A Catholic priest has vowed to quit priesthood and face any punishment if an allegation is proved that a Church-led protest against seaport project has received foreign fund to destabilize the country. “Our hands are clean and ready to face any probe,” says Father Theodacious D’Cruz, one of the conveners of the fishermen’s protest against Adani international seaport at Vizhinjam coast in Thiruvananthapuram district in the southern Indian state of Kerala .
Hundreds of thousand fishermen and their family members have been protesting against the construction of the private seaport since July 20 after Kerala’s Communist-led government refused to accept their demands for resettlement and rehabilitation.
“Our protest has now entered the 105th-day and we are getting good public support, but we are being accused of accepting foreign funds to destabilize the country and its developments,” Father D’Cruz told on November 1.
The priest was responding to the allegation that Aleyamma Vijayan, the secretary of Sakhi Women’s Resource Centre, received funds for the ongoing coastal protest. She is the wife of A J Vijayan, a trade union leader and a petitioner in the National Green Tribunal against the port project.
Aleyamma has filed a defamation suit against the news channel “News 18” that carried the controversial news. In the petition, she said the organization has been working in human rights since 1996 in Thiruvananthapuram. It is registered as a Public Charitable Trust with a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration to receive funds.

Jesuit superior general Father General Arturo Sosa has released a collection of writings in honour of a pioneer in Christian-Muslim relations who had worked in India for decades.
While releasing the book “Witness to a Common Hope: Festschrift in honour of Jesuit Father Christian W. Troll on October 28 at the Jesuit head-quarters in Rome, the general stressed the importance of the Jesuit works’ scholarly dimension.
The Festschrift (a collection of writings published in honour of a scholar) contains 26 essays that honor Father Troll. The volume was edited by Herman Roborgh, head of the School of Religion and Philosophy, Minhaj Univer-sity Lahore, Pakistan, and Jesuit Father Joseph Victor Edwin, lect-urer of Theology and Christian-Muslim Relations in Delhi’s Vidyajyoti Institute of Religious Studies. It was published by the Gujarati Sahitya Praksash in Gujarat.
The editors while introducing Father Troll as a scholar and ser-vant of reconciliation expressed joy in offering a bouquet of essays in honor of him through the edited volume.
Formed in the school of Igna-tian discernment, Father Troll was inspired by the Second Vati-can Council and its documents such as Lumen Gentium, Nostra Aetate and Dignitatis Humanae in his engagements with Muslims around the world.

The Indian Catholic bishops’ 35th general body meeting on November 7 took off to a colorful start with the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Leopold Girelli celebrating the opening with more than 200 prelates as concelebrants.
Present at the opening program at St John’s National Academy of Health Science in Bengaluru were Cardinals Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
Also present were Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathios, CBCI vice president and secretary general Archbishop Felix Machado along with a number of archbishops, bishops and priests.
Speaking in his homily, Archbishop Girelli highlighted the readings of the day. He urged the bishops to be good shepherds who will be an example to priests and the faithful.
The papal ambassadors also shed light upon the Pope’s Intentions for November: Prayers for the Suffering Children, especially those who are homeless and helpless.
“There are those who dare to say, as if to justify themselves, that it was a mistake to bring these children into the world. …” Children are never a mistake. Their hunger is not a mistake, nor is their poverty, their vulnerability, their abandonment – so many children abandoned on the streets – and neither is their ignorance or their helplessness…

The Kerala High Court has asked Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Catholic Church in the southern Indian state, to appear before a court in connection with cases related to a land sale.
The top court in Kerala November 9 dismissed the cardinal’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kakkanad, a suburb of Kochi. The prelate is facing seven criminal cases in connection with the sale of land belonging to the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese a few years ago.
The cardinal is accused of selling prime land belonged to the archdiocese fraudulently without consulting canonical bodies and other concerned authorities and incurring a loss to the tune of close I billion rupees.
The cardinal had denied the allegations and reportedly admitted having certain failures in overseeing the land deals and made no gains from them.
Cardinal Alencherry in his plea said that he “is a senior citizen aged 77 years and head of the Syro Malabar Church spread over whole world, having a membership of 55 lakhs (5.5 millon).”
The prelate further said, he is “bestowed with the duty of performing religious ceremonies, rituals, including ordination of bishops, priests, consecration of churches.”

