Marchers seek to raise awareness in a country that records more than 15 million abortions each year. Pro-life activists and Christians gathered to observe the first National March for Life in New Delhi on Aug. 10.
The day also marked the 51st anniversary of the passing of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which legalized abortion.
Some 100 people from across the country assembled at Jantar Mantar, a place allotted by the government to hold protest marches, holding placards against abortion, singing Christian hymns and reciting prayers to end abortion.
The protesters including a bishop, priests, nuns and laity observed a “Day of Mourning” in memory of the millions of aborted fetuses across the world.
The protest was organized by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services in India and the Delhi Catholic Charismatic Service of Communion to raise awareness about abortion.
The march was followed by prayers and a Life Gala at Sacred Heart Cathedral hosted by the Archdiocese of Delhi.
“Being a Christian, at least we can try in our capacities to help stop this practice in our country”
Indian prelate backs top court in media, judiciary spat
A Catholic archbishop has condemned media re-ports saying India’s top court was delaying the hearing of a case seeking an end to violence against Christians.
“I am extremely distressed about articles in news-papers that the honorable Supreme Court, India’s top court, is not taking up the matter of attacks against Christians. There is no merit in the allegation. I strongly condemn it,” said Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore in southern Karnataka province, on July 30.
The prelate’s statement came a couple of days after Supreme Court Justice D.Y. Chandrachud criticized a section of the media for carrying news items hinting that the top court was not very keen on hearing the petition.
“You get it published in newspapers that the Supreme Court is delaying the hearing. Look, there is a limit to which you can target the judges. Who supplies all this news,” asked Justice Chandrachud on July 27 while clarifying the last hearing was postponed as he was down with Covid.
Archbishop Machado was concerned as there was a possibility of a misunderstanding that the petitioners including himself, the National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of India, could have briefed the media against the top court.
Affirming his complete faith in the judiciary, the archbishop in his statement said: “The Christian community wishes to place on record its immense faith in the judiciary. We would never imagine or doubt that the Supreme Court would delay or hesitate to take up important issues that affect human rights or religious freedom.” The prelate also reiterated that attacks continue against Christians, especially in states where anti-conversion laws were enacted, and hoped the Supreme Court would bring justice for the victims of violence.
Surviving India’s chronic poverty by faith alone
For Maria Yuliana Farida keeping her faith alive and fighting for her rights is now part of her daily routine.
For Gabriella Minj, a tribal Catholic mother living on the outskirts of India’s capital New Delhi, survival is a daily bur-den and hope is a luxury afford-ed only by faith.
The 44-year lives with her two teenage children and husband in a two-room house in the densely populated Khora colony in the eastern part of the city. The rooms take different shapes as a bedroom, study, sitting room, and kitchen at different times of day and night.
“We are lucky to have this place,” she said alluding to the millions of people, many of them tribal people like her from central India, who live in Delhi’s slums.
Minj comes from Chhattisgarh, which has the ignominious distinction of being India’s poorest state where around 40 percent of people live below the poverty line.
“What you see or hear, you will forget. But what you experience can never be forgotten. It will remain with you forever,” says the slightly built woman while narrating how extreme poverty forced her to migrate from her village.
She arrived in the national capital two decades ago looking for a job to support herself and her large family back home comprising 10 members. Years of hard work and strong faith have helped her develop a steely resolve to ensure a better future for her children.
“I have great faith in Mother Mary. Whenever I feel sad and lonely I pray the rosary and every time my prayers are answered,” she says.
Mangaluru churches organize special prayers for communal harmony
The Catholic churches in Mangaluru have organized special prayers for communal harmony as sectarian tension prevails in the southern Indian coastal city.
Two Muslim and one Hindu youth were killed in separate incidents of targeted violence by extremist groups from both the communities in the last week of July in Mangaluru suburbs forcing police to impose 144 section in the region until August 5.
Goa Jesuits conclude Ignatian Year
Cardinal-elect Filipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Daman, has urged Jesuits and their collaborators to listen, discern and respond to God’s call and become true followers of Christ. The cardinal-elect was speaking during a solemn Mass July 31 at Bom Jesu Basilica in Old Goa that concluded the Ignatian Year celebrations of the Jesuits of the Goa province.
Pakistani Christians suffer heavy losses in deadly July floods
The unusually heavy rains and flash floods that hit Pakistan’s Balochistan province in July have left a trail of devastation for Christians and Church-run institutions.
“At first we didn’t think much of the rain. However, after a week of continuous downpour, the white paint started to come off the old walls. Then the cement started crumbling and the ceiling started to swell,” recalled Father Samson Shakir as he narrated the damage sustained by a free tuition center attached to St. John Vianney Church in the provincial capital city of Quetta.
Nobel-laureate witch-hunt tarnishes Bangladesh’s image
Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s only Nobel laureate, renowned economist, and microfinance pioneer is hailed globally for his efforts to eradicate poverty.
But at home, he is battling to save his reputation from a host of challenges stemming from a politically connected conflict with the ruling Awami League regime.
