From The States

Protesting Indian fishermen hit with restraining order

An Indian court has issued a re-straining order against Catholic fisher-men protesting against a multi-billion dollar seaport in the southern Indian state of Kerala and ordered the stepping up of security at the project site. The Kerala High Court issued the order on September 1 in response to a petition by Adani Vizhinjam Port and its […]

The ‘battle for the bottle’ in India’s Gujarat state

India’s apostle of peace, Mahatma Gandhi, would turn in his grave if he were to witness the “battle for the bottle” in his home province Gujarat ahead of crucial state polls later this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bête noire and old war horse, Shankarsinh Vaghela, has once again thrown his hat in the electoral […]

Statue vandalized, parish priest’s vehicle burnt in Punjab

Some unidentified miscreants on August 31 vandalized a Marian statue kept in front of a church in Patti, an old town in the northern Indian state of Punjab. They also set ablaze the car of the parish priest. According to a message from Father Thomas Poochalil, the parish priest of Infant Jesus Catholic Church in […]

Pope makes Archbishops Filipe Neri, Anthony Poola cardinals

Pope Francis on August 27 made 20 prelates, including Indian Archbishops Filipe Neri Ferrão of Goa and Daman and Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, in a consistory held at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. Cardinal Ferrao is the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (Latin Rite). The ceremony was attended by thou-sands of […]

Citizen groups in Varanasi rally in support of Bilkis Bano

A powerful citizen’s movement in Varanasi has come to the streets demanding justice to Bilkis Bano, a rape survivor of the 2002 communal riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Sajha Sanskriti Manch (SSM, United Forum for Cultural Diversity), network of various social and human rights organization, has organized a series of public […]

Odisha people observe Kandhamal violence’s 14th anniversary

A state-level peace and harmony convention was held in Odisha on the fourteenth anniversary of the Kandhamal communal massacre in the eastern Indian state. More than 300 civil society groups, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, writers, students, and academicians, including priests, and nuns across the state joined the day-long peace and goodwill convention August 25 at […]

Restructure training program for seminarians, religious: Vocation commission

The sharp decline in the current standard of education has prompted the bishops of northeastern India to call for restructuring the initial forma-tion years for priests and reli-gious. The all-promotion system in schools and making subjects like maths not compulsory to pass grade ten have adversely affected the reading, writing and numeracy skills of those […]

Former Patna Jesuit provincial dies

Father John D’ Mello, a former Patna Jesuit provincial and renowned spiritual director, died August 24. He was 89. The death occurred at 7:30 am at Xavier Bhavan at Digha Ghat, a western suburb of Patna, where Father D’Mello was leading a retired life.

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

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica