Christmas Celebratory Again In Holy Land Amid Ongoing War; Patriarch Urges Pilgrims To Return
Vatican: Former Choir Director, Manager Convicted Of Embezzlement, Abuse Of Office
Christians in Aleppo feel an uneasy calm amid rebel takeover of Syrian city
Kathmandu synodality forum: Indigenous people, ‘not the periphery but at the heart of the Church’
Indian Cardinal opposes anti-conversion law in poll-bound state
12,000 gather as Goa starts exposition of St. Francis Xavier relics
1. ABOUT THE SYNOD: The awareness level was 2.9 (against the mean of 2.5), but the satisfaction level with the preparations for the Synod was lower at 1.9, with 24% unable to answer. If they were clubbed with the mean it would drop to less than 1, indicating very poor preparation for the Synod. Would one’s voice be heard in the Synod; the response was less than 2 with 15% unable to answer. Hence at the primary level itself the organizers of the Synod need to sit up and take notice. 2. SPIRITUAL/ CATECHETICAL ISSUES: Satisfaction with the reform and renewal after Vatican II was 2.3. Awareness level of contemporary church documents was 2.5. Nevertheless, propounding of Vatican II teachings in Sunday sermons was a very low 1.3, as was faith formation and adult catechesis at 1.8. Marriage preparation scored slightly higher at 2.4. The fraternal relationship between clergy/ laity envisaged by Vatican II was a dismal 1.6. The attitude towards inter faith marriages was slightly higher at 2.2. The bottom line is that in its primary duty of teaching and sharing the faith, the Church has failed miserably. 3. PARISH LEVEL ISSUES: Satisfaction with parish councils/ finance committees is at 2.0, yet 3.6 want such “advisory’ bodies to be made mandatory, with decision making powers. Despite its huge investment in education the satisfaction levels are just above par. Health and social welfare services are lower at 2.2 each. Affluent members helping the less fortunat
Results of recently held elections to five state Assemblies surprised many who were desiring the defeat of BJP to mellow down the arrogance of leaders like Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath, Amit Sha and others. Contrary to the desire and expectation of many, BJP retained its governments with clear majority in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. APP swept away Congress and other parties in Panjab. Minorities and secular minded people were disappointed to see the victory of the saffron party to make the Hindutva forces more arrogant to carry out their aggressive divisive agenda. Hindutva forces with RSS and BJP are reaping the harvest of their hard work with clear strategies of a century. They, under the leadership of RSS, had been working steadily with focus with their dedicated and well trained foot soldiers throughout India. Hatred was their motivating force which polarized the Hindu voters. They succeeded in assassinating Mahatma Gandhi on 30th January 1948 because of his inclusive spirituality of standing for peace and fellowship with of all faiths and walks of life especially with the minority Muslims after the partition of the country. Hindutva leaders like Savarkar was successful in motivating and brainwashing young people like Naturam Godse who murdered Gandhi… During my contemplation I could hear the voice of God, ‘who is the church? What is the church’? I was convinced of the fact that I am the church and I should not wait for bishops and church bodies to act. T
A wellknown film star in South India, Bhavana was sexually molested, video tapped by goons who were hired on quotation by her own colleagues in the film field, shocked the people of Kerala. Some people believe that if you have the money, power, and political influence anything can be done. The crux of the story is the journey of Bhavana from the victim to resilience, she was humiliated, broken but could not be defeated. She rose again to fight the injustice that has happened to her and is happening to women over the world. The case is still going on with the influence of money. Her voice is the voice of hope, determination, and resilience in a patriarchal country like India. Thousands of years ago a lone but strong voice, came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” The powerful king Herod silenced this voice forever, by killing John the Baptist. Then came a gentle but strange voice that said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Jesus’s language of love and freedom, the “Good news” especially to those in the margins were
The raging controversy around Hijab is taking disturbing proportions. In Udupi Karnataka Muslim girls alleged that they were denied entry in to the classroom if they wear Hijab. Then we saw the gates of the institute being shut on the hijab wearing girls. Also we witnessed the shameful-despicable act of the vigilantes wearing saffron turban and shawls obstructing the lone girl Muskan, and aggressively shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ She in turn resorted to ‘Allahu Akbar’ and went on to submit her assignment. The Muslim girls approached the High Court, which has put a stop on saffron shawls and Hijab in the schools in the interim order. In response many women rights groups and other rights groups have upheld the right of girls to wear hijab and harshly condemned the acts of right wing. Protest is on in support of the Muslim girls wearing hijab. This has also rekindled the communal atmosphere and given a handle to divisive forces. Social media is now full of derogatory comments against hijab wearing girls/women. This whole episode on one hand shows the forces behind aggressive vigilante groups making merry as their agenda is getting a boost. This has shown the extent to which they can go to frighten the Muslim community. In a way those who have floated apps like Sully Deals and Bulli bai, those who are silent supporters of the sayings of the Dharma Sansads must be having a good laugh as the process of polarization is getting a boost from this episode. The statement of Moh
In fact, Kudumbayogams are quite common among Christians in Kerala and they all write their histories. An interesting thing about those ‘histories’ is, especially among the Syrian Christians, somehow most of them try to trace their roots back to Saint Thomas the Apostle. These family groups do play a very positive role. They keep generations in touch. Younger generations who would otherwise not even know each other get to keep in touch. Like in our group, there is a lot of mutual help happening. We give scholarships and even built a house for one of our lesser fortunate family members. For funerals of family members, the Kudumbayogam officials make it a point to be present. They visit the sick, whenever they can. Overall, these groups are very Christian in attitude and behaviour. However, I had a shock when recently the family WhatsApp group started sending ‘Islamophobic’ materials. To one of those I responded: ‘This is hate speech. Should the Family group promote such hate speech?’ While two people seemed to agree with me, pat came another reply saying, ‘Kudumbayogam members are free to promote anything?’ Are they really? Maybe they are. But, are we Christian when we promote hate speech? In a world full of hate speech, taking the following advice is good not only for Christians, but for any sensible person: “ In this time of social platforms that influence millions, pausing before we speak and taking
