“Every day we encounter Jesus in the flesh and in the wounds and bruises of our tribal and marginalised communities of the Raigad mission,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI). The prelate spoke on the second World Day of the Poor, titled ‘This poor man cried and the Lord heard him,’ an event Pope Francis established. In the Archdiocese of Bombay (Mumbai), “we meet the poor among our tribes of Raigad,” almost 200 km from the mega city, “not only with a festive lunch and a day of prayer, but also through a daily encounter to empower them.”

According to Card Gracias, one of the greatest challenges of the modern Church is “the need to go to the margins of society and give hope to marginalised groups, raise a prophetic voice and engage in advocacy to bring about a new social order.”

The Jankalyan Centre for Community Organisation (CCO) is situated in Mahad Taluka, Raigad District, about 180 km south-east of Mumbai in the foothills of Mahabaleshwar, the mission area of the Archdiocese of Bombay.  In Raigad district, the local tribal community represents 11 per cent of the total population.

Fr Calistus Fernandes, director of the centre, said that although “the face of Raigad is undergoing a rapid change due to the setting up of numerous industries and globalisation,” a “large section of this tribal community still lives in dehumanising conditions.”

In fact, the “Lack of basic amenities like health, water, shelter and education” as well as “malnutrition, illiteracy, superstition, exploitation (especially of women), unemployment, deforestation and other equally serious factors threaten the lifestyle and the very existence of these tribals.”

The Jankalyan centre, like other 20 CCOs in the district, is committed to “serve the people, especially the marginalised and the oppressed, with a preferential option for the tribals.” Its goal is to promote an “abundance of life based on life values and communal harmony through fellowship.”

“Do not make students smart like corporate companies. Catholic schools in India should make them ‘Good,’ not smart,” Justice Joseph said.

Good human beings are useful for societies’ upliftment as responsible citizens, he added.

Justice Joseph was the chief quest and addressed at the All India Association of Montfort Schools (AIAMS), Montfort Technical Institute and Mont-fort Higher Secondary School, St Thomas Mount, Chennai on November 9.

More than 115 principals and delegates from all over India attended the November 9-11 event that had the theme “Holistic Catholic Education in India.”

Montfort Brothers of St Gabriel have 180 schools spread across the country.

Christian leaders and activists in India have made an impassioned plea to make their institutions free of sexual harassment and safer for children and women.

Catholic and Protestant leaders made the call at a panel discussion on gender justice and women’s safety in Christian institutions in New Delhi. The discussion was part of the Nov. 17 silver jubilee programs of United Christian Action (UCA), an ecumenical forum of Indian Christians.

“Sexual harassment and gender injustice are everywhere and the church institution is no exception. It has to be acknowledged first and then addressed accordingly before it is too late,” said Sister Tresa Paul, legal consultant at the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute in New Delhi.

In September 2017, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India issued a set of guidelines to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, but church institutions have not followed it up, she said.

The guidelines wanted every diocese to constitute an internal complaints committee “within six months, which did not happen,” the Holy Cross nun told the gathering of 200 invited leaders.

Catholic Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi and Protestant Bishop Waris Masih of the Church of North India’s Delhi Diocese were among the attendees. The prelates’ presence was a sign that church authorities are willing to listen to concerns of sexual abuse within Christian institutions, Sister Paul said.

UCA chairwoman Esther Kar said the program discussed sexual violations and gender justice because “it is the most pressing issue in society,” especially against the backdrop of the ongoing #MeToo movement.

The movement has gained momentum in India, with many women in the media, films and even the government claiming sexual harassment from prominent men in their workplaces.

The body of a Catholic priest-turned-activist was buried in western India after a three-year wait by his family and friends who suspect he was murdered for his strong stand for environmental protection.

Some 60 priests and 2,000 admirers of Jose Bismarque Desidor Dias joined the Nov. 6 burial service in his village of Sao Estevam in Goa State, a former Portuguese enclave.

The burial of Dias, a former Blessed Sacrament priest, was delayed after his friends and family sought a detailed probe into the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death.

Dias, 51, went missing on Nov. 5, 2015, after he went for a swim in a river near his home with friends. His body was found floating two days later. Local police claimed it was a case of drowning.

However, his family and associates delayed burial and demanded an investigation, suspecting that he could have been murdered by those who were angry with his campaign against mining and unbridled property development.

Following pressure, the Bombay High Court that also covers Goa in April 2017 ordered the state’s specialized Crime Branch police to probe the case, considering it a murder.

