Members of the Indian Women Theologians Forum (IWTF), the Conference of Religious India (CRI) Women’s Section, and “other individuals who are deeply concerned about the integrity and mission of the Indian Church” have written to Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India in the context of a recent scandal involving a parish priest in Kerala who sexually abused a girl, leading to her pregnancy. The case is being brought to court.

“The episode highlights an issue that is unique to the ecclesial context, one which women have been struggling to bring to the attention of the bishops for the past four years, namely, that the violation of the fiduciary trust inherent in the priest-parishioner relationship has an additional dimension of damage, because we are taught to believe that the priest is ‘another Christ’,” the letter says.

The Bombay High Court bench in Panaji on April 11 directed the Crime Branch of Goa Police to file an FIR in connection with the mysterious death of a former Roman Catholic priest Bismarque Dias.

The Crime Branch has also been asked to submit a status report of the investigation every three months to the court. Dias, who was protesting against rampant and reportedly illegal real estate development near his village of St Estevam, 15 km from Panaji, was found dead in a water body near the Mandovi river in November 2015.

Archbishop Anil J Couto of Delhi on April 9 led more than 1,200 people in a traditional Way of the Cross that links the old and new sections of the national capital. The ritual commemorates Jesus carrying the cross from the Palace of Pilot to Calvary where He was crucified on Good Friday.

The archdiocese started the Way of the Cross on Palm Sunday in the Year of Faith that the Universal Church observed from October 11, 2012 to November 23, 2013.

“Since then, we have continued it with tremendous impact on the bystanders,” Father Stanley Kozhichira, editor of The Voice of Delhi, the archdiocesan monthly magazine, told Matters India.

This year the Way of the Cross on Palm Sunday began at 3 pm from St Mary’s Church in Old Delhi and ended at Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi, a distance of 9 kilometers. It passed through crowded streets of Chandni Chauwk and Khari Baoli in Old Delhi and Civic Centre, Connaught Place and Gole Dakhkhana, the iconic circular post office, in New Delhi.

The Salvation Run, an all Bengaluru inter-church sporting initiative conceptualized for Christian believers, will be held on April 8 when participants will run five kilometres and walk three. The event will be flagged-off at 6 am by Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bengaluru, along with leaders from the community and well known Sports celebrities at the St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Frazer town.

Over 1000 participants for the event including religious heads from all denominations and churches have already registered. The event has been conceptualized with a motive to get together Christian believers from all denominations and empower their lives through the sport of running, disciplining oneself with a healthy lifestyle and a purposeful living.

Sport occupies a legitimate place in the created world and thus helps in expressing emotions, integrity, character and values by taking ownership to understand and respect one another and help in developing the welfare and eco system of the society emphasizing on health and wellness, promoting a sporting culture bringing hope among children, youth and the community at large.