Category: National

Cardinal Oswald Gracias said his “heart wept” upon hearing the news that 15 migrant workers were crushed to death on May 8 after falling asleep on railway tracks in Aurangabad, which is in India’s Maharashtra State.

One more person was hospitalized in the incident, and four others were treated for shock. The police said the migrants, who were headed to Madhya Pradesh in central India, apparently chose to walk on railway tracks to avoid the highway, where they risked getting stopped by authorities enforcing India’s COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown. Police said the men likely thought the trains weren’t running, due to the lockdown.

Millions of internal migrants – most of the day labourers with little savings – were trapped far from home with little money when the lockdown was declared on March 24 with just a few hours’ notice. “I received this news with immense sorrow,” Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay and President of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India (CBCI), told Crux.

The Diocesan Social Service Society (DSSS), a developmental wing of the Archdiocese of Imphal, distributed dry rations to 2898 families in 42 villages within seven districts of Manipur.

Father Biju Luckose, director of DSSS, Father Thohrii Joseph, assistant director and Father Dale Joseph, financial administrator of the Archdiocese of Imphal and the staff of DSSS spearheaded the relief aid distribution.

The relief work was carried out for five days in these seven districts which include Imphal East, Imphal West, Chandel, Churchandpur, Senapati, Tengnoupal, and Kangpokpi.

The COVID-19 relief aid was the initiative of the Archbishop Dominic Lumon, the head of the Catholic Church in Manipur to reach out with a little helping hand to some of the remote villages of Manipur during this pandemic crisis.

In this time of crisis not only prayer alone but goodwill action, gesture and solidarity to our suffering and struggling brothers and sisters is the need of the hour, the Archbishop said.

The villages in the far-flung areas expressed their deep sense of gratitude and happiness for taking an initiative to reach out to them despite the rain and road conditions.

Jharkhand’s Minister for Finance and Public distribution Rameshwar Oraon on May 5 made a surprise visit to the Ranchi Archbishop’s House to thank the Catholic Church’s works among those affected by the nationwide lockdown.

The minister met Jesuit Archbishop Felix Toppo of Ranchi and his Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas and hailed the Church’s “tremendous and wonderful humanitarian activity.”

He said the government was impressed and grateful to the Catholic community for its selfless and dedicated service to suffering humanity.

The Minister was accompanied by his son Rohit. The Church in Ranchi has collaborated with Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Rai and the district administration to bring relief to the poor during the Covid-19 crisis.

The priests and nuns of the archdiocese have opened 14 shelters each with a capacity for 200 migrants in Church-managed schools. The Church meets the expenses for the shelters.

The district authorities have commended the centres as model shelters with excellent management. They also portray the merciful human face of service, the administration agrees.

The Church’s community kitchens in Ranchi have so far served more than 40,000 meals.

The Church has distributed some 270,000 rations to more than 5,000 families in the poorer areas of the city and 23 villages in the Namkum, Mandar, Angara, Bero, and Ranchi Blocks.

The Church also distributed 600 PPE (Primary Protective Equipment) kits containing reusable gloves, reusable masks, sanitizers and soaps to the frontline workers in the containment area of Hinpiri.

Beneficiaries included ambulance drivers, sweepers and police personnel. The archdiocese also distributed PPE to 600 police personnel serving on roads and streets.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, has urged his priests to pay full salaries of March and April to those working in archdiocesan institutions.

“After consulting our bishops and the Finance Office, I am directing that the March and April salaries be paid in full even though our workers have not been coming due to the lockdown. We will review the situation in May,” Cardinal Gracias said in an April 27 video message to all the priests in the archdiocese.

The cardinal told the priests that he was addressing them during an “extraordinary period” when the government-imposed nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic. “The end of the lockdown is approaching, but please prepare yourself for a possible extension,” said the prelate who has been leading the Indian Church’s efforts to bring relief to people affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first imposed the lockdown from March 25 to April 14, then extended it to May 3. Many say it could be further extended as pandemic shows no sign of abatement.

“Looking at the number of reported cases in our Archdiocese and the number of containment zones, it does not seem likely that the restrictions will be lifted. And even after these are lifted, I would expect that permitting of religious assemblies will take more time,” the cardinal said.

Bombay archdiocese covers Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra that tops the number of Covid-19 cases in India.

Cardinal Gracias urged the priests to be prepared for “an extended period” of church closure. Even after the lockdown is lifted, it would be several months before the country would overcome the coronavirus.

He reminded the priests that funeral is the only religious service they are allowed to perform in the lockdown period.

A large number religious women is in the forefront of the Catholic Church’s humanitarian works among those affected by the nationwide lockdown.

Amrat Talitha Kum India, or just Amrat, is one of the largest networks of women religious engaged in anti-human trafficking activities. It has members from 76 women religious congregations working in various parts of India.

Its members have left no stone unturned to reach out to the people at this time of unexpected and ill-equipped lockdown.

They went to serve the poor and the needy without any hesitation.

They told the local administration that they are part of the Church, which is in forefront of relief works among people caught in the lockdown.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown from that midnight. When the time was over, he extended it further until May 3.

The Amrat members, who work in 23 Indian states, risked their lives to rush out to help the needy. “What will happen to our people, if we do not launch out to help them at this precarious juncture,” was the uppermost thought in all of them.

Abuse of Muslims, Christians, and other minorities in India drew the attention of a federal religious freedom watchdog in its annual report released on April 28 by U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

USCIRF is a bipartisan federal commission that studies religious persecution and adverse circumstances facing religious minorities around the world, and makes policy recommendations to the State Department.

India’s Hindu nationalist BJP party won elections in 2017 and again in 2019 to gain a majority in the national legislature. The government then “used its strengthened parliamentary majority to institute national-level policies violating religious freedom across India, especially for Muslims,” USCIRF said.

USCIRF released its annual report on Tuesday, documenting progress and setbacks for religious freedom in 29 countries around the world during the previous year. The commission recommended that India be designated by the State Department as a “country of particular concern” (CPC)—a designation reserved for the worst violators of religious freedom or the countries where the worst abuses are taking place and the governments do not stop them. USCIRF has not recommended India for the CPC list since 2004. Of concern is the country’s new policy of fast-tracking citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from neighboring countries which, combined with a National Register of Citizens, could leave many Muslims without legal protections and saddled with burdens of having to prove their citizenship.

Catholics in Odisha have mourned the death of Malakias Nayak, a renowned poet who wrote Odiya liturgical hymns and prayers.

Nayak died on April 24 in his residence at Bodopada of Gajapati district of Odisha. He was 75.

He hailed from Aligonda parish of Berhampur diocese.

The writer had under-gone a brain surgery a few months ago and was undergoing treatment since January.

The poet was survived by his wife Jahida Khan, a Muslim-convert to Catholicism, four sons and three daughters. His second son, Jesuit Father Mahesh Nayak, conducted the funeral Mass at 4 am on April 25 in their parish church.

“It is heart breaking news for me because he was my favorite teacher in all respect,” says Martin Pradhan, a student of Nayak. “He was not only a teacher but also a good writer, poetics and dramatist,” Pradhan told Matters India over phone on April 25.

Amravati, April 22, 2020: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, on April 20 announced that all places of worship in the state would be given 5,000-rupee assistance.

He made this announcement during a video conference with the District Collectors and Muslim religious leaders on the measures being taken to contain COVID-19. He thanked the religious leaders for accepting his request to urge the community to offer prayers at homes during the holy month of Ramadan.

Reddy said despite the financial constraints — loss of 1.5 billion rupee revenue a day — due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, the government would provide 5,000 to every mosque, covered during Ramadan last year.

The mosques not covered last year, and churches and temples would also be provided with the aid.

The chief minister said his government belonged to all sections of people and had been implementing schemes for the welfare of people irrespective of religion, caste and region.

He said despite the financial issues the government had given Rs 1,000 to each family and providing ration thrice a month.