Sri Lankan police blocked more than a thousand protesters who were attempting to march to the capital’s main railroad station on Wednesday to demand the release of two detained protest leaders and an end to a government crackdown on demonstrations against an economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation for months.
The protesters, including opposition lawmakers and trade union and civil rights activists, also urged the government to abolish a harsh anti-terror law under which the two student protest leaders have been held for more than two months.
Father Jeewantha Peiris, a Catholic priest and prominent protest organizer, said Wasantha Mudalige and Galwewa Siridhamma have been detained for 74 days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act without any legal basis.
Mudalige and Siridhamma were involved in anti-government protests earlier this year, and their arrests drew wide condemnation.
The protesters marched Wednesday along a main road in Colombo toward the railroad station where they planned to hold a rally. But hundreds of police blocked the road, forcing them to abandon the demonstration.
Nigeria bishop addresses the evils of Islamist extremism at interfaith summit
Before a gathering of religious leaders in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, a Catholic bishop from Nigeria gave an account of how his country had become a “cauldron of violence” at the hands of Islamist extremists.
Addressing the G20 Religion Forum in Bali on Nov. 3 in advance of the Group of 20’s meeting later this month, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah testified to the violence committed against both Christians and Muslims caught in intra-sectarian warfare.
“Every day, news of abductions, armed robberies, kidnappings for ransom, murders, and assassinations of our innocent citizens persists. Our sacred spaces have become killing grounds,” the bishop said. “Hundreds of worshippers have been murdered in mosques and churches across the country.
According to a report by the nongovernmental organization Open Doors, 4,650 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2021— that’s more than the number killed in all of the other countries in the world combined.
The G20 Religion Forum was hosted by Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama political party, which, according to its press release, represents 120 million “moderate” Muslims, or about 40% of the country’s 231 million Muslims.
The conference was convened to “prevent the weaponization of identity” and “curtail the spread of communal hatred,” according to its stated goals.
Kukah, the bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto in the northwest region of Nigeria, where Muslims are in the majority, commended the group for “taking the historic step to address these issues directly,” he said.
In his address, he shared details of some of the recent acts of violence committed by Muslim extremists in his diocese, including the kidnappings of fellow priests and the case of Deborah Samuel, a Christian student who on May 13 was accused of blasphemy and brutally murdered by a mob of Muslim students.
Kukah explained that Muslim elites see secular laws as a threat to Islam and, therefore, disregard them. Nigeria’s constitution includes protections of the freedom of religion and prohibits federal or state governments from adopting any religion as a state religion.
Norbertines elect communication expert as Mananthavady province leader
The province cha pter of Manantha-vady Norbertines has elected Father Jose Murickan as its ninth provincial.
The election on October 19 was presided over by Abbot General Jos Wouters. Abbot Marcus Champia from the Norbertine Abbey of Jamtara was the second official of the election.
Father Murickan, former director of the National Institute of Social Communications, Research and Train-ing (NISCORT), the premier media college of the Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of India, will hold the post for the next six years.
Capuchins feared drowned in Godavari River
A Capuchin priest and a semina-rian have been feared drowned in the Godavari River in the southern Indian state of Telangana.
Father Tony Simon Pulladen and seminarian Bijo Thomas Palampura-ckal were reportedly taking bath in the river on October 23 near Errayipet village near Chennur town, when the accident took place.
Society of St Paul gets new Indian provincial
The Society of St Paul, an international Catholic religious congregation for men, has a new leader for its India pro-vince that comprises Great Britain and Ireland, besides India. The congregation’s superior general Father Dominic Soliman on Oct. 24 appointed Father Joby Mathew as the Indian provincial during the council meeting.
Bible youth edition released at Asian bishops’ meet
A unique edition of the Bible for the youth was released at the backdrop of the general assembly of the Fede-ration of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), currently underway at Bang-kok, Thailand.
The special edition, named ‘Iden-tity: Identified, Navigating the Cha-llenges of Life,’ was presented to the assembly by Salesian Bishop George Pallipparambil of Miao, the chairman of the Commissions for Evangelization and Archbishop Simon Poh of Kuch-ing, Malaysia, according to informa-tion received from the FABC office.
