Christians in Pune to form united front to express concerns, issues

Christians in city to form united front to express concerns, issues

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 17 February 2015 AT 12:05 PM IST

    

Church attacks, Ghar Wapsi, Pune, Christians, united front, express concern,

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Pune: In an unprecedented move, leaders of the mainline and other churches belonging to various denominations met here on Monday and resolved to form a united front of all Christian sects to register their strong concern against the increasing cases of attacks on churches and the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaign.

Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre, CNI Bishop Andrew Rathod and Bishop Naresh Ambala were present on the occasion.

Bishop Dabre said that while registering the protest against attacks on churches, Christians should also pray for the persecutors.

The meeting held at St Patrick’s Cathedral campus was attended by religious leaders including Catholic priests, Protestant pastors, social activists, lawyers and others.

Prominent among the speakers were Madhya Pradesh’s former director general of police T Correa, Mozes Kalkutti, Judith Menezes and Fr Denis Joseph.

The speakers at the meeting expressed their concern at the series of attacks against churches in Delhi and the inaction of authorities in curbing these incidents.

These attacks had threatened the secular fabric of the country and created a sense of insecurity among the members of the minority communities, the speakers said.

The speakers regretted that the Christian community was divided into various religious sects and came together only when there were attacks against churches, schools or religious personalities. They also lamented the fact that presently there are no  prominent political leaders representing the Christian community in state assemblies or the Parliament.

Pune diocese Vicar General Fr Malcolm Sequeira said that a committee representing the all-denominations will be formed to hold regular meetings and follow up with the authorities.