The North East Catholic Research Forum extends a hearty congratulations to Rt. Rev. Dr. John Thomas, Bishop Emeritus of Itanagar, on his 50th anniversary of priesthood. **//** Hearty congratulations to Prof. David Syiemlien and Prof. R. Lalrawna on being honoured with the Padmashri Award for their contributions in the field of literature and education.
Opinion | Articles | Pamreihor Khashimwo | 31-Mar-2025
Abstract The religious and cultural landscape of Northeast India has undergone significant transformations due to the increasing influence of Hindutva ideology, often referred to as Saffronisation. This process, driven by organisations affiliated with th.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 26-Mar-2025
These words are not just a rhyme; there is reason behind them – fails, ails and travails. I use them in the context of the church in India and more specifically the Catholic Church. Looking at its grandiose institutions, wealth and prestige one could wond.....
Current Updates | Editorial Pick | Editorial team | 24-Mar-2025
As India marks its 76th Republic Day, the Christian community faces what many describe as an unprecedented crisis of religious freedom. Recent appeals to both President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi paint a troubling picture: over 720 in.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 11-Mar-2025
Many years ago, there was a popular American song which one gustily sang at camps, picnics and other get-togethers. Thanks to its very catchy tune, it was always a hit. The chorus of the lyrics went thus: “This land is your land, and this land is my land.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 05-Mar-2025
February will always be a painful month for some particularly the Jafri family: on 28 February 2002, Ehsan Jafri, a former Member of Parliament and an authentic and much-loved citizen of secular India was murdered; on 1 February 2025, his wife Zakiaben wa.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 04-Mar-2025
At the age of 88 pope Francis is battling with his life. The health complications he is facing are indeed of grave concern for the doctors. His critical condition has caused grief to not only the Catholics but also to all the people of this world. Pope.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 04-Mar-2025
There are two common English phrases where the word “Penny” is used – “A Penny for your thoughts”, and “Going to spend a penny”. The first is obvious; the second means going to relieve one’s bladder. That could cost a penny in a British public convenience.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 06-Feb-2025
On 28 January 2025, the well-known Calcutta daily ‘The Telegraph’ carried an article entitled ‘Rub your eyes: Hindu Rashtra Constitution to be unveiled at Mahakumbh on Basant Panchami’. The seemingly innocuous inside-page article, speaks volumes not only .....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 04-Feb-2025
I was deeply disturbed when I watched a video in WhatsApp sent to me by a Professor in Kerala. A Plus One student in a government higher secondary school at Anakkara in Palakkad, Kerala, issued a death threat to a teacher. The student's anger was sparked .....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 29-Jan-2025
Ecumenism is non-negotiable When we say that something is non-negotiable, we mean that it cannot be compromised or watered down. Its message and mission must be forthright, sincere and enduring. Ecumenism, commonly understood as Christian Unity, comes .....
Opinion | Articles | James Pochury | 20-Jan-2025
As excavators churn up the sacred soil of our ancestral lands, the stakes grow clearer: this is not just about losing territory but about the erasure of identity, culture, and faith. In the Northeast of India, where the earth carries the stories of our an.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 19-Jan-2025
It is late evening, the day after Uttarayan (15 January), traditionally called ‘vasi uttarayan’. It has been a dull, cloudy day; the wind has been fairly good though. Since yesterday thousands have been on building –tops, flying their kites and many other.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 17-Jan-2025
Today two industrialists have become the talk among the social media, both in India and in abroad. One person is Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys and the other person is Mr. S.N. Subrahmanyan of Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Months after Infosys co-founder N.....
Opinion | Articles | John Dayal | 08-Jan-2025
India’s bishops, as much as its civil society, possibly missed an ominous warning in a report in the Kathmandu-based portal Himal Southasian about the growing support within tribal communities in the northeastern states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for .....
The history of the church is replete with stories of persecution; the crucifixion of Christ itself being the greatest of all. Rome, where the Vatican, the supreme seat of the Pontiff, stands today, in fact was one of the foremost places where Christian pe.....
His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, in his book, Toward A True Kinship of Faith, wrote, “I have boundless respect for my Buddhist faith, but to see it within the context of its brother and sister religions has afforded me a vision of the grandeur and exten.....
