A court in Kerala has sentenced a former sacristan to life for killing the rector of a famous Christian pilgrim centre in the southern Indian State.

“The sacristan is sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence punishable under section 302 of IPC and has to pay a fine of (100, 000 rupees),” Ernakulam Principal Sessions and District Judge Kauser Edappagath said in the May 4 order. If the sacristan fails to pay the fine amount, he has to suffer simple imprisonment for one year, the court added. Johnny Vattaparampil, the sacristan of St Thomas Mount at Malayattoor in Ernakulam district, was convicted for stabbing to death Father Xavier Thelakkat, the shrine’s rector, on March 1, 2018.

It’s a tale of two Sundays, 163 years apart. Once again, a battle has forced one of the oldest churches in northern India to shut down for almost two months. The last time the British-built St John’s Church shut doors was in 1857 when the first war of Indian independence, or the Sepoy Mutiny, broke out. This time, the war against coronavirus has forced it to close.

It was the evening of Sunday on May 10, 1857, when the Revolt against the East India Company erupted in Sadar Bazar area of Meerut. Soon, it spread across northern India.

In all, 50 Europeans were killed on that day. Many of them were caught unawares as they were heading towards St John’s Church, located on the British side of the cantonment for Evening Sunday Church service.

All those Europeans stayed in the civilian side and had to cross the main city drain that divided British infantries from the rest.

As many as 187 cases of hate crimes against Christians in India in the first quarter of this year (January to March) are recorded, according to data gathered by Persecution Relief.

Persecution Relief, an ecumenical Christian group, released its much-awaited ‘1st Quarter Report – 2020 of Hate Crimes against Christians in India’ on April 26.

From January 2016 to March 2020, 1961 cases of hate crimes against Christians have been recorded across India.

“Amid coronavirus challenges and situation, the attacks on Christians have not stopped, but it has been reduced to a certain extent, said Shibu Thomas, founder, Persecution Relief.

Indian Christians, a religious minority, amount to 2.3% of the country’s total population. However, they have never faced a situation as hostile as the current one since independence.

Between 1st quarter of 2016 to 1st quarter of 2020, there has been a rise of 128.04% of hate crimes against Christians all across the country. In the 1st quarter of 2016, Persecution Relief recorded 82 cases, in 2017 – 134, 2018 – 117, 2019 – 130, and in 2020, it recorded 187 cases of Christian persecution.

Persecution Relief is an organization that creates a global awareness about Christian persecution in India by reporting authentic information and advocating on behalf of the persecuted Christians by providing them with comprehensive support.

Its reports are trusted and utilized by various Governments and organizations across the globe.

“Our reports are logical and all-inclusive about the atrocities faced by the Christians in India,” said Thomas.

Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India with roughly 200 million inhabitants and the most populous state, continues to be on top with 47 cases followed by Tamil Nadu 20 and Karnataka with 16 cases.

When India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus on March 24, he gave the country just four hours’ notice.

This was disastrous for India’s millions of migrant workers, who often leave their villages for jobs in the country’s large cities. These jobs are usually as day laborers, where wages are low, and savings non-existent. Suddenly, people were stranded far from home, unable to travel, and with little or no money to survive.

In Mumbai, the Jesuit St. Stanislaus school has opened a migrant relief camp for 100 men; in the Catholic school’s Arrupe Hall, 25 women are housed.

“St. Stanislaus High School decided to take a step forward in making available its premises to house outstation workers during the lockdown, realizing that many had lost not only jobs but were also not able to remain in their housing, for various reasons,” explained Jesuit Father Frazer Mascarenhas, the manager of the facility.

One of India’s most historic churches is suffering from “sheer negligence” by the country’s main cultural protection body, according to its rector.

The Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa was consecrated in 1605 and houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier.

Jesuit Father Patricio Fernandes says the “colossal negligence, incompetence and inefficiency” of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) – a government body charged with the protection, preservation and conservation of nation-al monuments – has led to considerable damage to the church building and could lead to further deterioration.

The priest’s remarks came in a letter to the head of the Goa Circle of the ASI.

“The ASI’s indifference towards the Basilica – considered of religious and tourist importance all over the world for several centuries – has been most shocking and unacceptable,” Fernandes writes.

Goa – then a Portuguese colony – was annexed by India in 1961, and over 25 percent of the population is Christian – compared to the national rate of 2.3%. Goa is considered the heart of Latin Rite Catholicism in India, and UNESCO named the churches and convents of Goa a World Heritage Site.

Jesuit Superior General Father Arturo Sosa on April 30 appointed Father Jerome Stanislaus D’Souza as the head of South Asia region, the fastest growing Jesuit communities in the world. Father D’Souza, popularly called Father Stany, is the current provincial of Karnataka. He replaces Father George Pattery, who held the post for more than six years.

French Canadian artist Claude Lafortune, who hosted children’s programs based on the Gospel on national television, died of COVID-19 April 19. He was 83.

Born in 1936, and sometimes compared to Mister Rogers for the way he treated children with reverence, Lafortune was a true scissors virtuoso who elevated do-it-yourself crafts to the rank of art.

Church leaders in Assam on April 21 mourned the death of Father Varghese Kizhakkevelil, who had played a key role in nurturing Guwahati archdiocese and other dioceses in the northeastern Indian state. “The Archdiocese of Guwahati is what it is because of him,” Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, the archdiocese’s first prelate, told Matters India mourning the death of his former vicar general.