lotus honored), the fourth highest in the awards. The posthumous award honours the Jesuit missionary’s contribution to literature and education.

St Charles Major Seminary that began in the central Indian city of Nagpur with one student and a teacher in a bullock cart 169 years ago has a new rector. Dominican Father Aquin Noronha, a former missionary to South Africa, has been elected to lead the seminary that currently trains priests for 42 dioceses in central and northern Indian dioceses. Father Noronha will assume office in June when the seminary begins its new academic year.

Divine World Father Franz Josef Eilers, former executive secretary of the social communication office of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), died on January 13 in Manila, capital of the Philippines. The German missionary to Asia was 89. The death occurred at 2:40 pm local time (12:10 pm India), according to a press note from Salesian Father George Plathottam, the current executive secretary of the FABC Office of Social Communication.

Kerala  Legislative Assembly has reprimanded a Catholic legislator for insulting a Catholic nun after she accused a bishop of raping her. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan read out a statement on Jan. 22 saying P.C. George acted against a house member’s dignity in his criticism of the nun. George’s criticism and comments “violated the house members’ code of conduct” and lowered ‘the dignity of the members,” the speaker told the house.

A 25-year-old Pakistani Christian was arrested and charged with violating the country’s blasphemy laws after sharing a social media post critical of Islam in December. Pastor Raja Warris, a Christian pastor, was charged for posting on Facebook on Dec. 22 a message that reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of his Muslim neighbours.
On Dec. 26, hundreds of people gathered in Warris’ Charar neighbourhood in the city of Lahore and threatened to behead the pastor and to set fire to Christian homes unless police took action.
“The situation turned dangerous when someone found out the Muslims were planning to set fire to the houses of Christians,” said Saleem Khokhar, one of those displaced by the incident.
“This forced the Christians to flee the neighbourhood,” he told the group International Christian Concern (ICC).
Hundreds of anti-riot policemen were deployed to Charar while leaders of the Christian community met with authorities to resolve the situation.
“The police said they could not guarantee the safety of our people if the accused was not presented for arrest,” said Rev. Ayub Gujjar, vice moderator of the Raiwind Diocese of the Church of Pakistan. “We reluctantly agreed to bring Warris but demanded that he be kept at an undisclosed location due to the serious threat to his life,” the church leader told local media.
On Dec. 27, police charged Warris with committing blasphemy. He also apologized for the social media post.
William Stark, regional manager of ICC, said called on Pakistani authorities “to continue to protect the homes of Charar’s Christians” although Warris has already been charged.
He said “there is still the potential for mob violence against the Christians of Charar.”
“No one should be forced to flee their home because of a social media post,” said Stark, adding that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws “must not be misused to justify mob violence.”

Sister Christin Mary is a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Im-maculate Heart of Mary, also known as ICM Sisters.
Based in the western Indian city of Mumbai, Mary coordinates the National Domestic Workers’ Movement, which has been championing the rights of domestic workers, children in domestic work, and migrant domestic workers since 1985. Today, its work is spread across 17 states of India, engaging nearly 200,000 domestic workers in major cities, towns and villages.
The movement was set up by Belgian Sister Jeanne Devos, also of the ICM Sisters, who spent several years as a missionary in India. She was concerned about the plight of Indian domestic workers who were exploited and whose work was undervalued.
Mary shared with Global Sisters Report about her work with the movement. She said the movement has emerged as a ray of hope for thousands of children who were deprived of their childhood and education, rehabilitating and educating them to enter mainstream society. The movement, she said, has set the tone for “breaking the slavery of silence.”
“Our journey is a road less trave-led,” the 47-year-old nun said. She expressed some of major hardships “Slow response from the govern-ments to protect the rights of workers and the exclusion of workers from the purview of labour laws even after constant lobbying efforts are some of them. Failure of the government to allocate a budget for the welfare board has created difficulties for the domestic workers to avail the social protection schemes on time. Domestic workers also report unfair dismissal when they ask for better wages and working conditions.” About her mitivations she said:
“When I was a student in a convent school in the southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, I saw religious sisters helping the poor children who couldn’t afford to pay their fees and buy books. In my student days, I heard about the plights of child workers who were forced to sacrifice their childhoods to support their starving families. I used to be disturbed about those children, whose dreams were nipped in the bud. My desire to serve the underprivileged children and women motivated me to become a nun in 2001.”

As many as 56 newly ordained priests of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Congregation (CMI) on January 4 celebrated thanksgiving Mass at St Joseph’s Monastery Church in Mannanam in Kerala’s Kottayam district where their founder’s remains are kept.
Father Mathew Chandrankunnel, a member of the congregation and a professor of theology, said the young men were ordained priests recently for their 15 provinces. All are from Kerala but belong to various provinces of southern and northern India.
Father Chandrankunnel said the new priests had undergone training that lasted from 10 to 15 years. They will now serve God and wider humanity all over the world, he told Matters India. The Kerala-based congregation works in various parts of India and abroad. It had 2,597 members, including 1,900 priests in 2016.
The first indigenous Catholic religious congregation in India was founded in 1831 by Fathers Thomas Palackal and Thomas Porukara, along with Saint Kuriakose Chavara – all members of the Syro-Malabar Church.

The Small Christian Community (SCCs) members from Dumka diocese in Jharkhand shared unanimously that their faith in Christ was deepened during the lockdown.
Representatives from two parishes of 13 SCC units of St Joseph’s Parish, Guhiajori village, about 10 km from Dumka town and Sacred Hear Parish in Dumka shared their experience of Christian life during an animation session on January 13.
During the Lockdown when the churches were closed and the Mass was not celebrated, we had family prayer together both morning and evening, said Esther Murmu, an SCC animator. As our children were not going to school I led the prayers in the house and read the Bible, which we hardly did earlier, added Mrs. Murmu, a school teacher sharing her experience. This united us in our family, she shared.