More than 1,350 people participated in the Bible Mahotsav organized by the Archdiocese of Nagpur.

The September 30-October 2 festival addressed themes such as Word-centred Families, Small Christian Communities as Church in the Neighbourhood, and Family-School of faith.

Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad reflected on the topic “Tomorrow’s Church is in the neighbourhood.” Looking back to the early Christian communities he said, the Church grew from a small group of Christians who suffered for Christ. “They were like a magnet. They lost everything in life, but their number increased day by day because people were attracted to them by their love for one another.”

They had gone through the crucible of suffering for Christ’s sake, but they were blessed with intense love for one another. They accepted one another, prayed together. They experienced inexplicable joy. And this was a point of attraction,” the bishop said.

“Joy attracts others like a magnet. And the mark of a Christian is joy,” Bishop Manjaly pointed out, and added, “Today our Small Christian Communities are called to radiate joy. And the future of the Church will be in SCCs.”

“A sad Christian is a contradiction. When Jesus is with you, you are filled with joy,” he said . “A persecuted Small Community is attractive. People came to them. There is great power in SCCs. It is a vehicle to proclaim Jesus.”

The Church is missionary by nature, and if it stops sharing Christ, it will not be true to her nature,” the bishop added.

Sr Christine Joseph of Holy Cross of Chavanod, who has worked with the Small Christian Communities for 26 of her 40 years of religious life, commended the Nagpur archdiocese for its 400 active SCC units.

Some 5,000 Christians marched silently through India’s Jharkhand State demanding the release of six Christians jailed 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 Dung-dung, 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. The arrested were charged with upsetting the religious feelings of others, district police chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh was quoted in local Hindi language media as saying.

Bishop Vincent Bar-wa of Simdega said an “atmosphere of suspicion” exists after the state’s pro-Hindu government passed an anti-conversion law Aug. 12. In several areas Hindu groups “act as if they have a mandate to keep a check on others, especially Christians,” he said.

Indians belonging to socially poor Dalit groups are protesting upper caste men attacking their young men for issues such as watching a dance or sporting a mustache.

A 17-year-old Dalit boy was stabbed Oct. 3 for sporting a mustache in Limbodara village of the western Indian State of Gujarat.

Two days earlier, a Dalit youth was beaten to death for watching a folk dance at a temple in Borsad village of the same state. The event was organized by people belonging to the upper caste.

On Sept. 25, a Dalit youth in Limbodara village in Gujarat was also attacked for sporting a mustache followed by a similar incident on Sept. 29.

Jignesh Mevani, leader of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (National Forum for Dalit Rights) in Ahmedabad, the state’s commercial capital, told ucanews.com that they plan to widen the protest.

“If Dalits keep a mustache, buy new clothes or a bike, some feudal forces cannot tolerate it and try to suppress the community,” he said.

The Latin Church of Kerala held a convention on the Mission Congress and Basic Christian Community.

Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro and secretary of the Pontifical Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples Archbishop Protase Rugambwa were attended the three-day convention held at the famous Marian shrine at Vallarpadam in Kochi from October 6.

All bishops of the Latin Church in Kerala and Conference of Catholic Bishops of India president Cardinal Oswald Gracias were the other participants.

A 10-year plan of the Kerala Latin Church was be released at the convention. The convention was addressed various subjects related to the church in the southern Indian state.

An Indian Catholic priest, who arrived home after being freed from 18 months of captivity in Yemen, has been named as this year’s recipient of the Mother Teresa Award for Social Justice.
Salesian Father Thomas Uzhunn-alil, will receive the award from the Harmony Foundation, a Mumbai-based group.

Pope Francis has erected two new Syro-Malabar Eparchies, Shamshabad in Telengana and Hosur in Tamil Nadu.

Bishop Raphael Thattil, at present the Auxiliary Bishop of Trichur, and Fr Sebastian (Jobby) Pozholiparampil of the clergy of Irinjalakuda has been appointed the first Bishops of Shamshabad and Hosur, respectively.

The Pope has also extended the boundaries of the Eparchies of Ramanathapuram and Thuckalay, both in Tamil Nadu.

Government officials in a remote area of central Indian Madhya Pradesh state have impounded the property of a Catholic mission and forced its priest out of the premises, allegedly under pressure from right-wing Hindu activists.

The 20-year-old mission in Mohanpur village of Guna district was “sealed” over a land title dispute and Father Siljo Kidangan forced out on Sept. 12, local Bishop Anthony Chirayath told ucanews.com. Father Kidangan said government officials acted under pressure from members of hard-line Hindu groups who are opposed to the mission’s work and accuse it of trying to secure religious conversions.

The mission aims to help poor villagers by coordinating several welfare projects.

Mohanpur and some 40 nearby villages are provided with basic amenities and a hostel for about 15 boys studying at a nearby government school.

A Hindu right-wing activist group on Sept. 11 went to the mission demanding that the priest and schoolboys vacate or face dire consequences, Bishop Chirayath said. The priest refused to move.

However, the next morning govern-ment officials, a village headman and two police constables threatened the priest and confiscated the hostel by locking and sealing it. Local Sub-Divisional Magistrate Dinesh Shukla confirmed with ucanews.com that the government has taken over the land and the hostel building as the Church “lost a case” with the Land Revenue Board on Sept. 8.

Two local Hindus filed a case in 2005 claiming that the Church did not have mandatory title deeds for the mission land, which was donated to a tribal Catholic priest by a local tribal villager.(see Focus)

The Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church has called for finding solutions to the problems faced by families and the larger society by taking into consideration the perspectives of the laity.

It was observed that the progress made by lay people has significantly influenced the multifarious activities of the church. Priests and church officials should try to understand the sentiments of the laity regarding issues such as unemployment, housing, diseases, alcoholism, consumption of addictive substances and frictions in families. The church attached critical importance to renewal of families. The priests and the church officials should constantly communicate with the laity for the comprehensive understanding of problems faced by families and society which called for novel solutions, reported the Hindu.

The Synod took pride in social activities undertaken by the laity such as the running of old-age homes, orphanages, and institutions for mentally challenged children and distribution of food in hospitals. The Synod held at Kakkanad Mount St Thomas concluded.