Mary Roy, an educator and a women’s rights activist, died September 1 after a brief ill-ness in Kottayam, a town in the southern Indian state of Kerala. She was 89.
She was survived by two children, son Lalit Roy and daughter Arundhati Roy, renowned writer and activist who won the 1997 Man Booker prize for her novel “God of Small Things.”
Roy was known for winning a landmark Supreme Court case in 1986 that ensured equal rights in family property for women belonging to the Syrian Christian community in Kerala. She fought a 39-year-long legal battle to gain equal access to the property of her deceased father that led to the Supreme Court judgment against the archaic Travancore Christian Succession Act of 1916.

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 protests, rallies and signature campaign in various parts of the northern Indian holy city to demand repeal of the mercy given by the Gujarat High Court to the 11 rapists and murderers.
SSM, in collaboration with Joint Action Council, an organization of the Students of Ba-naras Hindu University and Dakhal (Initiative), a young women’s organization for the rights of women and transgenders through cultural and political interventions, organized its third public meeting August 26 at Sarnath, 10 km northeast of Varanasi.
SSM convenor Father Ana-nd Mathew of the Indian Missionary Society, while addressing the gathering said: “We are standing in front of the Sarnath museum where the Ashoka pillar, symbol of peace and dharma is preserved. The place is significant because it is here Buddha preached his first sermon, denoting the four noble truths of dharma. And from here we appeal to the judiciary not to perpetuate in-justice.”
He condemned the court verdict which he says certi-fies the exploi-tation of wo-men and mino-rity communities. He indicated the communal angle and appeasement of the majority community in the unjust court verdict and expressed the hope that the Supreme Court will give justice to Bilkis Bano and other suffering women and minority communities.
He also appealed for justice to Teesta Setalvad, Himanshu Kumar, Sanjeev Bhat and R.B. Sree Kumar who are jailed for their voice of dissent and standing for truth. Jagriti Rahi, a prominent woman activist of Varanasi, explained in detail the repercussions of this cruel verdict in favor of people who gang raped Bilkis Bano, murdered her three year daughter and seven members of her family in front of her eyes during the Gujarat riots.

At an event marking Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav – 75 years of India’s in-dependence – and Literacy Day, Church Art Kolkata honoured four clergy men for outstanding contribution to society along with several other eminent citizens. The program was held at Indian Council for Cultural Relations Kolkata Satyajit Ray auditorium, September 8, 2022.
Church Art based out of Kolkata is a pan-India initiative with global linkages engaged in promoting education, art and Indian culture for the past 25 years under Shri Subrata Ganguly.
Besides achievers from different walks of life felicitated at the event, there were four clergy men and six high ranking officials of Eastern Rail-way Sealdah like Principal Chief Engineer, Divisional Railway Manager, Additional Divisional Railway Manager and Divisional Engineer Coordinator.
Speaking at the occasion, one of the achievers, President of the Press Club Kolkata Mr Snehasish Sur said, “September 8 is Mother Mary’s birthday and Literacy Day in which several priests and Railway officials are honoured, indicates education is carried forward through mothers, priests and technology.”

Father P Antonisamy, who was an inspiration to scores of Dalit priests, religious and lay faithful, died on Sept. 6 in Pondicherry. He was 82.
He was a resident of Emmaus house in Pondicherry, a house of the retired clergy of the Archdiocese, for the past five years.

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 contractors seeking police protection from alleged disruption to their work by the protesting fishermen and their families led by the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram).

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 ring.

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 Patti, the “shocking incident” took place around 12:45 am.

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 faithful from around the world, including India.
Cardinals Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, attended the ceremony along with Cardinals George Cardinal Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Church.
Other participants were Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, Bishop Jaya Rao Polimera of Eluru, Joseph Raja Rao of Vijayawada, and Archbishop Emeritus Bernard Moras of Bangalore.
The 20 new cardinals represent the Church worldwide and reflect a wide variety of cultures, contexts and pastoral ministries, says a press note from CCBI deputy secretary general Father Stephen Alathara.
Seven of the new cardinals are from Europe, six from Asia, two from Africa, one from North America and four from Central and Latin America. Of the 20, 16 are cardinal electors under 80 years of age and thus eligible to participate in a conclave. The College of Cardinals currently consists of 229 cardinals, of which 131 are electors and 98 non-electors.
Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, and Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, were made cardinals during their tenure as presidents of the CCBI, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Cardinal Ferrão is the third CCBI president to be elevated to the cardinalate, the press note says.
Cardinal Ferrão, born on January 20, 1953, in Aldona, Goa, was ordained priest October 28, 1979. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman at the age of 40 by Pope John Paul II on December 20, 1993. His epis-copal ordination was April 10, 1994. On December 12, 2003, he was appointed the archbishop of Goa and Daman and patriarch of the East Indies and installed on March 21, 2004.

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 protests, rallies and signature campaign in various parts of the northern Indian holy city to demand repeal of the mercy given by the Gujarat High Court to the 11 rapists and murderers.
SSM, in collaboration with Joint Action Council, an organization of the Students of Ba-naras Hindu University and Dakhal (Initiative), a young women’s organization for the rights of women and transgenders through cultural and political interventions, organized its third public meeting August 26 at Sarnath, 10 km northeast of Varanasi.
SSM convenor Father Ana-nd Mathew of the Indian Missionary Society, while addressing the gathering said: “We are standing in front of the Sarnath museum where the Ashoka pillar, symbol of peace and dharma is preserved. The place is significant because it is here Buddha preached his first sermon, denoting the four noble truths of dharma. And from here we appeal to the judiciary not to perpetuate injustice.”

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 Geet Govind Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, the state capital.
The chief speakers at the convention were Prakash Yash-want Ambedkar, a former Member of the Parliament, and Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a renowned journalist and the senior editor of the Wire online portal.
Sister Justine Geetanjali, a member of the Odisha unit of the Citizens for Communal Harmony Peace and Justice, in her introductory remark briefed about the current state of affairs in the country and about the Kandhamal riots.
Ambedkar, the grandson of the founder of the Constitution, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, who addressed the first session, raised questions on sensitive incidents such as the case of Bilkis Bano.