In March 2018, however, investigators submitted a closure report to the court asserting it was a case of drowning.

“Only the body of Dias is laid to rest, not the concept of justice. The fight for our fallen comrade will go on,” said Sudip Dalvi, an associate of Dias who was among those pressing for court intervention.

Dalvi told ucanews.com a review petition has been filed in court. “But all connected with him thought it was time to give him a decent burial” and decided to do it on his third death anniversary, he added.

Dias’ parish priest Eusico Pereira highlighted Dias’ childhood wish for priesthood.

“He lived for others,” he said. Pope Francis’ on May 2015 encyclical Laudatosi’ made him overjoyed because he felt he had the mandate of the Pope.

Dias was a “fearless witness to Christ in truth,” Father Pereira added.

Dias mobilized people through music, rallies and meetings against large government and private projects including a golf course of a seven-star hotel and Goa’s second airport.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is tasked with the monument’s management, said in a Nov. 5 order that only Muslims living around the Taj Mahal can pray on Fridays in the mosque adjacent to the mauso-leum. Muslims from other areas are barred, Vasant Swarankar, super-intending archaeologist at the ASI’s Agra chapter, told media. Namaz (prayers) can only be offered on Fridays. Imams and staff can enter the mosque only from noon to 2 pm, according to the order.

The world-renowned mausoleum was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife in 1658.

The UNESCO-designated world heritage site receives more than 200,000 overseas tourists and some 4 million local tourists every year. But Friday is a holiday when no tourists are allowed. The ASI said it was only implementing a July Supreme Court order that only residents of Agra should be allowed to enter the mosque for congregational prayers as unregulated entry could adversely affect the monument.

However, leaders of Muslims, who comprise 14 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people, say the order is unnecessary.

Six years ago, at the age of 26, Laila Talo Khuder Alali was sold as a sex slave eight times to men of different nationalities by militants of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Standing in a hotel auditorium in India’s commercial hub of Mumbai to receive an award in the name of St Mother Teresa, she told of how her husband and a child were still missing.

Several of her family members had been killed, but eight were rescued.

Those missing are among more than 3,000 people known as ‘Yazidis’ still in ISIS captivity, Alali said when receiving the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice on Oct. 21.

The militants of ISIS are accused of perpetrating genocide against the Yazidi, a religious minority group in northern Iraq.

Yazidism combines elements of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. ISIS, also known simply as Islamic State, seeks to wipe out their faith. “We faced torture, sexual slavery and unimaginable acts,” the 30-year-old woman recounted at the award ceremony in Mumbai.

A Catholic nun working among migrant workers agrees with a voluntary group’s finding that at least 10 Indians die every day in the Persian Gulf countries. “I am not surprised. The number could be more,” Sister Josephine Amala Valarmathi told Matters India on November 7.

The member of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was responding to the findings of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The 43-year-old nun, based in Chennai, has addressed the problems of Indians working in the Persian Gulf countries, Malaysia and Singapore, for the past 16 years.

She says she is quite familiar with the problems of Indians working overseas as she often gets such distress calls from them.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative released early November its analysis of the deaths of Indian workers in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from January 1, 2012 to about mid-2018. Venkatesh Nayak of the voluntary group provides the figures for six years from 2012.

“Available data indicates, at least 24,570 Indian workers died in the six Gulf countries between 2012 and mid-2018. This number could increase if the complete figures for Kuwait and UAE are made available publicly. This amounts to more than 10 deaths per day during this period,” Nayak told reporters.

He said he had got those figures through the Right to Information data from External Affairs Ministry.

Nayak’s data was provided by Indian missions in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia but the embassy in the UAE refused to give information. The Indian embassy referred to data on their website which was only 2014 onward.

In order to fill gaps, Nayak used data provided in Parliamentary questions in LokSabha and RajyaSabha.

Sister Valarmathi shared another list compiled by an unnamed person on the number of Indian workers who died in the Persian Gulf countries between 2005 and 2015.

Her list has a total of 31,810 deaths reported from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates during the 11-year-period. This accounted for 8 deaths daily.

The nun’s list gives the number of bodies repatriated to India between 2005 and 2015.

Oman expatriated bodies of all 5,402 Indian workers who died there, Qatar sent all 2,396 bodies, Bahrain 1,493, Iran 52, Iraq 123 and UAE 384.

However, no data is available for the number of repatriation in Saudi Arabia where 13,248 Indian deaths occurred. Kuwait had 5,249 deaths, but repatriated only 4,021.