The Catholic Medical Association of India (CHAI) is leading a campaign to tackle cases of tuberculosis, in collaboration with government agencies and other civil society organizations, said Redemptorist Fr Dr Mathew Abraham, CHAI Director General. India has the largest number of cases of tuberculosis in the world. Every hour more than 50 people die of tuberculosis in India. CHAI, linked to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, is formed by doctors and healthcare professionals working in Catholic hospitals, health centres and institutes in various Catholic dioceses throughout the country.
Category Archives: National
Sr Rani Maria to be beatified on November 4
The beatification of Sister Rani Maria, who was killed by a hired assassin in central India 27 years ago, will take place on November 4. The official announcement will take place in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
“It is a blessed moment for the Catholic Church in India. The decision of Pope Francis to beatify Sr Rani Maria brings joy to all Catholics in India,” said Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church.
A special function to commemorate the beatification, will be held on Nov 5 at the tomb of Sr Rani Maria at Sacred Heart Church in Udainagar, Madhya Pradesh.
Arunachal govt seeks info on Christian population
A letter issued by the East Kameng district Superintendent of Police to the president of the East Kameng Christian Forum (EKCF) seeking details of Christian believers in the district has created apprehension. State government however claimed the same as routine affair.
In the May 19 letter, the SP informed that the government was collecting data from all religious groups, and accordingly requested the president of EKCF to furnish data regarding the total number of Christian believers in the district, and names of church leaders / caretakers, along with list of churches and their locations for onward submission to the government within 10 days.
Clarifying on why the government was seeking details of religious groups, Government spokesperson Bamang Felix informed that it was a “routine secret exercise” conducted by the Security Branch of the government to collect data on various religious institutes. “This procedure is conducted for all religions and places on an annual basis, but the documents for East Kameng district were somehow made public. It has nothing to do with a specific religion as the letter itself reads that data is being collected for all religious grou-ps,” he said, before adding that it should not be misinterpreted.
Meanwhile, the Arunachal Civil Society (ACS) strongly condemned the SP’s letter and said that it was “unlawful and uncalled for.” It alleged that asking the details of Christians shows the hidden agenda of the BJP Government, while going on to claim that asking for unnecessary details would bring communal disharmony, religious hatred, and unrest among the different faiths living together.
Pastors ‘falsely charged’ granted bail in northern India
Six pastors were released on bail by a court in the north Indian State of Uttar Pradesh after the prosecution failed to prove, charges of attempting to incite a riot and hostility between religions. The pastors who belong to the Seva Bharat (serve India) Church were released on a surety of 20,000 rupees (US$298) on May 20, nine days after they were arrested in Salempur village, said Sanjay Kumar, a member of the church from the village.
The pastors from the neo-Christian church were slapped with charges of disturbing communal peace, creating hostility between religions and attempting to incite a riot. Kumar said that, apart from the prosecution failing to produce evidence, the court also found anomalies in the police complaint and subsequently granted bail.
CSI concerned over govt backing for GM food product
The Church of South India (CSI) expressed significant concern over a government recommendation that genetically modified mustard be made commercially available. The Department of Ecological Concerns of the CSI Synod said it was “anguished” to learn from the media that the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (through its Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committ-ee) had recommended the commercial release of genetically modified mustard. In a statement, the CSI cited an extensive list of objections, including fears that the proposed GM mustard would be resistant to herbicide: “Herbicide tolerance trait has been problematic the world over due to its negative impact on ecology, creation of unmanageable super weeds and deleterious impact on rural health. In the Indian context this will also affect rural livelihoods.”
London Dalit Conference: discrimination is a “disgrace” for society
“Discrimination against any human being is a disgrace for society everywhere,” Fr Z Devasagayaraj, secretary of the Office for Dalits and backward classes of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), told AsiaNews. The clergyman spoke on the sidelines of “‘Christian Responsibility to Dalits and Caste Discrimination’, a conference held in St George’s Cathedral, Southwark (London). In his view, “the whole world must condemn racism, xenophobia and apartheid. We cannot keep quiet when such practices occur somewhere in the world.”
The Christian Network against Caste Discrimination (CNACD) organised the two-day gathering, which began yesterday, with Card Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, as the guest of honour.
Caste discrimination, especially against the Dalits, aka untouchables, remains a major problem in India, as well as within the Catholic Church. This is why the bishops launched an action plan for the first time last year to counter marginalisation and promote integration. Dalits represent a majority of India’s Catholics, 12 million out of 19.
“We must condemn the caste system and discriminatory practices in the workplace as well,” Fr Devasagayaraj said. “The caste problem is not just a problem in India, but it is widespread in South Asian countries, and where they (Dalits) emigrate.”
