Father Arul Valan, a Salesian priest who led a movement for the rights of a Dalit or former untouchable community in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has died at 54. Valan, who co-founded the Thurumbar Liberation Movement along with Sister Alphonsa, died of a heart attack on April 8, Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) reported on April 9. Father Devasagayaraj M. Zackarias, former executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s office for scheduled castes and backward classes, called Valan “a powerful fighter” for the Thurumbar community. The Thurumbars, also known as Puthirai Vannars, are considered “unseeable” because of their lower caste status. The community traditionally washed the clothes of other Dalits and was placed in the lowest rungs of Tamil Nadu’s caste-based society. Valan created “a new dawn for the politically, economically, and socially marginalized community. We cannot summarize his contributions in just a few lines,” Zackarias said. He fondly remembered the “deep ideological discussions” with Valan and noted how the deceased priest would not hesitate to invite leftist groups to the protest alongside the washermen.

Catholic officials have welcomed a ruling by the top court in Tamil Nadu state, in southern India, reaffirming the autonomy of higher education institutions run by religious minority groups.”We are very happy that the high court has rightly upheld the constitutional provisions for minority higher education institutions to select their staff, which is essential for their existence as minority institutions with core values,” said Maria Charles, a Catholic priest and secretary of the Indian bishops’ Office of Edu-cation and Culture. The respon-se came after the Madras High Court in the Tamil Nadu state capital, Chennai, ordered two state-run universities on March 27 to approve the appointment of 66 assistant professors and a principal at five Christian-run colleges, which had been pending since 2020. The court ruling followed a petition from the Women’s Christian College, the Madras Christian College, Loyola College, and the Stella Maris College, all four in Chennai. Meanwhile, Sacred Heart Arts & Science College in Tindivanam challenged Annamalai University’s refusal to allow it to appoint a princi-pal. The state pays staff sala-ries in such state-aided colle-ges, but only after the university under which they function approves the staff appointments.
The Madras University blocked the appointment of the 66 assistant professors selected by the four Chennai-based colleges. Christian colleges challenged Madras University’s decision, resulting in the current order.

Thousands of people joined the funeral service of retired Jesuit Archbishop Pascal Topno of Bhopal in central India on April 9, hailing the indigenous Church leader’s simplicity and love for his people. Archbishop Topno died of age-related ail-ments at a Church-run hospital on April 6. He was 94. Topno led the Bhopal archdiocese, based in the Madhya Pradesh state capital, for 13 years until his retirement in 2007. A state-ment from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), a body of Latin rite bishops in India, said the pre-late was known for his “sim-plicity, wisdom, and deep spiri-tual insight.” “He was regarded as a living saint by both the people and the priests in the archdiocese,” said Fr. Maria Stephan, former public relations officer of the archdiocese. “He was extremely supportive, encouraging, and collaborative with his priests,” Stephan told on April 10. “He was so humble and traveled by train in the general compartments like ordinary people, avoiding the air-conditioned coaches,” the priest said. “He never carried money. Sometimes, while traveling long distances for pastoral visits, his driver had to pay for their tea or drinking water,” the priest said.

The Odisha unit of the Conference of Religious India (CRI) that met April 8 heard their national secretary stressing the importance of dialogue with lay collaborators, integrated prayer life, and formation programs that are relevant to today’s challenges. “If our preferential option for the poor remains only in our preaching and not in our practice, we risk creating a painful dichotomy between our words and our witness,” warned Presentation Sister Elsa Muttathu while addressing some 25 members of the unit at the Archbishop’s House in Bhubaneswar, the state capital. She told the gathering that the Conference of Religious India exists to promote unity and cooperation among religious congregations. “Our mission is to address shared challenges, strengthen our collective voice, and support the individual charisms of each institute.” Sister Muttathu reminded the gathering that religious life is not about institutional survival or personal security, but about responding to the needs of the present moment. “Let us not limit ourselves to routine physical tasks. Make time for reading, writing, and deep reflection,” she urged. “Our communities were not founded to build institutions or secure our comfort,” she stated. “We are called to live among the people, listen to them, and be part of their lives–just as the early religious did.” She challenged the participants to critically evaluate their ministries. “Do we visit families to truly know them and share in their lives, or simply to seek vocations for our congregations?” she asked. Under-scoring the need for authenticity, the national secretary stressed the importance of aligning action with values. Speaking on the role of women religious, Sister Muttathu encouraged them to prioritize intellectual and spiritual growth alongside daily responsibilities. She also advocated for greater involvement of women in decision-making spaces within the Church. The meeting helped the participants voice their expectations, struggles, and hopes in living out their vocation as the CRI members.

