A slum in this southwestern Indian city was once known as the “Enclave of Darkness” be-cause it was the den of thugs, alcoholics, drug runners and psychopaths.
It is now called Udaya Colony (Sunrise Enclave) after Catholic nuns dared to enter it 33 years ago as part of their mission to reach people in the peripheries.
What now welcomes visitors to the enclave in the middle of Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala state, are buildings of two and three floors, paint-ed with attractive colors, that were once one-room, cramped tenements.
“The sisters faced stiff resistance in the beginning but people relented when they realized the sisters meant them good,” Anil Kumar, vice president of the Udaya Colony Residents Welfare Association, told Global Sisters Report.
Sister Anisha Arackal, who led the Sisters of the Destitute to turn the place into an upmarket residential area, recalls the slum’s notoriety.
Her congregation’s 1979 general chapter decided to help impoverished people and the marginalized on the peripheries, but it took 10 years for the first nuns to enter the Kochi slum. Sisters Redempta Alapp-at and Naveena Pulickal, the pioneers, started living in the slum in 1989, the year the congregation received pontifical status.
Alappat, 83, recalls reading an article in a magazine asking who will spread light in the enclave of darkness.
The rise of priestly vocations in Southeast Asia
An average of one priest ministering to 8,000 souls is a sad picture of the priestly vocation unable to cope with the growing population. The 2021 Catholic Directory of the Philippines counted more than 120 active bishops and 10,470 priests serving 85 million Catholics. It’s the same number of clergy as 10 years ago while the Catholic population has grown since then.
Recent international conferences about the clergy and religious vocation, particularly in the West, have identified the priest shortage as the most urgent problems facing the Church. Priestless parishes, empty altars and empty pews are sad realities in some parts of North America and Europe — a crisis caused by retiring senior clergy, added to those leaving the priesthood and the ever-decreasing sacerdotal vocation.
Sexual abuse scandals, coupled with the not-so-good examples set by bi-shops along the corridors of power in the Vatican and elsewhere, were not unlike a tsunami wiping out the Church’s credibility for more than decade or so until Pope Francis assumed the Chair of Peter in 2013 and began the radical reform of the Roman Curia.
Change has come and the Church in Asia is gradually overcoming the crisis of priestly vocations. In Bangladesh, Catholics saw 12 young men ordained as deacons in 2022. In this predominantly Muslim country with 500,000 Catholics or about 0.4% of the total population, the Church celebrates with the gift of new laborers in the vineyard of the Lord.
Anger in Islamic world after India prophet row
Muslims took to the streets in huge protests around Asia after Friday on June 10 prayers, sparked by remarks about the Prophet Mohammed by an Indian ruling party official that embroiled the country in a diplomatic storm.
Anger has engulfed the Islamic world since last week when a spokes-woman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party commented on the relationship between the prophet and his youngest wife on a TV debate show.
Arunachal youth cycle for peace and environment
A group of young people from Tezu town in Arunachal Pradesh marked the World Bicycle Day by promoting the cause of peace and environment. The 10-memeber youth group, cycled from Krick and Bourry Memorial School in Tezu to Demwe in Lohit district and back, 20 kilo-meters, to campaign for peace in the world, and to spread awareness on the need to protect and preserve environment.
Nun alleges torture, harassment, congregation denies
A Catholic nun has come to public with allegations of torture and mental harassment from her congregation. Sister Elcina, nee K.V Sudha, a member the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, an Italian congregation, made the revelation to media on June 7 in front of her provincial house in Mysore, a city in southern Indian state of Karnataka.
She alleged that her superiors had forcibly admitted to a mental hospital after her complaints to the state government about certain irregularities in her congregation.
Jesuit who taught contextual theology for decades dies
The Indian Theo-logical Association and others have mourned the death of Jesuit Father Joseph Mattam, who had accompanied gene-rations of students in their theological research. The funeral was held May 30 at Vadodara’s Shrine of Our Mother of the Forsaken, Vadodara. Fr Mattam was a member of the Gujarat Jesuit province for 66 years and a priest for 55 years.
“We cannot completely say that they’ve been abolished”- First Dalit cardinal
The first “Dalit” Cardinal in history, Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad who will be created a cardinal at the August 27 Consistory, says his mission had been “to help as many poor children as possible.”
Derived from Sanskrit, the word “Dalit” means “broken” or “downtrodden,” and refers to those so low in ýsocial status ýthat they are considered outcasts or outside the four-tier caste system of Hindu society. Often referred to as “untouchables,” these people have been greatly exploited and subject to atrocities.
