Muslims took to the streets in huge protests around Asia after Friday on June 10 prayers, sparked by remarks about the Prophet Mohammed by an Indian ruling party official that embroiled the country in a diplomatic storm.
Anger has engulfed the Islamic world since last week when a spokes-woman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party commented on the relationship between the prophet and his youngest wife on a TV debate show.

A group of young people from Tezu town in Arunachal Pradesh marked the World Bicycle Day by promoting the cause of peace and environment. The 10-memeber youth group, cycled from Krick and Bourry Memorial School in Tezu to Demwe in Lohit district and back, 20 kilo-meters, to campaign for peace in the world, and to spread awareness on the need to protect and preserve environment.

A Catholic nun has come to public with allegations of torture and mental harassment from her congregation. Sister Elcina, nee K.V Sudha, a member the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, an Italian congregation, made the revelation to media on June 7 in front of her provincial house in Mysore, a city in southern Indian state of Karnataka.
She alleged that her superiors had forcibly admitted to a mental hospital after her complaints to the state government about certain irregularities in her congregation.

The Indian Theo-logical Association and others have mourned the death of Jesuit Father Joseph Mattam, who had accompanied gene-rations of students in their theological research. The funeral was held May 30 at Vadodara’s Shrine of Our Mother of the Forsaken, Vadodara. Fr Mattam was a member of the Gujarat Jesuit province for 66 years and a priest for 55 years.

Catholics in India seem euphoric after Pope Francis named a Dalit from the country among the 21 new cardinals.
Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals in the next consistory on Aug. 27, including five archbishops and one bishop from Asia. Sixteen of the new cardinals are under the age of 80, who are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect the successor of Pope Francis, and for five others the title is mostly honorary. Five Asian prelates are – Archbishop Felipe Nerri Ferrao of Goa and Daman (India), Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad (India), Archbishop William Goh of Singapore, Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva, SDB of Dili (East Timor), Arch-bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy (South Korea), Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, who was born in a Dalit Catholic family in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is among the two new cardinals from India. The other Indian is Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman. The Pope will create the cardinals at a consistory on Aug. 27.
Archbishop Poola’s elevation comes amid talks about an Indian Dalit Rite in the Catholic Church and protests by Dalit groups for bishops from their community.
A Dalit cardinal was also their demand for decades and they stepped it up after Pope John Paul II on October 21, 2003, made Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, the then archbishop of Ranchi, a prince of the Church. Cardinal Toppo claimed that the new title recognized India’s tribal Church.
Such recognition for the Dalits took 19 years more years, but it has made Jesuit Father Irudhaya Jothi, “extremely happy.” The grassroots activist now working in northeastern India says it is “a proud moment for the Dalit community in the world.”
Father Jothi and Ravi Kumar, a Dalit leader from Vijayawada diocese in Andhra Pradesh, say Archbishop Poola’s appoint-ment shows that Pope Francis continues to give recognition and representation to the Churches at the periphery and the marginalized communities.
Father Jothi said he prays that the Church gives “an emphatic hearing” to the standing demands of the Dalits, “the most exploited community.”

Indian Catholics have joined relief and rescue efforts organized by NGOs and government agencies as the death toll from flooding in Assam has reached 24 in the north-eastern state.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the situation re-mains critical as nearly 720,000 people in 22 districts are reeling under the deluge, with Nagaon, Hojai, Cachar, Darrang, Morigaon and Karimganj districts badly affected.
“The flood situation in the state is very serious as several people have lost their lives. We pray for the bereaved families but in the meantime our immediate priority is to provide food, water, dry rations and medicine to affected people as the government is engaged in rescue and relocating people to safe places,” Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati told.
“Our social service wing along with its team are distributing food such as biscuits, bread, water and dry rations like rice, lentils, vegetables and salt as well as medicine and tarpaulins.”

Jesuit Fr Ephrem Manikompe, a renowned school teacher, died May 22, leaving a deep grief in the hearts of hundreds. After a cardiac arrest on May 19, he had a brief hospitalization. He was 80.
The member of the Kerala Jesuit province will always be remembered for his kindness and simplicity. He served as a teacher and headmaster of St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Thiruvananthapuram, one of the premiere schools in Kerala, for a quarter century starting in the 1970s.

Christian leaders in the central Indian Madhya Pradesh have objected to the state government’s move to put Church-run schools under the microscope.
State home minister Narottam Mishra announced on May 16 that police will monitor Church-run schools to curb religious conversions.
A day earlier, police arrest-ed six people, including two pastors, after Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu organization, complained of suspected illegal conversions at the Christ Memorial School in the state capital Bhopal.
The six were booked for hurting religious sentiments under the Indian Penal Code and released the same day.
School director Manis Mathew told on May 17 that a Sunday prayer service in the school hall “was wrongly portrayed as a religious conversion activity to target our institution.”
Church leaders across denominations view the police action and the decision to monitor all Christian schools as a deliberate attempt to target and defame Christians through a false narrative.

A feature film on Blessed Rani Maria Vattalil was premiered May 27 on Atmadarshan TV, a popular religious channel of the diocese of Indore, central India. Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore, who addressed the function in Indore, recalled Blessed Rani Maria’s struggle to organize poor tribals against the exploitation of moneylenders. She was among the first in Madhya Pradesh to successfully implement the concept of Self Help Groups, the Divine Word prelate added.

Thomas Scaria, a renowned expert in addiction management, training and consultancy, has become the first Indian to receive “International Awa-rd for Excellence in Training Provision.”
Scaria, who heads the Mangaluru-based Ecolink Institu-te of Well-being, received the award May 14 at a function in Abu Dhabi.
The award is instituted by the International Society for Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) based in the United Kingdom and constituted by international organizations such as Colombo Plan, World Health Organization, the US Department of State and UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).
The award was handed over at the closing ceremony of ISSUP’s three-day annual conference attended by more than 1,000 delegates from 100 countries. Announcing the award and presenting the felicitation, ISSUP deputy director Livia Eddegger said the Indian institute was selected by the award committee for its excellence in training maximum number of addiction professionals from around the globe and creating several credentialed professionals during the year.
“Ecolink Institute headed by Dr. Thomas Scaria has trained and professionalized the highest number of addiction professionals in an excellent way,” Eddegger said.
Four other persons from various parts of the world were also awarded for their services to Drug Demand Reduction services under various heads.