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The Holy Eucharist is Central to the Catholic Faith

Opinion | People's Edit | G.L. Khing |

One of the most fundamental teachings and practices of the Catholic Church is the Holy Eucharist. The Church derives its life from the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the “source and summit” of the Catholic faith because it is the sacrament in which Jesus giv.....

Radical Changes by Pope Leo-XIV

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

I watched a very inspirational and thought-provoking video on Pope Leo. The narrator mentions that the new Pope, soon after assuming the office of papacy, has made radical changes in the Catholic Church that are sending shock waves to the Catholics, espec.....

Emergency, Surrogacy, Suffocation

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Trains and aircraft have emergency exits. Not so with politics. I vividly recall this day 50 years ago. I was attending a Youth Animators’ Training Programme in Allahabad, the epicentre of the Emergency earthquake. It was promulgated by Prime Minister Ind.....

NEIRBC Gets a new Education Commission Team

Current Updates | 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.....

Who is Responsible for Human Disasters?

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

Soon after the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad we have witnessed mixed feelings expressed by public – shock, sadness, anxiety, fear, suspicion and anger. Also, various theories are evolving like bird-hit, technical fault, high temperature, pilot’s mist.....

The Temporariness and Unpredictability of Life

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash |

It is a tragedy of immense proportion! One of the worst in the history of civil aviation in India! An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (AI-171), from Ahmedabad to London, crashed shortly after take-off. The flight departed at 1:38 pm from the Sardar Vall.....

Corporate Swindling amounts to Human Rights violations

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

Two days ago, I came across a YouTube video in which a group of human rights activists are campaigning in a bus in Chennai. The motive of the campaign was to sensitise the common people about corporate companies looting the forests in Madhya Pradesh, Chha.....

Francis’s Bottle Craft: Miniature Homes in Glasses

Current Updates | Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

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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.....

A Challenge to Communicators

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash |

On Sunday 1 June, the Catholic Church will observe the 59th World Day of Social Communications. The day is significant becuse ‘communications’ is an important and integral dimension of the Church. ‘Communications Day’ is one of the oldent ‘special days’ .....

When did God Die?

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Another startling headline? It isn’t about Holy Friday. It was occasioned by a Special Edition (100 pages) of Time magazine totally dedicated to Pope Francis, on his death. Strangely, there was no mention of this in the Catholic media. A soft copy was sen.....

Religious minorities and caste census

Opinion | Articles | John Dayal |

The 2025 Census is still some time away, but some unusual groups are looking at it with very mixed feelings. For Dalit Christians and Pasmanda Muslims, the question is if the Census, which this time will also enumerate the caste affiliations of citizens, .....

War as consequence of human Error

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

Why there is a sudden war between India and Pakistan? Is this an economic war or a political war? The war between India and Pakistan is very much human-induced and a result of failures. It was reported that the Pakistani terrorists killed 26 tourists at .....

White Smoke, Dark Cloud, Silver Lining

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

At 21:47 IST on 8th May I received a message from a priest friend in Rome that white smoke could be seen emanating from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. So we had a new Pope. Frankly, I was surprised at such a short conclave. Secondly, I was shocked.....

Convenor of ICF writes open letters to four Indian Cardinals

Current Updates | 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.....

Editorial

Culture of Presumption: Disservice to a Man who saw no Evil

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.....

Thank you Kerala, for keeping the Spirit of India alive

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.....

Some Accountability for Social Media platforms

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.....

Sanju Samson's Silent Prayer was the Loudest Thanks giving

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.....

Stooping Beyond a Limit

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.....

The Culture of othering is an unhealthy trend

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.....

Persecutions in the land of Tagore, Vivekananda, and Gandhi

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.....

The determination was written on every Indian player’s face

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.....

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.....

Previous Articles

Film Fanaticism is Cultural Obsession for Youth

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan

The following news sent shock waves all over the country: “On September 27, 2025 at least 41 people were killed and around 100 others were injured in a crowd crush during a political rally in Karur district, Tamil Nadu, India. The rally was hosted by the .....

