North East Catholic Research Forum

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Pope Francis is a Miracle

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

At the age of 88 pope Francis is battling with his life. The health complications he is facing are indeed of grave concern for the doctors. His critical condition has caused grief to not only the Catholics but also to all the people of this world. Pope.....

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.....

Destroying Secularism

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash |

On 28 January 2025, the well-known Calcutta daily ‘The Telegraph’ carried an article entitled ‘Rub your eyes: Hindu Rashtra Constitution to be unveiled at Mahakumbh on Basant Panchami’. The seemingly innocuous inside-page article, speaks volumes not only .....

What is Education without Character?

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

I was deeply disturbed when I watched a video in WhatsApp sent to me by a Professor in Kerala. A Plus One student in a government higher secondary school at Anakkara in Palakkad, Kerala, issued a death threat to a teacher. The student's anger was sparked .....

Ecumenism is non-negotiable

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai |

Ecumenism is non-negotiable When we say that something is non-negotiable, we mean that it cannot be compromised or watered down. Its message and mission must be forthright, sincere and enduring. Ecumenism, commonly understood as Christian Unity, comes .....

Walking Our Sacred Land: Renewing Indigenous Catholic Identity Amid Crisis

Opinion | Articles | James Pochury |

As excavators churn up the sacred soil of our ancestral lands, the stakes grow clearer: this is not just about losing territory but about the erasure of identity, culture, and faith. In the Northeast of India, where the earth carries the stories of our an.....

Celebrate Diversity

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash |

It is late evening, the day after Uttarayan (15 January), traditionally called ‘vasi uttarayan’. It has been a dull, cloudy day; the wind has been fairly good though. Since yesterday thousands have been on building –tops, flying their kites and many other.....

Corporate Greed is not Nation building

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

Today two industrialists have become the talk among the social media, both in India and in abroad. One person is Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys and the other person is Mr. S.N. Subrahmanyan of Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Months after Infosys co-founder N.....

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 .....

School drop-out rate is a serious concern

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

I had an opportunity to work with Functional Vocational Training and Research Society (FVTRS) from 2008 to 2014. The focus group of FVTRS was always school dropout students. Local NGOs became partners of FVTRS to provide skill training to school dropout s.....

"Celebrating 50 Years of Fr. Niphot’s Walk with Indigenous Wisdom"

Opinion | Articles | James Pochury |

For five decades, Fr. Niphot Thianwihan of Chiang Mai, Thailand, has walked side by side with the Indigenous Karen people, learning and living their profound wisdom. His journey resonates deeply with the realities of the tribes and Indigenous peoples of N.....

True Spirit of Christmas is to Give, Unite, and Hope

Opinion | Articles | Peter F Borges |

What does Christmas mean to you? Is it the sparkle of lights that adorn every street, the joyful hum of carols in the air, or the warm aroma of freshly baked cakes and sweets wafting through your home? Is it the excitement of unwrapping presents, the laug.....

A Reflection on Christmas

Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan |

Four months ago, I conducted a few sessions during a retreat held at Christeen Retreat Centre, Kottayam, Kerala. The participants consisted of a bishop, priests, nuns and lay Catholics. The topic that I dealt was: Cross, Death and Resurrection. I presente.....

Undoing the Culture of Silence

Opinion | Articles | James Pochury |

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." (Martin Luther King Jr.) When the youth of ICYM Northeast recently walked the hallowed grounds of Old Goa, touching the sacred relics of St. Francis Xavier and .....

Editorial

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.....

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.....

Previous Articles

A brief history of St. Thomas Church, Phelungre village, Kiphire District.

Opinion | Articles | Benjamin Chang

Phelungreans were the first to receive the Catholic Faith in 1975, under Tuensang district (Present ENPO Area). The Church is dedicated to St Thomas the apostle, who in A.D. 52 brought the Christian Faith to the Southernmost part of the country. The Catho.....

Priests and Nuns: Are they Less Sociable?

