Opinion | Articles | John Dayal | 24-Aug-2024
Sometime later this year, if all goes well in India and the United States, India will send its second citizen into space. The first one, fighter pilot Rakesh Sharma, was on board a Soviet spacecraft in 1984. The next, also an air force pilot, will be on b.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 19-Aug-2024
Let me begin with a frank admission. From school days I have hated English grammar. On the other hand, my wife is a grammarian, knowing Wren and Martin’s grammar like the back of her hand. She compensates for my many inadequacies. The word “slip” is bot.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 18-Aug-2024
India cries for Freedom: Thanks to the relentless struggles and sacrifices of our freedom fighters, on 15 August 1947, India made her tryst with destiny! After years of colonial rule, she finally became an independent nation. Ever since (during these past.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 15-Aug-2024
This year India is celebrating its 78th Independence Day on August 15, marking 77 years since the first anniversary of independence. As usual, hoisting of the national flag, colourful decorations, illuminations, fire crackers, cultural events, and tea par.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 04-Aug-2024
TODAY, is WORSE than the ‘EMERGENCY!’ India will and should never forget that infamous night of 25/26 June 1975, when, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared all over the country. During that dark chapter of the country.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 04-Aug-2024
Shankaracharya exercises his prophetic mission A few days ago, I watched a YouTube video uploaded by AAA YouTube channel of Ajit Anjum. In this video the news reporter is interviewing Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand. He came across to me as a .....
Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang | 31-Jul-2024
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.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 15-Jul-2024
On 1 July 2024, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal of the Allahabad High Court in a bizarre comment said, “if this process (religious conversion) is allowed to be carried out, the majority population of this country would be in minority one day, and such religi.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 04-Jul-2024
Has the dust begun to settle or the temperature begun to rise, despite the advancing monsoon? This weather barometer is political not climatic. With the elections over, the Union Cabinet in place, the Speaker also elected and proceedings in the Lok Sa.....
Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash | 03-Jul-2024
Few will not remember Judas Iscariot and the role he played in the betrayal of Jesus! For those who don’t know or don’t remember, these passages from Sacred Scripture will help put things in perspective: And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I .....
Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang | 17-Jun-2024
While preparing for my Diaconate Ordination, I had ample time to recall about my vocation, my life... There is an inner urge to share something about my vocation with you all. I guess, it might help some people… My vocation is like any vocation that bega.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 15-Jun-2024
Many years back Mahatma Gandhi spoke about seven crimes. One of them is “Politics without principle”. We need to appreciate Gandhiji for brilliantly analysing the political scenario of his time as well as the future. After more than two-month-long electio.....
Current Updates | 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.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 18-Apr-2024
It’s that time of year when we head to the hustings for the great Indian tamasha, the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The present regime at the Centre is so confident of a third term in office that it has invited representatives from various world political par.....
One is not sure how many people in the world would have known or heard about a country by the name of Cabo Verde prior to the commencement of the FIFA World Cup 2026. But beginning with the night the former Portuguese colony created history by holding Spa.....
In May 2026, a popular priest, Fr. Bomax Pereira, suffered a cardiac arrest, and he was treated at the Goa Medical College. He was in the intensive care unit for a few days before he finally gave in and left while still in the ICU. Fr. Bolmax was one prie.....
The most notable bright spot of the 2026 assembly elections is clearly the manner in which voters in Kerala exercised their franchise; Not because they voted any particular party to power, but because they avoided voting along communal lines. The victorie.....
In March, a Los Angeles court hearing a petition filed by a 20-year-old woman, Kaley, who was a minor at the time of filing the case, held Meta and Google guilty of coming up with attention-grabbing applications, resulting in minor addiction to YouTube an.....
In a country where cricket is not just a game but considered next only to religion, a spectacle unfolded on March 1 inside the mammoth and iconic Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata, where the Indian and West Indies teams played the last of the Super.....
When Himanta Biswa Sarma exited his parent party, the Indian National Congress, in 2015 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, not too many eyebrows were raised since such leapfrogging from one political party to the other was nothing new in Indian politi.....
A German Lutheran pastor, Martin Niemöller, was against the Communist ideology and also against Semitism. His distaste for them made him a natural ally and supporter of Rudolf Hitler. When Hitler ultimately assumed power and insisted on the supremacy of t.....
India is fortunate to have given birth to three outstanding sons, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, and Mahatma Gandhi, who inspired generations not only in India but across the world. Apart from their liberal thinking, their thoughts on religious f.....
On the intervening night of November 2nd and 3rd, the Indian women’s cricket team created history by winning the ICC Women’s World Cup for the first time at the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai. They defeated South Africa, a team dubbed by many cricketing.....
Many ordinary people who are not connected to music and art might not have even heard of Zubeen Garg, despite being an iconic artist and a person who cared for others. However, after his unfortunate and untimely demise on September 19, 2025, social media.....
During the monsoon session of the Parliament in July 2025, Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar informed the house that student suicide cases accounted for 7.6 per cent of all suicide cases reported across India in 2022, showing a slight.....
The dictionary meaning of ‘persecution’ reads as ‘unfair or cruel treatment based on race, religion, or political belief’. Therefore, persecution can occur through racial discrimination or political exploitation and is not necessarily limited to the relig.....
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.....
Opinion | Articles | John Dayal
Supreme Court order on Sept 26 seeking a government response to a petition that pleaded for strict action against “religious conversion through fraud and intimidation” will not translate immediately into a national law against conversions to Christianity .....
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.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai
This paper has an audacious title, considering the oft repeated experience of St Augustine on the seashore, and bearing in mind that our present Pope Leo is a follower of that same spirituality. To refresh one’s memory, St Augustine of Hippo was walkin.....
Opinion | Articles | Yumri Taipodia
In every society, there comes a moment when laws must be re-examined—not out of rebellion, but out of responsibility. A moment when people pause and ask whether the legal frameworks that once seemed necessary still serve justice, freedom, and human dignit.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai
Has the dust begun to settle or the temperature begun to rise, despite the advancing monsoon? This weather barometer is political not climatic. With the elections over, the Union Cabinet in place, the Speaker also elected and proceedings in the Lok Sa.....
Current Updates | Culture | Luke Sangkima
Once upon a time there lived a man called Chemtatrawta. One day he went out for hunting and reached a small stream where he found a suitable whetstone. Upon the whetstone, Chemtatrawta sharpened his dao along the length of the river. While he was sharpeni.....
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep
The Diocese of Darjeeling bid a tearful farewell to Rev. Fr. Leonard Tamsang, who breathed his last on the morning of October 29, 2020 at Gianora Home, 8th Mile, Kalimpong, where he was residing along with fellow retired Priests. Born on August 8, 1942 in.....
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai
Both Kings and No Kings are in the news for very different reasons. First there is King Charles III of England who just visited Pope Leo in the Vatican and held a joint prayer service with him. The other is the No King rally in the USA on 18th October whe.....
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan
Even after so many years of independence, India’s youth is facing a lot of challenges like unemployment, human trafficking, drug abuse, psychological pressures due to broken family systems and stress at work place etc. Is the situation different for the C.....
Opinion | Articles | John Dayal
Cardinal Poola: The first Dalit Cardinal has a task cut out. India has just elected a tribal woman as the republic’s president. And this week, it will see its first Cardinal from a group that was, till 1947, considered untouchable — whose very shadow wou.....
Articles | Chhotebhai | 05-Aug-2026
Can catechism lead to atheism? Not surprisingly, it can. I am sharing below the testimony of a Sunday School teacher of 20 year’s standing. It brought me to tears. If you too are a parent, priest, pastor, catechist, student or a critically aware young per.....
Articles | Chhotebhai | 30-Jul-2026
About 10 bishops and 50 theologians from across the country gathered at the Pastoral Centre, Agra on 25th/ 26th July for the 27th Colloquium of the CBCI’s Commission for Doctrine. As a layman I was the only cockroach. The theme was: A Rereading of the The.....
Articles | Benjamin Chang | 30-Jul-2026
Until 1967, the Catholic Church remained entirely unknown to the Rengma people of Nagaland. The seeds of the faith were first planted through the dedicated efforts of a devout layman, the late Mr. Pralie Paulus Angami of Kohima Village. In 1966, Mr. Prali.....
Articles | John S. Shilshi | 07-Jul-2026
One is not sure how many people in the world would have known or heard about a country by the name of Cabo Verde prior to the commencement of the FIFA World Cup 2026. But beginning with the night the former Portuguese colony created history by holding Spa.....
Articles | Chhotebhai | 07-Jul-2026
The theft and alleged misappropriation of offerings at the Ram Janambhoomi Temple in Ayodhya has been hogging the headlines. Will the big fish be caught? Were huge sums of money siphoned off to purchase the loyalty of wayward MPs from some Opposition Part.....
Articles | Cedric Prakash | 06-Jul-2026
Exactly five years ago, on 5 July 2021, Jesuit Father Stan Swamy was murdered. He was killed because he refused to kow-tow to a brutal, fascist regime. He was killed because he took a stand for justice and truth! He was killed because he accompanied the A.....
Articles | NECARF Rep | 17-Jul-2026
New Delhi, 16 July 2026 (CCBI): Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Albert Hemrom (57), Bishop of Dibrugarh, as the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Guwahati, Assam. The appointment was made public on Thursday, 16 July 2026......
Articles | Editorial team | 09-Apr-2026
Arunachal Pradesh, located in the eastern Himalayas, is one of India’s most culturally diverse and geographically isolated states. Formerly known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), it became a Union Territory in 1972 and attained full statehood in.....
Articles | Editorial team | 31-Dec-2025
Hon’ble Smt Draupadi Murmu, PRESIDENT OF INDIA Rashtrapati Bhawan New Delhi presidentofindia@rb.nic.in 31st December 2025 Respected Rashtrapatiji, Sub: Christmas attacks on Christians Namaskar! I respectfully place before you some of the.....
Articles | Editorial team | 06-Nov-2025
Attacks Against Christians Increased by 500% Since 2014: Rights Groups New Delhi: On November 4, Christian rights activists assembled at the Press Club of India to release a report about an alarming and sustained annual surge in incidents of violence a.....
Articles | NECARF Rep | 16-Oct-2025
October 14, 2025: Sr Rose Paite, an MSMHC nun from Mizoram, received the prestigious National Award from the Catholic Mental Health Ministry (CMHM) at the World Mental Health Day Conference in Kerala. The prestigious award was handed over to the recipie.....
Articles | Editorial team | 24-Sep-2025
Synodality: Why No, and Why Yes Some have hoped that our new pope would ease up a little on this matter of synodality. Instead, Pope Leo has expressed a strong desire to continue along the path of synodality. For example: “Synodality becomes a mindset, .....