North East Catholic Research Forum

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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)......

CAN Hosts an Impressive Convention at Jakhama

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep |

Participants of CAN Convention side the Bishop Abraham Memorial Indoor Stadium

The 39th – year convention of the Catholic Association of Nagaland (CAN) was hosted at the St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama, wherein over one thousand participants from 36 Parishes and 21 quasi Parishes took part. The four-day event was graced by Most Rev (D.....

Catholic Community of Sikkim took the tidings of Christmas to CM

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep |

Catholic community of Sikkim celebrating Christmas with CM Sikkim

Christmas Carol Choir team of the St. Paul the Apostle Church, Gangtok, Sikkim, had the unique distinction of presenting Christmas Carols at the residence of Prem Singh Tamang (Goley), Chief Minister of Sikkim, on 24th December 2022 at Mintokgang. The rar.....

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. .....

UCFNEI Refutes Allegations of Force Conversions

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep |

In a meeting held in Guwahati on November 24, 2022, the United Christians Forum of North East India (UCFNEI) expressed strong resentment over allegations of Christians forcibly converting people. In a press release issued after the meeting, the organisati.....

Diocese of Kohima bids Tearful Adieu to Fr. Dominic Selosie

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep |

Requiem Mass of late Rev. Fr. Dominic Selosie

Priest, Nuns and the Laity of the Diocese of Kohima gave an emotional farewell to late Rev. Fr. Dominic Selosie, on 26th November 2022 at the St. Joseph Parish Church, Chumoukedima. Late Rev. Dominic Selosie breathed his last on 24.11.2022. The requiem ma.....

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.....

Bless me, father

Opinion | Articles | Desmond L. Kharmawphlang |

Bless me, father Lying flat on his back, wild grasses teasing his face, Rimeki stared at the sky. Mesmerized by the theatre of clouds, like tufts of cotton or tula as the fluffy material is called in these parts, stretched in a pattern as far as his eye.....

Peter Unchained: A personal Experience

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Peter Unchained: A personal Experience In February 2017, I was in Rome to attend the marriage of my niece to an Italian. The nuptials were held in the church of San Giuseppe Dei Falegnami constructed above the Prigione Dei SS Apostoli Pietro e Paolo, n.....

Golden Jubilee Year of Kohima Diocese Inaugurated

Opinion | Articles | Editorial Team |

The Diocese of Kohima (Catholic Church in Nagaland), erected in the year 1973, entered the Jubilee Year with the official inauguration at Mary Help of Christians Cathedral on October 16 by Most Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, Bishop of Kohima. Simultaneously the.....

Editorial

Zubeen Garg unites people even in his death

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.....

How serious are educational Institutions about the mental health of young people?

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.....

Religious Persecutions in the Land of Vivekananda and Gandhi

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.....

From a Murderer to a Pilgrim of Faith

Prior to June 27, 2025, not many people in this country and elsewhere would have heard of Chengu@Sudharsan@Chandu Hansda, who at the age of 13 turned into a murderer when he joined the mob that brutally burnt alive an Australian missionary, Graham Stewart.....

Ominous Signs and the Catholic response

India is a country that boasts staggering diversity—a colourful mix few in the world have the privilege of sharing. Since independence and the enactment of the constitution, freedom, liberty, and equality before the law has always been our treasured right.....

The New Pope and His Message

This time, 1.39 billion Catholics across the globe were fortunate to see the white smoke come out of the Sistine Chapel chimney on the second day as Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected by the cardinal conclave in the fourth round of voting, one less than .....

The Pope didn’t Sulk or Shun

The Vatican News released a video of Pope Francis extending Easter greetings to a multitude of people at St. Peter’s Square in Rome, which was one day before his final journey to the eternal world. A close look at that video reveals that the Holy Father w.....

The CBCI blinks yet again

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), regarded as a father figure by an estimated 23 million Catholics in this country, has yet again shown lack of wisdom while taking decision on crucial matters. While the organization may like to downplay som.....

Persecution as an Opportunity

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.....

Weaving a Christian Relationship

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.....

We hope the Church Hierarchy is listening

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.....

The Twin Pillars of the Catholic Church

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.....

Previous Articles

Former Governor & Union Minister Margaret Alva writes to Prime Minister

Opinion | Articles | Editorial Team

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.....

After Namo, What?

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai

When Nehru was the Prime Minister of India Welles Hagen wrote a book in 1963, “After Nehru, Who?” When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister a similar sentiment emerged, the TINA factor. There is no alternative. History bears testimony that both Nehru and Rajiv.....

Make Love Not War

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai

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.....

Culture and Social Values

Opinion | Articles | Desmond L. Kharmawphlang

The underlined fundamental challenge facing every society is to create political, economic and social situations and systems that promote peace, human welfare and the sustainability of the environment upon which life depends. To even begin to understand a.....

A brief History of St. Peter’s Church Kiphire Town

Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang

A brief History of St. Peter’s Church Kiphire Town St. Peter Church marked its beginning on 18th Jan. 1972 with the visit of Late Rev. Fr. Castelino S.J and Late Rev. Fr. Edwin Goveas S.J, and later when Fr. Castelino S.J settled down here on 16th Feb .....

Don Bosco College Stadium Named after Former Chief Minister

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep

Don Bosco College Stadium in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, has been named after the former Chief Minister, late Dorjee Khandu, to be known as the Dorjee Khandu Memorial Stadium. The Stadium, which is nearing completion, is now already an iconic landmark in.....