Threatened with eviction from their homes, some 600 families, mo-stly Catholics, have vowed to conti-nue a 16-month-old hunger strike in Kerala state, in southern India. The protesters resolved to continue their fight after a court last week stopped a government-appointed commission tasked with finding ways to protect their land rights, their leaders said. The court stated that the government lacks the authority to appoint such a commission. Last December, the government established a commi-ssion to propose solutions for the dispute, which began after a Muslim organization claimed that the villa-gers lived on some 400 acres of land donated to it for charitable purposes many years ago. The court ruling “is a setback for us. But the people will continue their struggle,” said Fr. Antony Xavier, the parish priest of Velankanny Matha Church in Munamban, in Ernakulam district. The priest told on March 21 that the state government, the respondent in the case, “has agreed to appeal the single bench ruling. We want the government to appeal.” The 610 affected families, all from his parish in the Kottapuram diocese, purchas-ed the land at market rates, paid for it, and registered the deeds following all state legal systems. “We will conti-nue the fight until our legal rights to the land are recognized.”

About 700 people, mostly Catho-lics, marched through Old Goa, the colonial-era Portuguese capital, to protest a government plan for a tourism project near the Bom Jesus Basilica, the 16th-century church that houses the relics of Saint Francis Xavier. Environmentalists and resi-dents of Old Goa joined the protest at the popular pilgrimage site on Mar. 23 to oppose the project. The Goa Tourism Department reportedly planned to build a ‘tourism mall’ on the ruins of a 16th-century church near the basilica. Residents of Old Goa have formed a forum–Save Old Goa Action Committee–to oppose the project, which they say is planned with scant regard for their history, Catholic sentiments and environment. “It is outrageous that a commercial structure is being planned on the ruins of the Five Wounds of Christ Church. The project is also within the 100 meters of the world heritage site of Bom Jesus Basilica,” Catholic priest Savio Barretto, former rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus told on March 24.

An 88-year-old Catholic bishop and 23 others are facing legal action in southern Indian Kerala state for entering a restricted forest after they led a march demanding the reopening of a blocked public road. Kerala State Forest Department filed charges against retired Bishop George Punnakottil of Kothamangalam and others, including elected representatives, for violating forest laws and trespassing into the forest land. “It is highly condemnable that a case of trespass has been registered against an elderly bishop” for advocating a public cause, said Father James Kokkavayalil, the secretary of the Public Affairs Commission of the Eastern Rite Syro-Malabar Church on March 24. The bishop and political leaders led a march of some 3,000 people on March 23 along a public road that the forest department closed for traffic and denied public entry in 2012. The department also opposed the proposals to reopen the road, saying it passes through ten kilometres of protected forest and that traffic noise and vehicle pollution will harm the environment and endanger wildlife. Protesters say that the road constructed during the British colonial era continues to be the shortest route connecting Aluva town near the western coast to Munnar town in the eastern hills. It cuts the distance by some 30 kilometres and does not have sharp hikes and slopes, “Munnar is an internationally acclaimed tourist destination. Reopening of the road will help local people and tourist traffic,” Father Kokkavayalil told UCA News on Mar. 24. In a March 23 statement, the eastern rite bishops’ body said the forest department’s move against the bishop and others “is unlawful as it blocked the public movement illegally.” The land of the road belongs to the “revenue department and not to the forest,” it said. The bishops also accused the forest department of usurping the public road and “infringing upon citizens’ right to free movement.” Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) also issued a statement on March 24 deploring the legal action and urging the state government to “immediately correct the forest department’s anti-people policies.”
The statement said the forest department “grossly misused” the law against people pressing for their basic facilities.
It asked the department to withdraw all such legal moves against people. Several cases were registered against people allegedly for violating India’s Wildlife Protection Act 1972, a federal law meant to protect forests and wild animals, after they protested the government’s failure to protect them from wild animal attacks. According to government data, 486 people were killed in wild animal attacks between 2019-2024. At least 22 people were killed by elephants, and a person was mauled to death by a tiger in the state in 2023-24. Other wild animal attacks killed 71 people.

