The Catholic Church in Gujarat has lost five priests in 24 hours as the second wave of the Covid-19 pande-mic continues to create havoc in India.
“It is a particularly sad time for us in the Church of Gujarat that we have lost five priests in less than a day,” bemoans Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, an acitivist of human rights, reconciliation and peace and a writer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s commercial capital.
Two of the deceased priests were from Father Prakash’s congregation while others were a diocesan, a Carmelite of Mary Immaculate and a Divine Word Society.

An employee for the Archdiocese of Bhopal’s commission for education has been released on bail after his arrest for the “intentional insult” of the Hindu religion.
Rajendra Dwivedi was arrested on Easter Sunday after he published articles on his blog claiming the salvation of Jesus had been revealed in the Vedas and Upanishads, religious texts in Hinduism. Although he works for a Catholic archdiocese, Dwivedi is a Protestant pastor and a convert to Christianity.
Bhopal is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, which recently passed a Religious Freedom Bill, which despite its name is an “anti-conversion” law aimed at keeping Hindus from joining other religions.
“It is again a sign of religious intolerance … where the constitution values like freedom of expression and the right to propagate my own religion,” said Father Maria Stephen, the public relations officer for the Archdiocese of Bhopal.
“More similar arrests have taken place after the latest anti conversion bill. The fundamentals take the maximum advantages of the bill,” he told Crux.
“It is the fight between truth and lies, justice and injustice, light and darkness. The lies appear that they are fast in the race, but the truth endures forever. It is what the Risen Lord taught us. Be not afraid,” Stephen said.
Hindu nationalists often accuse Christians of using force and surreptitious tactics in pursuing conversions, often storming into villages and leading “reconversion” ceremonies in which Christians are compelled to perform Hindu rituals.
These pressures on Christians, which also affect Muslims and other religious minorities, are part of what observers describe as a broad program for the “saffronization” of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meaning an attempt to impose Hindu values and identity while squeezing out rival faiths.
Modi is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled India since 2014. The BJP is linked with the the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist group.

Amid surging Covid-19 infections in the Christian majority Nagaland, Governor R N Ravi has requested Church leaders to influence people to follow corona virus protocols.
The governor held a meeting on April 19 with leaders of various Christian denominations in Nagaland at Dr Imkongliba Hal inside Raj Bhavan, his residence, in Kohima, capital of the northeastern Indian state.
The governor discussed the Covid-19 situation in the country as well as in Nagaland. He told the Church leader to use their moral and spiritual authority to save people from the pandemic.
On April 19, Nagaland reported 13 positive cases, taking the state’s caseload to 12,568. On the same day, India reported nearly 260,000 cases.

Reflecting on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, in his Easter message, reflects on his people’s road to Calvary over past two months.
“The greatest feast of Christianity comes during the saddest days in Myanmar history. For the last two months our people have walked through a real way of the Cross. They continue to be on mount Calvary. Hundreds have been killed. A blood bath has flown on our sacred land. Young and old, and even the children have been mercilessly killed. Dark days. Thousands are arrested and thrown into prisons. Thousands are on the run escaping arrests. Millions are starving,” the cardinal laments in his Easter message released March 31.
In a note of hope, the cardinal tells, “A wounded nation can find solace in Christ who underwent all that we are undergoing: He was tortured, he was abused, and he was killed on the Cross by arrogant powers. He felt the same sense of abandonment by God, felt by so many of our Youth.”
Recalling the Gospel story of women at Jesus tomb, the cardinal says, “Three women go to the grave to anoint Jesus body. They did not find him, but they found a young man. Yes. It reminds us of what is happening around us. Women and Youth of Myanmar. Empty the tombs. The message out of them is resurrection, a new world.”

His missionary experience at St. Edmund Catholic Church in Limbang, a town in Sarawak state in Malaysian Borneo, has left an indelible mark on the life of Father Christu Kolaba-thina, better known as Ravindra Babu.
The Indian priest from St. Joseph Missionary Society of Mill Hill (popularly known as Mill Hill Missionaries) has served as the assistant pastor of a parish in Miri Diocese since September 2018.
The second of five children, Father Ravindra was educated in Catholic schools in India. The first part of his missionary and priestly formation including philosophy studies was completed in India and then he was sent to St Joseph Forma-tion Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, for theological studies.
He spent two years in a missionary experience pro-gram in the Diocese of Kroon-stad in South Africa and was ordained a priest on Feb. 3, 2016, in the Archdiocese of Hyderabad in India.
Limbang Parish is Father’s Ravindra’s second missionary assignment. He landed in his first mission as a priest for Lapok Parish, also in Miri Diocese, in June 2016.

Pastors, priests, heads of schools and parishioners from various parts of Kolkata participated in an Easter Rally that was organized on April 4 evening.
The rally with 1,100-odd participants started from Bishop’s College and culminated with a thanksgiving worship service on the grounds of St James’ School.
The rally included participants from Catholic, Church of North India, Assembly of God and Baptist Churches.
“A year ago we faced the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and the churches were closed but our faith sustained us and this year the churches have opened. For Easter, the message is of hope and peace,” said Catholic Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta.
“Love brings unity and peace destroys hatred and even in hopelessness we should not be in despair… and not give up. We must live as good Christians and good citizens.”

A book written by Father Varghese Alengaden on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his priestly ordination was released at a function March 31 at Indore. Renowned journalist Shravan Garg, who released “Ho Jayega” (It will be done), described the book as “an attitude that helps a person to overcome crises in life.”
He also said that the “Ho Jayega” philosophy enabled Father Alengaden to achieve great things in his life, especially starting the Universal Solidarity Movement of Value Education for Peace (USM) and nurturing it.

A Catholic priest going to conduct Good Friday service in a mission centre in the diocese of Ujjain on April 2 was killed in a road accident.
Father John Nadunilam was going from Jamner town to Kalapipal village, some 10 km northeast, in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. The death occurred when his car collided with a truck in the morning. He was 46.

Catholic media persons in India on April 10 mourned the death of Jesuit    Fr Varghese Paul, a prolific Gujarati writer who started a news agency for South Asia in early 1980s. He was 77. Father Paul, a member of the Gujarat Jesuit province, died at 7:30 am on April 10 at GMERS (Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society) Hospital at Gotri in Vadodara, Gujarat. “He was shifted to the hospital last night. Lately he suffered from Covid besides other illnesses that he was suffering from,” says a message from Father Cedric Prakash, a Gujarat Jesuit.

As many as 46 students of XLRI’s Jamshedpur campus have tested positive for Covid-19. The students who tested positive have been isolated and quarantined within the campus and kept under observation by the resident doctor.