Will the Catholic Church ever consider a place for women?

Opinion | Articles | Myron J Pereira

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.....

Catholics make Their mark in Kachin Province of Strife-torn Myanmar

Opinion | Articles | John Zaw

Catholics make Their mark in Kachin Province of Strife-torn Myanmar These days Father Paul Lahpai Awng Dang worries less about the spillover of armed conflict between the military and ethnic Kachin rebels into his parish territory on the Myanmar-China .....

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.....

‘Transitus’ of Francis: End of an Era and a Great Legacy Pope Francis (1936-2025)

Opinion | Articles | George Plathottam

The world mourns for Pope Francis at his ‘transitus’, to use a word that is both rich in meaning and familiar to the Church and the Franciscan spiritual tradition to describe one’s passing. His death, no doubt, is the end of a remarkable era. He leaves b.....

Dangers of a post-Christian world

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai

Dangers of a post-Christian world I recently read an article “Why are Christians Persecuted Today?” by Mumbai Jesuit Myron Pereira. It was a brilliant analysis that, unfortunately, offered no solutions. It forced me to think. Are we indeed living in wh.....

Opinion

Religions are Commercialized

Articles | M L Satyan |

Just recently I hired an autorickshaw in Bengaluru. While traveling in the autorickshaw I noticed a printed caption above the driver’s seat. It read: “Price the Lord”. My mind said that there is a typo. The word “Praise” has been wrongly spelt as “Price”......

The Capacity of Human Brain to Retain Data on Social Contacts

Articles | Isaac Harold Gomes |

Picture of Human Brain

We humans are social creatures and therefore we need ‘social bonds’ to survive on earth. However, our brains have their limits to sustain countless contacts. According to researchers our brains can effectively store a maximum of 150 relationships in our .....

The Three Idiots of Ladakh

Articles | Chhotebhai |

The block buster Amir Khan movie “Three Idiots” is to some degree inspired by Sonam Wangchuk of Ladakh, the same person whom the Government has now arrested under the draconian National Security Act and lodged in far away Jodhpur jail. Ironically, till re.....

On Living the Legacy of Fr. Stan Swamy

Articles | Cedric Prakash |

Fr Sten Swamy

Late evening of 8 October 2020, Fr Stan Swamy was summoned from ‘Bagaicha’ in Ranchi (the Social Centre he founded in 2006 and where he lived) by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials, to their local headquarters in Ranchi city. He was immed.....

Zubeen Garg unites people even in his death

Editorial | John S. Shilshi |

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.....

Did Jesus speak Latin?

Articles | Chhotebhai |

Readers will pardon me for asking another audacious question. They will also note that I often write in response to current issues. This time it is a riposte to an article “Reviving the Old Latin Mass would be a colossal mistake” published in Union of Cat.....

Education

Job Fair in Don Bosco Kohima

College | NECARF Rep |

Job Fair Notice

For kind attention of young boys and girls who are interested in getting recruited in different Comnpaies......

Step in to the World of Journalism and Mass Media

College | NECARF Rep |

Niscort Media College

For those who aspire for the world of Mass media.....

Avail Early Bird Discount in Media Studies

College | NECARF Rep |

Admission Notice

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......

NISCORT Announces three different courses in Journalism and Mass Communication

College | NECARF Rep |

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For those Interested in Journalism studies, the above affordable courses comes as a boon.....

NICORT Media College Announces Short Courses in Media fields

College | NECARF Rep |

Annoucment

NICORT Media College Announces Short Courses in Media fields.....

For those interested to make a Career in Mass Media and Journalism, NISCORT provides the opportunity

College | NECARF Rep |

NISCORT opens Admissions for Course in Mass Media and Journalism

NISCORT opens Admissions for Course in Mass Media and Journalism.....

Current Updates

An MSMHC Nun from Mizoram did the North East Proud

NE Brief | NECARF Rep |

Sr Rose Paite

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.....

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez’s address

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

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, .....

North East Catholic Community of Delhi puts up a Glittering show

NE Brief | NECARF Rep |

Mr Lalduhoma and Archbishop Anil J T Couto, with other dignataries

The North East Catholic Committee of Delhi (NECCOD) accorded a warm welcome to their new members who had joined them in the Delhi NCR region with spiritual and a social gathering worthy of the colours mix of the region they come from. This was the 33rd oc.....

NEIRBC Gets a new Education Commission Team

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

Guwahati, June 25, 2025 – The Northeast Bishops Council’s Commission for Education has appointed a new leadership team, with Fr. Dr. Paul Pudussery, a Holy Cross priest, taking the helm. This transition marks the third leadership handover since the commis.....

Francis’s Bottle Craft: Miniature Homes in Glasses

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

The Miniature Artist of Sikkim

In a quiet corner of Sikkim’s Lingzey, Gairigaon, an artist has been creating entire worlds inside bottles—one intricate house at a time. Meet Mr Francis Rai, the man behind Francis Bottle Crafts, whose passion for miniature architecture has turned into b.....

Convenor of ICF writes open letters to four Indian Cardinals

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

In an open letter to Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao, Cardinal Baselios Mar Cleemis, Cardinal Antony Poola, and Cardinal George Koovakad, Chhotebhai, the Convenor of the Indian Catholic Forum, wrote that the Catholic community in India is proud of them, that.....

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