“We are sorry that these people still carry with them caste discrimination,” the clergyman added. For this reason, it is important to organise “international seminars on the issue, so that we can shed light on their discrimination in the country, but also in the Christian community.”
According to Mgr Sarat Chandra Nayak, bishop of Berhampur, “the problem is so pervasive that it is not possible to eradicate this evil without the collaboration of the international community. It is vitally important for international institutions to pay greater attention to this issue.” “Caste discrimination continues to be widespread and persistent,” he explained. In fact, “with globalisation, the problem has been exported and with it, the challenges to solve it. At present, it has become a global phenomenon.”
Kerala nun directs a full-length Malayalam feature film
Sister Jiya, a member of the Medical Sisters of St Joseph (MSJ) order in Kerala, has become the first nun in India to direct a feature film.
Cinema was not exactly Sr Jiya’s field of expertise. She never learnt the craft of filmmaking, didn’t plan to be associated with the industry or even bothered to spend much time watching films. Yet she is now the writer-director of a full-length Malayalam feature film.
‘Ente Vellithooval’, the two-and-a-half hour long film which is all set to hit the screens, stands proof of Sr Jiya’s immense dedication and relentless hard work for over a year. The nun, who hails from Palakkad, is the in-charge of the lab at St Seba-stian’s Hospital in Cherupuzha, Kannur.
It all started when the Catholic Church observed 2015 as the Year for Consecrated Life. Sr Jiya wanted to make a short film on the people in the service of the church. She brushed up a story that she had written years ago and developed a screenplay with the help of some friends.
Sr Jiya got her work approved by her superiors in the church. Actress Sarayu was roped in to play the lead role of Sr Merina. The shoot started with the bless-ings of Archbishop George Njaralakatt of Thalassery.
Assam creates ‘silent zones’ around religious venues
The north-eastern Indian city of Guwahati city India has proclaimed “silence zones” around all religious paces in what many say is a bid to stop mosques using loudspeakers to call Muslims to prayer.
The district administration of Guwahati, the business capital of Assam state, following state government directions, issued an official notification declaring a radius of 100 meters around all religious places, including temples, mosques and churches, to be “silent zones.”
The pro Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party is currently ruling the state with its local alliance, having won a majority in elections last year. The win is seen as historic as it is the first time for ethnically diverse Assam and the north-eastern region for the party to form a state government.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has often been accused of being biased against religious minorities in the country ever since the party swept the national polls in 2014.
Assam has 31 million people, but Hindus are about 60 percent against the national average of 80 percent. Muslims make up about 35 percent, much higher than the 15 percent national figure. Christians are a minority forming 1.1 million or 3.7 percent of the total population.
Historic “plague cross” destroyed by officials in India
City officials in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, have destroyed a century-old roadside cross, despite the strong opposition of the local Catholic community.
The cross was built on or around 1895 in the western Bandra neighborhood of the city.
“The religious structure is constructed on a private property,” said Godfrey Pimenta, of the Watchdog Foundation. “The owner of the property had replied to the said notice and met Ughade wherein documentary evidence, including a Revenue Plan/Property Card, was submitted to explain the legal position of the structure,” Pimenta said, “Despite this, the ward officials demolished the structure.”
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay, called the destruction of the cross “deeply disturbing.”
“The concerned [city official] must be held respon-sible and accountable for the action, which was illegal,” Gracias told Crux.
Manual scavenging a sin: Christian bodies
Manuel scavenging is the worst surviving symbol of caste-based discrimination and a sin against God and God’s people, asserts a joint meeting of top Christian bodies in Asia.
The participants of April 24-26 meeting urged Churches to take the lead to ensure the effective implementation of a law passed by the Indian parliament in 2013 to end manual scavenging practices in the country.
The “Abolition of Manual Scavenging in India: An Ecumenical Accompaniment and Advocacy Consultation” was organized by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Church of South India (CSI).
The meet wants Churches in the country to acknowledge manual scavenging as a sin and to work for its abolishment in all forms at all levels.
The consultation opened jointly by NCCI general secretary Reverend Roger Gaikwad and CSI General Secretary Reverend Ratnakar Sadanand.
The keynote was delivered by Bezwada Wilson, Magsaysay Award Winner of 2016 and founder of the Safai Karmachari Aandolon, a movement to eradicate manual scavenging.
Although the Church’s mission is to find the lost, it has refocus its attention from the center to the margins with relevant strategies, he told the gathering. “The bottom line of the mission mandate is to defend and advocate for human rights, and affirm the life of every human with respect and dignity,” he explained.
The Church, he noted, has infrastructure and human and financial resources that should be used to help abolish inhuman and un-Christian ideologies such as casteism and practices like manual scavenging.