Daya Bai, a renowned social activist, launched an indefinite satyagraha to demand justice for the victims of endo-sulfan pesticide on October 2, the International Day of Non Violence and the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The use of endosulfan pesticide has killed hundreds of people and maimed and deva-stated the lives of thousands living in and around cashew nut plantations in the Kasargod district of the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Daya Bhai, who is in her 80s, sat on hunger strike in front of the Kerala state secretariat in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram. Around five of her supporters have also joined the protest.
They have demanded the federal government to consider building an All India Institute of Medical Science in Kasargod to provide medical treatment to the victims, for scientific research to assess the physical and mental deficiencies of the victims.
Indian Christian Women Movement to admit transpersons as members
The Indian Christian Women’s Movement (ICWM), an ecumenical forum, has resolved to admit trans persons and LGBT+ persons as members and engage with social and Church issues with “the lens of feminism, liberation and gospel values.” The resolution emerged at the third ICWM convention held September 29-October 2 at the United Theological College in Bengaluru, southern India.
“After braving two years of pandemic, as caregivers, voices against injustice, supporting victims or survivors of violence, abuse and va-rious atrocities it was energizing to meet again,” says a statement issued after the convention.
The convention addressed the theme, “Who will Roll the Stone Away,” alluding to the various “stones” that bar the path of women towards full equality in all areas of their lives. Aruna Roy, president of the National Federation of Indian Women and founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, pointed to the various ways where women could work to remove the “stones” in different areas of their lives.
Indian Church’s liturgical dispute reaches the Vatican
The decades-old liturgical dispute in India’s eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church reached the Vatican when a group of Catholics raised placards during the general audience of Pope Francis.
The close to 100 faithful including women from the Kerala-based Church on Oct. 5 tried to grab the Pope’s attention by dis-playing placards demanding to allow their priests to say Mass facing the congregation, rather than facing the altar.
At least 48 of the protesters were on a pilgrimage to the Vatican while the rest were part of the Indian community in Italy.
The dispute took a dramatic turn last week when Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the apostolic administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, tried to impose the liturgical pattern approved by the bishops’ synod that requires priests to face the altar against the congregation during the Eucharistic prayer until Communion.
The group carried placards with slogans in support of “La santa Messa versus Populum” (the holy Mass facing the people) to the regular papal audience on Wednesday with tens of thousands of people from across the globe present.
“We are happy that the Pope noticed our placards,” claimed Josemon Kammattil, one of the protestors, who is based in Italy.
Kammattil told that they stood at a stra-tegic spot from where Pope returns to his residence after the public audience.
“As he (Pope) moved on while accepting the salutations of the people, he stood still for a second and noticed us holding the placards in silence,” Kammattil added.
He hoped the effort may place the truth before the Pope as the apostolic administrator seems to have misguided the authorities in the Vatican.
“We plan to continue our protests against the synod Mass on Wednesdays and Sundays strictly abiding by the local law,” Kammattil said.
He said close to 8,000 Catholics from the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese are living and working in Italy and the majority among them were against the synod-approved Mass form.
Hijab row hits Catholic school in Kerala
The row over wearing hijab on September 26 led clashes and disruption of classes in Providence School in Kozhikode, a town in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Some activists of the Students Islamic Organization of India stormed the girls’ school in the morning and in the clashes at the entrance three police people were wounded. The police block-ed the protesters and arrested 10 activists.
A new controversy arose in the century-old school managed by the Apostolic Carmel congregation after its management de-cided to ban hijab in the campus in line with their congregation’s policy.
The immediate provocation for the protests was the college refusing entry to an eleventh grader wearing hijab.
“Hijab is not the part of their uniforms and girls should adhere to the uniform policy,” the principal was quoted as saying by Janam Online, a news portal in Kerala. The same policy is being followed in the century-old St. Agnes School and College in Mangaluru, a major town in the neighboring state of Karnataka. Last year, several schools and colleges in an around Mangaluru was hit by the hijab controversy and the case is in the Supreme Court.
The Students Islamic Organization of India targeted the Providence School three days after Kerala observed a shut in protest against raids by the Enforcement Directorate on the Popular Front on India, another Islamic political movement.
Hijab row hits Catholic school in Kerala
Sikkim political secretary denies conversion allegations
The political secretary of the Sikkim Chief Minister on Sept. 30 denied allegations that he was using his position to spread Christianity in the northeastern Indian Himalayan state.
“Today, I am shocked and pained to learn about the wild, unfounded and dubious allegations leveled against me by a former minister and present Dentam MLA N.K. Subba about my faith,” Jacob Khaling Rai, a Protestant Christian who serves as the political secretary of Prem Singh Tamang, says in a statement issu-ed September 30.
A day earlier, ANI news age-ncy reported from New Delhi that Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council) working president Alok Kumar had written to federal Home Minister Amit Shah alleging that Rai indulged in “conversions.”
Kumar alleged that Rai was using his post to “spread Christianity and conversion to Christianity” in Sikkim.
He also said that Subba had met him and handed over a compilation of news of public appearances of Rai, “all for the promotion of Christianity and Christian Institutions in Sikkim.”
