Category: From The States

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.

The Delhi High Court on June 13 refused to stay the interview process for admission of Christian students in Delhi University’s St Stephen’s college.

The court said it did not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process.

“I am not inclined to grant the stay…. I do not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process. They are seeking to maintain their institution as they want it to be,” Justice Anu Malhotra said.

The interview process is scheduled to commence later.

The court was hearing a petition filed by three teachers of the college against the inclusion of a member of the institution’s Supreme Council in the interview panel for the selection of Christian students.

The teacher-members of the college’s governing body — N P Ashley, Abhishek Singh and Nandita Narain — have challenged a decision taken by the Supreme Council at its meeting on March 12.

The teachers, represented in the court by advocate Sunil Mathew, said it was decided at the meeting to have an additional Christian member nominated by the Supreme Council or the governing body to be part of the interview panel in respect of admission of Christian students in all subjects.

The Supreme Council is higher in authority than the governing body of the college comprising members from the Church of North India and also those nominated by it. The teachers contended that the “interference” of the church in the admission process was against the norms of the college.

However, the college, in its response, claimed that the petition was not maintainable as neither any fundamental right nor any statutory or legal right of the petitioners was violated.

A human rights group in Jharkhand, eastern India, has condemned what it called repeated raids on Jesuit social activist Father Stan Swamy.

“The raids and arrests are part of the government’s growing attempts to stifle dissent and intimidate those who are fighting for justice,” the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (Grand council of people’s rights in Jharkhand) said on June 12 soon after the police raid.

An eight-member team of the Maharashtra police raided the Bagaicha campus, the 83-year-old priest’s residence at Namkum near Ranchi, the Jharkhand State Capital. The raid that started at 7:15 am continued for 3.5 hours.

The Maharashtra police had earlier raided the priest’s residence on August 28, 2018.

In the latest raid, the police searched the priest’s belongings and took his computer hard disk and internet modem and forced him to give his email and Facebook passwords. Thereafter, they changed the passwords and seized these accounts.

“The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha condemns repeated raids on Stan Swamy and arrests of other human rights activists,” the statement said.

Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore on June 11 expressed deep sorrow over the passing away of Girish Karnad, a legendary playwright, actor and social activist.

“We have lost a legend in field of literature and arts. Truly our cultural world is poorer today,” Archbishop said in his condolence message.

The archdiocese later stated that the Catholic bishops of Karnataka with the entire Christian community, priests, religious and lay faithful joined the archbishop in conveying heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.

Karnad was a man of multi-dimensional talented in nature. Theatre was his vocation. He was a prolific writer, thinker, actor, social activist, non-corrupt and fearless speaker. He also left an indelible impression on cinema, Archbishop Machado noted.