The Archaeological Survey of India has begun the restore the four-century old silver casket that houses the relics of Saint Francis Xavier at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. The casket, which was last tended to in 1698, has been braving the elements within the basilica, which is part of the UNESCO declared heritage complex. Old Goa was once the capital of the Portuguese maritime empire and an important trade center. The restoration began on December 9.
Back in 2018 a team of three specialists was dispatched from “Opificio delle Pietre Dure e Laboratori di Restauro di Firenze” (A restoration laboratory in Florence, Italy), to study the artifacts from May 27 to June 3, 201. They had called for attending to the casket mas a top priority or it would fall apart within the next 10 years.
“The ASI Chemical Branch from Aurangabad, who are specialists in conservation, have taken the initiative under the mandate from ASI Dehradun to commence the work to conserve and restore the Mastrillian Casket. The negotiations began long back, ever since ASI Delhi ordered that the treatment be done by their specialists in India. The work will be done at the Basilica itself under strict security and will commence from December 10,” Father Patricio Fernandes, the Rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, said.
Mamata attends Christmas services at Kolkata Church
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted the people on Christmas after attending services at a church in the city. Banerjee attended Christmas services at the Cathedral of The Most Holy Rosary in Kolkata and interacted with the people.
“The beauty of Bengal is that we celebrate all festivals, spreading peace, joy, and happiness. Christmas festivities have already started every-where in great spirit,” she said. “Merry Christmas to all of you once again,” she added.
Governor Jagdeep Dhan-khar also greeted the people of the state on Christmas. “Let’s spread message of peace and joy and illuminate lives of others,” he said.
The governor said Opposi-tion leader in state assembly Abdul Mannan and minister Firhad Hakim met him at Raj Bhavan separately to greet him on Christmas.
Spread Christmas joy with utmost caution : Bombay archdiocese
With Christmas just over a week away, Arch-bishop of Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias on Dece-mber 15 sounded a note of caution, asking churches and parishioners to follow the guidelines in place in view of the pandemic.
Issuing a slew of guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for churches across the diocese for Christmas, Cardinal Gracias reminded the Council of Deans and the parishioners that Section 144 is still in effect in the city and an assembly of over 200 people is not permitted. Police have made no relaxations in this regard, he added.
“People expect a Mass on Christmas Eve. The government and police have permitted Mass inside the church, however, please stay in touch with your local police station,” wrote Card. Gracias, in a communication addressed to the Council of Deans, parish priests and priests in-charge.
He said “more than one Vigil Mass may be celebrated in our churches” to ensure guidelines on gathering are followed. “Similarly, the number of Masses on Christmas morning can be increased, and we are encouraged to have Mass on Christmas evening, too, for those who cannot come in the morning.”
Indian priest found with throat cut
A senior Catholic priest found on a railway track with his throat cut in Andhra Pradesh State in southern India was buried in his home parish on Dec. 12 even as mystery shrouds his death.
The body of 62-year-old Father Santosh Chepathini, priest of Chinta-kani Parish in Khammam Diocese in Telangana State in southern India, was found close to Vijaywada railway station in Andhra Pradesh early on Dec. 10 by a railway patrol team.
Abp Kalathiparambil appointed member of Vatican congregation
Pope Francis has appointed Arch-bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly as a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples for five years.
This is the second time the 68-year-old Indian prelate joins the congregation. Earlier, he had served the commission for five years from 2011, says a press note from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
Bishop Lyngdoh promoted as Shillong archbishop
Pope Francis on December 28 promoted Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Jowai as the archbishop of Shillong in the northeastern State of Meghalaya.
The appointment was made public at noon in Rome, corresponding to 4:30 pm in India.
Shillong archdiocese, the mother diocese of the Catholic Church in north-eastern India, was without a leader after the death of Salesian Archbishop Dominic Jala on October 10, 2019, in a road accident in the United States. Archbishop Jala, 68, was the first prelate from the Khasi tribe, one of prominent ethnic groups in Meghalaya.
BJP increases seats in Kerala local body elections
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to make slow but steady inroads into Kerala, an unassailable bastion for the saffron party so far, results of the recently held local body elections indicate.
Although the BJP failed to perform as expected in the Kerala civic elect-ions, it has significantly improved its 2015 tally, reports the Times of India.
Why is India denying prisoners spectacles and straws?
But in recent weeks, jail authorities in India have been called out for being especially cruel to prisoners, particularly the govern-ment’s critics who are described as “human rights defenders” by international rights groups.
Earlier this month, the Bombay High Court reminded officials of Mumbai’s Taloja jail that they needed to show some “humanity” while dealing with the needs of inmates.
“We need to conduct workshops for jailers. How are such small items denied? These are all human considerations,” Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik said.
The “small items” here were spectacles that jailed activist Gautam Navlakha had been denied.
The judges’ comment came after his family told the press that his spectacles were stolen in prison and that when they sent a fresh pair, the authorities refused to accept them.
“He was allowed to call me on 30 November, three days after his glasses were stolen. He’s 68, he needs a high-powered lens and without them, he’s nearly blind,” his partner, Sahba Husain, told me.
Since the start of the pandemic in mid-March, India has stopped all visits by family or lawyers to jail. Inmates are not even allowed to receive parcels.
Husain says Navlakha told her that he had spoken to the jail superintendent and had been assured that he would receive his spectacles.
Husain, who lives in Delhi, quickly got a new pair made and posted them on 3 December.
“I checked three-four days later and realized that the parcel had reached the jail on 5 December, but had been refused and returned.”
It was only after the judges read out a lesson in “humanity,” and subsequent outrage on social media that jail authorities provided a new set of spectacles to Mr Navlakha.
A former secretary of the non-governmental organisation People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Navlakha is no ordinary prisoner. He’s spent a lifetime working for civil liberties and is respected globally.
He’s been in jail since the middle of April in connection with what is known as the Bhima Koregaon case.
He’s among 16 activists, poets and lawyers who have been arrested over the past two years on charges of instigating caste violence at a Dalit rally in Bhima Koregaon village in the western State of Maharashtra on 1 January 2018. They all deny the charges against them.
PM to help sort out Kerala church issues
With differences between Orthodox and Jacobite factions in widening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will talk to both groups to find a lasting solution to some issues, said Mizoram Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai. The governor, also hailing from Kerala, said he had briefed the Prime Minister about all issues and sought his intervention to help solve them. He said leaders of both factions will be met separately and later to joint meeting will be called. Pillai also said he will also discuss the issue with Home Minister Amit Shah.
The growing friction between the two factions has invited enough embarrassment for the community and often created big law and order problems in the state. Earlier Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also tried to broker peace between two but failed to make much headway as both sides stuck to their stands.
“There is a complaint that central funds for minority welfare are not distributed proportionately between different communities in the state. The Church has been raising its concern in this regard for quite some time. So the PM will hear their woes also,” Pillai said.
“We hope the PM’s intervention will help us get justice,” said Jacobite Church trustee Joseph Mar Gregorios. “We are ready to go by any agreement that is bound by law of the land and decision of the apex court,” said Orthodox Church secretary Biju Oommen. Recently, a tiff between the two spilled over to the streets inviting enough embarrassment for believers.
Dalit Christians hold protest march in southern India
Dalit Christians in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have held a protest in march against discrimination faced by Dalits in 45 Catholic parishes of Pondicherry-Cuddalore Arch diocese.
Protesters submitted a memorandum to parish priests on Dec. 20 and requested them to forward it to Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, India’s apostolic nuncio. “The memorandum contains Dalit Christians’ long-standing common demand for equal rights for all,” M. Mary John, president of the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement (DCLM), told UCA News.
“They fervently appeal to the nuncio and the Holy See for their urgent intervention to secure them justice and equal rights. DCLM has been vigorously pursuing these demands with the Catholic hierarchy in India as well as with the Vatican for years.
“The current protests follow a peaceful sit-in by 40 Dalit priests at the archbishop’s house in Puducherry from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 demanding a dialogue with the archbishop and the administrators.”
John said Dalits have long faced caste discrimination and continued denial of key administrative posts in the archdiocese and in leadership of ministries.