The Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco addressing a group of Salesians gathered at Siliguri in North Bengal said, “the greatest problem the Church faces today is not the scandal of sexual abuse of minors by its clergy, but the scourge of clericalism and power seeking by clerics.”

Rector Major, visitor from Rome, on his second visit to Kolkata province addressed the gathering in Italian. while Kolkata Provincial Father Nirmol Gomes translated into English.

The Salesian gathering consisted of Salesian Novices and professed confreres who numbered some 100 people.

“Clericalism is a disordered attitude of the clergy (priests and religious included),” the Rector Major explained saying, “it is an attitude of an excessive assumption of their moral superiority.”

When “Clerics feel they are superior, [and when] they are far from the people, clericalism shows up,” he warned.

Clericalism can be “fostered by priests themselves or by lay persons” — lay-people can fall into clericalism, by thinking that their contributions to the life of the Church are only second-rate, or that in all things, surely “Father knows best,” or that priestly virtue exhausts Christian virtue.”

Salesians of Don Bosco congregation consists of both priests (over 90 plus per cent) and lay brothers.

Rector Major explained further stating how clericalism is played out, “I am priest, have all the power, authority, the parish/institution is mine, lay people and women religious must obey me.”

“Sometimes some priests also take advantage of their position,” the superior general lamented.

Hindu groups have launched their reconversion move-ment targeting Christians in India’s Andhra Pradesh state, which church leaders say is a troubling move aimed at political gain.

Hindu seers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders conducted massive prayers and rituals on October 20 at the popular Hindu temple in Srisailam town of Kurnool district in the southern state.

They later visited areas of socially poor Dalit and tribal people and made some 500 poor Christians take an oath to follow Hinduism, local reports said.

“It is a warning sign for all of us here as well as in other southern Indian states,” said Father Anthoniraj Thumma, who heads the Federation of Telugu Churches.

The reconversion movement started some three decades ago in central India, said Father Thumma, whose federation also covers neighbouring Telangana State.

Nearly 100,000 people from across north-eastern India, particularly Meghalaya State, attended the state funeral of Archbishop Dominic Jala in Shillong.

Archbishop John Moolachria of Guwahati, president of the North East India Bishops Council, led the Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christian, Laitumkhrah, down-town Shillong.

He was assisted by 15 archbishops and bishops from northeastern India other dioceses in India.

The mortal remains was brought to the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians in Laitumkhrah on October 21 morning.

After the Mass, Archbishop Jala was laid to rest in a grave close to the Cathedral Church.

An anti-trafficking crusader nun in Chhattisgarh has done it again.

She has rescued two more teenage girls from the central Indian state who were sold to brothels in Pune and Goa.

The girls, aged 19 and 16, are siblings of a Bhil tribal family in the Kerasa village of Surguja district.

Traffickers exploit the tribe’s acute poverty, bemoans Franciscan Missionaries of Mary Sister Annie Jesus Mary, who helped rescue the girls.

The nun is the director of Jeevan Jharna Vikas Sanstha (JJVS, foundation for the progress of life stream) at Kansabel in Chhattisgarh.

The second national youth conference, 2019, hosted by the archdiocese of Hyderabad, organised by the Indian Catholic Youth Movement (ICYM) at the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) concluded. With over 450 people, from 70 dioceses, showcasing 14 regional cultures from all over India, the five-day conference which commenced on October 13th, was an exceptional journey for youth in attendance.

Circumstances are difficult for the Christians in our diocese—we often come up against restrictions in the practice of our faith,” said Bishop Stephen Antony Pillai.

The 67-year-old prelate heads the Diocese of Tuticorin in southern India. He and 53 other Indian bishops recently met with Pope Francis during an ad limina visit to Rome. Bishop Pillai spoke about the situation of Christians in India.

The bishop explained that the Indian government is working to transform the primarily Hindu country into a homogenous nations, with one language and one set of policies favoring Hinduism. Comprised of 29 federal states, India is, after China, the second most populous country in the world with 1.37 billion inhabitants.

There are 28 million Christians in India, 20 million of whom are Catholic; the Muslim population numbers more than 200 million. In recent years, both Christians and Muslims have increasingly been targeted with violence and harassment by radical Hindu nationalists.

The situation has worsen-ed after this year’s parliamentary elections, which the nationalist governing party BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi won with a significant majority.

“Our situation at the moment isn’t very encouraging. The government makes a lot of rash decisions, which makes things unpredictable. Politics only benefits the wealthy part of the population. The poor are left with nothing,” Bishop Pillai said.

Some 450,000 Catholics live in the Diocese of Tuticorin, which is equivalent to about 17 percent of the population. Besides the attacks targeting the faithful and groups of pilgrims, the bishop reported that the circumstances overall were becoming more difficult in his diocese, with authorities interfering with the administration of Catholic hospitals and schools.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led political and religious leaders to mourn the death of Archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong in a car accident in California. The Salesian arch-bishop “will be remembered for his impeccable service to society and passion towards Meghalaya’s progress. May his soul rest in peace,” tweeted the prime minister on October 12, soon after the news of the Catholic prelate broke.

The Prime minister also said that he was anguished by the passing of the archbishop.

The accident reportedly occurred around 11 pm October 10 (10:30 am on October 11 Indian time) when Archbishop Jala was traveling to Clearlake in California along with Fathers Mathew Vellankal and Joseph Parekkatt, two Indian priests working in the United States.