Articles

Silent Slaves

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

Last week an NGO Director in Tamil Nadu sent me a news clipping. It said that in just one-day three young girls were missing in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. The report mentions about the network of human traffickers, including bus drivers and co.....

Jesus and the Rolling Stones

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Most of us would have heard of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1970 musical “Jesus Christ Superstar”. It was an attempt to re-present Christ in a modern day idiom. Nobody will have heard of Jesus and The Rolling Stones, the jazz group Mick Jagger founded in 1962. R.....

God of love or God of punishment?

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

I watched this video. I found that the focus of this video is on the “punishments” that God seems to have given to those who “desecrated church buildings.” Maybe, some of those who desecrated the church might have repented and an inner conversion took pla.....

Synodal Church: A Need to Walk the Talk

Opinion | Articles | Joseph M Thohrii |

Pope Francis has declared that Synodality is what God expects of the Church in the 21st Century. He has put his own transformative stamp on the meaning and conduct of synods, saying that a synod involves mutual listening in which everyone has something to.....

India Cries for Justice

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash |

In India, the cries for justice, are becoming louder and longer! They come from different segments of society and particularly from those who continue to be exploited and excluded! These cries are heart-rending: anyone with an iota of conscience will hear.....

Bad Apples, Sad Couples, Glad Tidings

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Fortunately I belong to a small parish where just a handful of people come for the Sunday evening Mass. It is therefore a time of quiet reflection for me. These reflections then are based on the first two readings of the first Sunday of Lent. The first.....

Maturity to Debate

Opinion | Articles | Paul Lelen Haokip |

Debate is a form of articulating one’s conviction or standpoint to convince the floor based on facts and ground zero applications. When a society can debate maturely on topics such as Development, Literacy, Majoritarianism, Forest, Tribes, Democracy, Unif.....

Catholic Church Tithes and Collections

Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang |

Catholic Church is a Universal Church and the Indulgence (collection of money) was practiced in some parts of Germany. Thanks to Martin Luther, a Catholic monk for going against the Catholic Church. It was his protests that led to Counter Reformation in t.....

The Season of Lent

Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang |

Ash Wednesday marks the onset of the Lent, the 40-day period of fasting and abstinence. Ash Wednesday is so called because of the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful, marked with the shape of a cross, which serve as a reminder of the call.....

Holistic Education for Peace in Northeast India

Opinion | Articles | Paul Lelen Haokip |

Northeast India boasts of rich biodiversity, but peace is still a longing. Insurgency, inter-tribal hostilities, boundary disputes, and trust deficits abound galore. Inhabitants of these eight states of India are vulnerable to media influence, political p.....

Indian Synod: Forward or Backward?

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Synod, what’s that? Are we suffering from collective amnesia? The next round, the Continental one, is slated for 24th – 27th February. For Asia it will be held in Bangkok, Thailand. If I correctly recall, our Asian bishops had earlier met in Pattaya, anot.....

Immunological Thinking

Opinion | Articles | Victor Ferrao |

Humans have gone through several ages of affliction. There was a microbial age that ended with the discovery of antibiotics. Thanks to immunological science and technology, we have left it behind although covid-19 virus threatened to usher it again. The.....

Indian Dalits Still has Miles to go

Opinion | Articles | N.Leo Samuel |

In the last week of December, a few people from Vengaivayal, a village in Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu in southern India, were treated for upset stomachs and vomiting at the local government hospital. This continued for a week with more villagers rep.....

Vikas - Vishwas –Vilash – Vinash

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

There has been a progression, or rather regression, of Vs over the last week. For those unfamiliar with Hindi, let me first do a literal translation of the 4 Vs in this title – Vikas (Development), Vishwas (Faith), Vilas (Luxury) and Vinash (Destruction)......

A Reflection on the Importance of offering Suffrages

Opinion | Articles | Penny Rose Chinir |

According to the Catholic faith, suffrages are intercessory prayers in the form of holy mass and other prayer services, beseeching the repose of the departed souls. For example in the FMA family – a family of over 12,000 nuns across the globe, of which th.....

Moving Back to the Middle Ages

Opinion | Articles | Thomas Menamparampil |

Tagore dreamt of an India where the citizens would have the courage to hold their “heads high”. Martin Luther King dreamt of a homeland that would give equal respect to every citizen. An Iranian composer longs for a civilized culture in her country where.....

Need to Uphold Human Rights in our Homes

Opinion | Articles | Myron J Pereira |

For almost all of human history, most men and women had no rights, only duties. You had to be born rich and powerful, a member of the "right" caste, race, class, sex, or religion to have rights at all. And even then, the whim of a local monarch or the mis.....

Advent Adventure

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

The Advent season is upon us. It is a preparation for Christmas, depending on our priorities. The Hindi word for Advent is Aagman. It is the same word used at airports for Arrivals. Advent means just that – the coming or arrival of somebody or thing. .....

Caring Our Mother Earth: Pathways to Conservation

Opinion | Articles | Vincent T Darlong |

When God created the earth “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:18). After he created man, God has put him in the Garden of Eden to care for it (Genesis 2:15). But today, we seem to be doing just opposite to what God had intended. Instead of caring for t.....

Recapitulating on the emergence of Dioceses in North East India

Opinion | Articles | Penny Rose Chinir |

Cursory glance at the emergence of Northeast India Dioceses The Catholic dioceses of Northeast India have its roots from 1870 when Assam became part of the prefecture apostolic of Krishnagar. Fr Jacob Broy of the Foreign Missions of Milan was the first r.....