The Syro Malabar Church synod held a valedictory function of the silver jubilee celebration of the church attaining the archieprachy status at its headquarters at St Thomas Mount on Saturday, January 13. Louis Raphaël Sako Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church inaugurated a public meeting to be held on the occasion. Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro chaired the meeting.

Head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church – Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Council of India (CBCI) and major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church – Baselios Cleemis and Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches Archbishop – Cyril Vasi> spoke on the occasion. Other speakers included Bishop Dr Francis Kallarakkal, Bishop Antony Kariyil, Supreme Court Judge Kurian Joseph , Dr Sibi – Superior General of CMC (Congregation of the Mother of Carmel ) congregation .

Pope John Paul II had on December 16, 1992 signed the decree raising the church as a major archiepiscopal church giving it autonomy in the selection of bishops and of the major archbishop who is the head of the church.

The church currently has 34 dioceses – of which 31 are in India. It serves 5 million followers spread across the globe. Chicago in the United States, Melbourne in Australia and Preston in the United Kingdom are its dioceses outside India.

A total of 59 bishops are participating in the synod, which will end on January 13.

Pope Francis’s visit to Bangladesh “was a celebration of our cultural identity, of harmony, of diversity, and peace,” according to the country’s first cardinal.

Card. Patrick D’Rozario, Archbishop of Dhaka, was in neighbouring India this week, on a family visit in Kolkata. During his stay, he spoke to Crux.

D’Rozario was created a cardinal by Francis on November 19, 2016.

“The expectations of the people – of everyone – was fulfilled: The Catholics, people of other denominations and other faiths, and of the government. All were actively involved in the preparation and participation, and God has done, providentially, much more than what we had planned.” The pope visited Bangladesh from Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2017, following his Nov. 27-30 visit to Myanmar.

Besides sharing a border, the two countries are also intertwined with the ongoing Rohingya crisis. Over 500,000 of Myanmar’s Muslim minori-ty have fled to Bangladesh since August, creating a dire huma-nitarian situation.

There are only about 350,000 Catholics in Bangladesh, about 0.2% of the total population. The country is over 86% Muslim, while another 12% is Hindu. Among the events Francis attended during his visit to the country was an interfaith meeting, where he met with members of the Rohingya community.

“The Christians in particular were very, very happy,” the cardinal said.

“They got to see the pope close up at all of the four big events, and so many could – unexpectedly – touch the pope, and this for them was a blessing and grace-filled moment.”

Some 5,000 Christians marched silently through India’s Jharkhand state demanding the release of six Christians jailed last week on complaints of offering money to villagers to attract them to Christianity. The Sept. 25 ecumenical “silent protest” was organized after a local court on Sept. 21 rejected the bail application of six Pentecostals, who were arrested Sept. 15 from Tukupani village in Simdega district.

“We wanted them to be released because they are innocent people who gathered for a prayer,” said Gladson Dungdung, a Catholic leader, who was among those who organized the protest in Tukupani. The court in Simdega district rejected the bail application of five men and a woman “seemingly under pressure from higher ups. But we are appealing to a higher court,” said Dungdung, who works for the rights of indigenous people. Bishop Vincent Barwa of Simdega said an “atmosphere of suspicion” exists after the state’s pro-Hindu government passed an anti-conversion law Aug. 12.

At the extremity of the village, amid the dim winter weather, a melancholic song coming from a nearby mudhouse made itself heard with singular distinction. The owner of the voice, 24-year-old Uzma Mukhtar, is busy aesthetically carving designs on a woolen rug.

In September, Jammu and Kashmir Catholic Social Service Society, the social service wing of the Catholic Church in the Muslim-dominated state, held an awareness camp in Uzma’s village in Pulwama district.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay took lead in organising an inter-religious Christmas gathering on Dec. 17, following what has now become an annual feature before Christmas celebration in the archdiocese based in the financial capital of India.

Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Jain and Christian leaders attended the interreligious prayer service and discussion seeking to find answers to the increasing conflicts.

“In our time, the differences seem to be growing: there are conflicts between persons, religious ideologies and nations. While we long for peace, it seems that this hope is a mirage,” archdiocesan spokesperson Father Nigel Barrett said, explaining the relevance of such gatherings.

The gathering gains importance in the wake of Pope Francis’ call to religions to shun violence and terrorism at an inter-religious meeting in the Vatican last month.

A group of priests in a Mumbai parish prepared a five-course dinner for their parishioners as part of their effort to raise fund to help the poor.

The idea follows up the call of Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay to initiate programs to support poor and marginalized in line with Pope Francis’ constant plea to Catholics to help the poor, particularly to poor and migrants.

Cardinal Gracias wanted each parish of the archdiocese to initiate programs so that they could grow beyond the “cold charity” of donating to collection boxes.

The five-course formal dinner on Dec. 2 aimed to provide a fine dining experience for the parishioners to raise funds for Katkaris of Raigad, a marginalized community.

The entire meal was prepared and served by the priests themselves with a little help from a couple of Chef friends, said a release from the archdiocese.

Seven Indian Christians were granted bail on Dec. 19, after being arrested for allegedly hurting the religious feelings of Hindus 15 days earlier. The group, which included two pastors, was praying at a house in Mathura district of northern Uttar Pradesh State when about 25 Hindus burst in on them. The attackers reportedly accused those present of using words that were offensive to Hindu gods. Michael Williams, president of United Christian Forum (UCF), who was present in the court, told that police protection had been requested for those granted bail.

A.C. Michael, a Catholic leader and former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission, said that on Dec. 4 there had been threats to burn down the house where the prayer meeting was being held.

Michael said the angry mob had expressed a willingness to set the building alight with the Christians still inside.

He told that the two pastors visited the area for the first time on the request of a local woman to pray for her sick husband. “They are accused of using certain words, which were never used,” he added.

Lawyer Pramod Singh, who appeared for the accused in the court, later referred to “frivolous and false accusations” made by political ideologues seeking to restrict freedom of religious belief.

The Holy Family Latin Catholic Church at Karichal does not exist for Christians alone. It is a beacon of hope for Hindus and Muslims also as it fulfils the dreams of many poor families by arranging the marriages of their children.

It provides them financial aid and also arranges mandapam and pandal on its premises. The church in Veeyapuram panchayat in upper Kuttanad that lies sprawled on the banks of three rivers – Achankovil, Pampa and Paipad—has conducted the marriages of 200 Hindu and Muslim couples from 2009 to 2014.

It started its social mission with the fund from the Rachael George Charitable Trust instituted by her sons, M.G. Philip and M.G. Stephen and daughter-in-law Molamma Philip for charitable causes in 2009. So far, five annual mass weddings have been held on the occasion of the church festival in January. The marriages of three communities are held at the same time.

Hindus marry in the mandapam erected on one side of the premises, Christians within the church and Muslims in the pandal on the other side.

Joseph Pulikunnel, a veteran Christian social reformer and a former faculty in economics and former member of the Kerala University Senate passed away. He was 85. The last rites took place at the houses premises at Bharananganam. He was the director of the Indian Institute of Christian Studies in Kottayam. He was the author of several books and the organising editor of the Malayalam Bible Translation Project. He has published the most authentic translation of the Bible in Malayalam.

Since 1976 he had been pursuing his interests in social work and founded several social service organizations including the Good Samaritan Project India; the Word and Deed Hospital and Palliative Cancer Care Centre, and a Juvenile Diabetic Centre. He is best known for his independent and scholarly views on the state of the established church in India.