A Catholic family in Jharkhand is awaiting justice for a tribal man, who was lynched by cow vigilantes in the eastern Indian state nearly two years ago, a lay leader says. The death of Ramesh Minj “did not enter the discourse of persecution of Christians,” bemoans John Dayal, general secretary of the All India Christian Council and president of the All India Catholic Union. “Christian NGOs were not involved.” Meanwhile, “the family is still waiting for justice,” the Catholic lay leader told AsiaNews. A mob of Hindu radicals beat 37-year-old Minj to death in August 2017.

“Minj lived in Tingaru, a village in Palamu district, Jharkhand. He married Anita Minj ten years ago. The couple lived in the predominantly Christian Oraon village,” Dayal said, adding that the victim had many talents. During the sowing season, “he drove a tractor;” off season, “he drove a Bolero taxi.” Two years ago, “A mob of 120 people beat him for slaughtering a bullock.”

Minj was eventually arrested and taken to the police station in Bhandaria. His wife managed to see him before he died in jail. She said he had a torn leg and his body was covered in bruises. Police indicted 17 people in connection with his death, but no one was arrested. He was buried next to Sal trees.

Recently, Tabrez Ansari, a 24-year-old Muslim was lynched in Jharkhand. The pictures of him crouching and pleading mercy have gone viral online. Dayal says “This is a wake-up call for the Church and the community. What impacts Muslims eventually impacts Christians and other religious and caste minorities. Such is the nature of the violent beast, political Hindutva that has been unleashed this past decade.”

A Catholic archbishop has applauded an Indian state government’s plans for new punishments against vigilante-style violence, carried out to protect cows that are considered sacred by orthodox Hindus.

So-called cow protection groups have conducted a wave of lynchings across India in recent years mainly against religious minorities. The mainly Hindu nationalist mobs attack Muslims and others whom they suspect of storing beef or transporting cows for slaughter, a crime in most Indian states.

The government of central Madhya Pradesh State plans to amend a law allowing the jailing of those found guilty of such violence for up to five years and fines of up to 50,000 rupees.

The state cabinet approved on June 26 changes to the law, which currently does not include specific punishments for vigilante violence in the name of cow protection. Madhya Pradesh is governed by the secular Congress Party.

If passed by the state legislature it would become the first law in any Indian state to stipulate punishment for cow-related violence.

“The amendment is a right step as cow vigilantism has become a major worry, particularly among Christians and Muslims,” said Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, based in the state capital.

Pope has decided to restore the administrative responsibilities of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly to Cardinal George Alencherry, a press statement from the Syro-Malabar Media Commission said on June 27.

Cardinal Alencherry resumed office of archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamali archdiocese on June 27 morning. He resumed office as the interim responsibility of Bishop Jacob Manathodath as administrator ended a day earlier.

The term of Bishop Manathodath as the apostolic administrator of the arch-diocese ended and he would now look after his original diocese – Palghat, said the statement signed by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry, chairman of the media commission.

Bishop Manathodath was appointed the apostolic administrator in June 2018 in the wake of controversies pertaining to sale lands belonging to Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.

The commission statement claimed that the Pope has also removed Sebastian Adayanthrath and Jose Puthenveetil as auxiliary bishops of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese based on a report Bishop Manathodath submitted to Rome.

The Syro Malabar Synod will take a decision on their new responsibilities.

Pope Francis took the decision in the light of studies carried out on different levels over the recent developments in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.

Pope Francis has called an Ordinary Public Consistory of Cardinals in Rome to decide on the canonization of five Blesseds, including Sister Mariam Thresia of India and Cardinal John Henry Newman of England.

The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff released a note on June 27 saying the Pope will preside over the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours and an Ordinary Public Consistory in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on July 1 for the canonization of Indian Sister Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Pope Francis on February 12 authorized the pro-mulgation of decrees regarding a miracle each attributed to the intercession of Sr Maria, Theresia and Cardinal Newman, clearing them for sainthood.

When Glory Karthik was 8, a social worker suggested that her parents, who had no money to feed or educate her, send her from the slums to a home for girls managed by Catholic nuns in Chennai, a southern Indian city. “I felt happy seeing the sisters and girls and expressed my desire to stay there,” Karthik said.

She returned home after spending 10 years in Marialaya (House of Mary) under the care of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco. Now 31, the mother of four school-going children makes a living by stitching clothes while her husband works in a transport company.

“I’m happy and content now, thanks to the sisters. They prepared me for a decent and dignified life. Otherwise, I would have continued my miserable life in the slum,” Karthik told Global Sisters Report when she came to visit the nuns at Marialaya.

Marialaya has nurtured more than 2,000 girls like Karthik between the ages of 6 and 18 since its inception in 1990. Currently, more than 100 girls live in Marialaya, a four-story building in George Town, one of the oldest parts of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu State.

So the girls can have a decent life when they leave the home, Marialaya teaches them communication skills, English, and ways to solve problems and manage money and time, said Sr Sebastiar Caroline, program coordinator of Marialaya.

A Catholic diocese in Canada has cancelled a retreat to be given there in July by Indian priest Fr Dominic Valanmanal who has been preaching that an increased incidence of autism and hyperactivity in children is due to their parents’ lifestyle.

Earlier Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said an invitation to the priest to lead a retreat in Ireland should be withdrawn.

A priest of the Eastern Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, based at Kerala in India and which has about 4,000 members in Ireland, Fr Valanmahal has been preaching that “adultery, masturbation, homosexuality, porn, if you are addicted to these, I say to you in the name of God. when you get married and have children, there is a high possibility of bearing these type of children.”

He said: “They lead an ani mal-like life. They copulate like animals. They bear children like animals. Therefore those children also, will be like animals,” he said.

A Catholic nun died and five others, including a bishop, were injured in a road accident on June 27 evening in the central Indian State of Chhattisgarh. Sister Jaise, a member of the Deena Bandhu Samaj, an indigenous congregation, died on the way to the hospital, Carmelite of Mary Immaculate Thomas Kollikolavil told Matters India.

A 27 year-old deacon who was to be ordained a priest in 6 months time has passed away on Jun 20, the feast day of Corpus Christi. Jerin Joyson Chittilapilly who belongs to the Eparchy of Kalyan in Maharashtra had just celebrated his 27th birthday a day before on June 19. Deacon Jerin was born on 19 June 1992 and was brought up in Mary Matha Parish in Sakinaka, Mumbai. He joined for priesthood for the Eparchy of Kalyan in 2007 and did his philosophy at St Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Kottayam and Theology at Papal Seminary, Pune.