By Nirmala Carvalho
A local Catholic parish continues to help people in Chamoli District (Uttarakhand) affected by the collapse of a glacier two weeks ago.
While digging continues in the mud to recover the bodies of the missing, Father Ajo Thelappily reached eight villages directly affected by the disaster last Friday.
Father Ajo is a member of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) and pastor at Jyoti Niwas, a mission church near Joshimath, just 25 kilometres from the site where the collapse occurred, in the Diocese of Bijnor.
“Together with Sister Soumya, a religious with the Sisters of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (SABS) and director of the Jyoti Vidyalaya School, Joshimath s Catholic school, we went to the devastated area,” the clergyman told
By Nirmala Carvalho
The four Sisters who took temporary vows and the four who took perpetual vows are – together with their fellow Sisters – “God s channel to reach the poor,” said Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar (Odisha), who led the Mass last Saturday in Cuttack’s cathedral.
The Sisters who took their vows belong to the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy. Nirmala Jose, Vimala, Keerthana and Mary Hyma took perpetual vows, whilst Biddika Radha, Jhumuri, Pushpa, and Shushmita Lakra took temporary vows.
Because of pandemic-related health restrictions, few people attended the ceremony, but despite this, it was “full of spiritual value” and brightened by local cultural elements, such as the welcome dance at the beginning of the celebration.
By Nirmala Carvalho
Sister Sarla Macwan and Goretti Xalxo celebrated Christmas with 196 tribal migrant families from Chotanagpur. The celebration, with songs, prayers and exchange of gifts, took place on Saturday, the day after Christmas.
These families are part of a larger group of 465 migrant families who came to work in Maharashtra from the Chotanagpur plateau, which extends across the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, more than 1,600 km from Mumbai. Unlike the others, they were unable to return to their villages during the lockdown.
On 24 March, the Indian government shut down shops and factories, leaving migrants who worked as daily labourers stranded without money, food and shelter.
By Nirmala Carvalho
Fr Pascal Sinor, parish priest of the Mary of Nazareth Church in Alibaug (Raighad district), in the Archdiocese of Bombay, is organising outreach activities for the upcoming Christmas which will include non-Christians.
His initiative comes amid the health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has increased the needs, especially among the poorest, while weakening ties and hindering relations between people.
At present, it is even more important to boost “the social apostolate of the Church” by taking care of about a thousand tribal families, the clergyman said.
Local Church organisations have adopted 11 villages, cared for by as many teachers and two supervisors, as part of a project funded by the Centre for Social Action of the local archdiocese.
By Nirmala Carvalho
Two weeks after two statues of the Virgin Mary were smashed to bits and a statue of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta damaged at the Sacred Heart parish church in Morapai (diocese of Baruipur), local Catholics are still wondering why no one has been arrested in connection with these acts of vandalism.
The statues were in two grottoes outside the church on parish land next to the road. “Two of the statues were removed from the grottoes and smashed into pieces since they were made of plaster,” said bishop Shyamal. “The other statue, that of Mother Teresa, is made of concrete and the vandals were unable to destroy it; they damaged and defaced it.”