A secular group in West Bengal State’s South 24 Parganas district has put up a statue of Mother Teresa at the heart of a village market to uphold secularism.

An inter-religious gathering on August 27 watched as the statue of the world renowned Catholic nun was unveiled at Nepalgunge hatt, a well-known village market in Bishnupur block of the district, some 15 km from Kolkata, the State capital.

The Nepalgunge More Bebasahi Committee, the inter-faith group, took the initiative to install the statue.

Newly appointed Coadjutor Bishop Shyamal Bose of Baruipur joined leaders of other religions to unveil the lifesize statue of the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. They also garlanded the statue of Swami Vivekananda, a 19th century Hindu monk and social reformer.

Swami Vivekananda’s statue was installed at the market’s crossroad a few months ago. “Next to Vivekananda it was felt need of the people to install Mother’s statue,” said Sathya Ranjan Panja, secretary of the Hatt committee. “We thought the appropriate time was her 109th birth anniversary,” he told.

With dwindling vocations to the priesthood, especially in the West, the cry for women deacons is getting stronger, even while some fear a mixed-gender diaconate might serve to reinforce clericalism in the church.

Pope Francis is not altogether opposed to the idea. He has stated that he cannot ordain women as deacons without a theological and historical foundation.

The pontiff created a Vatican commission in 2016 to study the tradition of women deacons in the Catholic Church upon the request of the International Union of Superiors General. However, the Commission could not arrive at a consensus and have been told to continue their studies individually.

Theological experts from India are not optimistic about the outcome.

Feminist theologian Kochurani Abraham of Kerala said in a telephone interview that the Scriptures point to theological and biblical references to women deacons, particularly chapter 16 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, which mentions Phoebe, a woman who served as a deacon. Virginia Saldanha of Mumbai, a leader of the Indian Christian Women’s Movement, questioned why women aren’t already ordained as deacons.

“Why not have women deacons when most of the churches in the West are functioning because of women who are doing the work of deacons?” she said in a telephone interview. She cited the example of Ludwien Mortier, a pastoral assistant who has been running the Holy Family Parish in Lier, Belgium, for the past two decades.

Jesuit social activist Father Irudaya Jothi has been nominated for this year’s “Nation Builders Award 2019.” “I am indeed happy to convey to you, that Rotary International (RI) Dist 3291 has decided to confer the prestigious ‘Nation Builders Award 2019’ on you at Rotary Sadan, in an event organized by Open Arms Educational & Charitable Trust (OA-ECT),” says “ a message from Lovina Khan, managing trustee, OAECT.

A group of senior people attached to the Church of South India (CSI), including Valson Thampu, former principal of Delhi’s prestigious St Stephen’s College, have petitioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against giving state guest status to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, when he arrives here later this month.

Thampu feels that through this visit by its topmost leader of Church of England (the Anglican Church), the church is aiming for a cleaning up of its image, sullied by a series of corruption charges.

Daughter of Charity Sister Enedina, a 98 year old Spanish national, is set to return to her home country after 48 years of service in Odisha as her application seeking Indian citizenship was declined. She graduated in MBBS from a medical college, Madrid, Spain’s capital, in 1959 and worked a few months in a nursing home there.

Speaking of the nun’s great contribution to the local people, Vincentian Father Naresh Nayak, said, “A true Daughter of Charity of St Vincent De Paul. The people of Odisha will never forget her love and service.”