“Bible is truly the inspired Word of God. Hence, attentively and devotedly reading the Bible daily is listening to God Himself who is its author,” said Rev. Fr Domenico Soliman, Superior General of the Society of St Paul, at Subodha Nilayam Communications, Eluru, inaugurating the newly-erected Central Office of the “A Bible for Every Home”, a flagship project of the Diocesan Communication Centre, entrusted to the members of the Society of St Paul. The Congregation is also responsible for the pastoral care of St Theresa’s Parish, Eluru, in addition to managing Alberione Book and Media Centre, the only Catholic Book Centre in the region.
Indian Catholic Forum stresses Synodal Church, secular society
The need for a Synodal Church and secular society was stressed at a meeting organized by the Indian Catholic Forum (ICF), an informal platform of like-minded persons concerned about the renewal of the Church and nation building.
As many as 30 delegates, including seven priests, attended the February 17-18 meeting on Synodality and Secularism at Anjali, the provincialate of the Indian Missionary Society in the northern Indian city of Varanasi.
Icon of Catholic laity in Karnataka honored
Catholic bishops and leaders of other religions in Karnataka have honored Ronald Colaco, a Catholic layman who has made a name in business and philanthropy.
Colaco has done “immense social service to society and to the needy. He is a role model and an inspiration to all,” said Bishop Peter Paul Saldana of Mangalore addressing the February 24 function to honor the philanthropist in the southern Indian port city of Mangaluru.
Colaco has funded several Church projects and supported all communities by building temples, schools, roads, police stations, and humanitarian projects. He was recently featured in the World Book of Records, London. He has received several other awards both in India and overseas.
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, Bishops Gerald Isaac Lobo of Udupi, Lawrence Mukkuzhy of Beltangady, Francis Serrao of Shimoga, and Henry D’Souza of Bellary also attended the function and expressed their appreciation to the Catholic lay man who they termed as “an icon of the Catholic community in Karnataka.”
“Colaco’s generosity went beyond his family and transformed him into a global citizen and his charity and social work reflected the true essence of happiness in giving,” said Archbishop Machado.
Colaco, responding to the felicitations, said his service to society was not aimed at any awards, honors, or fame but was part of his bonded duty toward society.
Christians protest targeted hate and violence
Thousands of Christians belonging to various denominations and institutions on February 19 staged a peaceful prayer protest in New Delhi.
The protest was to draw the attention of the government, judiciary and civil society to “the sharp escalation of targeted hate and violence against Christian community in many states,” said a press release issued by the organizers of the rally at Jantar Mandir, a popular protest venue close to the Indian Parliament House.
“We are here to demand judicial and government intervention to check the rapid rise in incidents of violence, coercion and false arrests of our people,” Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi Catholic archdiocese told the gathering.
The protesters held placards in Hindi and English that read “Every persecution makes Christians stronger in faith,” “Stop attack against Christians, “stop attacking our churches,” and so on. They sang songs of praise and worship amid chanting of “halleluiah,” “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”
John Dayal, the spokesperson of the All Indian Catholic Union, pointed out that some 350 Christians are in jail in Uttar Pradesh alone for practicing their faith, hundreds of tribal Christians were forced out of their village in Chhattisgarh.
“We want the government to hear our cries and intervene and take steps to ensure the safety and security of Christians,” he said while addressing the protesters. He appealed the fellow citizens to stand in empathy and solidarity and raise their voices at the targeted and organized injustice happening across the nation against Christians.
The United Christian Forum, a human rights group based in New Delhi that monitors atrocities against Christians in India, has recorded a total of 597 incidents of violence against Christians from 21 states until the end of 2022.
A note from the forum said Christian citizens in India, known for their peaceful attitude, have demonstrated in the national capital hardly five times in the past seven decades since Independence. However, the recent sharp rise in hate and targeted violence against the community have forced them to hold the latest protest.
Pope-Bishop Mulakkal meeting “distresses” Sisters in Solidarity
A national-level group of Catholic women in India has expressed distress about Bishop Franco Mulakkal visiting Pope Francis in the Vatican.
The “Sisters in Solidarity” on February 21 wrote to the Pope that they were distressed to read about Bishop Mula-kkal’s February 8 meeting with the pontiff. They said they read in an Indian newspaper dated February 15 that the Pope was “glad to hear that (Bishop Mu-lakkal) had won the case and consoled him for his suffer-ing.”
Kochurani Abraham, a fe-minist theologian and a group member, told on February 25 that they could deliver the letter to the Pope’s office and con-cerned dicasteries only on Fe-bruary 24 through a Rome-based priest. Copies of the letter were also sent to the apostolic nuncio in New Delhi and Church leaders in India, Abraham said.
The letter apprised the Pope that the rape case involving Bishop Mulakkal is not over as he was acquitted only by the trial court, the first rung in In-dia’s multi-layered appellate system. The group explained that the Kerala state and the survivor nun have appealed against the verdict in the Kerala High Court.
“Therefore, until the survivor nun has exhausted all avenues of appeal – up to the Supreme Court of India – Bishop Mulakkal cannot claim to have ‘won the case’ and be freed of the alleged crime of rape,” the group asserts.
South Korean Church records decline in priestly vocation
Church officials in South Korea have asked for research and education plans as Catholics in the country experience a drop in priestly ordinations amid decreasing birth rate and religiosity.
The number of newly ordained priests dropped to 87 in 2023 from 131 in 2011, a decrease of 35%, according to the Statistics of the Catholic Church in Korea.
This year, the Jeonju Diocese had no priestly ordination as there was no candidate. The number of priests ordained in the diocese had dropped from six in 2011 to two in 2021.
The Diocese of Daejeon ordained three new priests this year, compared to 19 in 2011 and five in 2016, the data shows.
Although some dioceses saw a slight increase in priestly ordinations, the overall trend shows a decline.
“Research and education plans for vocational development must be established at the parish level, and efforts such as strengthening the vocational manual and increasing the role of the vocational division of the parish must be followed,” said Father John Chrysostom Lee Sang-yong, director of vocations in the Diocese of Suwon.
Cardinal Grech urges Asian bishops to be ‘good listeners’
Asian Bishops and diocesan delegates gathered in Thailand have been urged to be “more attentive to the voices within the Church” as they begin discernment and discussions in the third phase of the synodal process for Asia. “Be more attentive to the voices within the Church, especially to those voices which agitate and also to the ones that ‘do not speak,’” said Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Secretariat of the Synod in his opening address, a Feb. 24 press statement said.
He reminded the delegates that they were all “learners in Synodality” and stressed that “the success of the process depended on the active participation of the people of God and the pastors [who are also members of the People of God].”
Cardinal Grech also reminded the delegates that synodality is not about pitting the pastors against the faithful, but maintaining them in “constant relation, allowing both to fulfill their own roles and responsibilities.”
The delegates from the Asian dioceses have gathered at the Baan Phu Waan (The Sower’s House) Pastoral Training Centre of the Bangkok Archdiocese for the continental-level phase of the Synod on Synodality being held Feb. 24-26.
The synod has representatives from 17 Conferences of Bishops and two Synods of Bishops, representing 29 countries with more than 80 delegates.
Continent by continent, Pope’s Synod on Synodality gathers steam
Around the world, Pope Francis’s Synod on Synodality is moving full steam ahead as bishops gather at the continental level to discuss the concerns and priorities of their local churches, ahead of a major gathering in Rome later this year.
Formally opened by Pope Francis in October 2021, the Synod of Bishops on Synodality is officially titled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” and is a multi-stage process that will culminate in two Rome-based gatherings in October 2023 and October 2024.
After an initial consultation with laypeople at the diocesan level, reports summarizing the conclusions were sent to national bishops’ conferences, and bishops are now discussing the contents of those reports in a continental synod phase that is set to close in March.
From Oct. 4-29, bishops and select delegates, including laypeople, will gather in Rome for the first of a two-part discussion, which will close with a similar gathering in October 2024. According to organizers, the exercise is aimed at making the church a more open and welcoming place, driven less by a clerical power-structure and more on collaborative leadership.
Egyptian Christians in Libya face ‘toxic mix of racism and religious hostility’
After the release of a group of Egyptian Christians abducted in Libya, a leading human rights organization said that “Christians from sub-Saharan Africa face a toxic mix of racism and religious hostility” in the North African country.
The six men, all from the village of Alharja South in the southern Egyptian region of Suhag, had travelled to Libya for work. They were illegally taken at a checkpoint on Feb. 6 and transported to an unknown destination. They were released on Feb. 18.
Reports say they were tortured and were treated even worse once their abductors discovered they were Christians.
In a report, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said they were held in a small, crowded room with an exposed toilet, and were only released after a ransom $15,000 was paid.
CSW has welcomed the release but insists that it has nothing to do with a willingness on the part of the Libyan government to show tolerance towards Christians, or foreign nationals.
“It’s important to note that the men were released following the payment of a ransom. However, we consider raising awareness of the case, an important part of our advocacy, alongside calling for the action that would prevent this from happening again to anyone else,” said Kiri Kankhwende, CSW’s press officer.
She noted that Libya has become “a divided and lawless failed state which remains unsafe for its own citizens, and even more unsafe for foreign nationals, who are viewed by criminal elements as a source of illicit income.
Kankhwende said the security situation in the country has led some western governments like the U.S. and the UK to advise their citizens against travelling to Libya “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”
Pope Francis reaffirms bishops must get Vatican approval to allow Latin Mass
Pope Francis has unequivocally confirmed that bishops must obtain authorization from the Holy See before granting permission to celebrate the pre-Vatican II Mass in parish churches and before allowing priests ordained after July 16, 2021, to use the 1962 Roman Missal. The latest instruction also makes clear that bishops cannot take the law into their own hands and interpret in a different way the restrictions on the Latin Mass issued by the pope in 2021.
The rescript was publish-ed today, Feb. 21, following an audience that Pope Francis granted on Feb. 20 to Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who signed the rescript.
In July 2021, Pope Francis promulgated his apostolic letter “Traditionis Custodes” (“Guardians of the Tradition”), declaring only the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council to be “the unique expression of the ‘lex orandi’ (law of worship) of the Roman Rite,” restoring the obligation of priests to have their bishops’ permission to celebrate according to the “ex-traordinary” or pre-Vatican II Mass and ordering bishops not to establish any new groups or parishes in their dioceses devoted to the former liturgy.