According to the media report, the son of a pastor, Ramesh Baghel, has been prevented from burying the dead body of his late father in the village cemetery because some Hindutva activists from his village did not allow the burial to take place. He appeale.....
Dealing with the differences between the laity and clergy, the two pillars of the church, is a perpetual problem for the Catholic Church. Though the problem is real and sometimes threatens to tear apart the cohesiveness of the synodal church, it has alway.....
The recent statement from the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, proposing a regulatory body to oversee church properties akin to temple boards and waqf boards for Hindus and Muslims, undoubtedly raises concerns. However, given the number of controve.....
Pope Francis has already announced the names of 21 new Cardinals who will officially assume the new role on December 8th, 2024. Following their appointment as cardinal-elects, the Holy Father wrote a short but powerful letter to all these men, who would s.....
The All India Catholic Union, which is the apex body of lay Catholics in India, was born well ahead of India's independence. It is a union with inclusive representation, upholding the Catholic faithful's mandate from all three rites of the Catholic family.....
Wayanad in Kerala is considered to be one of the rural districts in the state that has many attractions: a wildlife sanctuary, lush green forest cover, high altitude comfort, home to animals including Asian elephants, tigers, and leopards, and mesmerizing.....
The Parliamentary Elections 2024 have been one hell of an epic exercise, not because they were conducted in a country known as the world’s largest democracy, but simply because of the manner in which the entire exercise was carried out. Between the first.....
As India engages herself in a general election since April 19th and braces for results on June 4, 2024, the air is thick with anxiety. The potential return of the Modi-led BJP, with its fascist undertones and anti-minority stance, threatens the very fabri.....
Provoked by series of wild allegations on Christian institutes converting students from other religions, the NECARF Review ran an editorial as early as October 2022 under the caption “Forced Conversions: Christian Response to the Allegations." The editori.....
The year 2023 ended somewhat on an unpleasant note for the Catholic Church, as there was a huge controversy over Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops attending a Christmas gathering on an invitation extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Ch.....
Opinion | People's Edit | Joseph M Thohrii
“One Woman Can Change anything, Many women can change everything” -Tony Moririson In this 21st century, to be a woman in India is a challenge. Looking and studying the present scenario of women in India, she has to battle hard and fight an uncertain.....
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep
On September 10, 2023, the Indian under -16 football team lifted the glittering Trophy in Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. The team, affectionately referred to as the "Blue Colts", trounced neighbour Bangladesh by two goals to emerge Champions. Apart from.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan
Of late I have been watching a few Tamil television serials. I was surprised to note a running thread in all the serials. What is it? HATRED. This hatred is usually fuelled by different types of revengeful activities. For this purpose, every serial has a .....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai
Year 2022 dawned bleakly. Not just because of the resurgent Covid, but because of the.....
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep
Addressing the North East India Pastoral Conference 2022 in Guwahati on September 14, 2022, Archbishop Moolachira, President, North East India Regional Bishops Council (NEIRBC) gave a clarion call to protect ‘Mother Earth”. Invoking passages from the Bibl.....
Opinion | Articles | Victor Ferrao
When dissent is silenced, minorities are almost erased; life is castrated and not allowed to bloom to freedom. We have stepped into what has been aptly named as cancel culture. Often cancel culture hides under the cover of a religion, tradition, nationali.....
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep
The Arunachal Pradesh Catholic Association (APCA) hosted an impressive reception in honour of the Bishops of North East region, in Itanagar where 17 Bishops gathered for their Annual Conference, the first to be held in Arunachal Pradesh. The reception was.....
Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang
A brief history of Catholic Church at Tobu The entry of Catholic missionaries into the land of Upper Konyak can be traced back to the year 1969, when Rev. Fr. Lucien Miranda from Catholic Mission, Tuensang visited six villages of the area from 21st to .....
Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang
The Journey to my Vocation Part-II In my previous post, I had written about My Vocation as Part I and I am so overwhelmed by the response and request for ‘My Vocation Part II.’ I ended with a note that I was given a break and with all the limited resourc.....
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep
In the midst of Covid induced hardships that hit every family, members of the North East Catholic Community, Delhi (NECCOD) collected a sum of Rs. 56, 5061 through generous donations and handed over to the DCA Covid Centre project. The cheque was handed o.....