Woman and Child

Opinion | Articles | Desmond L. Kharmawphlang

The trudge from her hovel to the corner by the bus-stop would be covered in the time it took her to have her first mouthful of betel nut of the day, about say, 10 minutes. With her bag of bidis and cigarettes, plastic jars of shaved and pieced betel nuts .....

Convenor of ICF writes open letters to four Indian Cardinals

Current Updates | 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.....

Penny for your Penance

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai

There are two common English phrases where the word “Penny” is used – “A Penny for your thoughts”, and “Going to spend a penny”. The first is obvious; the second means going to relieve one’s bladder. That could cost a penny in a British public convenience.....

A Conspiracy to Disempower Christian Adivasis

Opinion | Articles | John Dayal

The organisers had instructions for speakers to not criticise the top political leaders, the government or the ruling party in the "National Christian Convention" at the New Delhi's Jantar Mantar protest site, but that did not stop Dalit and other speaker.....

Brief History of Catholic Faith in Zhavame Village

Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang

The seed of Catholic faith was sown in Zhavame village on 18th October, 1964 when a group of traders Mr. Akha, Mr. Tho-o, Mr. Theba and Mr. Thesii came across Mr. Panii of Liyai village from Mao Parish on their journey to Imphal. They embraced the Catholi.....

The Journey to my Vocation - Part I

Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang

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.....

NECCOD Engages Its Members with Online Activities

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep

With COVID-19 bringing the entire World to grinding halt, India too closeted into homes from the last week of March, 2020, with the objective of staying away from the unseen human enemy. This made life very difficult for people from the North East residin.....

The heat is now on Christians in Northeast India

Opinion | Articles | John Dayal

India’s bishops, as much as its civil society, possibly missed an ominous warning in a report in the Kathmandu-based portal Himal Southasian about the growing support within tribal communities in the northeastern states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for .....

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.....

Did Jesus speak Latin?

Opinion | 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.....

Current Updates

History and Spread of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

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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.....

ICF Writes to the President of India

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

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.....

Attacks aginst Christians increased by 500% since 2014: Rights Groups

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

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.....

An MSMHC Nun from Mizoram did the North East Proud

Editorial Pick | NECARF Rep |

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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

Editorial Pick | NECARF Rep |

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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.....

Opinion

FCRA Amendment designed to kill the Poor!

Editorial Pick | Cedric Prakash |

The ruling regime continues in a systematic yet manipulative manner, with its vicious, anti-people agenda. The latest is its insensitive and draconian proposed changes to the FCRA. On 25 March, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, w.....

Denial of Burial Touches India’s Conscience

Editorial Pick | John Dayal |

Amid the constant noise and near normalising of persecution against religious minorities in India, why does the denial of burial to Christians by villagers in Chhattisgarh—and in pockets elsewhere— stir anger, no just in the wider Christian community bu.....

Culture of Presumption: Disservice to a Man who saw no Evil

Editorial Pick | John S. Shilshi |

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.....

Did God Create Cockroaches?

Editorial Pick | Chhotebhai |

Yes, cockroaches are the flavour of the season (yuck), thanks to the intemperate remarks of the CJI, Hon’ble Sri Surya Kumar, and the satirical movement of Abhijeet Dipke, then ensconced in the USA. To his credit he returned to India to face the music at .....

Communications must be Human

Editorial Pick | Cedric Prakash |

The Catholic Church observed the 60th World Day of Social Communications on 17 May 2025. In his first message for this significant day, Pope Leo XIV focussed on the need and importance of 'Preserving Human Voices and Faces'. The message which was written .....

Amazing (F)acts

Editorial Pick | Chhotebhai |

During Eastertide, till the Ascension, the daily Mass readings are invariably taken from the Acts of the Apostles. Some of these acts are amazing. This is how biblical scholars describe this compilation. It is usually attributed to Luke, a non-Jewish S.....