From The States

Basic Ecclesial Communities convention begins in Dumka

Around 2,000 people on Oct 12 attended the inaugural Eucharist of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) and Synod convention at Dumka, about 250 km northwest of Kolkata. The congregation danced before the Eucharist to express their joy of meeting each other and to thank God for the opportunity to hold the convention. “To enlarge the Space […]

Supreme Court judgement on Enforcement Directorate gives hope

The Enforcement Directorate, better-known as ED, could arrest any citizen even without possessing any evidence of the alleged financial scam. It seemed to have the absolute right of arrest. However, in a landmark judgment on October 3, the Supreme Court criticized the ED for ‘arbitrary exercise of power’ and said it must provide a written […]

Pope appoints new bishop for Sivagangai

Pope Francis on September 21 appoi-nted Father Lourdu Anandam as the bi-shop of Sivagangai, a diocese of southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 65 year old bishop elect is a clergy of the Archdiocese of Madurai, currently the parish priest of the Holy Rosary Church and director of the Pastoral Centre and Coordinator of […]

Veteran journalist Jose Kavi receives prestigious ICPA Award

The Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA) has honoured Jose Kavi, the Managing Editor of Matters India with the prestigious Life Time Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the Church Media. The Louis Careno Award for Excellence in Journalism, including a citation, a memento and a cash award were handed over to Jose Kavi in […]

Renowned Jesuit missiologist dies

A renowned Jesuit-missiologist, who had studied missionary life as part of his vocation within the vocation, has died. Father Joseph Valiamangalam died of diabetic complication on September 14 at Vadodara in Gujarat state. He was 73. He was a member of the Jesuits’ Gujarat province for 54 years.

Pope surprises 95-year-old Indian grandmother of a priest with video call

Francis has a well-earned reputation as the “Cold Call Pope,” often phoning people out of the blue who’ve written him or whom he wants to contact for some other reason. He recently burnished that reputation with a video call to the 95-year-old grandmother of a member of his travel team. On Sept. 2, Pope Francis […]

Pakistan pays Christians who lost homes to Muslim mobs $6,800

Pakistani authorities on Sept.19 handed out thousands of dollars to nearly 100 Christian families whose homes were destroyed or damaged by a Muslim mob angered over an alleged desecration of the Quran last week. The government of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said each household was getting 2 million rupees ($6,800) in compensation on Monday. […]

Jimmy Lai marks a thousand days in prison for calling for democracy in Hong Kong

September 26 marks a sad anniversary: a thousand days in prison for businessman Jimmy Lai. Her was jailed for suppor-ting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. His newspaper, and his newspaper, the Apple Daily, was forced to close by Chinese authorities after they imposed a draconian national security law. Baptised by Card Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai, 75, […]

Eviction-facing Indian Catholics to fight Muslim charity’s claims

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica