Caritas India’s work among tribal people and Dalits or former untouchables does not auger well with Hindu groups. A pro-Hindu group has demanded a federal probe into the activities of Caritas India, the social service organi-zation of the national Catholic bishops’ conference, saying they threaten India’s national, social, and economic security. The Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), which is aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has written to the federal home ministry, seeking a probe into the activities of the social service organization of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. Its activities “are a threat to the national, social and economic security of Bharat [India],” LRPF stated on March 21 on social media feeds. A Caritas India official, who did not want to be named told on April 1, that “these are false allegations. We comply with government norms in letter and spirit.” In its March 21 complaint, the pro-Hindu group sought to cancel Caritas India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) license, which is necessary to receive donations from outside the country.
“Caritas India is raising funds from abroad through the FCRA channel in the name of various welfare activities,” the forum accused.
The federal home ministry is in charge of the FCRA registrations. Several NGOs in India are facing increasing scrutiny and cancellation of their FCRA licenses since the BJP came to power in 2014.
The Hindu group’s complaint said Caritas India is projecting tribal people and Dalits as “the only poor in India.” The focus on these two groups, who together make up nearly 26 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people, is “to divide society,” it accused. The economic incentives from the Catholic charity are “being utilized to motivate tribal people and Dalits to abandon their ancestral faiths” to embrace Christianity, it alleged. “Frequent visits are conducted by Caritas India’s global partners like Caritas Australia to India to monitor the nation’s mineral resources and to create social disharmony through religious conversions,” it noted in the complaint. Conversion of tribal people and Dalits mostly take place in the central Indian states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh where they have a strong presence, the NGO noted. Dalits and tribal people, who follow their traditional worship practices, are grouped as Hindus under India’s Census, a practice started by colonial British officers for practical administrative purposes. The Caritas India official said the complaint “seems to be an attempt to create discord and confusion among people during the general election.” The seven-phased national polls to elect members of India’s 543-seat parliament will start on April 19 and conclude on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.

The Catholic Church obser-ved the Holy Week with chur-ches packed with refugees in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur where ethnic violence has raged for 11 months.
Fr Varghese Velickakam, vicar general of Imphal archdiocese that covers the entire state, said they had Palm Sunday services on March 24 “practically in every parish centre.” “Even in parishes with a large number of refugees the churches were packed for Psalm Sunday liturgical services,” the priest told on March 26, when the Church conducted Chrism Mass, another ritual in the week commemorating Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The violence between Manipur’s largely Hindu Meitei majority and the predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo minority communities began on May 3, 2023. It has so far claimed nearly 200 lives and rendered thousands homeless. Hundreds have taken refuge in Don Bosco Parish in Churachandpur town and in St.Mary’s Parish at Tuibong in Churachandpur district.
“The situation is slowly settling down. The refugees are already in the separated area. We are trying to rehabilitate them. Con-struction is going on. Support is coming from different parts of the country and from their own community,” explained Fr Velikakkam, the convener of the relief and rehabilitation committee.
In the packed Imphal Cathedral, new Archbishop Linus Neli was the main celebrant. A report from Archbishop Neli’s predecessor Archbishop Dominic Lumon on June 15, 2023, said the violence claimed 150 people until then. More than 200 Kuki villages with one or more churches were attacked. “About 249 churches belonging to the Meitei Christians have been destroyed. All these destructions took place with precision within 36 hours of the start of violence,” Archbishop Lumon’s report said.

Catholic bishops have called on thousands of Church-run schools in India to promote religious harmony after the institutions faced the ire of right-wing Hindu groups over alleged religious conversions. “We need to respect all faith traditions without discrimination,” the bishops said in guidelines issued to schools on April 1.”Our primary objective behind issuing the guidelines is to inform about our legacy to our students and teachers,” Father Maria Charles, secretary of the Office of Education and Culture of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), told UCA News on April 4.The Church runs more than 50,000 educational institutions, including schools and 400 colleges, six universities and six medical schools.
“These guidelines are applicable to our higher education institutions as well,” Charles said. “We plan to promote inclusiveness in our academic institutions.” The bishops wanted daily recitation of the preamble of the constitution which says India is a “secular socialist democratic nation” in the assemblies. On several occasions, the prelates have strongly denied allegations of religious conversion by Hindu groups and have termed them as “false propaganda to tarnish the image of Christian schools.” Recently, Christian schools in the northeastern state of Assam came in for a co-ordinated attack by right-wing Hindu groups who wanted to remove all Christian symbols from Christian schools. They demanded priests, nuns and religious brothers working in these schools to wear traditional dress instead of religious habits. Eleven Indian states, most of them ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have enacted a draconian anti-conversion law. Persecution and violence against Christians have increased since 2014, when Modi first came to power. Modi is seeking a third consecutive term in office with the general election due to take place between April 19 and June 1. “Now we see a social awakening within society and a change in perception. Therefore, it is imperative to issue these guidelines,” Charles said. The bishops in their 13-page guideline urged schools to “promote diversity.”

The Conference of Religious Women, India (CRWI), has released its strategic plan for 2024-2029 with a stress on networking and partnerships. Sister Jane Wakahiu, head of Catholic Sisters Initiative under Hilton Foundation, released the document at Bengaluru on March 19 in the presence of Apostolic Carmel Sister Maria Nirmalini, head of India’s more than 130,000 women and men religious. Releasing the document, Sister Wakahiu, a member of the institute of the Little Sisters of Saint Francis, Kenya, referred to it as “roadmap to Christian ministries by the women religious in India, characterized by inter congregational collaborations. “This plan is a testament to our commitment to human dignity, social justice and environmental stewardship”, said Sister Nirmalini, adding the strategic plan would harness partnerships, dialogue and innovation to manifest the goals. “Through this plan, we will leverage inter-congregational collaborations, research, and outreach to empower the marginalized, and drive systemic change,” she added.
She said the plan’s priorities include the empowerment and well-being of the Catholic nuns by setting up a grievance cell, supporting their holistic development through training and counselling, addressing current challenges like old age care, and decreasing vocations. The plan aims to unify women’s congregations across India, continue their ministries of teaching, healing and missionary journey in a collaborative spirit, and affirm women’s rightful place in the Church by promoting equality, participation and gender justice.
The plan also underlines the need to promote inter religious harmony and inter cultural collaboration, and promoting a livable ecosystem. In the next five years, CRWI will strengthen nuns’ skills, knowledge, and leadership abilities to enhance ministries, and support the health and mental well-being of religious sisters, and deepen the national network of sisters. Equipping and empowering women religious, fostering leadership through dialogue with major superiors, and implementing innovative programs for holistic development of sisters and their congregation also will be considered as top priorities in the coming five years.

A Catholic bishop has refuted a media report about indigenous Christians in his northeast Indian diocese reverting to their indigen-ous faith. “It appears to be a ploy to sensationalize religious con-version and target Christians,” said Bishop Paul Mattekatt of Diphu diocese in Assam state.
The news of about 150 men and women participating in “rituals symbolizing their reversion to Barithe Dharma, their original religious practice,” appeared in the Organizer on March 20.
The weekly mouthpiece of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent outfit of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed the rituals were held on March 18 in Diphu, the headquarters of Karbi Anglong district.
The event was hailed as a “new chapter in the ongoing ghar wapsi [homecoming] movement in the state” of Assam. Ghar wapsi is the name given to a nationwide campaign run by the RSS through its affiliate organizations to convert tribal Christians to Hinduism or indigenous faith.
However, Bishop Mattekatt said he had personally verified the authenticity of the report and found no conversion or reconversion of indigenous Christians in his diocese.
“This kind of false news is to create confusion and mistrust among ordinary people who do not understand the reality of such claims,” the prelate said. He said it is wrong to presume that tribal Christians are shallow when it comes to their faith practices. “It is true our people are poor. That doesn’t mean that their faith is shallow and they easily give it up,” the prelate said.
“Until recently they made claims of reconversion of Christians to Hinduism, but now they say return to ‘ancestral roots’ when it comes to indigenous people,” he pointed out.
The RSS and its affiliate organizations claim the indigenous faith systems as part of Hinduism.
Brooks said the Hindu groups will continue to target Christians and their institutions in one way or another.
“The malicious campaigns will continue because the government in power is not taking action against the perpetrators” he added.

The cultural and literary society in Kochi, Kerala, came together on March 13 to bid farewell to Father Paul Thelakat who stepped down as the longest serving editor of the leading Catholic weekly in the southern Indian state. Father Thelakat “has achieved immortality through words, writing and philosophical thinking. He is an honest writer who contemplates life’s reality,” said M. K. Sanu, a literary figure in Kerala who has maintained long years of association with the priest, while inaugurated the meeting. The 97-year-old writer, popularly known as Sanumaster, described Father Thelakat as a humble priest who always felt disturbed while contemplating the events in society and the Church. He also said Father Thelakat has contributed immensely to the culture and literature of Kerala, besides theology during his 37 years of service as the editor of “Sathyadeepam” (Light of Truth) weekly published by the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
Sebastian Paul, a former Member of Parliament and a veteran journalist who chaired the meeting, said Father Thelakat’s absence will be felt keenly in the cultural evenings of Kochi. An autobiography of Father Thelakat titled “Kathavasesham” (The Story After) was released on the occasion. Noted poetess Vijayalakshmi released the book presenting a copy to Johny Lukose, a veteran journalist. The poet spoke with great emotion about the enlightenment she received through Father Thelakat, her spiritual guide. Lukose, who wrote the preface of the book, noted that Father Thelakat’s philosophical life created in minds the urge to seek truth and justice in a revolutionary way.

Archbishop Geevaghese Mar Ivanios, the first head of the Syro-Malankara Church, advanced on the sainthood path on March 14, 2024 when Pope Francis elevated him as a Venerable.
Archbishop Ivanios, who is known as the Newman of the East, is currently a Servant of God, the first stage in the four-phase canonization process. A statement from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints says the Pope has accepted the heroic virtues of the archbishop, who founded the Order of the Imitation of Christ, also known as Bethany Ashram, for men, and the Sisters of the Imitation of Christ, (Bethany Madhom) for women. The archbishop died July 15, 1953, aged 70, in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala. Archbishop Ivanios was declared a Servant of God in 2007.
Archbishop Ivanios led a spiritual move-ment in the Syrian Orthodox Church that was received into full communion with the Catholic Church on September 20, 1930. He is thus considered the father of the Syro-Malankara Church, one of the 23 Eastern Churches in communion with Rome.
The Malankara Church sees a parallel between the “Reunion Movement” of the 1920s and the Oxford Movement of the 1830s led by Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who is now a saint. Like Cardinal Newman, Archbishop Ivanios was part of a broader grouping that sought to discover the sources of unity in their own traditions, Anglican and Orthodox. When the time came, though, it was not a corporate unity that was possible but an individual conversion.
The 1920s saw a “Reunion Movement” in the Malankara Orthodox Church, and Mar Ivanios, who took that name upon being consecrated a bishop, was appointed to lead it. The movement towards corporate unity with Rome faltered, and Mar Ivanios found himself increasingly alone. In 1930, he and four others – a bishop, a priest, a deacon and a layman – entered into full communion with Rome.

As a child, Ma Wai practiced Buddhism, the predominant religion in her Myanmar village. But a few months ago, aged 50, she joined the Catholic Church.
Ma Wai began to “get a sense of Christianity” in 2008 after she married a Catholic when she was 34. That was 16 years ago after she fell in love with Stephen Soe Htet Aung.
She was born the eldest of five children of her Buddhist parents, who belonged to a mix of Bamar-Karen tribes in a village on the outskirts of Hinthada township in Irrawaddy division, southern Myanmar.
Most of the 200 families in the village are Buddhists, with a few Christians.
“I knew that Christians revere Jesus Christ, but I had no idea about Catholicism,” the woman said.
Marrying Soe, she said, opened her “eyes to the world of Christianity,” particularly to Catholicism.
Interfaith marriages are common in Myanmar, forming at least half in Catholic parishes, mostly Catholics and Buddhists, a Church source estimated.
In such marriages, the non-Catholic person need not change religion. However, to have a Catholic marriage, Church law insists the bride and groom agree to baptize their children in the Catholic faith.
Ma Wai said her husband “never pressured” her to change her faith.

A national conference on synod has called for restoring the space denied to Dalit Christians in the Church and society.
The February 16-17 conference on “Synodal Church: Voice of the Marginalized in India,” studied the Dalit Empowerment Policy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, 2016, that mandates an end to caste practices and promotes inclusive communities. The policy also focuses on the denied space of Dalit Christians in the Church and society.
“The very focus of the Synodal Church is mission, communion, and participation,” asserted Cardinal Anthony Poola, archbishop of Hyderabad, who presided over the conference held at the Indian Social Institute in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
The first cardinal from the Dalit community said everyone should be included in the mission of the Catholic Church so that no one feels left behind. “The marginalized should participate in the Church where their voice should be heard,” he asserted.
The program was organized by the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in collaboration with the Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
The participants were Dalit Catholics from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
The conference prepared a memorandum that reiterated the need to give to the Dalit Christians in India their denied space and taking steps to empower them.

India’s Supreme Court has granted interim bail to a Christian educator, who was arrested in December on a slew of complaints including attempts to murder and violating an anti-conversion law.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, on March 4 ordered the release of Rajendra Bihari Lal, vice-chancellor of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHAUTS).
The British-era institution was established in 1910 and is based in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad, in northern Indian Uttar Pradesh state.
The state police arrested Lal on Dec. 31, 2023, following a complaint from Diwakar Nath Tripathi, a local leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs the state government.
Earlier, Lal’s bail pleas were turned down by a local court and the state high court.
“We direct by way of an ad interim order that the petitioner be released on interim bail,” the Supreme Court order said.
Police have registered several cases against Lal under the state’s strident anti-conversion law that criminalizes religious conversion without prior sanction from the government.
In the latest case registered in Naini police station in Prayagraj district, Lal is accused of attempting to kill the complainant, Tripathi.
Tripathi’s complaint said two men who accompanied Lal in a vehicle opened fire at him while he was returning home after a morning walk.
“It is a baseless and fabricated case,” a close ally of Lal told UCA News on March 5.