Opinion | Articles | Pamreihor Khashimwo
Abstract The religious and cultural landscape of Northeast India has undergone significant transformations due to the increasing influence of Hindutva ideology, often referred to as Saffronisation. This process, driven by organisations affiliated with th.....
College | NECARF Rep | 26-Mar-2024
For those who aspire for the world of Mass media.....
College | NECARF Rep | 10-Jul-2022
NISCORT, one of the Premier Media Colleges in the National Capital area, announces admission for several graduate and post-graduate level courses in Media studies. Interested students may visit www.niscort.com for details......
College | NECARF Rep | 05-Jun-2021
For those Interested in Journalism studies, the above affordable courses comes as a boon.....
College | NECARF Rep | 28-Feb-2021
NICORT Media College Announces Short Courses in Media fields.....
College | NECARF Rep | 05-Oct-2020
NISCORT opens Admissions for Course in Mass Media and Journalism.....
College | NECARF Rep | 15-Sep-2020
NISCORT is conducting an Online Certificate Course in Media for Grauates. Those interested to join may contact the Institute.....
Editorial Pick | Editorial team | 24-Mar-2025
As India marks its 76th Republic Day, the Christian community faces what many describe as an unprecedented crisis of religious freedom. Recent appeals to both President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi paint a troubling picture: over 720 in.....
Editorial Pick | Editorial team | 06-Jun-2024
On Thursday 4 April 2024, Pope Francis in a very incisive message to the participants in the First Colloquium between the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held in the Vatican said, “We n.....
Editorial Pick | Editorial team | 16-Jan-2024
In an interview on an Italian TV program, Pope Francis laments the risk of escalation in war, says he has no plans to resign, announces Apostolic Journeys to Polynesia and to Argentina, and reflects on ‘Fiducia supplicans’, saying “the Lord blesses everyo.....
Editorial Pick | Editorial team | 08-Jan-2024
During his Sunday Angelus on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis reminds faithful that the day they were baptized, we became children of God forever, and this date of great grace must be remembered and celebrated. At our Baptism, we became.....
NE Brief | NECARF Rep | 15-Dec-2023
Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, whose name is synonymous with a crusader of ‘Peace and Reconciliation’, has been awarded the prestigious Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam World Peace Award 2023 on the occasion of the United Nations International H.....
Editorial Pick | Editorial team | 24-Nov-2023
Recent statements by prominent ecclesiastics raise important questions about certain assumptions that isolate synodality from theological, ecclesiological, canonical, and practical realities.(The Catholic World Report) This essay is occasioned by (1) the.....
Articles | Pamreihor Khashimwo | 31-Mar-2025
Abstract The religious and cultural landscape of Northeast India has undergone significant transformations due to the increasing influence of Hindutva ideology, often referred to as Saffronisation. This process, driven by organisations affiliated with th.....
Articles | Chhotebhai | 26-Mar-2025
These words are not just a rhyme; there is reason behind them – fails, ails and travails. I use them in the context of the church in India and more specifically the Catholic Church. Looking at its grandiose institutions, wealth and prestige one could wond.....
Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 23-Mar-2025
The history of the church is replete with stories of persecution; the crucifixion of Christ itself being the greatest of all. Rome, where the Vatican, the supreme seat of the Pontiff, stands today, in fact was one of the foremost places where Christian pe.....
Articles | Cedric Prakash | 11-Mar-2025
Many years ago, there was a popular American song which one gustily sang at camps, picnics and other get-togethers. Thanks to its very catchy tune, it was always a hit. The chorus of the lyrics went thus: “This land is your land, and this land is my land.....
Articles | Cedric Prakash | 05-Mar-2025
February will always be a painful month for some particularly the Jafri family: on 28 February 2002, Ehsan Jafri, a former Member of Parliament and an authentic and much-loved citizen of secular India was murdered; on 1 February 2025, his wife Zakiaben wa.....
Articles | M L Satyan | 04-Mar-2025
At the age of 88 pope Francis is battling with his life. The health complications he is facing are indeed of grave concern for the doctors. His critical condition has caused grief to not only the Catholics but also to all the people of this world. Pope.....