Opinion | Articles | Editorial Team

Joseph Le Dac Thang, SJ Humans are gregarious animals, which means they have a dire need to communicate with a certain community. And the religious are no exception. The peculiarities of the consecrated life mean men and women have to give up or limit so.....

APCA Reaches out to Fire Victims of Lailam and Noksa

Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep

The Arunachal Pradesh Catholic Association reaches out to the fire victims of Noksa village in Longding district by distributing clothes, utensils and cash to the victims of those affected by a devastating fire. The relief materials, including a cheque fo.....

Persecution peaks amid impunity in pandemic-era India

Opinion | Articles | John Dayal

The absolute sense of impunity generated in the administrative apparatus of India by the pandemic lockdowns, and the consequent absence of civil society on the streets and in the courts, has aggravated targeted hate and violence against Christians by non-.....

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.....

Need for Re-skilling and Up-skilling in Post Covid 19

Opinion | Articles | Felix Jajo

The whole world still continues to fight a pandemic and the fight seems to have taken a longer period than expected. But with the vaccines rolling out, there is a ray of hope amongst the people. It has been almost a year since the first nationwide lockdow.....

May They All be one

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai

A person’s dying wish is sacred. Jesus’ last desire, when “he raised his eyes to heaven” (Jn 17:1), was “that they may be one like us” (v11) and again “May they all be one” (v21). Jesus’ call to oneness (unity) of his disciples was based on his own deep r.....

The Significance of Christ’s Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection

Opinion | Articles | Isaac Harold Gomes

Easter is the most important religious festival of 2.6 billion Christians all over the world. On this day they commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day of His being put to death on the cross. Christ’s Resurrection forms the crux of t.....

Roman Synod or the Greek Tragedy?

Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai

In my previous piece I wrote about some of the salient features of Synodality, for which Pope Francis began the process in Rome this 10th October. It will culminate, again in Rome, in October 2023. This Roman Synodal process will take two years because it.....

Don Bosco University Assam

Education | University | NECARF Rep

In search of Excellence.....

Reclaim the Constituion

Opinion | Articles | Cedric Prakash

On 26 November, the nation will once again observe ‘Constitution Day’! There will be the usual plethora of speeches (ad nauseam!) of ‘how important the Constitution is for all of us’, ‘why it is important to safeguard it’, the fact that we have the best C.....

Current Updates

History and Spread of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh

Editorial Pick | Editorial team |

Map of Arunachal Pradesh

• Home • About Us • Education • Opinion • Current Updates • Reports • Photo Gallery • Archives • Contributors • Contact Us History and Spread of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh **//** Easter: The Beginning of a New Story **//.....

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

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.....

Opinion

Amazing (F)acts

Articles | 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.....

Poverty and Caste: Two Unseen Weights Crushing Young Lives

Articles | John Dayal |

Rohith Vemula was a 26-year-old Dalit PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad whose suicide on January 17, 2016, sparked national protests against caste discrimination in Indian academia amidst demands for the resignation of the then Human Resources mi.....

A Clarion Call for Repeal of APFRA 1978

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.....

From Prosperity to Austerity

Articles | Chhotebhai |

Not so long ago we were talking of a trillion dollar and the fastest growing economy; about Amritkal and achche din. Our vishwaguru had growing locks and global ambitions. Then the bubble burst on 28th February when Dada Donald and Bibi Netanyahu launc.....

Thank you Kerala, for keeping the Spirit of India alive

Editorial | John S. Shilshi |

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

Editorial | John S. Shilshi |

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.....

Education

Don Bosco University Assam

University | NECARF Rep |

Where Quest for Excellence is a Mission

In search of Excellence.....

In the Serene Crest of Green Chandel

School | NECARF Rep |

St. Peter's Higher Secondary School

In the serene crest of Chandel stands St. Peter's Higher School where every hidden qualities of students is turned into excelence.....

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 |

aa

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

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