Franciscans conduct training on project management, fundraising
More than 90 priests, nuns and lay people from across India are attending a four-day specialized training program on project management and fundraising in Kolkata.
The participants for the October 21-24 program at Jesuits’ Dhyana Ashram hail from 30 religious congregations and dioceses. The training aims to train them as development personnel. They came from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi (National Capital Region), Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The program is organized under the initiative of the Association of Franciscan Family in India (AFFI).
“We must give utmost importance to uplifting the lives of the poor through our intervention as rooted in Christian values.”
Asian Church should become ‘more Asian, less Roman’ Fr Vimal Tirimanna
The Churches in Asia need to seize the moment to stress the Asianness of the Church as Pope Francis encourages Church communities to become more grounded through continental contextual theologies, says Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, one of Asia’s leading theologians.
The 67-year-old professor of theology at the Pontifical Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome says the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) should build on the theological foundations laid by yesteryear Asian theologians.
The priest, also a member of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod 2021-2024, also believes the synodal process will change “the Church upside down” if the process is taken seriously.
Father Tirimanna spoke with UCA News on Oct. 20 on the sidelines of FABC’s first general conference (Oct.12-30) organized in Bangkok as part of its golden jubilee celebrations. Excerpts from the interview:
“The essence they gave is the Asianness of the Church?” “We need to seize it. But I’m sorry to say I don’t see the enthusiasm and energy to do that. We can do much more than what we are doing because this is our moment. If we lose this, I wonder whether God will give us another moment like this. .. Roman or European theology will not be able to understand and respond to our realities in all their complexities. What we need is an Asian theology.
“Their main common point was that there are three main living realities in Asia: religions, cultures, and the poor. These founding fathers of FABC theology, of course, together with the pioneer FABC bishops, considered that Christian existence in Asia can be appreciated only through triple dialogue — with religions, cultures and the poor. These triple realities characterized Asia in the seventies, and they continue to characterize Asia even today and that will characterize Asia even tomorrow.”
“Environmental issues are here as they are in other parts of the world. Issues of women and youth are also global. We should not lose what characterizes us. Have a dialogue with everybody, but let’s be Asian. If you are not focused well, everything becomes important even with regard to dialogue. That means nothing is important. Have a dialogue but don’t say they are Asian issues alone. But the issues of women in Asia are not that of Europe. So European solutions will not help Asian women. I think I have made my point clear.”
Kandhamal violence: Collector agrees to compensate priest victim’s kin
Kandhamal Collector Ashis Ishwar Patil has promised to comply with a court order to give compensation to a kin of a Catholic priest, who died dur-ing the 2008 anti-Christian violence.
“I have received the High Court Order and asked some clarifications and documents,” the collector told Benadicta Di-gal, brother of Father Bernard Diga, when he met Patil Octo-ber 27 in his office in Phulbani, the district headquarters.
Exactly a month ago, the Odisha High Court directed the Kandhamal collector to com-pensate Father Digal’s legal heir.
The documents sought by the collector are legal heir documents, account number and other requirements from the local tehsildar and revenue inspector. “Don’t worry I assure you to disburse 800,000 in your account immediately,” Benedicta quoted the collector as saying.
Bhopal archdiocese celebrates Bible festival
The Archdiocese of Bhopal has concluded a three-day Bible Mahotsav (grand festival) with the imposition of pallium upon Archbishop Alangaram Arokia Sebastian Durairaj.
The festival, a spiritual retreat for the laity, began with a procession of the Bible at 8:30 am on October 21 at Assumption Church. Father Ishwardas Minj, the vicar general of the archdiocese, inaugurated the retreat by concelebrating Mass.
On the second day, Vincentian Father Shaji, the retreat preacher, emphasized that the Catholics need to be rooted in the love of Christ through communion and participation to carry out the mission of Christ Jesus. It’s an open invitation to become saints of God with Love, Joy and Peace, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, he added.
Father Shaji from Jamshedpur also emphasized that everyone has to become a new creation. “God has called each one of us to become saints,” he added.
The retreat concluded with a concelebrated Mass presided over by Divine Word Archbishop Durairaj.