Kerala on March 4 witness-ed a rare gesture of forgiveness when the mother of a slain Catholic priest visited the killer’s family to pardon him.

“I forgive him,” Thressia Thelakkat told media persons after comforting the wife and family members of Johny Vattaparampil, a former church sexton. Pictures of the elderly woman comforting Annie, Vattaparampil’s wife, have gone viral on social media.

“Vattaparampil’s family was isolated and lived in misery and dejection. The visit has brought great relief to them,” reported News Vision, a local TV channel.

The visit came a day after Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Chur-ch, pardoned Vattaparambil. The cardinal led the priest’s funeral in Cheranalloor East parish of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.

Father Thelakkat was the rector of famous of St Thomas pilgrimage centre in Mala-yattoor where Vattaparambil worked as sexton for the past 37 years. The priest sacked him three months ago allegedly for coming drunk to duty.

A Catholic Church leader in India has encouraged Hindus celebrating Holi on March 2 to welcome people of all religions so the event, also known as the festival of colours, can serve as a bridge between different faiths.

In Bhopal, the State capital of Madhya Pradesh, which has been branded a hotbed of anti-Christian activity, people could be seen dancing to the sound of beating drums throughout the day. They daubed coloured paint on each others’ faces and clothes and sprinkled water to mark the advent of spring and wish for a plentiful harvest.

“It is a festival of joy and unity, peace and harmony for all India,” said Bhopal Arch-bishop Leo Cornelio.

Arunachal Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein says Catholic education has made him what he is today. “All that I am today, I owe it to the fathers and brothers at my school,” said the former student of Don Bosco School in Guwahati, Assam on March 3. He was speaking at the first convocation of Venerable Uktara Bethany Collegein Namsai, the first Catholic college in the eastern part of the north-eastern Indian state. Mein was the chief guest at the function in the colleges that sits some 325 km northeast of Itanagar, the State capital.

The minister also hailed Catholic contribution to the education sector in the region, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh. According to him, Catholic institutions render yeomen service without looking for profit and without much support from the government. Mein recollected the difficulties he had faced to complete his education because of lack of transport facilities and good educational institutions in his neighbourhood. “We had to travel by mules and boats for days to reach our college. You are so lucky to have graduated from this college.” He told the graduates.

Kerala Catholic Bishops Council on March 10, stepped in to help resolve the crisis in Syro-Malabar Church after a group of priests came out openly against its head Cardinal George Alencherry over alleged irregularities in a land deal involving him.

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, also the Major Archbishop of Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and Soosa Pakiam, Archbishop of the Latin Rite Archdiocese of Thiruvanantha-puram, held meetings with Alencherry, auxiliary bishops and agitating priests of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.

Abp Soosa Pakiam, who is also the president of KCBC, hoped that the Synod of the Syro Malabar Church would use its authority to resolve all the issues.

“The issues can be settled within the Church itself.

We believe that the Synod of the Syro Malabar Church is taking sincere efforts to deal with it, he told reporters here after their meetings.

He said other Churches, including Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and Latin Church were thinking in which way they could help resolve the crisis in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

The move comes a day after over 200 priests of the Ernakulam-Angamaly urged Card. Alencherry to keep off all responsi-bilities of the Archdiocese in view of a police probe on the alleged irregularities.

The priests who met at a Basilica here on March 10 had urged police to commence a probe after registering an FIR against Alencherry and three others on the complaint over the alleged irregularities.

Sister Josephine Amala Valarmathi was not surprised when she got a telephone call around midnight in the of October 2016. On the other end was a fisherman who goes by the name Veerghese.

He was among 15 fishermen from the south-eastern Indian State of Tamil Nadu being kept in custody without food and water on Kish Island, off the southern Iranian coast.

A former priest in the united Church of North India’s Diocese of Calcutta has been chosen to be the next Area Bishop of Bradwell in the Church of England’s Diocese of Chelms-ford. The Ven Dr John Peru-mbalath already serves in the Diocese, which covers the county of Essex and parts of east London, as the Archdeacon of Barking. He comes, origi-nally, from the ancient Syrian Christian community in Kerala, India, and trained for ministry at Union Biblical Seminary in Pune.

Dr Perumbalath worked as a youth worker among uni-versity students for two years and as a theological educator for three years before his ordination in the CNI.

A documentary about the transformational power of yoga in fighting drug addiction won the Special Jury Mention Award at the 2018 Jaipur International Film Festival.

The film, The Circle, directed by British filmmaker Philippa Frisby focuses on the Kripa Dharavi Centre in Mumbai founded by Father Joseph Pereira.

“The Circle is a story that has to be told,” said Frisby, who is also a certified Iyengar yoga teacher.

The 65-minute feature tells the tale of four street children, how they fall into a cycle of addiction and how they live out of trashcans and survive by selling refuse, using drugs to block out their inner pain.

The film shows the child-ren going to school, forming friendships with other boys in the Kripa Dharavi Centre, and beginning the process of rebuilding their self-esteem and hope for the future.

The way we look at women and treat them in our country has always been a paradox. On one hand we venerate them and worship them. Look around us – we see goddesses being worshiped; we call our nation – ‘mother’ India; the sages say, take advice from your ‘mother’; more often than not, when we are in danger, the words on our lips are ‘my mother’; Christians have a special place for Mother Mary. Yet what puzzles me is this – we are not averse to killing those little ones who would have one day grown up to become mothers.