The VHP leader, a lawyer, also said that he believed that the assignment of a chief minister’s political secretary and the responsibility of a pastor engaged in promoting Christianity are different. “They should not be allow-ed to be mixed,” Kumar asserted in his letter.
Vizhinjam project: Archdiocese to continue protests despite High Court order
The Latin rite archdiocese of Trivandrum says it will continue its agitation against the Vizhinjam seaport, despite a High Court order to remove tents used by the protesters.
“It is only an interim order and the Church would file a petition to review it,” Father Eugine Pereira,, the vicar general of the archdiocese told on October 8.
“We have some 500 women currently protesting under the tents,” Father Pereira added.
The previous day, the high court directed the state government to demolish the protest tents pitched outside the under-construction Vizhinjam port that blocked the entrance of the project.
The high court, that heard a contempt petition filed by Adani Group, said the ongoing work of the seaport should not be disrupted at any cost and com-plaints regarding the project can be raised at appropriate forums.
Father Pereira said the Adani group could use a parallel road to resume the port work.
The government has appointed one more commission to study the demands of the fisher people and the environmental impacts, and “we will wait until the report is submitted,” the priest added.
The fisher people have demanded a rehabilitation package for those who have lost houses and occupation because of the port, subsidized kerosene, and a study about the environmental impact of the project.
The port is being built by Gautam Adani, an Indian businessman who already owns 13 seaports and airports in the country. The new seaport is coming up at Vizhinjam, south of Thiruvananthapuram, under an agreement with the Kerala government and the patronage of the federal government.
Indian govt to look into quotas for Dalit Christians, Muslims
A Catholic Church official has welcomed the Indian government’s decision to appoint a commission to examine if Dalits who converted to Christianity or Islam can be accorded Scheduled Caste (SC) status.
The federal government in a notification issued on Oct. 6 announced the setting up of a three-member inquiry commission headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, to look into granting SC status, its implications and submit a report within two years.
However, Dalit Christian leaders dismissed this as a tactic to delay their recognition as SCs, the official name for former untouchables in the country.
The SC status will ensure them a share in the 15% reserved quota in parliament and state legislatures, government jobs and education, at present extended only to Dalits belonging to Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist religions
“It is a welcome move. We have to take it positively as it will give us an opportunity to highlight the issues plaguing our brothers and sisters,” Bishop Moses D Prakasam, a member of Indian Bishops’ Conference’s Office of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, told on Oct. 8.
Removing Satan from Pakistan parishioners’ pockets
The colourful posters advertising the annual Marian pilgrimage are plastered across Tera village in Pakistan, but they come with an unusual prohibition.
“Photographing or videotaping on mobile phones is prohibited. We are all obliged to respect the holy venue. The incoming guests for pilgrimage are requested to observe the SOPs [standard operating procedures],” state notices said.
The prohibition on mobile phones aims to keep people away from distractions. It also wants to avoid photos of young women being recklessly circulated on social media in the Muslim-majority country where young Catholic women are frequently kidnapped, and forcefully converted to marry Muslims.
The coronation of a Marian statue by young girls is the main attraction of Marian fests, such as the one on October 1 at Saint Mother Teresa Church Tera village in Punjab province.
Hundreds of parishes across Pakistan hold such coronations during October, the month dedicated to Mary and the rosary in the Church calendar.
Preteen Catholics, dressed as brides, walk gracefully towards the grotto or stage holding a gold or silver crown and place it on the Marian statue amid applause and cheers.
These girls, referred to as queens, are usually chosen from a rosary group or Sunday school through a lucky draw. Two children, dressed as angels, help them in holding the crown tray.
Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan dioceses of Punjab province, home to more than 2 million Christians, have set an age limit for these queens following the arrival of the internet and mobile phones in the 1990s.
“The annual practice is aimed at keeping the crowd at bay from the young girls”
Conservative churchgoers label the phone as a smoking gun in the hands of young men in the Islamic Republic where parents keep young people on a tight leash.
As popular dating apps such as Tinder are banned in Pakistan, young people use social media for such purposes.
According to Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, the restrictions vary in different dioceses. There is no such barrier in the southern region where there are fewer Christians.
Papuans pay the price of graft in Indonesia
A multimillion-dollar graft scandal involving high-ranking leaders in conflict-torn Papua has drawn a public backlash and further impoverished people traumatized by decades of violence.
Indonesia’s anti-graft agency confirmed last month a corruption scandal involving Papua’s top man — Governor Lukas Enembe. He allegedly embezzled around US$36 million of state funds aimed to advance people’s welfare. He allegedly spent the money on casinos overseas and his businesses. If the money had been used appropriately, hundreds of new schools and health facilities could have been built.
The governor claimed the accusations against him are politically motivated.
However, indigenous communities, anti-graft groups and the Church believe that corruption in Papua is rife. They have called on the governor to surrender and follow the legal process accordingly.
But he has refused to do so. The police haven’t arrested him, as his residence is heavily guard-ed by supporters and relatives, fearing it could trigger a clash.
“Twenty years since autonomy status was granted, Papua remains the poorest region in Indonesia.”