An affidavit filed by the Union govern-ment with the Supreme Court claims Islam and Christianity’s allegedly “foreign” contri-butions as justification for keeping Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians out of the Scheduled Castes list, The Hindu has report-ed. The report notes that the affidavit “contra-dicts itself at several junctures,” and that there is “a lack of clarity on its arguments defending the current criteria” for determi-ning which communities can be included in the Scheduled Castes list.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empo-werment filed the affidavit in October, in a case arising from a petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, alleging that the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the constitution as it discriminates against members of Scheduled Caste communities who have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.
“It is submitted that the present is a case of classification between Indian citizens and foreigners which cannot be doubted on any count. It is well established that Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification,” the government has claimed.
“It is submitted that there exists a clear intelligible differentia between local contri-butions to the sector and foreign contribu-tions,” it added.
The Hindu report notes that, of course, the case does not concern foreigners but Indian citizens.
The Union government thus makes a case to distinguish between Scheduled Caste communities practising Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism and Scheduled Caste commu-nities practising other religions.
The Union government further submitted that a “twin test of classification” – purported-ly laid down by a “bench of higher combina-tions than Shayara Bano Supra – states that Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification.
“It is submitted that it postulates that permissible classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distingui-shes persons or things that are grouped to-gether from others left out of the group, and the differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question,” the Union govt. says.

Catholic bishops in Kerala have cautioned people against rising occult practices in the wake of reported cases of human sacrifices in the southern Indian state.
“No civilized society can image such ghastly murders. We are shocked,” Father Jacob G Palakkappilly, the spokesperson of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), told Matters India on October 13, two days after the gruesome murders came to light following investigation into the missing complaint of one of the women.
According to the police, two middle aged women were sacrificed for prosperity and wealth in the past four months in Pathanamthitta district.
“Nothing but shocked. It has happened in Kerala,” said Sister Jessy Kurian, a Supreme Court lawyer, reacting to the reports of human sacrifices in a state that boasts of the highest literacy rate and a model women empowerment in India.

In Edison, New Jersey, a bulldozer, which has become a symbol of oppression of India’s Muslim minority, rolled down the street during a parade mark-ing that country’s Independence Day. At an event in Anaheim, California, a shouting match eru-pted between people celebrating the holiday and those who show-ed up to protest violence against Muslims in India.
Indian Americans from di-verse faith backgrounds have peacefully co-existed stateside for several decades. But these recent events in the U.S. — and violent confrontations between some Hindus and Muslims last month in Leicester, England — have heightened concerns that stark political and religious polariza-tion in India is seeping into dias-pora communities.
In India, Hindu nationalism has surged under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, which rose to power in 2014 and won a landslide ele-ction in 2019. The ruling party has faced fierce criticism over rising attacks against Muslims in recent years, from the Muslim community and other religious minorities as well as some Hindus who say Modi’s silence embold-ens right-wing groups and threat-ens national unity.
Hindu nationalism has split the Indian expatriate community just as Donald Trump’s presid-ency polarized the U.S., said Varun Soni, dean of religious life at the University of Southern California. It has about 2,000 students from India, among the highest in the country.
Soni has not seen these ten-sions surface yet on campus. But he said USC received blowback for being one of more than 50 U.S. universities that co-sponsor-ed an online conference called “Dismantling Global Hindutva.”
The 2021 event aimed to spread awareness of Hindutva, Sanskrit for the essence of being Hindu, a political ideology that claims India as a predominantly Hindu nation plus some minority faiths with roots in the country such as Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. Critics say that exclu-des other minority religious groups such as Muslims and Christians.

The Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (MS-MHC), the first indigenous con-gregation of northeastern India, has marked its 80th foundation anniversary.
“In the glorious mission history of Northeast India, one cannot deny the impact of the multifaceted missionary enter-prises launched by the MSMHC, be it in the local church or various aspects of life in the society,” said Salesian Father V C Joseph, the main celebrant of the jubilee Mass on October 22.
The priest, who is the rector and principal of Don Bosco Sch-ool Siliguri, West Bengal, stress-ed the congregation’s hall mark saying, “Quality education for the poor and downtrodden with a spirit of service and compassion uniquely characterizes the Si-sters’ educative mission with a vision to reduce social and econo-mic disparities.”
The congregation was found-ed on October 24, 1942, during the Second World War by Sale-sian Bishop Venerable Stephen Ferrando of Shillong.
Spread out in 13 regions in India and abroad, some 1,500 members of the congregation are now engaged in services ranging from faith formation, education and social work. They serve all 15 dioceses of northeastern India.
The congregation today runs 54 educational institutions, 115 parish schools, with 140 hostels both in rural and urban areas.
Today the Sisters render ser-vices to children in difficult circu-mstances, express solidarity with the domestic workers, and care for women victims of drug and alcohol abuse.

Christians in Odisha say they contribute generously to the celebration of festival of their Hindu brethren as a gesture to foster solidarity and brotherhood.
“I gladly gave 2,000 rupees, the amount decided by the Hindu Diwali committee for a Christian family,” said Lazarus Bage, a Catholic catechist, hailing from Sundargargh, now settled in Cuttack for the past 46 years.
He told Matters India on October 23, the eve of Diwali festival, that he saw an opportunity to cooperate and collaborate with the majority Hindus in their major festival of Diwali in the city of Cuttack.
The Samal Street Bidyadharpur Cuttack city committee had decided to collect 300 rupees from local inhabitants, 500 rupees from those staying in rented houses and 2,000 from outsiders settled in Cuttack for the Diwali celebrations.
Bage is among some 50 Catholic families, all settlers, under St. Antony of Padua Parish, Bidyadharpur, Nayabajar, Cuttack. Another parish in the city, Our Lady of Most Holy Rosary Cathedral Parish, has 300 Catholic families, most of them settlers. The amount for each family varies from street to street, town to town and city to city.
A Christian family living in Cuttack after the 2006 Kandhamal communal violence also donated to the Diwali committee.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or World Hindu Council has urged the Indian government to withdraw the benefits of its affirmative action program to Hindus who convert to Christianity.
Vijay Shankar Tiwari, the national VHP spokesman while addressing a press conference in Jaipur city in northwestern Rajasthan state on Oct. 19, alleged those converting to Christianity continue to use their Hindu names and credentials in official documents and draw benefits from the government’s reservation policy for Dalits and tribal people.
“The central government should make a plan and do a survey to ensure that those people who are from the SC [Scheduled Caste, the official name for Dalits] and ST [Scheduled Tribes] communities and adopted Christianity don’t get the reservation benefits,” he demanded.
Tiwari further accused Christian missionaries and Muslim clerics of acting as pressure groups to pass on the benefits of education and employment reservations in government institutions under India’s affirmative action program to those converted to their religions.
“Since these religious groups claim their religions do not have any caste system and that every individual is equal, they do not come under the reservation schemes,” said Tiwari.
He said even India’s founding fathers including its constitution maker Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had rejected the idea of providing reservations to converts as it would destroy the purpose of uplifting socially weak Hindu communities.
“Why the step-motherly treatment to Christians and Muslims?”
“These religious groups continue to raise the demand despite it being rejected by the apex court, too,” Tiwari added while announcing the VHP will soon undertake an awareness campaign on the issue.