From The States

Catholic orphanage raided, priests arrested in India

An orphanage serving differently abled children for the past 150 years was raided by government agencies in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The officers of the state units of National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Child Welfare Committee desecrated a church, beat up priests, destroyed computers and ransacked a […]

Hindu fundamentalists oppose Catholic children’s summer camp

More than a hundred Hindu activists forcefully entered a Catholic school in Chhattisgarh to oppose a summer catechetical camp held there for Catholic children. The intruders, who entered the Vishwadeep School campus around noon on May 7, alleged the program was meant to convert “Hindu” children. The school in Durg, 40 km west of Raipur, […]

Ousted Protestant bishop remanded for seven days

A special court in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has remanded ousted Protestant Bishop P C Singh in seven days custody of Directorate of Enforcement (ED) for interroga-tion. Bishop Singh came to the ED radar following the September 2022 raid of his office and residence by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), a provincial […]

Ajmer priest appointed Jaipur bishop

Pope Francis on April 22 appointed Father Joseph Kallarackal, a priest of Ajmer diocese, as the new bishop of Jaipur in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan. Bishop Lewis said the bishop-elect has chosen as his motto to do everything for the glory of God and being grateful to God. Bishop-elect Kallarackal hails from Anavilasam, […]

Hindu-convert-turned retreat preacher dies

Aravindaksha Menon, an upper caste Hindu who discovered Christ through the reading of the Vedas, died of heart attack in Kerala. The death occurred on April 19 as he was being taken to a hospital in Kottayam with complaints of chest pain. He was 75. “This is the death of a saint,” says Father George […]

Indian bishop, who was forced to resign by Vatican, dies

Bishop Isidore Fernandes, who was sacked by the Vatican ten years before his term could end, died April 26 in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He was 76. Bishop Fernandes was forced to resign by the Vatican for ordaining the first bishop of a homegrown charismatic community that is […]

Farming nuns promote eco-centric spirituality, organic farming

Valerie Gastager, a Ger-man student, was excited to eat what she grew at the farm of a Catholic convent in southern India. “We harvested and ate the vegetables we grew,” Gastager said February 28 as she showed Global Sisters Report the kit-chen garden in the courtyard of the Helpers of Mount Rosary congregation at Alangar […]

Missionaries’ passion and commitment help Church survive crises

Apostolic Carmel Sister Maria Nirmalini was elected the president of the Conference of Religious India, the national body of major superiors of India’s Catholic religious, in November 2021 and assumed office in January 2022. The 58-year-old educator also heads the women section of the conference as well as the Apostolic Carmel congregation. Nirmalini advocates empowerment […]

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

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica