Kochi, Jan 14, 2020: The issue of land deals has come up for discussion during the Synod session of the Syro-Malabar Church now under-way at the Church headquarters in Kochi.

Nine bishops of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese raised the issue on January 13 when a suggestion came up that the Synod could admit to the losses incurred because of the land deals.

Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Church who is entangled the land deal controversy, informed the members that the losses could not be recovered without selling the land.

The bishops wanted a clear declaration of the ways of restitution, instead of admission of lapses. To this, the cardinal said he had not made any monetary gains out of these deals. The bishops, however, suggested that the cardinal could explain his stand in the matter before the priests and laity and convince them.

The Synod is yet to release an official statement regarding the discussions and decisions taken in the meeting.

“There came some suggestions from the Synod regarding the ways in which the losses can be rectified but no official statement has been released by the Synod. Earlier, the Synod had accepted that severe lapses occurred from the cardinal’s part,” said a source in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.

A source said the coming days of the Synod meeting are crucial. “As Synod concludes on Wednesday (January 15), some major decisions will be taken,” he said. The Synod began on January 7.

India’s Supreme Court has agreed to examine a petition calling for Dalit Christians to be afforded the same social benefits given to Dalit people from other religions and has informed the federal government about the matter.
The court was hearing a plea filed by the National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC) seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians.

Scheduled Caste is the official name given to lower castes that are now protected by the Indian government and offered special concessions such as civil service jobs and places in schools.

Christians are currently denied government benefits meant for the social welfare of poor people based on the argument that Christianity does follow the caste system.

The Supreme Court’s decision to review the petition was welcomed by Christian groups.

“It is a huge success for all of us as we have been longing for this day for decades. We all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” Father Vijay Kumar Nayak, secretary of the Indian Catholic bishops’ office for Dalits and lower classes told UCA News.

“Different governments have come and gone, all gave assurances but nothing happened but at least now the Supreme Court has agreed to listen to us and we welcome it wholeheartedly,” he said.

“Whatever the outcome of this step, the future of the Dalit Christians looks brighter and we are hopeful that something good comes of this,” Father Nayak said.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Minorities and Registrar General of India that it will be reviewing the petition.

A Catholic parish in Kerala has sent its “miracle” Host to Rome for further studies as part of a process to declare it as a Eucharistic miracle. A face resembling that of Jesus had appeared on the host during Mass on November 15, 2013, at the Christ the King Church, Vilakkannur, a parish under the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Tellicherry.

Baby Joseph Payikatt, a former trustee of the parish, said the host was taken to the Syro-Malabar Church’s headquarters at Kakkanad, a suburb of Kochi, on January 10 and handed it over to Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro the next day.

The nuncio had come to St Thomas Mount in Kakkanad to attend the Syro-Malabar Church’s January 7-15 Synod.

The host has been venerated as a miracle at the Vilakkannur parish since September 21, 2018, when the archdiocese returned it after five years. Earlier, it was kept at the arch-bishop’s residence. Fr Vengakunnel with the relic “A four-member team led by our parish priest Father Mathew Vengakunnel carried the host to Kochi,” Payikatt told Matters India on January 13.

Jesuit Father Felix Raj, vice chancellor of St Xavier’s University, Kolkata, was honoured with Xavier Ratna Award by the Xavier Institute of Engineering, Mumbai on January 11 at its 11th Convocation. Father Raj was the Chief-Guest for the Convocation and delivered the Convocation Address. Jesuit Father John Rose, the Director of the Institute gave away the award on behalf of the institute and the Jesuit Province of Mumbai.

Assam Don Bosco University won the “Engaged University of the Year 2020 Asia Pacific (Entrepreneurship and Engagement Excellence) Award” on January 10. This prestigious international award was conferred by the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial & Engaged Universities (ACEEU), Netherlands.

Father Varkey Kattarath, the founder of Vincentian Congregation, will be declared a Servant of God soon, marking the commencement of the cause for his canonization. The priest was born on October 31, 1851, and died on October 24, 1931. His mortal remains were interred at St Gregorious Church, Thottakam.

This could be the first such incident when the Maghrib (evening) prayer was recited from a church and hundreds of Muslims offered Namaz in a church compound. It happened in Kothamangalam, in Kerala’s Ernakulam district on December 28.

It was a massive rally organized by the All India Professional Congress, against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The rally from Muvattupuzha to Kothamangalam also saw the participation of leaders from various political parties.

By the time the march reached Kothamangalam, it was time for the Maghrib prayers. And, without any hesitation, the authorities at the St Thomas Church, Kothamangalam (Mar Thoma Cheriapally) opened its campus and welcomed the Muslims to offer their prayers there.

The priest of Marthoma Cheriapally offered water to perform Wudhu (the ritual washing performed by Muslims before prayer) to IUML leader Sayyid Munavvar Ali Thangal who was part of the march.

“It was such nice gesture to see the priests and Christian devotees welcome us there,” Munavvar Ali wrote on Facebook.

Sharing the video of Muslims offering prayers at the church Munavvar Ali further wrote: “This is a reflection of the desire of lakhs of people who want to see our country remain how it is now.”

“Friends, let love be our weapon and unity our shield. We cannot let them destroy this country. We will overcome this,” he said in the Facebook post.

Spiritual leaders from six religions, including Cardinal George Alencherry, attended the 12th World Confluence of Humanity, Power and Spirituality in Kolkata. Karan Singh, noted scholar, philosopher and politician, delivered the key-note address on the opening day on December 28.

“We live in an age of turmoil,” Singh noted in his speech. According to him, despite technical advancement humanity is lost between a ‘vanishing past’ and an ‘indeterminate future.’

“Climate change and global warming have caused millions of ecological refugees; terrorism has become international, posing global challenges. We all must get our spiritual side together and introspect,” Singh added.

“Faith cannot tie down the illimitable splendor of the divine to one path. To relieve sufferings, gender equality, promoting positive values through education, cherishing our natural environment and nurturing earth and honoring mother nature and enhancing the quality of human consciousness and achieving some-thing higher, should be the goals the goals of the inter-faith movement. We can no longer be different on the basis of religion and the time has come for us to awake, arise and walk boldly towards a confluence or sangam of religion,” he said.

Jesus was born with questionable identities of citizen-ship, place of origin and even parenthood, points out Father George Pattery, the head of more than 4,000 Jesuits in In-dia, where a recent amendment to the citizenship law has provoked countrywide uproar.

“In fact (Jesus) was born in a makeshift manger while his ‘parents’ were struggling to get themselves registered according to the newly introduced and unquestioned Citizenship Amendment Act of Augustus Caesar,” notes Father George Pattery, provincial of South Asia Jesuits, in a Christmas message on December 20 as the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) entered the fifth day.

Reports of violence continue to trickle in from various parts of the country, despite a government advisory asking private satellite television channels to not air content likely to instigate violence or affect the national integrity. The protests erupted after a police crackdown on demonstrators in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15.