It is time the Church in India had a cardinal from the Dalit community, says a Jesuit scholar. It will be a great recognition for Dalits who form more than 60% of Christians in the country,  says Father A.Maria Arul Raja, a professor of Religious Studies at the Jesuit Theology Centre in Chennai.

The priest spoke to Matters India after addressing more than 200 bishops who represent 174 dioceses in the country at the biennial plenary in Bengaluru, southern India. He spoke about the Church and Dalits.

According to him, a Dalit a cardinal would elevate one of the most socially suppressed communities. It would be a symbolic gesture to affirm the dignity and rights of the community that has lived in “the sub-human condition imposed by the caste system on the community for centuries,” said Father Raja.

India has 13 cardinals so far starting with Cardinal Valerian Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, in 1953. They have represented various communities in the Indian Church: Goan, East Indian, Eurasian, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Eurasian, Tamil and Tribal.

Fr Raja says a Dalit cardinal will give visibility to the community and highlight injustice done to them in society as well in the Church. “It will be powerful witness to Jesus who took a strong choice for the poor, outcasts, socially excluded, the priest said.

A prominent Muslim political leader in Telangana has demanded stern action against those involved in a series of attacks on Christians in the southern Indian State.

The demand was made by Akbaruddin Owaisi, a legislator belonging to the Majlis-e- Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (Council of the Union of Muslims) at press conference on January 5 in Hyderabad, the state capital. The legislator also released a letter he wrote to the state’s Director General of Police Mahender Reddy to draw his attention to the attacks.

The letter noted that on January 23 in Singotam village of Nagarkurnool district, a mob attacked a small group of Christians who were distributing Bibles. “They forcefully snatched the Bibles from them, opened the boxes with Bibles inside their car, piled them up in heap and burnt hundreds of Bibles in broad daylight,” the Muslim leader’s letter noted.The attack has “severely bruised the sentiments of all Christians in India,” he added.

Owaisi also cited an incident on January 29 when another mob of radical Hindus attacked a church in Togota Mandal, Siddipet District and caused severe damage to the property.

An era in the Bihar Church history ended on February 12 with the death of its last American Jesuit missionary. Father Jerome Durack died at 6:20 am at Xavier Bhawan, Xavier Teachers Training Institute, Digha Ghat, a western suburb of Patna, the state capital. He was 88. He was unwell for the past few days. “Fr Durack’s death is a moment of special significance to the history of the Church and of Jesuits in Bihar. He has been the last American Missionary working in Bihar. With his death a significant chapter in the history of Christian faith and Patna Jesuits come to gracing end,” says Father Anto Joseph Thundaparambil, a Patna Jesuit. Father Durack came to Patna in 1951 and visited his home only once, in 1976, and that too under obedience to his Jesuit superior.

Christian leaders have rejected an offer from India’s tourism ministry of a US $10 million grant for the facelift and main-tenance of churches in the Christian-majority State of Meghalaya.

Catholic leaders in the state told that they will not apply for or accept the funding of 613 million rupees for illuminations, landscaping, construction of parking lots and toilets among other infrastructure work at 37 churches.

Federal tourism minister K.J. Alphons announced the grant on Jan. 8, just 10 days ahead of India’s Election Commission declaring Feb. 27 as the date of provincial elections in the northeastern state.

The minister, a member of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also announced another 86 million rupees for similar projects involving temples, mosques and important sites for 11 other religious groups including indigenous Khasi, Jaintia and Garo believers.

Catholic support is seen as crucial for an election victory in the state, where Christians account for about 80 percent of the three million people. The BJP holds only two seats in the 60-state house.

Alphons, a churchgoing Catholic from southern Kerala state, was made tourism minister on Sept. 3 last year, and four days later he was named the party’s election chief in Meghalaya state.

However, Alphons’ allotment ahead of the election has not enthused Christian leaders.

“First of all, we were never consulted on our needs, nor informed about the project. All these days after the announce-ment, no one from the government had contacted us on this, so there is no question of taking money from the government,” Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Jowai Diocese told.

Bishop Lyngdoh said the church leadership “cannot take financial help now because it will give the wrong message to our people during this election time. It can create confusion,” he said.

A church decorated with the style and motifs used by Rabindranath Tagore in his works was inaugurated on January 18.

The Infant Jesus Church at Makrampur here was formally inaugurated by Bishop Cyprian Monis of Asansol.

“We have incorporated local traditions of Santiniketan while trying to integrate the church decor with the artistic style of Tagore and popular traditions like open air classrooms which the poet had started,” an official of the Kolkata-based organisation that designed the Infant Jesus Church said.

The centre-piece in the church’s sanctuary is an imposing banyan tree under which Jesus is seated in lotus position imparting his teaching and blessings to all.

Above the banyan tree is the depiction of the Spirit of Wisdom and Enlightenment.

On the right side of banyan tree is the tabernacle enshrined in the traditional winnowing fan decorated with bamboo background and surrounded by conch shells. On the left side of the tree is Infant Jesus – the patron of the church.

The inside back wall of the church has a 40 feet mural depicting Jesus sitting under a huge banyan tree and holding a child.

A Baptist Church in India’s north-eastern Mizoram State has announced incenti-ves to encourage couples to have more babies in an effort to check their dwindling numbers, disregarding a natio-nal policy to control the population.

The church in remote Lunglei town said it will pay families a one-time cash assistance of 4,000 rupees (US$ 63) for a fourth child and an additional 1,000 rupees for each new child.

Influential youth organization Young Mizo Association endorsed the move. “What the church has done is worth emulating. We Mizos are facing a serious challenge of dwindling numbers. We need to arrest the trend and if possible to reverse it,” president Vanlalruata (only one name) told.

The Christian-majority Mizoram has about 1.1 million people, 88 percent of them Christians. Mizoram is among the least populous states in the country of 1.3 billion people. India, currently the world’s second most populous nation after China, implements a national policy to check population growth.

Josy Joseph, a leading investigative journalist, was among the winners of this year’s Crossword Book Awards, an Indian version of international literary wards. The Crossword Book Awards are considered as the Indian version of the Man Booker Prize and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. It is currently in its 15th edition. This year the winners of both jury and popular choice awards for 10 categories were announced on January 18 at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai.