When it comes to the question of who is a true Indian, the country’s Hindu children are more likely than their Muslim peers to connect their faith to their national identity, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. “Our results indicate that by age 9, Hindu children have already internalized an “Indian equals Hindu” association, and we show that this association predicts children’s support for policies that favour Hindus over Muslims,” said study senior author Mahesh Srinivasan, Associate Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley.
Category Archives: National
Women can be parish in-charge: Cardinal Gracias
Catholic bishops are not fully utilizing Church Law to maximize the role of women in decision making capacities, Cardinal Oswald Gracias said on October 23.
While acknowledging that women are unable to hear confession, say Mass, or administer confirmation, “she can do practically everything else,” said Gracias. “Women can even be in charge of a parish according to Church Law.”
The cardinal’s remarks came during a press briefing as the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon nears its final conclusion, where the role of women in the Church has been a repeated theme as the Church considers how to better respond to the pastoral needs of the Amazon region.
“We must use all of this,” Cardinal Gracias added, noting that Pope Francis “very [much] wants decentralization,” and for bishops to enact changes where they can already do so without the permission of the Holy See.
In addition to being the archbishop of Mumbai, Cardinal Gracias serves on Pope Francis’s Council of Cardinal Advisers.
The role of women in the Church dominated much of the press conference with several of the other representatives from the Amazon speaking for the need for concrete and tangible action, while steering clear of addressing the question of women’s ordination to the diaconate, which is anticipated to be addressed in some form in the Synod’s final document.
Bishop Ricardo Ernesto Centellas Guzmán of Potosí, Bolivia, who heads the country’s bishops’ conference, also called for a change in “mind-set” when it comes to women in the Church.
“We all have to change our mentality to make sure participation of women becomes authentic and that is equitable and fair,” he said.
At present, he said the role of women who are involved in decision-making power is “very low,” adding that in some places it is “almost invisible.”
“Things must change by starting with the smaller things,” he said, noting that work in the parish level and local communities is the place to start. He specifically called out pastoral councils that only give women consultation status, without any real decision making abilities. Inculturation, said Cardinal Gracias, “flows from the Incarnation. Our Lord became incarnated.”
Ideological dogmatism posing “danger” to scientific temper: Christian philosophers
The current trends of ideo-logical dogmatism are posing “danger” to India’s scientific temper, said the Association of Christian Philosophers of India (ACPI).
“India’s contribution to science has been immense. There has been a scientific temper down the ages, which is in danger of being diluted by current trends of ideological dogmatism, whereby the distinction between fact and fiction, history and mythology are blurred,” an ACPI statement said.
“Indigenous sciences and democratized applications of the same need to be encouraged. The spirit of a healthy scientific tem-per needs to be protected from vested corporate interests and the dysfunctional influences of caste, gender, class and religion,” the statement read.
The press statement was issued at the end of the 44th annual research seminar of the ACPI at the St Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre in Old Goa, on Oct. 23 to 25. As many as 87 participants attended it.
Indian nuns call for women’s ‘due place’ in church leadership
About 100 Catholic women religious in India have called for a place at the table in church leadership and asked that canon law be amended to make it more relevant and inclusive.
They stressed these and other points at a “Women in the Church” consultation held on October-4-6 at Ishvani Kendra Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra.
The participants said in the statement that the consultation helped them embark on “a journey to challenge ourselves to bring about transformation in ourselves and in the church in keeping with the vision of Christ.”
They have resolved to restore equality in the church and create a consciousness to negotiate partnership in the church.
The meeting also stressed developing “feminist consciousness” to read the signs of the time, critically evaluate current structures, values and practices and build solidarity across gender, class, caste and other divides to help transform lives.
The women religious noted that caste and class along with “toxic masculinity and femininity affect the church consciously and unconsciously.”
Patriarchy, the basic organizing principle of society, thrives by dividing men and women, giving power and status to the males and leaving caring and nurturing to females, the statement notes.
Mulakkal case: Christian women condemn Church inaction
The Indian Christian Women’s Movement (ICWM) has criticized the Church for its inaction as the survivor nun in the Mulakkal case continues to face harassment and slander. The ecumenical women’s group offered solidarity and support to the alleged victim of rape by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar.
The ICWM “stands solidly, every step of the way, with the survivor nun in her quest for justice in the Franco Mulakkal case,” says a statement the group’s national team issued on October 25. The bishop stood trial from November 11 in the District Court of Kottayam, Kerala.
On October 19, the survivor nun had filed a complaint alleging that Malayalam YouTube channel Christian Times harassed her at the behest of Bishop Mulakkal.
The survivor also wrote to the Kerala State’s Women’s Commission, and the National Women’s Commission that she has been experiencing humiliation because of the slander campaign against herby Bishop Mulakkal and his followers. “After filing the complaint against Bishop Franco, a YouTube channel called Christian Times has been constantly maligning me and my fellow sisters. We suspect that the channel is run by Bishop Franco and his fellow workers,” said the survivor’s letter.
Incidents of violence, discrimination not conforming to India”s legal protections for minorities: US
Incidents of violence and discrimination against minorities, including attacks on Dalits and Muslims by cow vigilantes, are not in keeping with India”s legal protections for minorities, a top US diplomat told a Congressional subcommittee on Oct. 22.
“Incidents of violence and discrimination against minorities in India, including cow vigilante attacks against members of the Dalit and Muslim communities, and the existence of anti-conversion laws in nine states are not in keeping with India”s legal protections for minorities,” Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice G Wells told Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Non-proliferation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
She said the US calls upon the Indian government to “fully” uphold the universal right to religious freedom and protect vulnerable individuals, “including the 1.9 million people in Assam at risk for statelessness because of questions about their citizenship; condemn all incidents of violence; and hold perpetrators accountable.”
Last May, 68% of eligible Indian voters went to the polls for an historic election, Wells said, adding Indians of every religion, caste, sect, and socioeconomic background participated in the remarkable display of parliamentary democracy, which also witnessed a record turnout of women voters.
Church needs to address crises with transparency, accountability
Transparency and accountability are necessary while addressing crises in the church, stressed the Association of Moral Theologians of India (AMTI) in its latest meeting.
The recent crisis in the Church, especially due to the abuse scandal, according to many is the biggest in the history of the Church. Some others would say that it should be considered at least as the biggest crisis since Reformation. Although it began as an issue in the Western countries, it is becoming clear that no part of the world is immune to this crisis, said Father Shaji George Kochuthara, president of AMTI.
Christians in India are “living in fear,” says Catholic bishop
Christians across India are “living in fear” because of acts of state-led violence and oppression, says the bishop of a region still recovering from one of the country’s worst outbreaks of persecution. Speaking to leading Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Kishore Kumar Kujur of Rourkela described how the government in India is “causing problems” – with support from “right-wing” groups hostile to Christians and other minorities.
He said: “Christians are living mostly in fear at present – much more in the north, where they are a minority.”
Underlining the severity of the threat, the bishop said his safety would be put at risk if he released key details about the oppression and persecution suffered by Christians and other minorities.
Bishop Kujur’s diocese covers part of Odisha state (formerly Orissa), where an anti-Christian pogrom in 2008 left 100 or more dead, 50,000 homeless, with attacks on 4,500 houses and 250 churches.
Future priests, nuns need to follow Pope Francis: Franciscans
Future priests and nuns in India need to have the mind and heart of Pope Francis to work for and with the poor, says an association of Franciscans in India.
“Today’s youth who are joining us for Religious formation in various stages throughout the country must understand and effectively disseminate the vision and mission of Pope Francis in the Indian context with special focus on those at the periphery, with other religions and cultures and with the whole creation,” says a press note issued at the end of a five-day national seminar in Vailankanni.
It was organized by the Asso-ciation of Franciscan Families in India (AFFI) along with the Bengaluru-based National Biblical Catechetical Liturgical Centre (NBCLC), Sept 25- 29.
“We shall guide our candidates who wish to be future priests and nuns to be in solidarity with those in periphery and the discriminated ones under top priority through interactions in slums and rural areas,” the press statement added.
Mother Teresa author gets Albanian Nation’s Ambassador Award
A Mother Teresa of Calcutta research scholar in the United Kingdom was honoured with a prestigious award from Albanian government in London on 2nd October 2019.
The Ambassador of Albania to the UK, His Excellency Qirjako Qirko, handed over the Albanian Nation’s Ambassador Award, bestowed by the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and the Minister of State for Diaspora Pandeli Majko, to Mother Teresa author Dr Gëzim Alpion of the University of Birmingham.
Mother Teresa was born as Gonxhe Agnes Bojaxhiu to ethnic Albanian parents in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. At 18, she left home and joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland and arrived in India on 6 January 1929.
Ambassador Qirko told that the reasons for conferring the award include: “Professor Alpi-on’s 20 years of scholarly dedication to Mother Teresa’s life, work and legacy; his lobbying for the canonization of Mother Teresa from 2014 to 2016; and his ongoing lobbying for the construction of the Arbëri High-way, which will shorten considerably the distance between Skopje, Mother Teresa’s birthplace, and Tirana, and will benefit Albania, as well as Macedonia, Kosova and Bulgaria. Professor Alpion’s contribution in this respect is valued by the Government of Albania.”