Category: From The States

With dwindling vocations to the priesthood, especially in the West, the cry for women deacons is getting stronger, even while some fear a mixed-gender diaconate might serve to reinforce clericalism in the church.

Pope Francis is not altogether opposed to the idea. He has stated that he cannot ordain women as deacons without a theological and historical foundation.

The pontiff created a Vatican commission in 2016 to study the tradition of women deacons in the Catholic Church upon the request of the International Union of Superiors General. However, the Commission could not arrive at a consensus and have been told to continue their studies individually.

Theological experts from India are not optimistic about the outcome.

Feminist theologian Kochurani Abraham of Kerala said in a telephone interview that the Scriptures point to theological and biblical references to women deacons, particularly chapter 16 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, which mentions Phoebe, a woman who served as a deacon. Virginia Saldanha of Mumbai, a leader of the Indian Christian Women’s Movement, questioned why women aren’t already ordained as deacons.

“Why not have women deacons when most of the churches in the West are functioning because of women who are doing the work of deacons?” she said in a telephone interview. She cited the example of Ludwien Mortier, a pastoral assistant who has been running the Holy Family Parish in Lier, Belgium, for the past two decades.

Jesuit social activist Father Irudaya Jothi has been nominated for this year’s “Nation Builders Award 2019.” “I am indeed happy to convey to you, that Rotary International (RI) Dist 3291 has decided to confer the prestigious ‘Nation Builders Award 2019’ on you at Rotary Sadan, in an event organized by Open Arms Educational & Charitable Trust (OA-ECT),” says “ a message from Lovina Khan, managing trustee, OAECT.

A group of senior people attached to the Church of South India (CSI), including Valson Thampu, former principal of Delhi’s prestigious St Stephen’s College, have petitioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against giving state guest status to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, when he arrives here later this month.

Thampu feels that through this visit by its topmost leader of Church of England (the Anglican Church), the church is aiming for a cleaning up of its image, sullied by a series of corruption charges.

Daughter of Charity Sister Enedina, a 98 year old Spanish national, is set to return to her home country after 48 years of service in Odisha as her application seeking Indian citizenship was declined. She graduated in MBBS from a medical college, Madrid, Spain’s capital, in 1959 and worked a few months in a nursing home there.

Speaking of the nun’s great contribution to the local people, Vincentian Father Naresh Nayak, said, “A true Daughter of Charity of St Vincent De Paul. The people of Odisha will never forget her love and service.”

Three Assistant Sub-Inspectors of Police are among four Punjab policemen dismissed from service, over four months after they raided a priest’s house in Jalandhar without approval, a senior official said.

Senior police official of Patiala Mandeep Singh Sidhu on August 10 dismissed the four policemen, who are currently lodged in the Patiala Central Jail.

The four were part of a police party that raided the priest’s house in Jalandhar without any approval in April this year.

He said the policemen were dismissed following departmental inquiries.

Sidhu said the dismissed policemen include ASIs Joginder Singh, Rajpreet Singh, Dilbagh Singh and Head Constable Amrik Singh.

The Khanna police had in March initially claimed to have recovered 96.6 million rupees from six men including a church priest.

However, the priest had taken up the issue with the police and the Income Tax Department and sought that the entire 166.5 million rupees “seized” money be released forthwith.

The priest had claimed that the money was part of the business proceeds and accused the police of allegedly misappropriating some amount from the money they had seized from the premises.

The Patiala Police had held a depart-mental probe into the alleged role of ASIs Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh, whose statements helped the investigating team recover 46 million rupees. Two ASIs of the Khanna Police were arrested for allegedly pocketing 58 million rupees from the seized amount. A sum of 46 million rupees had been recovered from them so far.

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and a leading figure in the British establishment, will seek to encourage Indian leaders to affirm and implement Article 25 of the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion during his forthcoming 10-day visit to the country.

Visiting at the invitation of the United Churches of North and South India, Welby, 63, will be accompanied by his wife and will travel to in Kottayam, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Medak, Jabalpur, Kolkata and Amritsar from August 31 to September 10.

Church of England leaders said he will travel to India from Sri Lanka, where he will express “solidarity” with Christians who were targeted in a series of bombings during Easter, which killed over 250 people.

Welby’s visit comes in the backdrop of a report earlier this month by the bishop of Truro commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that listed alleged attacks against Christians in India.

Bishop Ezra Sargunam of the Evangelical Church of India was among hundreds who joined various political parties in Tamil Nadu to protest the federal government repealing Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu And Kashmir State. They on August 7 tried to march towards Raj Bhavan, the residence of the governor, to express their displeasure.

Around 300 cadre and leaders of various political parties including Thamimun Ansari, legislator and general secretary of Manithaneya Jananayaka Katchi; Suba Veerapandiyan of Dravida Iyakka Tamilar Peravai, gathered at the Little Mount and moved towards Raj Bhavan. They were stopped by the police on the way, taken to a community hall located nearby and detained, newindianexpress.com reported.

Until August 2018, Sisters Lucy Kalapura and Lissy Vadakkel had very little in common except that they belonged to the same congregation and had somewhat similar names. But today they are perceived as partners in crime.

Sister Lucy became a target for disciplinary action after she joined the historic public protest for Mulakkal’s arrest, as she felt it her Christian duty to support a nun who was fighting a case of sexual abuse and rape – A nun who has got no support from those in positions of power within the Church hierarchy.

Sister Lucy’s articulation and method of engaging with her passion of working with people were constantly criticized for being out of step of the accepted congregational way of life of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation.

In Sister Lissy case, it was dramatically different – she had been a star of her congregation and of Church authorities because of her very powerful preaching skills. She was booked for retreats and meetings for months together.