No relatives or friends turn-ed up to receive Nanjamma when she was released after 14 years from a southern Indian prison. However, the Hindu woman found a Catholic nun waiting for her at the prison gate, ready to take her to a rehabilitation center.
“If the sister had not come to receive me, I do not know where I would have been today,” said Nanjamma, who in April came to Jeevodaya Ashram a center for women in distress located in the suburbs of Bengaluru. (Nanjamma requested that her name be changed.)
Sr. Clara Alappat founded the center 27 years ago to shelter and rehabilitate women who are released from prisons, and girls who are rescued from sex rackets.
Politicizing the cross is a thorny issue in Pakistan
Pakistani politician Shunila Ruth and her band of supporters waved the cross as they welcomed Imran Khan, the ousted prime minister who recently launched a long march to the national capital in a bid to regain power.
“I admire the passion of Christians and other minorities for their captain. We are here to welcome and accompany him to Islamabad,” said the Christian member of the National Assembly while addressing the crowds in the eastern city of Gujranwala on Oct. 31.
The video clip of Ruth and her supporters evoked strong reactions on social media with many Christians criticizing her for disrespecting the cross.
Father Morris Jalal, founder and executive director of Lahore-based Catholic TV, called it “a misplaced show of Christian identity.”
“It should not become a tool to serve political interests”
He was clearly against mixing faith with politics and wanted politicians to avoid the use of a symbol of the Christian religion for political purposes.
“The cross contains in itself a mystery of salvation and is above politics. It should not become a tool to serve political interests,” he told.
However, Ruth, who wears two cross necklaces, calls it her shield, a symbol of protection against evil and danger.
“The cross is of great importance to our existence. We believe it will protect us in this jihad and war. My supporters and I also sang psalms and asked for help from God. It is wrong to misinterpret our stance,” she exclaimed.
Ruth pointed out that the Christian community displays the cross inside their homes and even on their vehicles.
Salesian priest trains hundreds of young Oil India executives
A Salesian priest has been training industry professionals in northeastern India.
Father V M Thomas is now busy conducting 19 training programs for the Oil India Ltd company executives.
The two-day programs for 576 in batches of 30 began in July and concludes in November.
Christened Skill Matrix Assessment Retreat and Training or SMART, the program was specially designed as an experiential program, in line with the way the young consume information today.
Speaking to Matters India Father Thomas, former Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University Guwahati , said: “At the invitation of Oil India, we built a uniquely curated training program that would be delivered to 576 young OIL India employees under 35 years of age. The program helps in identifying leaders of the future and plays a role in succession planning.”
The training was structured as a two-day program with a batch size of approximately 30 each, he said.
The program touched upon four key areas – Self-Awareness, Teamwork, Creativity and Innovation, and Leadership.
“By helping participants get a deep understanding of themselves, they are provided a base to build on and become the best versions of themselves,” Father Thomas said.
Women top Gospel Singer Reality Show
Three women from different parts of northern India have won the top prizes of the first Gospel Singer Reality Show conducted by a popular Church TV channel.
While Lynette John, a mother and an English music teacher from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, notched the top posi-tion, S Jyoti from Bhilai, an industrial city of Chhattisgarh, stood second, and Garima Ekka from the Chhattisgarh capital of Raipur, came third.
The final was held October 26 at Indore, the commercial capital of the central Indian sta-te of Madhya Pradesh where the channel Atmadarshan is based. The channel honored the 11 mega finalists and their families.
As a part of the selection process, the channel conducted auditions in April and May. Atmadarshan team travelled almost 6,000 km to conduct auditions in 15 major cities of eight northern Indian states. From the initial 250 partici-pants, 50 were selected for the first round which was held from May 23-27 in Atmadarshan. The second round was held August 13-14. The semi finals were on October 23-24.
Some renowned musicians from Christian and other religions , who have enriched the North Indian Christianity, were also felicitated at the show.
Indian Catholic bishops elect Archbishop Thazhath as leader
Archbishop Andrews Tha-zhath of Trichur has been ele-cted president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the national body that represents more than 22 million Catholics in the country.
The conference’s general body that met in Bengaluru Nov 6-11 also elected Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras-Mylapore and Bishop Joseph Thomas of Batheri as the first and second vice presidents of the conference.
The meeting reelected Archbishop Felix Machado as the secretary general. The elections took place on November 10, the penultimate day of the plenary meeting.
Under the 1987 papal directive on the rites in India, the post of the CBCI has been rotated among India’s three ritual Churches – Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara.
Pope John Paul II´s May 27, 1987, letter asked the three rites to set up their own bishops’ conferences and directed the CBCI to continue with “questions of common concern and of a national and supra-ritual character.” Hailed now as “a watershed” in the Indian Church, the letter sought to resolve inter-rite rivalry and help the Church present a united witness to Christ in the multireligious country.
Archbishop Thazhath from the Syro-Malabar Church replaces Cardinal Oswald Gra-cias of the Latin Church.
The first vice president and the secretary general belong to the Latin Church while the second vice president repre-sents the Syro-Malankara Church.
Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, was expected to be elected the CBCI president,
The cardinal also faces several court cases in connection with the sale of land belong to the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. On November 9, the Kerala High Court asked Cardinal Alencherry to appear before a court in connection with cases related to a land sale.
Vizhinjam protests: Catholic priest denies foreign aid allegation
A Catholic priest has vowed to quit priesthood and face any punishment if an allegation is proved that a Church-led protest against seaport project has received foreign fund to destabilize the country. “Our hands are clean and ready to face any probe,” says Father Theodacious D’Cruz, one of the conveners of the fishermen’s protest against Adani international seaport at Vizhinjam coast in Thiruvananthapuram district in the southern Indian state of Kerala .
Hundreds of thousand fishermen and their family members have been protesting against the construction of the private seaport since July 20 after Kerala’s Communist-led government refused to accept their demands for resettlement and rehabilitation.
“Our protest has now entered the 105th-day and we are getting good public support, but we are being accused of accepting foreign funds to destabilize the country and its developments,” Father D’Cruz told on November 1.
The priest was responding to the allegation that Aleyamma Vijayan, the secretary of Sakhi Women’s Resource Centre, received funds for the ongoing coastal protest. She is the wife of A J Vijayan, a trade union leader and a petitioner in the National Green Tribunal against the port project.
Aleyamma has filed a defamation suit against the news channel “News 18” that carried the controversial news. In the petition, she said the organization has been working in human rights since 1996 in Thiruvananthapuram. It is registered as a Public Charitable Trust with a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration to receive funds.
Collection of writings in honor of Jesuit Islamic scholar released
Jesuit superior general Father General Arturo Sosa has released a collection of writings in honour of a pioneer in Christian-Muslim relations who had worked in India for decades.
While releasing the book “Witness to a Common Hope: Festschrift in honour of Jesuit Father Christian W. Troll on October 28 at the Jesuit head-quarters in Rome, the general stressed the importance of the Jesuit works’ scholarly dimension.
The Festschrift (a collection of writings published in honour of a scholar) contains 26 essays that honor Father Troll. The volume was edited by Herman Roborgh, head of the School of Religion and Philosophy, Minhaj Univer-sity Lahore, Pakistan, and Jesuit Father Joseph Victor Edwin, lect-urer of Theology and Christian-Muslim Relations in Delhi’s Vidyajyoti Institute of Religious Studies. It was published by the Gujarati Sahitya Praksash in Gujarat.
The editors while introducing Father Troll as a scholar and ser-vant of reconciliation expressed joy in offering a bouquet of essays in honor of him through the edited volume.
Formed in the school of Igna-tian discernment, Father Troll was inspired by the Second Vati-can Council and its documents such as Lumen Gentium, Nostra Aetate and Dignitatis Humanae in his engagements with Muslims around the world.
CBCI: Nuncio urges Indian bishops to become exemplary prelates
The Indian Catholic bishops’ 35th general body meeting on November 7 took off to a colorful start with the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Leopold Girelli celebrating the opening with more than 200 prelates as concelebrants.
Present at the opening program at St John’s National Academy of Health Science in Bengaluru were Cardinals Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
Also present were Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathios, CBCI vice president and secretary general Archbishop Felix Machado along with a number of archbishops, bishops and priests.
Speaking in his homily, Archbishop Girelli highlighted the readings of the day. He urged the bishops to be good shepherds who will be an example to priests and the faithful.
The papal ambassadors also shed light upon the Pope’s Intentions for November: Prayers for the Suffering Children, especially those who are homeless and helpless.
“There are those who dare to say, as if to justify themselves, that it was a mistake to bring these children into the world. …” Children are never a mistake. Their hunger is not a mistake, nor is their poverty, their vulnerability, their abandonment – so many children abandoned on the streets – and neither is their ignorance or their helplessness…
Cardinal Alencherry asked to appear in person in court
The Kerala High Court has asked Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Catholic Church in the southern Indian state, to appear before a court in connection with cases related to a land sale.
The top court in Kerala November 9 dismissed the cardinal’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kakkanad, a suburb of Kochi. The prelate is facing seven criminal cases in connection with the sale of land belonging to the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese a few years ago.
The cardinal is accused of selling prime land belonged to the archdiocese fraudulently without consulting canonical bodies and other concerned authorities and incurring a loss to the tune of close I billion rupees.
The cardinal had denied the allegations and reportedly admitted having certain failures in overseeing the land deals and made no gains from them.
Cardinal Alencherry in his plea said that he “is a senior citizen aged 77 years and head of the Syro Malabar Church spread over whole world, having a membership of 55 lakhs (5.5 millon).”
The prelate further said, he is “bestowed with the duty of performing religious ceremonies, rituals, including ordination of bishops, priests, consecration of churches.”
“Union Govt. Cites ‘Foreign Contributions’ For Keeping Out Dalit Christians, Muslims Out of SC List”
An affidavit filed by the Union govern-ment with the Supreme Court claims Islam and Christianity’s allegedly “foreign” contri-butions as justification for keeping Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians out of the Scheduled Castes list, The Hindu has report-ed. The report notes that the affidavit “contra-dicts itself at several junctures,” and that there is “a lack of clarity on its arguments defending the current criteria” for determi-ning which communities can be included in the Scheduled Castes list.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empo-werment filed the affidavit in October, in a case arising from a petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, alleging that the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the constitution as it discriminates against members of Scheduled Caste communities who have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.
“It is submitted that the present is a case of classification between Indian citizens and foreigners which cannot be doubted on any count. It is well established that Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification,” the government has claimed.
“It is submitted that there exists a clear intelligible differentia between local contri-butions to the sector and foreign contribu-tions,” it added.
The Hindu report notes that, of course, the case does not concern foreigners but Indian citizens.
The Union government thus makes a case to distinguish between Scheduled Caste communities practising Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism and Scheduled Caste commu-nities practising other religions.
The Union government further submitted that a “twin test of classification” – purported-ly laid down by a “bench of higher combina-tions than Shayara Bano Supra – states that Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification.
“It is submitted that it postulates that permissible classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distingui-shes persons or things that are grouped to-gether from others left out of the group, and the differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question,” the Union govt. says.