From The States

Celebrated educationist, Mithra G Augustine, dies

Mithra G Augustine, a former pri-ncipal of Madras Christian College and director of the Ecumenical Chri-stian Centre, has died in Chennai. He was 95. The death occurred in the early hours of February 18 at a Chennai hospital. Mithra was born on June 25, 1930, at Guntur in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. […]

Montfort Brother helps urban poor tell their stories

Montfort Brother Varghese Theckanath is on a journey to make the voice of the voice-less heard in the main stream socie-ty. “Many interest-ing things happen among them, but only when a misfortune happens, their stories are reported,” bemoans Brother Theckanath, a grassroots activist promoting the rights of the urban poor. As a solution, the 67-year-old […]

India’s top court to hear appeal to end Dalit oppression in parish

In what is billed as a first in history, India’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal seeking to end discrimination against socially poor Dalit Catholics in a parish in southern India. The case came to the nation’s top court after the High Court of the Tamil Nadu state dismissed a petition of some […]

9 Christians arrested over conversion allegation in India

Police have arrested nine Christians in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for holding Sunday prayer meetings, which Hindu groups alleged were meant to convert local Hindus. The arrests were made in identical cases reported from two places on Feb. 23. Five people, including a pastor and three women, were arrested in Sitapur district […]

Court helps Christian schools collect fee in central India

Several schools in central India, some of them Church-managed, averted a crisis when students began to pay tuition fees, which they had stopped on allegations that these schools collected excessive fees in the past. “We have been struggling to pay the salary to our teachers as many parents refused to pay the fees of their […]

Christians oppose anti-conversion law in northeastern Indian state

Christians in a northeastern Indian state staged a day-long hunger strike on Feb. 17 against the government’s move to impose an anti-conversion law, which they say is unconstitu-tional and anti-Christian. The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA) was introduced in 1978 to protect the traditional religious practices of indigenous communities from external influence or […]

Be signs of hope for migrants, vulnerable communities: Cardinal Ferrao

A two-day meeting in Goa has reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to migrant care and advocacy, urging dioceses and religious congregations to become protagonists of change in fostering a more inclusive and compassionate society. “The members of the Church must become signs of hope for migrants, the elderly, the sick, and all those in need, especially […]

Christians welcome political change in troubled Indian state

Christian leaders in strife-torn Manipur state in northeastern India have welcomed the resignation of its chief minister, close to two years after the state witnessed unprecedented violence that claimed over 250 lives, mostly Christians. Chief Minister Biren Singh submitted his resignation letter to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla who is the constitutional head of state, on Feb. 9 in […]

Salesians elect Maltese priest Fabio Attard as Don Bosco’s 11th successor

Pope Francis does not accept Cardinal Koch’s resignation: could continue at least until anniversary of Council of Nicea