In a wide-ranging interview with Vatican News, the 60-year-old future cardinal reflects on how the caste system, even if technically abolished, still has remnants, what it is like serving India’s ‘untouchables’, and the current state of religious freedom for India’s small Christian minority. “I was in shock. It was like surprise news for me, that I never expected. I never dreamt. But for me, I feel it is the grace of God and it is His will through Pope Francis, that I receive the call. Pope Francis, our Holy Father. I deem it as a great opportunity for me to serve the people, to serve the people in South India and all sectors of the people, especially Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.”
“The caste system [was] abolished, we can say, but there are some social factors. Well, we cannot completely say that they’ve been abolished. But the real situation and the ground reality, as for your question, there are some differences. There are some people who are really fighting for recognition of their talent and the different activities they are doing. Long ago, there was no possibility for Dalit, “the untouchables” to have access to school or education. But now the government in India, especially in our states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh where I come from, there are greater opportunities given to these marginalized, poor and Dalits, which also respect and encourage the poor people to go to school and pursue studies. Some become well-educated and are looking for a life. But they are treated differently as they aren’t ‘locals.’ There is a little bit of jealousy among human nature. I think what I expect from the people and what we try to practice, is raising awareness about people and situations, also these good situations, and trying to bring equality among all people.”
Bomb explodes in Catholic school premises in Manipur
All Catholic educational institutions in Manipur will close June 7 to protest an explosion on the premises of a Church school in Imphal, capital of the north-eastern Indian state.
The decision was taken during an emergency meeting with the Catholic Educational Society Manipur (CESM) executives and Archbishop House Curia officials following the incident in one of the leading Christian missionary schools, said Rev Father Stephen Touthang, Director of CSEM.
A powerful bomb exploded June 5 inside Little Flower School.
According to Father Touthang, around 3:10 am on June 5 some unidentified miscreants exploded the bomb, damaging some portions of the school building, shattering window panes.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast so far, the priest told reporters.
A sit-in-protest was held June 6 by the staff and students in front of the Little Flower School as a mark of protest. The pro-testers demanded the state government to ensure safety for the students and make the school a “violence-free zone.”
The protesters held placards with slogans that read among others, ‘We condemn the bomb attack on our school,’ ‘Allow us to grow without fear,’ ‘Ensure our safety,’ ‘Spare us, we just survived the pandemic.’
Sikh leader calls for countering conversion to Christianity
A top Sikh leader on June 6 expressed concern over churches and mosques being built in large numbers in rural Punjab and urged Sikh preachers to reach out and counter this trend of conversion, particularly in the state’s border areas.
Akal Takht (seat of power) acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said at his customary address to the community at an event organized to mark the 38th anniversary of Operation Bluestar at Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, in Punjab’s Amritsar.
“Today, we (the Sikhs) are facing a lot of challenges. Christianity is being spread in Punjab on a large scale to weaken us (Sikhs) religiously. Churches and mosques are being built in large numbers in the villages of Pun-jab, which is worrisome for us,” he said added, “I appeal to Sikh preachers to launch a drive against this on a large scale and count-er this trend of conversion. Let us strengthen Sikhi in villages again.”
The Sikh leader also said the most affected was the border belt and called for paying special attention there. “This is the time to shed comforts of life and work tirelessly in this direction,” he added.
Meanwhile, Church of North India Bishop Pradeep Samantaroy dismissed Giani Harpreet Singh’s concern of conversion programs in Punjab.
Late Indian Jesuit honoured with rights ‘Nobel Prize’
Father Stan Swamy, the late Indian Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist, has been posthumously awarded the Martin Ennals Award, regarded as the Nobel Prize for human rights defenders.
Eighty-four-year-old Father Swamy, who was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case and died in custody in July 2021, was accorded the honour by the Martin Ennals Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Though the award was presented posthumously, the priest was chosen for it while he was still alive. “Father Stan was nominated for the award in spring 2021, but he sadly passed away before it could reach him,” said Hans Thoolen, chair of the award jury.
The jury wished to shine a light on the priest’s many contributions to human rights, which “cannot be eclipsed by his unjust incarceration by Indian authori-ties,” Thoolen added.
Father Xavier Soreng, a social activist and colleague of the late Jesuit, accepted the award in Geneva on June 2. Three other rights activists — Dr. Daouda Diallo from Burkina Faso, Pham Doan Trang from Vietnam and Abdul Hadi Al-Khawaja from Bahrain — were also honored.
Father Soreng narrated a brief life sketch of Father Swamy and his pioneering work for the welfare of the indigenous people of eastern India’s Jharkhand state. “It is true Father Swamy became an irritant in the eyes of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party for his stand against uprooting indigenous peoples from their habitats and had to pay with his life”