Cardinal Anthony Poola has joined the transgender community of Hyderabad, a southern Indian city, to cele-brate Christmas that many say has sent a message of inclusivity and Christian love for the margi-nalized. “True Christmas lies in embracing the poor and ne-glected, offering them accep-tance and dignity,” said Cardi-nal Poola, the Archbishop of Hyderabad and a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Pro-moting Integral Human Deve-lopment. The December 18 celebration was organized by the Hyderabad Archdiocese Social Service Society (HASS). Cardinal Poola distributed certificates to transgenders who completed jute bag-making training programs facilitated by the society. He also presented sewing machines to women from Self-Help Groups and distri-buted Christmas gifts to all 93 transgender participants, along with members of the women SHG groups. “This semi-Chri-stmas celebration serves as a powerful testament to the Church’s commitment to inclu-sivity, spreading the message of love, hope, and dignity for all, especially those on the peri-pheries of society,” the cardinal added. The society director Father Madanu Anthony said the program was “a witness to the Church’s commitment to serving marginalized commu-nities.” Transgender community is among the most marginalized groups, often facing discrimi-nation and rejection and the cardinal’s gesture has sent out a “powerful message of inclu-sion and compassion,” Father Anthony added.

British national Carl Cox was surprised to know St. Joseph Vaz Canteen, where he had just had some snacks and tea in old Goa, was run by a Catholic diocesan priest. “The snacks are delicious, and I was taken aback to find that a Catholic priest was running it,” the 32-year-old scientist working at a private firm in the UK, told. “This is my third time visiting Old Goa and the crowds are getting bigger and bigger here, revealing their deep faith in St Francis Xavier,” Cox said. As he spoke, his wife, Danica Pereira, 30, nodded approvingly with a smile. “The food served here in the canteen is typically Goan, tasty and spicy,” she says, as she collected some packed food from the counter. Cox, his wife, and father, Jeff Cox, 68, were visiting the western Indian state as part of their pilgrimage to witness the once-in-a-ten-year Exposition of the relics of St. Francis Xavier in the former capital of Portuguese-ruled India. Jeff Cox was sipping a fresh lime soda, just served to him by the waiter. “It is very fresh and cool,” he said with a smile. The canteen is named after St. Joseph Vaz, a Goa-born Indian missionary priest hailed for pioneering evangelization in Sri Lanka in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

A wave of violence against Christians in Odisha, eastern India, has raised alarm over citizens’ religious freedom guaranteed by the country’s Constitution. The latest incident occurred on December 26 in the Gabardhanpur village of Balasore district, where the members of the New Life Church were attacked while celebrating Christmas with a local family. According to Pastor Sadhu Sundar Singh of the Church, Gobinda Singh, a resident of Gabardhanpur, had invited him and his colleagues, Subhasini Singh and Sukanti Singh, to his home for prayers and Christmas celebrations. The gathering involved cake cutting and a shared meal. However, a drunken man from the village approached Gobinda Singh under the pretext of asking for food. Ignoring requests to wait, he rallied villagers waiting nearby and falsely claimed that religious conversion was taking place in the house. The mob attacked the gathering, severely beating Subhasini and Sukanti Singh. Their clothes were pulled, as the mob shouted accusations of forced conversion. Pastor Singh shared a video of the incident. In the video, a man named Badal Kumar Panda, wearing a white shirt and a tilak, introduced himself as the Block President of Devsena. He is seen pointing towards the women and saying, “I came here because these people are converting our people to their religion. We have been working tirelessly, turning our blood into water to preserve our religion, and these people are converting them. They are destroying our society. If anyone knows of such conversions happening in our area, please report them to us immediately, and we will respond without delay.” Though Gobinda Singh and his family denied the allegations, the group dragged them out and attacked them.

