Krishnagar, July 23, 2022: More than 4,000 people July 23 attended the episcopal ordination of Salesian Bishop Nirmol Vincent Gomes of Krishnagar in West Bengal state.
After the ordination at Cathedral of the Holy Redeemer in Krishnagar, the new bishop asked the gathering to bless him as he takes charge of the diocese. The congregation, – 22 bi-shops, 200 priests and 500 Sisters and some 4,000 faithful – responded extending their right hand in prayerful blessing as the newly ordained Bishop bowed his head in prayer.

Cardinal-Elect Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman in the western Indian state of Goa launched the Indian edition of Desiderio Desideravi, Pope Francis’ apostolic letter on the liturgical formation of lay people on July 9. Archbishop Ferrao, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), released the book urging Catholics to celebrate the liturgy in a proper, effective and relevant manner.

A Nigerian Catholic priest abducted last week was found murdered   while his colleague managed to escape from his captors in the northern state of Kaduna, the local diocese said.
Fathers John Mark Cheitnum and Donatus Cleophas were seized in the town of Lere when attending a parish function at Christ the King Catholic Church, Yadin Garu last Friday.
On July 19, the body of Cheitnum was found, the Kafanchan diocese said in a statement, adding that he was “brutally killed on the same day of his abduction.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
About a dozen priests have been kidnapped this year across Nigeria by gunmen who demand ransom payments. Nigerian security forces, who are stretched fighting an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, often fail to stop the attacks.

An educationist for almost four decades, Salesian Fr Nirmol Vincent Gomes will on July 23 be ordained the bishop of Krish-nagar diocese in West Bengal.
The uncle of the bishop-elect, Bishop Emeritus Theotonius Gomes of Dhaka will preside over the episcopal ordination to be held in Cathedral of the Holy Redeemer Krishnagar.
Dignitaries expected at the event include Vatican Nuncio to India and Nepal Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Salesian Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar.

Archbishop Emeritus Raul Nicolau Gonsalves, the first native to head the arch-diocese of Goa-Daman, died July 1 after ailing for the past ten days. The death occurred at 8:45 am at the JMJ Hospital in Alto-Porvorim, 8 km north of Panaji, the capital of Goa. He was 95.

Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mittathani of Im-phal died July 11, a day before his 91st birthday.
A message from Fr G.P. Amalraj, deputy secretary of the North East India Regional Bishops’ Conference, says the funeral is on July 14 at St. Joseph’s Cathedral Imphal.

Tribal Christians in the western state of Gujarat say they are not enthused by a forthcoming visit to their province by India’s first indigenous woman all set to become the nation’s president.
Draupadi Murmu is scheduled to be in the home state of Prime minister Narendra Modi on July 13 to pay homage to the late Sardar Vallabhai Patel, an iconic national leader from Gujarat credited with uniting India after independence.
Murmu is the candidate of the ruling alliance led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is expected to sail through the July 18 contest against Yash-want Sinha, a former BJP veteran politician and ex-federal minister pitted against her by a united opposition.
India’s president is not elected directly but chosen by an electoral college comprising parliamentarians and legislators across the provinces.
The tribal people including Christians in Gujarat say they do “feel good that someone amongst them will become India’s first citizen.”
However, they say her visit isn’t of any interest to them because they will not be allowed to go near her because of VIP security protocols for important political figures.
Gujarat’s lone Christian legislator Punja Gamit says Murmu’s election as president may help the right-wing agenda of “delisting converts [to Christianity] from the list of Scheduled Tribes recognized officially across India.”
Gamit was referring to ongoing debates in India, pushed forth by Hindu right-wing groups, over attempted exclusion of tribal people who converted to Christianity from special education, job, social welfare and legislative quotas reserved for them.
Gamit said he and his Congress party will be endorsing Yashwant Sinha in the hope that he will refuse to be a “rubber stamp” and stall the anti-tribal Christian moves, such as the delisting of converts by Modi’s ruling BJP government.
Raj Vasava, a young tribal activist in Gujarat who recently joined the opposition Congress party, said Murmu’s nomination as a presidential candidate was a matter of pride but there was also fear.
She is known for projecting herself as pro-Hindu rather than as an indigenous person and had chosen to visit a temple after her nomination, he noted.

Lucy D’Souza was desperate. She lost her husband to cancer in 2020, and the pandemic took away her job as a housemaid. However, she managed to rebuild her life with what she says is “timely support” from some Catholic nuns.
“Today, I make my living by selling pickles in the local market,” said the Catholic mother of two as she packed mango and pickled vegetables into small bottles.
D’Souza is among the more than 200 Christian, Hindu and Muslim women who through local self-help groups have ta-ken up trades and self-employment projects to overcome pandemic trauma in Mangaluru, a port city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Another 200 women have done the same in Bengaluru, the state capital, some 220 miles east of Mangaluru.
They all are assisted by four congregations of women religious.
“People suffered a lot with no jobs, business or any means of livelihood during the COVID lockdowns,” said Sr. Joel Lasrado, a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Queen of the Apostles who helped D’Souza start her business.
Other congregations that have helped people like D’Souza are the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, Sisters of Charity of Sts. Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa, and Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes.