There is no harm in backtracking if the government thinks it has erred in amending citizenship laws, says Cardinal Oswald Gracias, head of the Catholic Church in India.

“Religion should never be made a dividing factor,” asserted the cardinal when asked about the political turmoil in India over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) and the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, the prelate disapproved people indulging in violence to get their voices heard. “Violence is not right. A continuous discussion must take place,” the Bombay arch-bishop told friends and well-wishers who on December 24 greeted him on his 75th birthday.

Cardinal Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and an adviser of Pope Francis, says he is “very keen” on inter-religious dialogue between people of different faiths. “This will knock off any prejudices and eventually help to understand and appreciate each other. I want the Catholic community to be at the forefront of this… to build bridges,” he added.

The Indian Church leader termed the love for the nation as an important trait of citizens. “If we truly feel strongly about India, then we must work for the country, to the point of being ready to sacrifice for it,” the cardinal asserted.

To foster patriotism, the cardinal suggests people engage in reflection and exchange of ideas. “Reading and knowing the thoughts of others helps one’s own thoughts to mature and conceptualize a better India, in which everyone is like one big family. This is what should be our priority,” Cardinal Gracias explained.

Any attack on “Indian spirit” can damage the age-old secular fabric of the country, warns Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa.

The prelate was addressing the annual civic reception on the occasion of Christmas in Panaji, the state capital. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and several ministers were present on the December 27 program.

Although the archbishop did not refer to any political issue, his remarks came amid the raging controversy over the amended Citizenship Act. Anything that vitiates the genuinely “Indian spirit” can damage the “centuries-old secular fabric of our nation,” he said.

“Sometimes, it (attack on Indian spirit) causes disturbances and flare-ups that can mar the peace and the tranquillity among its citizens,” the archbishop said.

A Hindu politician’s plan to build the world’s tallest statue of Christ has run into trouble after some radicals raised objections.

Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar, popularly known as D K Shivakumar and a leader of the opposition Congress party in Karnataka state, has pledged to build the 114-foot-tall Jesus statue at Harobele in Ramanagara, some 80 km south of the state capital of Bengaluru. On December 27, a day after Shivakumar, a former minister and currently a legislator, laid the foundation stone for the statue, the Karnataka government said it would review all land allotments made during the time of the previous government, a coalition of the Congress and a regional party.

The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party now heads the state’s current coalition government

The proposed ‘tallest’ statue of Jesus Christ is threatening to snowball into the tallest controversy yet, reports the Bangalore Mirror daily.

Karnataka Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said that there was a need to review the government land allotments during the time of the previous government. The proposed project is coming up on a 10-acre land in the backdrop of Kapali Betta (mountain). The Congress leader has paid the money to the land allotted by the previous government and is funding the project too.

Initially placed in charge of vocations and youth movements, in 1969 he obtained a license in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University following a period of study of the English language in London. He was then sent to India where he was assigned an assistant in the parish in Mumbai and attended the theological faculty of the Pontifical University of Pune. Unable to obtain a permanent visa for India, he was transferred to Hong Kong. For several years he was assistant cooperator in Tsuen Wan.

In 1981 he returned to Hong Kong, first as parish priest of Yuen Long, then, in 1986, he was appointed Director of the HK Press Office and of the AsiaNews Agency.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attended the Christmas night services on December 24 at the Cathedral Church in Kolkata. On her first visit to the cathedral for Christmas, Banerjee inaugurated the crib – traditional nativity scene of Jesus birth.

Banerjee has served as the eighth and current chief minister of West Bengal since 2011, the first woman to hold the office. She founded the party All India Trinamool (grassroots) Congress in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its chairperson.

Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta presided over the Christmas night services at the cathedral. “Jesus is born for all people of good will, to bring them love, peace and joy,” said cathedral parish priest Father Siluvai Pitchai recalling the message of angels who announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds.

The traditional nativity scene at the church entrance this year wore a modern look with an art work depicting the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Prayers for peace and understanding marked Christmas this year in the midst of subdued celebrations in light of the prevailing situation in the country and state.

A Christmas message from the Assam Christian Forum said it all: “We humbly pray that peace returns to our land, and every tear is wiped from the eyes of everyone who has suffered or lost their dear ones, and may the ruling dispensation understand the pain and anxieties of its citizens before trying to impose laws that is (are) bent to divide us.”

The Forum had earlier expressed its concern in the interior areas of the state, where the bulk of Christians reside, heading to churches in groups for the midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Spokesperson for the Forum, Allen Brookes, put to rest the apprehensions on Christmas day when he said, “Reports from different places were positive. There were no untoward incidents and everything went off peacefully. Police pickets had been posted. Anyway, we advanced the prayer service in Upper Assam due to the situation and the cold wave.”

On the Christmas spirit, Brookes said, “The faith part of Christmas went off as usual but the larger celebrations were toned down more in solidarity with what was happening in the country. As a community, we are also part of society, which is facing an onslaught at the moment. The festive spirit was subdued. We would have gone a little further but there were apprehensions.”

In the city, however, things looked to be almost normal as the services in different churches went on till midnight and the day service also passed off normally. People started to come out since late morning and the crowds swelled as the day progressed. By early evening, the areas near churches were chock-a-block with people from different communities and age groups.

Church leaders have appealed for peace in northeastern India, where police shot dead two people as violent protests spread against the federal government amending the law on citizenship. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed by the national parliament on Dec. 11, is seen as discriminatory on religious grounds. It gives citizenship to migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan if they are not Muslims.

The bill also reduces the requirement of residence for these migrants from 11 years to six years if they arrived in India on or before December 2014. Street protests against the law turned violent in several northeastern states. Police fired at thousands of people who defied a curfew in Assam’s State capital Guwahati, killing two.

Indigenous groups in the region believe the law gives citizenship to millions of immigrants who came from neighboring Bangladesh following its independence in 1971. Regardless of religion, they believe the move will change the demographics of their region.

Church leaders such as retired Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati say the controversial law was needless.

“It was passed discriminating some groups,” said the prelate, who is a member of Assam Citizens’ Forum. “We, along with the people of Assam, regardless of faith, call for calm and peace during these difficult times. We want all to be united.”

The Salesian bishop said political leaders should have taken the people into confidence. He said the law threatens small ethnic groups in the region “who have lived here for centuries.”

The Congress party, which opposes the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the situation in the region was “extremely disturbing.”

Sister Lissy Vadakkel, main witness in the case of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of sexually abusing a nun at a convent in Kerala, said pressure is being budged on her to retract her statement. She said they are forcing her to withdraw her statements over phone and in person. Sister Lissy said that she is living in the midst of stress and isolation and some are trying to make her a mental patient. She said that she is firm in her statement against the former bishop and will not change it. She said that is to a TV news channel.

Sister said that the trial of the case should be conducted as early as possible. Some are trying to influence me saying that if I say anything against the bishop it will harm the church. She said that some from her evangelization team are budging pressure on her to retract the statement. Some nuns of the convent are trying to make me a mental patient, she said.

Cardinal  George Alencherry was on Dec 6 elected the president of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), an association of the Catholic bishops of all three rites in the state.

The head of Syro Malabar Catholic Church succeeds Abp Maria Calist Soosa Pakiam of Trivandrum Latin archdiocese. Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal of Calicut (Latin) will be the new deputy chairman of the council.  Bishop Joseph Thomas of Bathery (Syro-Malankara) is the new secretary general.

The KCBC meet regretted an increase in the vested interests in governance and the politicization of the education sector. KCBC has also reiterated that it will continue to try to resolve disputes between Orthodox and Jacobite Churches.

However KCBC’s move has drawn flak from a section of believers in the Catholic Church. Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT), a collective that have been functioning as a corrective force within the Church, has criticized the KCBC decision to appoint Cardinal Alencherry as its new leader.

An ecumenical group of Christian women has condemned increasing incidents of violence against women in India and demanded making society safer for them. “In this dreadful situation of unbridled gender violence and sexual crimes, we demand a country that is safe and peaceful for Indian women and girls,” the Indian Christian Women Movement said in a press release on December 9.

The appalling manner in which women are subjected to horrendous sexual violence in India seems to be proving over and over again that this country is the most unsafe place for women in the world, the movement regrets. The perilous conditions in which Indian women live and the dismal record of steps taken to create a society where women and children are secure, explains why sexual crimes have become an everyday event.

What is very evident is the increasing climate of impunity against perpetrators; submerged in the deafening silence of those in power, the movement noted.

The movement listed recent incidents of attacks on women.

The horrific gang rape of a young woman veterinarian in Hyderabad.