Prof. Sanjose A. Thomas, Head of the Department of Sociology at Theva-ra S.H. College, has been awarded a pa-tent for his research titled “How to Transform Emotiona-lity in Social Media for the Benefit of Society.” The Department of So-cial Sciences at Sacred Heart College is spearheading this innovative study. By utilizing new technologies, the research aims to redirect the use of social media towards areas that require urgent intervention, thus enabling it to be used constructively for the benefit of mankind. This is the first time a social scientist from Kerala has received a patent for re-search in the field of communication & media. The IQAC patent depart-ment at SH College, Thevara ex-pressed confidence that this timely research will help regulate the in-ternet usage of the new generation and thereby enhance their partici-pation in social lives. The proposed patent has the scope to transform social media activism in the 21st century and may redefine online culture both in terms of entertain-ment as well as information dissemi-nation.

The first college based community radio of Darjeeling Hills marked its 9th birthday with its listeners from a remote tea garden village. Operating from Salesian College Autonomous Sonada, Radio Salesian is a venture of Kolkata Salesians with its claim to be the only Community Radio of South Asia Salesians. “Radio Salesian 90.8 FM celebrated its 9th birth day with great enthusiasm, with a cake-cutting ceremony led by Marma Tea Estate listeners under the Mirik Sub-division last week,” says Program Coordinator Radio Journalist Samir Chhetri.
The event featured a joyous gathering of senior listeners and village elders who have been dedi-cated supporters of the station. Re-presenting Radio Salesian were Radio Journalists (RJ) including Program Director Sameer Chettri, along with RJs Moses Tamang, Pratap Rai, Wang Lama, and Bandana Lohagun, who were given royal felicitation by the villagers. The celebration also includ-ed the participation of listeners from neighbouring tea garden villages.
The station’s only female RJ, Miss Bandana Lohagun, said, “This anni-versary celebration strengthened the connection between Radio Salesian and its community of listeners, high-lighting the station’s ongoing co-mmitment to engage with its audience and be their voice.” Listeners from neighbouring tea garden villages also participated in the celebration.

Church leaders and activists have criticized a state government’s decision to enact an anti-conversion law in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, calling it “politically motivated.” The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-run government in the state approved the draft for a tough new law to prevent so-called “forced religious conversions” in the state. The draft bill, containing stringent provisions, will be tabled for a vote at the upcoming session of the state assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel told media people on Nov. 30. The bill, which was approved in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bajanlal Sharma, proposes a jail term of up to 10 years for proven cases of forced conversion, according to media reports. The bill stipulates that individuals wishing to convert to another religion must apply to the district magistrate at least 60 days in advance. “The district magistrate will examine whether or not it is a forceful conversion,” Patel said. The minister said that special focus is being given to addressing the issue of conversions in tribal areas, where such activities are reportedly prevalent. If the bill is passed by the state legislature, Rajasthan will become the 12th state in India to promulgate an anti-conversion law. Currently, 11 Indian states, most of them ruled by the BJP, have the repressive law in place. “It is too early to comment on the subject as it is a sensitive issue,” Bishop Joseph Kallarackal of Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan told UCA News on Dec. 3. He said prelates in the state will have to discuss the bill with legal experts and leaders from the community. “We will examine in detail the likely impact of the proposed law,” Kallarackal added. Christian activist Minakshi Singh condemned the decision to enact the repressive law. “Under article 25 of the Indian constitution, people are free to profess, practice and propagate any religion of their choice,” she said.