A court in northeastern India has dropped contempt of court charges leveled at five Salesian priests after they submitted a written apology. The priests in Meghalaya state were facing charges after they allegedly demolished a school building owned by their Salesian congregation without the court’s say so. However, after having apologized, the state High Court dropped the charges on March 19, saying the priests “have the greatest respect for this court.” “They had and have no intention of disobeying the orders passed by it and every intention of obeying them. They tendered an unqualified apology and prayed for forgiveness,” the highest court in the state said. The court had charged the priests – Sagi Stephen, Arcadius Puwein, Edmund Gomes, Dianetius Fernandez and Cyril Tirkey – on Jan. 28, calling on them to explain “why they should not be punished for criminal contempt.” The charges came after they began demolishing a 72-year-old dilapidated school building in the state capital, Shillong. They allegedly ignored a public interest litigation against the move pending in the High Court. The court also told them to explain why they needed to demolish it. “We are happy that the court accepted our apologies and let off without any punishment,” said Father Stephan, one among the accused.

A six-member team that studied reasons for increased hostility toward Christians in an eastern Indian district have blamed the media and a new government for causing the problem. “A few local daily newspapers played a villainous role in escalating the hate campaign against Christians,” the team said in a March 15 report after touring Balasore district in Odisha state. “The changing of the guard in Odisha state has further escalated the vulnerable situation of Chri-stians,” it added, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking power in the state in June 2024. The team of six lawyers, who included priests and nuns, visited villages in the Raibania area and listened to Christian villagers discussing how Hindus opposed burying their dead and conducting religious ceremo-nies. “We interacted with more than 25 affected Christians about ongoing challenges they faced,” said Catholic priest, lawyer and activist Ajay Kumar Singh. He told on March 23 that the fact-finding team toured the Balasore diocesan area, which reported several cases of anti-Christian activities like burial denial and disruption of religious ceremonies. Their re-port said some tribal Christians also faced social boycott threats for practicing their faith. “The triggering point of the unrest” was on Dec. 18, when a tribal-dominated village in the area opposed burying Budhia Murmu, a local santal tribal Christian.

Thieves have ransacked and desecrated a Catholic Church in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, stealing the tabernacle containing the Holy Eucharist and money from the donation box, sources confirmed. The incident targeting the Holy Family Church in Sambalpur diocese, about 390 kilometres south of the state capital Bhubaneswar, took place on the night of March 21. Church officials said the thieves broke into the Church, founded in 1981, in Titilagarh, in Balangir district, and fled with the tabernacle and money, but did not damage the statue of Mother Mary close to the donation box. Church authorities lodged a complaint with Titlagarh police on March 22. “My parishioners and I are shocked by this incident,” Divine Word priest Joseph Antony, the parish priest, told on March 23. The thieves took advantage of stormy weather and a power outage to commit the crime, he said. Prior to targeting the Holy Family Church the thieves stole a music keyboard and a dona-tion box containing money from a nearby Protestant church, he said. “CCTV footage showed three people were involved,” the priest added. Bishop Nira-njan Sual Singh of Sambalpur said Christian communities in tribal-dominated areas of Odi-sha have been targeted recently. “Our churches and our Chris-tian community have increasi-ngly come under attack in these tribal areas,” Singh told on March 23. Odisha is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On March 22, Singh sent a letter to Catholics in the dio-cese, lamenting the desecration of Holy Eucharist.