Dispute continues as Vatican names new administrator for Indian archdiocese
The Vatican has appointed an apostolic administrator for an Eastern-rite archdiocese in southern India where a decades-old liturgical dispute continues with the change in leadership.
The Vatican named Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, an expert in the Eastern Catholic Code of Canon Law, to replace Archbishop Antony Kariyil, metropolitan vicar of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.
Kariyil was asked to resign by the Vatican for defying the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church’s supreme synod in the liturgical dispute. Thazhath is reportedly tasked to end the dispute and implement liturgical unity by making priests of the archdiocese accept a liturgical formula approved by the Bishops’ synod.
According to the synod-approved form, the Mass celebrant turns to the altar during the eucharistic prayer, a move archdiocesan priests refuse to accept; they want to continue facing the congregation throughout the Mass.
Father Kuriakose Mundadan, representing archdiocesan priests, told that the priests and the laity in the archdiocese continue to demand Mass be celebrated in the traditional way, with the priest facing the congregation throughout.
“The change in leadership does not mean that we have changed our stand,” said Mundadan. “We have conveyed our stand to the new administrator.”
Thazhath met with priests’ representatives soon after he took charge.
Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, believes “the process to find a solution to the dispute has begun” with the appointment of a new administrator.
“The apostolic administrator will fix a date and begin to implement” celebration of the synod-approved Mass, Alencherry told the media, but said he was not sure when “it will happen.”
Church officials familiar with the developments say winning over priests and laity will be a huge task, as the liturgical dispute had become an emotional issue.
Children In India face cyberbullying: Survey
A whopping 85% of children in India have reported being cyberbullied as well as having cyberbullied someone, according to a report released by computer security soft-ware company McAfee.
The India-centric findings are part of company’s global report titled ‘Cyberbullying in Plain Sight,’ a 10-country survey. It was conducted between June 15 and July 5, covering 11,687 parents and their children.
McAfee also claimed that the survey uncovered a startling fact – that many children take part in cyberbullying often without realizing their behavior for what it is, while parents struggle to keep up.
“Cyberbullying in India reaches alarming highs as more than 1 in 3 kids face cyber racism, sexual harassment, and threats of physical harm as early as at the age of 10 – making India the number 1 nation for reported cyberbullying in the world,” McAfee Chief Product Officer Gagan Singh said in the report.
It further said that children in India witness and experience the maximum cyber-bullying on almost every social media and messaging platform.
“85% of Indian children reported being cyberbullied as well as having cyberbullied someone else at rates well over twice the international average,” the report said.
Further, 45% of these children said they hide their cyber bullying experiences from parents, perhaps due to the relative absence of conversation.
In a release, McAfee explained the methodology it adopted for the survey, which was conducted in association with market research company MSI-ACI. The parents of children in the age group 10 and 18 were invited through e-mail to fill an online questionnaire.
The parents were first asked if their children were available to complete a survey. If yes, the parent was asked to complete a few questions themselves before turning over the survey to their child.
The 10 countries where survey was conducted are: United States, United King-dom, France, Germany, Australia, India, Canada, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.
Around 85% children in India have reported being cyberbullied and it is the highest in the world, according to a new survey released by global computer security firm McAfee Corp Monday.
Titled ‘Cyberbullying in Plain Sight’, the report is based on a 10-country survey to uncover new and “consequential trends” regarding cyberbullying.
The survey also noted that the number of Indian children reported to have cyberbullied someone is also twice the international average. Around 45% children in India said they cyberbullied a stranger, compared to 17% worldwide and 48% said they cyber-bullied someone they know, versus 21% of kids in other countries.
The top three forms of cyberbullying reported in India were spreading false rumours (39%), being excluded from groups or conversations (35%) and name calling (34%).
Cardinal Gracias denies reports he intervened in accused bishop’s case
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, has denied reports that he sought to intervene in the case of an Indian Bishop accused of secretly fathering a child.
In a video posted online August 7, Cardinal Gracias, who is the head of the Catholic Church in India, rebutted allegations he had arranged for Bishop Kannikadass Antony William of My-sore to take a paternity test at a Catholic hospital in order to control the outcome of the test results.
Cardinal Gracias said an audio clip from a two-year-old conversation with Bishop William, which has attracted attention among Indian Catholics in recent weeks, had been “mischievously edited to give the impression that there was collusion between Bishop William and myself for a cover-up.”
In the clip of the leaked phone call, which was promoted by the rightwing website Church Militant, the cardinal could apparently be heard telling Bishop William that Gracias would arrange for the paternity test to be conducted at a Catholic hospital “so we can control the media, control the doctors, control the publicity given to the whole thing.”
However, in his statement on August 7, Cardinal Gracias said he “categorically, emphatically and totally” denied that he had said or suggested that they could control the outcome of the test.
“At no time in the conversation or otherwise have I suggest-ed any action that would be illegal or bring disrepute to the church,” said the cardinal, who has led the Bombay Archdiocese since 2006 and has served as a member of Pope Francis’ influential Council of Cardinals since the group’s creation in 2013.