India’s top court has told the warring factions in the Oriental Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch to share all public amenities at disputed Church properties in a southern state until a solution to the row can be found. The government in Kerala is finding it difficult to implement a 2017 apex court order that awarded disputed churches to the Orthodox faction due to stiff opposition from the Jacobite camp, a breakaway faction of the Da-mascus-based Church. While hearing a contempt petition against the communist-led state government and the Jacobite faction, a division bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court on Dec. 3 told the warring fa-ctions to share among them-selves all public amenities in the disputed church compounds without discrimination. The current stalemate concerns six disputed churches located in the state’s Ernakulam and Pa-lakkad districts. These chur-ches are under the control of the Jacobite faction of the Oriental Church, which has nearly 2 million followers in Kerala. “All public facilities like burial grounds, schools, hospitals, etc. on church premises shall continue to be availed by everyone, including Catholics,” the judges said in the order. Though it is an interim order, “it is significant as the court wanted to see both sides come together,” as shar-ing the amenities was not there in the 2017 order,” observed Biju Oommen, secretary of the Orthodox Church Association. He said they would consult their lawyers before sharing the amenities.

An archbishop has conde-mned an attack on a revered Hindu seer’s statue in a south-ern Indian state. “We have learned through media reports of the unfortunate and deeply disturbing incident of the defacement and vandalization of the statue of the late Shivakumara Swamiji in Girinagar in Banga-lore,” Archbishop Peter Ma-chado of Bangalore said in a statement on Dec. 5. The act, which has rightfully outraged people, “has no place in our society,” the prelate said, urg-ing the public not to be pro-voked by such incidents. Police arrested a 37-year-old delivery executive for damaging the statue on Dec. 4. The bronze-colored statue of the Lingayat seer was vandalized in the early hours of Nov. 30. “We arrested him under Section 324 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (the new Indian penal code),” police told the media. Shiv Krishna hails from neighboring Andhra Pradesh state. During questioning, he claimed he was “inspir-ed” to deface the statue by a vision of Jesus Christ in a dream. “The claim of the alleged culprit is baseless,” the prelate observed. He said such statements can “sow discord and create communal tension.” The statue was installed five years ago and local residents staged a protest, demanding stiff punishment for the accus-ed. “The Swamiji has been an inspiration to countless indi-viduals,” Archbishop Machado said. His legacy promotes har-mony, and this act of disrespect toward him is a “violation of the very principles he upheld,” he noted. The prelate has urged the police to conduct an impartial investigation.

Five Christians, including a pastor, have been arrested in a northern Indian state under a sweeping anti-conversion law after hardline Hindu activists objected to their holding a Sunday prayer meeting. Police in Uttar Pradesh on Dec. 8 arrested Pastor Vineet, his wife Payal, who were both identified by a single name, and three others, who were not named, in Kherki Mujkkipur village in Meerut district. The pastor was holding a prayer meeting and a medical camp at his house. The police recovered religious books, registers, bank details, and other materials from the house, the local Hindi newspaper Jagaran reported on Dec. 9. Vineet embraced Christianity a decade ago and converted around 250 people, according to the police. He purchased the house six months ago and organized Sunday prayer meetings there under the banner of the Kingdom of God Ministries Trust. The Dec. 8 meeting was attended by 50 people when a mob from the Hindu Raksha Dal (Hindu Protection Army) reached the spot and objected to it. The Dal’s state president Gaurav Parashar alleged people were being converted at the prayer meeting and informed the police.

Internet was restored in India’s conflict-torn northeastern state of Manipur on Dec. 9, weeks after a blackout was ordered to contain deadly ethnic violence and clashes between protesters and police. Ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur last year between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, killing more than 250 people. Since then, communities have splintered into rival groups across swaths of the northeastern state, which borders war-torn Myanmar. Fresh clashes that killed at least 17 people last month in a part of Manipur previously spared from the violence prompted the latest of several internet shutdowns imposed in the state. That order came after protesters, outraged by the killings, tried to storm the homes of politicians in state capital Imphal, vandalising some of the properties. The local government on Dec. 9 ordered the lifting of “all forms of temporary suspension of internet and data services” imposed on November 19. Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur last year during the initial outbreak of violence, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures. Thousands of the state’s residents are still unable to return home owing to ongoing tensions. Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs. Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain. Manipur is ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party and Human Rights Watch has accused the government of facilitating the conflict with “divisive policies that promote Hindu majorita-rianism.”