Two Catholic bishops led some 100 priests and thousands of lay people as they launched an indefinite protest against government apathy toward the rehabilitation of families affected by coastline erosion in the Archdiocese of Trivandrum in the southern Indian Kerala state.
The life of common people, especially the fisher people, had become miserable due to the continued onslaught of natural calamities and disasters, said Archbishop Thomas J Netto of Thiruvananthapuram while leading the protest in front of the state secretariat on June 20.
Archbishop Netto lamented that the communist-led state government ignored their pleas for rehabilitation of the affected people and a permanent solution to coastline erosion.
The protest initiated by the Latin-rite archdiocese witnessed a huge turnout of laypeople including those from the fishing community living along the state’s coastline.
“We have at least 500 families who lost everything and have taken refuge with relatives and friends, besides the local schools and warehouses,” Auxiliary Bishop Christudas Rajappan told.
A 2018 study by India’s National Centre for Earth Science Studies showed that 60 percent of Kerala’s coastline was under erosion due to urbanization, tourism, development of new ports and “unscientific shoreline protection methods” that have caused the beaches to become unstable.

Catholics in the southern Indian state of Kerala have launched a signature campaign against a reported move by its communist rulers to withdraw a government supply of food items to homes for the elderly and orphanages.
“It is a highly condemnable act,” said P.P. Joseph, president of the Catholic Congress in Changanassery Archdiocese, after launching the campaign at a local old people’s home on July 10.
The signatures with an appeal to not abandon the aged and orphans will be handed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he said.
The signature campaign was initiated in response to an appeal from the Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council.
“More than 100,000 inmates in 1,800 old people’s homes and orphanages in the state are going to be deprived of food supplied through the public distribution system,” said Father Michael Pulickal, CMI, secretary of the commission.
The Kerala government decided to discontinue the supplies though “verbal instructions to this effect to officials,” the priest alleged.
“The Catholic Church opposed the decision then and will continue to oppose this latest decision too”
The priest claimed to have got the information from reliable sources in the state’s social welfare and public distribution departments. The reason given was that the federal government had withdrawn its support for the free ration scheme in the state.
Government officials remained tight-lipped. A senior official told on July 11 that the government has “enough storage of food grains.”
The official, who did not want to be named, also denied any official information about the alleged move to discontinue food supplies.
Father Pulickal, though, appealed to the provincial government to reverse the decision and reminded of an earlier decision to withdraw the social security pension of residents at old people’s homes in the state in August 2021.

Abandoned, unwanted, and grossly underrepresented is how religious minorities, including Christians, feel in the western Indian state of Gujarat — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
The alienation is so complete that the majority of Christians or Muslims living here are resigned to their fate as second-class citizens in this “model state” that owes much to Modi’s development-oriented governance as its chief minister from 2001 to 2014.
The marginalized communities make no bones about their disillusionment with both the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, which swears by secular-liberal values but practices a softer version of “Hindutva” (Hindu nationalism).
Naturally, the minorities are seething with anger at being sys-tematically reduced to irrelevance — it is as if they do not matter in Gujarat. With the provincial assembly polls round the corner, their political fate hangs in the balance.
There is little hope or assurance of adequate political re-presentation for Christians or Muslims here. And there is little or no other option.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which rose from the ashes of a nationwide anti-corruption crusade in 2012 and rules Delhi and Punjab in the north, has entered the fray and forged an alliance with the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTS), headed by tribal strong-man Chhotu Vasava, himself a legislator.
“Census figures show Christians barely form 0.50 percent of Gujarat’s 63 million people; but their numbers in about 10 assembly segments, especially in the southern tribal belt”
But Christians, who have sizable numbers in the tribal belt of South Gujarat, are keeping their fingers crossed when it comes to the number of nominations they could expect for their co-religionists.
The BJP never bothered to grant the Christian community adequate representation in the state assembly election, while the Congress indulges in mere tokenism — repeating the nomination of the lone Christian candidate, Punaji Gamit, for the last four terms.
Even Gamit’s nomination stands threatened due to a campaign by pro-Hindu forces, but Congress would still like to ride on his successful run so far.

A resolution commemorating the life of Indian human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and seeking an independent investigation into the death of the Jesuit priest has been introduced in the US Congress, Congressman Juan Vargas has said.
Vargas, the Representative from the US state of California, recently introduced the resolution in Congress to commemorate Swamy “and to encourage an independent investigation” into his death.
The resolution is co-sponsored by Representatives Andre Carson and James McGovern. Its introduction in the US House of Representatives coincided with the first anniversary of 84-year-old Swamy’s death in judicial custody.
Vargas, a Democratic Party Congressman, was speaking at a webinar titled ‘Persecution of Religious Minorities and their Defenders in India: Commemorating Father Stan’s Death in Custody’ on July 5.
The panelists noted Swamy’s extensive service fighting for the rights of the tribals. “I am appalled by the abuse Father Stan faced while in custody. No one who fights for human rights should face such violence and neglect,” said Vargas.
Swamy was admitted on May 29, 2021, in a Mumbai hospital, a day after he suffered a cardiac arrest and was put on the ventilator. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease and several other ailments. He died July 5, 2021.
Father Swamy was arrested by the NIA from Ranchi, Jharkhand, on October 8, 2020, under the stringent UAPA in connection with the Elgar Parishad case and lodged at the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai.

Pope Francis on July 10 renewed his appeal for peace in Sri Lanka which has been rocked by instability for months over a worsening economic crisis. “I unite myself to the sorrow of the Sri Lankan people, who continue to suffer the effects of political and economic instability,” the Pope said at the Angelus, the traditional mid-day prayer on Sunday.
Following weeks of popular demonstrations, groups of protesters in Sri Lanka on July 9 stormed the presidential palace and other government buildings, demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka who broke into embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence have claimed to have recovered millions of rupees inside his mansion, according to a media report.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, crippled by an acute shortage of foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, and other essentials.
The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly US$7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about US$25 billion due through 2026.

Not many people outside Gujarat and even within this western Indian state itself know that there is a Christian Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Hindutva laboratory – one who has won four terms in a row. And that is perhaps because of his common tribal identity.
Punaji Gamit, 56, a Protestant, represents Vyara, a constituency in the tribal-dominated Tapi district of South Gujarat. He happens to be a convert – like 30% of others in his constituency.
So not many people know that these days Gujarat’s sole Christian assemblyman is losing sleep over an issue — the demand for delisting converts like him from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list — which has serious ramifications for him and other converts. This demand is being pushed by Janjati Su-raksha Manch (JSM), an outfit backed by the powerful right-wing Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Despite being the only Christian MLA, Gamit has not emerged as the voice and face of the Christian community. The Dalit community, which accounts for 7.5% of the population, has an iconic figure in the outspoken Jignesh Mevani.
Though about 60 Christian organiza-tions in South Gujarat have come together to form a common plat-form to counter what they des-cribe as Hindu groups’ controversial move, the community so far does not have a prominent face to spearhead the cause.
In fact, the Christian community does not even have a leader of the stature of Chhotu Vasava — an MLA known across the whole tribal belt.
“As a beneficiary of tribal status, Gamit understands that with de-listing he will not be able to contest elections and represent the tribal community”
Interestingly, even this lone Christian MLA, who is a member of the Congress Party, is not part of the Christian group that has been formed to combat the JSM’s campaign which Christians fear is likely to reach its logical conclusion in the Monsoon session of Indian parliament expected to start on July 18.

Christians cutting across denominations came together at various parts of India July 3 to organize special programs to mark the 1950th martyrdom day of Saint Thomas the Apostle.
Saint Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of India, is believed to have come to India in 52 AD and preached the Christian faith in the western and southern regions of the country. He was martyred 20 years later in Chennai, currently the capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Since 2021, the day is being observed as the Indian Christian Day to “love the neighbor, serve society, celebrate Jesus and bless India.”
The ecumenical annual day helps Christians to remember and celebrate “the person and message of Lord Jesus Christ in India.” That also helps them preserve their identity with the Indian cultural heritage and promoting unity. The day, a people’s movement, saw Christians organizing festivities, cultural programs, community service, health and literacy camps, food and clothes drive, environmental cleanup and workshops.

A civil society group assisting Catholic nuns in distress has opposed a reported move to reinstate Bishop Franco Mulakkal to his former post after being acquitted of rape charges by a trial court.Save Our Sisters (SOS) in a June 14 statement urged Catholic authorities “to reconsider a possible attempt to bring back Bishop Mulakkal” while referring to news reports about his resuming pastoral duties in Jalandhar Diocese in northern India. The media reports appeared after a visit by Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio in India, to the diocese on June 11-12.
“It is true Archbishop Girelli has confirmed to priests that the Vatican [has] accepted the Indian court order that exonerated Bishop Mulakkal from charges of rape,” said Bishop Agnelo Rufino Gracias, apostolic administrator of Jalandhar, although he dismissed the media reports.There was no discussion on the reinstatement of Bishop Mulakkal, he told UCA News. “It is normal practice that the Vatican accepts the ruling of a court in any country where it works,” Bishop Gracias said. “There was nothing more to be attached or attributed to it.” SOS, however, said the Vatican is likely to act solely on the report and advice of the apostolic nuncio, who is a Mulakkal supporter

An interdenominational rights group in India’s national capital has demanded the federal government and judiciary intervene immediately to check the rapid rise in incidents of violence, coercion and false arrests of Christians.
The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) has cited 207 cases of persecution in 2022 to back the demand. It documented 505 cases in 2021. “This data flies in the face of statements by government functionaries and leaders of the ruling party at the center and in the states that there is no persecution and that there are only a few stray incidents by fringe elements,” said UCF national president Michael Williams in a press statement on June 13. William said it was ironic that the culprits, many of whom even film the acts of vandalism and physical violence on unarmed women and men, dare to defy the law with such impunity while the pastors and faithful gathered for prayers are arrested on false charges of religious conversion. “In all such cases, the police are either mute spectators or active participants. Despite our appeals to senior officials and administrators, the police have failed to follow protocol, rules and conduct investigations,” the press statement added.
Based on the data collected from its national helpline number 1800-208-4545, the UCF said as many as 57 cases of persecution against Christians were recorded in May alone. The most acute situation prevailed in UP and MP states in the north, Chhattisgarh in the east and Karnataka in the south. “The data collected so far wasn’t exhaustive as many incidents did not come on our radar and hence aren’t recorded” There were 40 incidents recorded in January, 35 in February, 33 in March and 40 in April.

Catholics have criticized a pro-Hindu publication for calling Devasahayam Pillai, the first Indian layman to be declared a saint, “a thief who was shot dead for his crime.”
The objectionable writing questioning the recent canonization titled “Devasahayam Pillai and Holy Sins” is published in the June 10 issue of Kesari, a Malayalam-language weekly known as a mouthpiece of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in southern India’s Kerala state.
The three-page article by writer Murali Parapuram claimed that all the reasons cited by the Catholic Church for the saint-hood are totally false because there was no spiritual transformation in him.
It further described Saint Devasahayam as “a victim of religious conversion activities carried out by Christian missionaries” and charged the Church with “distorting history through fraudulent documents to promote their religious interests rather than any other concerns.”
“The RSS magazine is creating mistrust and confusion among the people and thereby whipping up communal discord,” said Father Michael Pulickal, secretary of the social harmony and vigilance commission of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council.