Articles
Dialogue, With Care
Opinion | Articles | John Dayal | 10-Jul-2022
Dialogue, With Care My heart goes out to Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune. An apology has been wrested out of him for his remarks at a public function which were carried by the local media. “The Christian Community accepts RSS ideology and principles. We n.....
Is Celibacy a Delicacy?
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 10-Jul-2022
Is Celibacy a Delicacy? A delicacy is usually related to food, my favourite indulgence. It is different from the daily fare of dal-chawal or sabji-roti. For me a delicacy is something like succulent pork chops. Obviously one cannot eat that everyday. .....
Hat-Trick
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 15-Jun-2022
The just concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) would be fresh in people’s minds. Hence one cannot be faulted for presuming that this piece is about cricket! It isn’t. It’s not about red balls but about red hats, the red Berettas given to Cardinals. They a.....
Conversion, Colonizer and the People
Opinion | Articles | Victor Ferrao | 15-Jun-2022
Conversion has come back to haunt us. How are we to understand the complex reality of conversion? Are we to simplify it by reducing it to spiritual conquests? Conversion viewed as a spiritual conquest is tainted by its political overtones. Our understan.....
A brief history of Catholic Church at Tobu
Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang | 15-May-2022
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 .....
Uniformity, Conformity, or Deformity?
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 15-May-2022
TV Debates and newspaper headlines are replete with news and views on the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC). They have generated more heat than light. That, sadly, may be what the UCC is all about. Let us go b.....
Will the Catholic Church ever consider a place for women?
Opinion | Articles | Myron J Pereira | 15-May-2022
Will the Catholic Church ever consider a place for women? The most significant event for the Indian Church in 2021 was the “judicial murder” of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy. It changed the way in which Catholics, hitherto timid and apologetic, saw the real.....
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.....
Marching along with the Risen Lord
Opinion | Articles | Myron J Pereira | 14-Apr-2022
Even a cursory reading of the Gospels leads us to encounter a Jesus who is always on the move. As an itinerant preacher who scarcely had a place to lay his head and whose message of healing was given to all — especially to the sick and the dispossessed —.....
Religious Row over Election of Naga Woman to Indian Parliament
Opinion | Articles | Nirendra Dev | 14-Apr-2022
Religion is back in business in India's Nagaland state. The strongly perceived Christian identity of the indigenous Nagas is making headlines. Nagaland is a Christian and tribal-dominated province in the northeast where guerrillas are still seeking indepe.....
The Loudness of Selective Silence
Opinion | Articles | John Dayal | 15-Mar-2022
The Loudness of Selective Silence To me, as a reporter and human rights activist for more than half a century, a marker of individuals, groups and societies has been not their loud protestations in support of what they hold dear, but the loudness of th.....
Make Love Not War
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 15-Mar-2022
Make Love Not War As teenagers in the 1960’s we were exposed to the anti-establishment pop culture of the Beatles, and the anti-war protests of the hippies. The latter’s war cry (sic) was “Make love not war”. As I write this the Russian invasion of.....
Justice for women religious in the Catholic Church
Opinion | Articles | Virginia Saldanha | 15-Feb-2022
The message of Pope Francis on the day of Consecrated Life has heartened a number of women religious in India. It is based on his prayer intention for the month of February: “Let us pray for religious sisters and consecrated women, thanking them for their.....
Fire Frightening Franco: A corollary to Somebody Raped Nobody
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 15-Feb-2022
In my previous article I dwelt more on the judicial aspects of the judgement in the Franco Mulakkal rape case. The present one is based on the petition that I have submitted to Abp Anil Couto, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Delhi ecclesiastical region.....
Former Governor & Union Minister Margaret Alva writes to Prime Minister
Opinion | Articles | Editorial Team | 15-Jan-2022
In the backdrop of increasing attacks on Christians and other minority groups in the country, a well-known Catholic leader, Mrs. Margaret Alva, had written a letter to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, pointing out that his silence is being construed as legi.....
Contributions of the Roman Catholic Church in Mizoram in 73 Years (1947- 2020)
Opinion | Articles | Luke Sangkima | 15-Jan-2022
Introduction During December 10 – 12, 2021 the Diocese of Aizawl celebrated its Silver Jubilee. It should have been held exactly on February 7, 2021 but because of the Covid pandemic, the celebration was held on the dates noted above. The story goes lik.....
Indigenous Jesuits Priests Spearhead Mission in poverty-stricken Hazaribagh
Opinion | Articles | Bijay Kumar Minj | 15-Jan-2022
Growing up as a child in the remote and dusty fields of Hazaribagh, Santhosh Minj had no inkling that one day he would lead the mission that Australian Jesuits started there. It is no mean achievement for someone born in an ethnic Oraon family in eastern.....
Facing our Barbaric Condition
Opinion | Articles | Victor Ferrao | 15-Jan-2022
‘To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric’ writes Theodor Adorno. In the broadest sense to be barbaric means to be uncultured. Julia Kristeva tells us that the word originated in the context of Greek perception of other languages as inarticulate mumbl.....
Will Shishu Bhawan now be Renamed as Shishu Mandir?
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 15-Jan-2022
Year 2022 dawned bleakly. Not just because of the resurgent Covid, but because of the.....
Christmas Season
Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang | 14-Dec-2021
Here in India, only in recent years, I see so many Protestant Sects using this term Advent Christmas. I am confused as to why some terms and practices of the Catholic Church are simply borrowed and used without actually knowing the meaning. Advent Christm.....