Catholics across India have reacted angrily to an archbishop in Kerala, who has offered condi-tional support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the federal coalition government.
Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry on March 18 assur-ed the BJP at least one seat from the southern Indian state if the federal government raises the price of rubber to 300 rupees.
The Syro-Malabar prelate was addressing a farmers’ rally at Alakode, a village in the east-ern region of Kerala’s Kannur district where rubber is the main crop.
The Hindu nationalist BJP currently has no parliamentary or legislative seat in Kerala, where Christians form more than 18 percent of 35.77 million.
Archbishop Pamplany’s statement “cannot be accepted as the stand of Christians in Kerala, though there have been attempts by Christian leaders to align with the BJP,” says Father Suresh Mathew, editor of Indian Currents weekly.
Indian bishops get back power on properties
India’s Supreme Court has restored the powers of Catholic bishops in Kerala to transfer diocesan properties and quashed a state court’s order that restricted them to dealing only with spiritual matters.
“The Supreme Court order setting aside the high court observations is a matter of great relief to bishops and the entire Christian community in the state [Kerala],” said Father Jacob G Palakkappillly, spokesperson of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, a regional Indian Bi-shops’ Conference.
The Supreme Court on March 17 said the state High Court’s order was “unwarranted and de-serve to be quashed and set aside, and are accordingly quashed and set aside.”
Kerala High Court in August 2021 held that Catholic bishops, notwithstanding their canonical powers, had no powers to alienate landed assets of their dioceses because their “powers are con-fined to religious and spiritual matters.”
‘State can regulate fees’ in minority colleges in India
In a verdict that will have far-reaching implications for minority Christian-run higher educational institutions in India, the country’s top court has ordered that while a minority educational institution is free to devise its own fee structure, the state has the power to regulate it.
The Supreme Court ruling came while hearing a petition that challenged the authority of a committee set up by the central Indian Madhya Pradesh state to regulate fees and admissions in minority-run higher education institutions in the state.
In its March 17 order, the Supreme Court said the minority institutions of higher education “should not claim complete immunity” in admissions and fee structures and “seek exemption from any interference” from the government.
The state established the committee in 2007 to fix the fees and supervise the admission process in the state’s private higher education institutions following complaints that these institutions were charging exorbitant fees.
The Church “accepts the verdict with mixed feelings,” said Father Maria Stephen, the Church spokesman in Madhya Pradesh.
He said Church institutions “do not fix admission fees and other fees with the intention of making a profit. Our aim is to provide excellent structures and modern facilities. The fee regulatory committee should not compare private institutions with government-run colleges,” he said.
Iran sees timid return of neckties
Mohammad Javad enters a fashionable shop in well-to-do north Tehran with his mother. For the first time ever he wants a necktie, long banned in Iran as a symbol of Western decadence. The 27-year-old dentist said he opted for this clothing accessory in hopes of looking his best during the first meeting with his future in-laws.
“In our society, wearing a tie is like wearing a mask before Covid-19 hit,” he said as the salesman adjusted his suit. “People would look at you differently because the negative view still remains.”
“I think a man looks chic with one. Unfortunately, we Iranians have imposed strange and unnecessary restrictions on ourselves. It’ll take time for that to change, but hopefully, it will.”
Dress rules have stoked strong passions in Iran, especially restrictions on women who have long been required to wear modest clothing and headscarves.
Iran was gripped by unrest, labelled “riots” by the authorities, after the Sept 16 death in custody of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, 22, following her arrest for an alleged violation of the country’s strict dress code for women.
Christian concerns grow as Pakistan pushes digital census
The disappointment on Daniel Massey’s face was an indicator of the lukewarm response from Pakistan’s minority Christians to the government’s first-ever digital population and housing census rolled out on March 1, with promises to be transparent and inclusive.
The massive undertaking aims to gather demographic data on every individual ahead of this year’s parliamentary elections. It is also expected to serve as an effective tool for planning measures for the socioeconomic development of the nation’s poor.
However, Christians don’t seem too enthused about participating in the latest self-enumeration campaign, says Massey.
The campaign is being conducted by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ), a Lahore-based research and advocacy group, amid concerns that Christians have been undercounted in the national census over the past two decades.
According to the 2017 national census, Pakistan had 2.6 million Christians who form just 1.27 percent of its 207 million people, mostly Muslims.
Christian concerns grow as Pakistan pushes digital census
Christian concerns grow as Pakistan pushes digital census
The disappointment on Daniel Massey’s face was an indicator of the lukewarm response from Pakistan’s minority Christians to the government’s first-ever digital population and housing census rolled out on March 1, with promises to be transparent and inclusive.
The massive undertaking aims to gather demographic data on every individual ahead of this year’s parliamentary elections. It is also expected to serve as an effective tool for planning measures for the socioeconomic development of the nation’s poor.
However, Christians don’t seem too enthused about participating in the latest self-enumeration campaign, says Massey, who is part of an ongoing campaign creating awareness among the minority community on the need of joining the online census.
