John S. Shilshi
Time for ‘Pioneers’ to think beyond Conventional Learning
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 02-Sep-2022
Time for ‘Pioneers’ to think beyond Conventional Learning To say that the Catholic Church has invested much human and material resource in the education sector is no exaggeration. It is an acknowledged fact from all stake holders, irrespective of communi.....
Lay Ministry in North East Region: Need for a Paradigm shift
Opinion | Articles | John S. Shilshi | 02-Sep-2022
Lay Ministry in North East Region: Need for a Paradigm shift Introduction: In contemporary Catholic world, the term “missionary” immediately brings to mind aged-old images of priests braving adverse situations and extending spiritual and humanitarian.....
Putting Things in Perspective
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 13-Aug-2022
Putting Things in Perspective Even as the North East Catholic Research Forum (NCARF) is preparing itself to meet physically for the first time on the 20th of August, 2022, we are tempted to put few things in perspective. Come 16th of September 2022, and.....
How long will we ignore Mother Nature’s wake-up call?
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 10-Jul-2022
Mid-2022 has been a tough period for north-east states in terms of natural calamities. Floods, landslides, torrential rain – almost all states suffered huge losses of property and lives, the worst being Assam. But can we merely call this the wrath of natu.....
Father’s Day: A day to reaffirm Caring and Compassion
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Jun-2022
Come June 19, and the world will be celebrating Father’s Day in different ways. Social media platforms will be abuzz with messages of greetings and wishes for long life and happiness to individual fathers, and also in groups that include fathers. Companie.....
Spirit of Christian Unity
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-May-2022
Across the globe, ecumenical movement is gaining ground as Christian leaders not only realize the futility of division along denomination lines, but also recognize how it defeats the very teachings of Christ and the Bible. However, in complete contrast to.....
Catholic Institutes must learn the art of saying ‘NO’
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 14-Apr-2022
Catholics in North-East India account for less than 4% of the total population of the region, but for decades, they have had the privilege of shouldering a bulk of the education workload, particularly in respect of reaching out to remote and inaccessible .....
Quarantined within a quarantine: A personal experience of Covid-induced confinement
Opinion | Articles | John S. Shilshi | 14-Apr-2022
It was on the 15th of January 2022 that I began to feel unusually uneasy. There was an indescribable discomfort all over my body, which was triggered by a combination of dullness, weakness and absence of appetite or thirst. Just the thought of eating or d.....
Salute to Two Brave Hearts
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Mar-2022
Salute to Two Brave Hearts As the war between Russia and Ukraine assumes a threatening proportion, with the Russian onslaught causing a humanitarian disaster by the day, the news of two Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns from India’s north-east state of M.....
Has Social Media Become a Necessary Evil?
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Feb-2022
The internet has revolutionized the way human beings communicate to one another, so much so that even those who created it perhaps were not aware of the potential and its ultimate outcome. Today the world is abuzz with social media, which is the byproduct.....
Keeping the House in Order
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Jan-2022
When India became independent and subsequently gave herself one of the most comprehensive Constitutions in the world, secularism was given a place as one of the cornerstone of this document. It was so because the founding fathers of the Constitution recog.....
‘SILENT NIGHT’: Not Just a Song, but a Powerful Prayer.
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 14-Dec-2021
When the Austrian priest Joseph Mohr wrote the song 'Stille Nacht" in 1816 and asked his friend, teacher and Church organist, Franz Gruber to compose the music, he would have never in his wildest of imaginations, thought that the song would be a Christmas.....
Pope-Modi Meet: Beyond the Optics
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Nov-2021
On October 30th, 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a one-on-one meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Photos of the “warm meeting” showed both leaders embracing each other, smiling and chatting, and exchanging gifts. Reports claimed that t.....
Freedom of Expression: A Prerequisite for Peace
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Oct-2021
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has yet again surprised the international community with their selection of the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace, by naming two journalists - Maria Ressa of Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia - as joint winners of.....
A Year of Fulfilled Indulgence
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Sep-2021
In our fast moving world, where time flies by so swiftly, twelve months is hardly a period of reckoning. Events or developments that took place a year ago seem as if they happened just the other day, before we realize that much of time had since elapsed......
Tokyo 2020: Not just a Sporting Spectacle
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 13-Aug-2021
Since the first Olympics in 1896, the mega sports event held every four years have successfully brought the World’s Athletes together that scripted histories of incredible achievements, triumphs, and even heartbreaks. It has also been a century and quarte.....
Voices beyond the Catholic mourning
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Jul-2021
Voices beyond the Catholic mourning Fr. Stan Swamy's death did not come as a surprise. It was waiting to happen because not only was he a frail 84-year old, but he had several health complications from the time he was taken to Jail in connection with a t.....
Clergy - Laity chemistry: Need for better blending
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Jun-2021
Late Rev. Fr. Anthony de Mello, writer and philosopher, in an introductory note to one of his most acclaimed books “The Song of the Bird” wrote, “I cannot however, hide from my readers the fact that I am a priest of the Catholic Church. I have wandered fr.....
Covid Tragedy: Where is the Catholic Church?
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-May-2021
Call it callousness, carelessness, incompetence, insensitivity or whatever; the collapse of health infrastructure all over the country, even as the second wave of COVID-19 struck hard, is unprecedented. It is harsher than we ever imagined, as we wake up e.....
The Nuns incident: A disturbing Trend
Opinion | Editorial | John S. Shilshi | 15-Apr-2021
Imagine a situation where one is traveling in a train with family members or friends holding valid tickets to a certain destination. Half way down the journey, you are suddenly told by certain unknown people that you got to be verified by the men in khakh.....