Three women from different parts of northern India have won the top prizes of the first Gospel Singer Reality Show conducted by a popular Church TV channel.
While Lynette John, a mother and an English music teacher from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, notched the top posi-tion, S Jyoti from Bhilai, an industrial city of Chhattisgarh, stood second, and Garima Ekka from the Chhattisgarh capital of Raipur, came third.
The final was held October 26 at Indore, the commercial capital of the central Indian sta-te of Madhya Pradesh where the channel Atmadarshan is based. The channel honored the 11 mega finalists and their families.
As a part of the selection process, the channel conducted auditions in April and May. Atmadarshan team travelled almost 6,000 km to conduct auditions in 15 major cities of eight northern Indian states. From the initial 250 partici-pants, 50 were selected for the first round which was held from May 23-27 in Atmadarshan. The second round was held August 13-14. The semi finals were on October 23-24.
Some renowned musicians from Christian and other religions , who have enriched the North Indian Christianity, were also felicitated at the show.

Archbishop Andrews Tha-zhath of Trichur has been ele-cted president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the national body that represents more than 22 million Catholics in the country.
The conference’s general body that met in Bengaluru Nov 6-11 also elected Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras-Mylapore and Bishop Joseph Thomas of Batheri as the first and second vice presidents of the conference.
The meeting reelected Archbishop Felix Machado as the secretary general. The elections took place on November 10, the penultimate day of the plenary meeting.
Under the 1987 papal directive on the rites in India, the post of the CBCI has been rotated among India’s three ritual Churches – Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara.
Pope John Paul II´s May 27, 1987, letter asked the three rites to set up their own bishops’ conferences and directed the CBCI to continue with “questions of common concern and of a national and supra-ritual character.” Hailed now as “a watershed” in the Indian Church, the letter sought to resolve inter-rite rivalry and help the Church present a united witness to Christ in the multireligious country.
Archbishop Thazhath from the Syro-Malabar Church replaces Cardinal Oswald Gra-cias of the Latin Church.
The first vice president and the secretary general belong to the Latin Church while the second vice president repre-sents the Syro-Malankara Church.
Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, was expected to be elected the CBCI president,
The cardinal also faces several court cases in connection with the sale of land belong to the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. On November 9, the Kerala High Court asked Cardinal Alencherry to appear before a court in connection with cases related to a land sale.

The province cha pter of Manantha-vady Norbertines has elected Father Jose Murickan as its ninth provincial.
The election on October 19 was presided over by Abbot General Jos Wouters. Abbot Marcus Champia from the Norbertine Abbey of Jamtara was the second official of the election.
Father Murickan, former director of the National Institute of Social Communications, Research and Train-ing (NISCORT), the premier media college of the Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of India, will hold the post for the next six years.

A Capuchin priest and a semina-rian have been feared drowned in the Godavari River in the southern Indian state of Telangana.
Father Tony Simon Pulladen and seminarian Bijo Thomas Palampura-ckal were reportedly taking bath in the river on October 23 near Errayipet village near Chennur town, when the accident took place.

The Society of St Paul, an international Catholic religious congregation for men, has a new leader for its India pro-vince that comprises Great Britain and Ireland, besides India. The congregation’s superior general Father Dominic Soliman on Oct. 24 appointed Father Joby Mathew as the Indian provincial during the council meeting.

A unique edition of the Bible for the youth was released at the backdrop of the general assembly of the Fede-ration of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), currently underway at Bang-kok, Thailand.
The special edition, named ‘Iden-tity: Identified, Navigating the Cha-llenges of Life,’ was presented to the assembly by Salesian Bishop George Pallipparambil of Miao, the chairman of the Commissions for Evangelization and Archbishop Simon Poh of Kuch-ing, Malaysia, according to informa-tion received from the FABC office.

More than 90 priests, nuns and lay people from across India are attending a four-day specialized training program on project management and fundraising in Kolkata.
The participants for the October 21-24 program at Jesuits’ Dhyana Ashram hail from 30 religious congregations and dioceses. The training aims to train them as development personnel. They came from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi (National Capital Region), Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The program is organized under the initiative of the Association of Franciscan Family in India (AFFI).
“We must give utmost importance to uplifting the lives of the poor through our intervention as rooted in Christian values.”

The Churches in Asia need to seize the moment to stress the Asianness of the Church as Pope Francis encourages Church communities to become more grounded through continental contextual theologies, says Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, one of Asia’s leading theologians.
The 67-year-old professor of theology at the Pontifical Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome says the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) should build on the theological foundations laid by yesteryear Asian theologians.
The priest, also a member of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod 2021-2024,  also believes the synodal process will change “the Church upside down” if the process is taken seriously.
Father Tirimanna spoke with UCA News on Oct. 20 on the sidelines of FABC’s first general conference (Oct.12-30) organized in Bangkok as part of its golden jubilee celebrations. Excerpts from the interview:
“The essence they gave is the Asianness of the Church?” “We need to seize it. But I’m sorry to say I don’t see the enthusiasm and energy to do that. We can do much more than what we are doing because this is our moment. If we lose this, I wonder whether God will give us another moment like this. .. Roman or European theology will not be able to understand and respond to our realities in all their complexities. What we need is an Asian theology.
“Their main common point was that there are three main living realities in Asia: religions, cultures, and the poor. These founding fathers of FABC theology, of course, together with the pioneer FABC bishops, considered that Christian existence in Asia can be appreciated only through triple dialogue — with religions, cultures and the poor. These triple realities characterized Asia in the seventies, and they continue to characterize Asia even today and that will characterize Asia even tomorrow.”
“Environmental issues are here as they are in other parts of the world. Issues of women and youth are also global. We should not lose what characterizes us. Have a dialogue with everybody, but let’s be Asian. If you are not focused well, everything becomes important even with regard to dialogue. That means nothing is important. Have a dialogue but don’t say they are Asian issues alone. But the issues of women in Asia are not that of Europe. So European solutions will not help Asian women. I think I have made my point clear.”

Kandhamal Collector Ashis Ishwar Patil has promised to comply with a court order to give compensation to a kin of a Catholic priest, who died dur-ing the 2008 anti-Christian violence.
“I have received the High Court Order and asked some clarifications and documents,” the collector told Benadicta Di-gal, brother of Father Bernard Diga, when he met Patil Octo-ber 27 in his office in Phulbani, the district headquarters.
Exactly a month ago, the Odisha High Court directed the Kandhamal collector to com-pensate Father Digal’s legal heir.
The documents sought by the collector are legal heir documents, account number and other requirements from the local tehsildar and revenue inspector. “Don’t worry I assure you to disburse 800,000 in your account immediately,” Benedicta quoted the collector as saying.

The Archdiocese of Bhopal has concluded a three-day Bible Mahotsav (grand festival) with the imposition of pallium upon Archbishop Alangaram Arokia Sebastian Durairaj.
The festival, a spiritual retreat for the laity, began with a procession of the Bible at 8:30 am on October 21 at Assumption Church. Father Ishwardas Minj, the vicar general of the archdiocese, inaugurated the retreat by concelebrating Mass.
On the second day, Vincentian Father Shaji, the retreat preacher, emphasized that the Catholics need to be rooted in the love of Christ through communion and participation to carry out the mission of Christ Jesus. It’s an open invitation to become saints of God with Love, Joy and Peace, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, he added.
Father Shaji from Jamshedpur also emphasized that everyone has to become a new creation. “God has called each one of us to become saints,” he added.
The retreat concluded with a concelebrated Mass presided over by Divine Word Archbishop Durairaj.