The campaign is being conducted by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ), a Lahore-based research and advocacy group, amid concerns that Christians have been undercounted in the national census over the past two decades.
Bible stories lead Cambodian artist to Catholic faith
After reading the Bible and observing Church activities for more than 20 years, Sarom de-cided to start his catechumenate
Little did Francios Sarum Koy know that becoming an art teacher for children and youths at a Catholic church 20 years ago would lead him to join the body of Christ on Easter Sunday this year.
The 67-year-old Cambodian recalls his inner journey of seeking the light of God through his artwork began in 2002 at the St. Mary of the Smile Church in Chamkar Teang, a village in southern Takeo province, about 80 kilometers from capital Phnom Penh.
Sarum, who specialized in classical art, was invited to teach art at the church on Saturdays and Sundays. This led to him working as a part time staff at the Catholic Art office of Phnom Penh Vicariate in Takeo pro-vince.
Although not a Catholic, du-ring these years Sarum authored many Catholic stories into drama and dance performances during feasts and festivals, especially local Christmas celebrations.
“It was difficult when I first started writing Catholic stories, because I come from a Hindu-Buddhist background,” he says.
But Sarum, said, the most important thing during this period was that be began reading the Khmer Catholic Bible to under-stand the basics of the stories.
Pope addresses Humanistic Buddhists on interreligious encounter, education
Pope Francis addressed a delegation of the United Associ-ation of Humanistic Buddhism from Taiwan during their visit to the Vatican on an interreligious “educational pilgrimage.”
Pope Francis on March 16 stressed the importance of a culture of encounter, especially in a time marked by “a continued acceleration of changes affecting humanity and the planet.”
The Pope recognized the recent passing of Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the founding patriarch of Fo Guang Shan Monastery, a world-renowned figure in Humanistic Buddhism who was also a master of inter-religious hospitality.
The Pope went on to note that an educational pilgrimage to the sacred places of a religion, such as the one the delegation was undertaking, can also enrich one’s appreciation of the distin-ctiveness of its approach to the divine. He pointed to the master-pieces of religious art that surro-und visitors in the Vatican and throughout Rome, which reflect the conviction that, in Jesus Chri-st, God himself became a “pil-grim” in this world out of love for humanity.
Furthermore, he stressed the importance of religious believers creating oases of encounter, whi-ch contribute to an integral edu-cation of the human person, involving “head, hands, heart, and soul” and leading to the ex-perience of “the beauty and har-mony of what it is to be fully human.”
Marriage hits record low amid S. Korea’s population decline
Less than 200,000 marriages were registered in South Korea in 2022, the lowest since 1970 when the country began recording demographic data, says the government.
The country recorded 191,690 marriages in 2022, down by 0.4 percent from 192,507 marriages in 2021, the Korea Herald reported on March 16 referring to data from the Korea Statistical Information Service.
The slump in marriages raises more concerns as the country reported in November 2021 that the population was 51.74 million, a drop of 0.2 percent or 91,000 persons from 2020.
In February, the government reported South Korea broke its own record of the lowest birth rates in the world. The total fertility rate, the average number of expected babies per South Korean woman during her reproductive age, dropped to 0.78 in 2022, down from 0.81 in 2021.
The capital city, Seoul, recorded the lowest rate with 0.59.
Lim Young-il, head of the Population Census Division at the agency pointed out that the population decline and the changes in South Koreans’ attitude towards marriage are the contributing factors to the low numbers.
“The number of marriages has decreased partly due to the constant decline of the population aged between 25 and 49,” Lim said adding that another reason was the “changing perception of marriage.”
The data showed that in 2022 the average age of first-time brides was 31.3 years up by 0.2 years and the age of grooms was 33.7 years up by 0.4 years in comparison to 2021.
Among the couples who married for the first time, 19.4% of partnerships were between an older female and a young male.
However, the marital partnerships between an older male and a young female had the major share of 64.4%, whereas 16.2% were of the same age.
French bishop suspends priest due to marry Holy Spirit ‘incarnation’
The French diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, currently under Vatican scrutiny for welcoming controversial religious groups, has suspended a priest and shut down his lay Catholic association after he revealed plans to marry a woman he said was “the incarnation” of the Holy Spirit.
Fr Antoine Coelho, a former Legionaries of Christ priest in his 40s who founded the “Holy Spirit House” association in 2017, had confirmed to the diocese “his intention to marry and found a family” with the 26-year-old Spanish woman, according to a diocesan statement.
“For these doctrinal and moral reasons, Fr Antoine Coelho was suspended and he is prohibited from exercising the priesthood,” the statement said.
Before founding Holy Spirit House to train fellow charismatics, he did two years of training in charism exercise and healing prayer with the English charismatic Catholic community Cor et Lumen Christi.
Fr Coelho has said he received a baptism of the Holy Spirit in 2010 and joined Fréjus-Toulon diocese in 2013. La Croix described him as “willingly mystical…with sometimes barely intelligible homilies”.