Police in the eastern Indian state of Bihar are investigating a mob attack on a Catholic nun over alleged medical negligence at a hospital. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth congregation complained to police after the nun and a hospital staff member were attacked. Sister Philo Kottor, the congregation’s provincial for Patna province, told that a mob of about 50 people claimed Nazareth Hospital in Mokama was negligent in a treating a villager who died from gunshot injuries.

A diocese in Kerala has come up with a welfare scheme to help families with five or more children.
The initiative of Palai diocese’s Family Apostolate seeks to offer a monthly financial assistance of 1,500 rupees to couples who are married after the year 2000 and have five or more children.
Women deliver their fourth children onward are entitled for free delivery care at a hospital run by the Church. Children born as the fourth or subsequently in a family will get scholarships to study in Church-managed engineering college. The scheme, announced as part of the year of the family celebrations by the Syro Malabar Church, is now going viral in the social media and has evoked mixed reactions from the public.
Confirming its authenticity, Father Joseph Kuttiankal, director of the Family Apostolate, said the scheme was planned as an assistance to the large families, especially in the post Covid-19 scenario.

Philippine Catholic bishops congratulated the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, not only for her victory but for her show of faith and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Diaz’s triumph came in the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting event on July 26. She also set an Olympic record after lifting a combined weight of 224 kilograms.
After completing her final lift in a very close competition, Diaz held her hands to her face, burst into tears and clutched at her Miraculous Medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary hanging from her neck.
“Thank you, Lord, thank you Lord,” she cried repeatedly after the winning lift.
Later on the podium at the medals ceremony, Diaz pointed heavenward after singing the Philippine national anthem, then made the Sign of the Cross before stepping down and shouting “Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” (“Long live the Philippines!”)
Diaz’s inspirational victory and public display of her Catholic faith touched the hearts of church leaders and Filipino Catholics watching from home and quickly went viral on social media.
“We admire her devotion to the Blessed Mother as she carried in her victory her great faith in God,” said Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the country’s bishops’ conference. “Hidilyn is a true weightlifter who draws her strength from her love for the country and her deep Catholic faith.”
Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila said Diaz has given inspiration to all Filipinos.

A special prayer service was held at the Mother of Sorrows Church in Udupi for the recovery of Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, who is under treatment at a private hospital here following a head injury Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo of Udupi conducted the July 23 prayer service. The 80-year-old former federal minister was admitted to Yenepoya Speciality Hospital in Mangaluru on July 18 after he suffered a fall while doing yoga at his apartment in the city, family sources said.

More than 136 people have died in floods and landslides in Konkan, along the coast of the Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa. Due to strong monsoons, a landslide killed 49 people among tribal Katkari in the mission area of the Archdiocese of Mumbai in Raigad, one of the most affected districts.

A report by India’s Ministry of Education highlights the high dropout rate among students from Dalit and tribal backgrounds. The data released by former federal education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is contained in the Unified District Information on School Education (UDISE) 2019-20 report.

Girls who had access to the free lunches provided at government schools, had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not, says a new study on the inter-generational benefits of India’s midday meal scheme published in Nature Communications this week.
Using nationally representative data on cohorts of mothers and their children spanning 23 years, the paper showed that by 2016, the prevalence of stunting was significantly lower in areas where the mid scheme was implemented in 2005.

A controversial land deal that rocked India’s Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church four years ago has resurfaced after a group of priests called a Vatican restitution decree unjust and unethical.
Syro-Malabar priests in India say the new archdiocesan administrator bypassed canonical channels to sell property to pay off debt. They will appeal to the Vatican’s Apostolic Signature against a decree from the Congregation for Eastern Churches, a senior priest told.
The Vatican decree, leaked to the media June 27, seeks to reduce the arch-diocese’s losses by selling two plots of archdiocesan land at a price and a buyer approved by the permanent synod of the church.
The demand for restitution began in November 2019 after a group of arch-diocesan priests publicly accused Cardinal George Alencherry of bypassing canonical bodies to sell off several plots of land over a period of two years, incurring a loss of some $10 million to the arch-diocese. Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, was archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly at the time.
The Vatican intervened two years ago and removed Cardinal Alencherry from administrative duties in the archdiocese. It later appointed Archbishop Antony Kariyil as its administrator.
The Vatican also asked the church’s synod to find a way to recover the losses.
Earlier this year, the synod suggested the sale of two pieces of land bought during the time Alencherry led the archdiocese, suggesting that price appreciation of the land could make up for the losses incurred.
However, members of the archdiocesan college of consultors and finance body opposed the suggestion, saying the land legally belongs to them because they bought it with their own money. The consultors say income from its sale cannot be considered restitution of the losses.
More than 385 of about 400 priests in the archdiocese also signed a petition to the Vatican congregation rejecting the synod proposal.

Church leaders and activists have welcomed the appointment of a tribal Catholic as India’s new minister of state for minority affairs.
John Barla, an MP who represents Alipurduar in West Bengal state for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest cabinet reshuffle on July 7.
“We are quite delighted after John was given the chance to look after minority affairs and will be directly responsible for day-to-day activities of minorities’ groups. We hope he does justice to his responsibilities,” Father Nicholas Barla, secretary of the Indian bishops’ commission for tribal affairs, told.
“It feels good when someone from the same community is chosen as a federal minister, and we pray and wish him good luck. “Since John himself belong to an Oran tribe, he is the right person who can understand the sufferings, difficulties and socioeconomic condition of the tribal people. It will be easy for him to work for the downtrodden people.
“We have a big list of demands concerning tribal rights and we hope the new minister will be able to address all these issues.”

The Catholic bishops in north-eastern India on July 13 condemned the demolition of a church in the national capital the previous day.
“It is shocking and sad news,” said Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati, who is president of North East India Regional Bishops’ Council (NEIRBC). The Little Flower Church in Lado Sarai was demolished by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation citing encroachment of government’s agricultural land “by some people by instalment of reli-gious structures.”
Speaking on behalf of NEIRBC, Archbishop Moolachira said, “Demolition of the Church in Delhi has hurt the religious sentiment of the peace loving Christian community not only in Delhi but across the country. The number of such incident has been on the rise in the recent past, including many parts of North East India.”