Jesuits welcome release of abducted priest

Jesuits welcome release of priest

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Thursday, 26 February 2015 AT 03:18 PM IST

    

Fr Alexis Prem Kumar Alex, Pune, Afghanistan, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS),

Pune: Jesuits in the city have welcomed the release of Fr Alexis Prem Kumar, a fellow member of Society of Jesus, after eight-month long captivity in Afghanistan. Fr Bhausaheb Sansare, Pune Jesuit provincial, said, “We Jesuits thank Indian and Afghanistan governments for their support in safe release of Fr  Alexis.”

Fr Sansare said that the Jesuit’s abduction for eight months had left many Jesuits spending sleepless nights.

Fr Alexis was abducted by some unidentified men in western Afghanistan on June 2,  2014. Fr Stan Fernandes, former Pune Jesuit Provincial and currently Delhi-based director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), was involved in the process of  getting him safely released.

Fr Sansare added, “The abduction did disturb us. Nonetheless, the Jesuits’ works in Afghanistan continued and we will continue to serve the poor and needy.”

JRS continued to operate its programmes in Afghanistan to ensure that Afghan students had continued access to quality education.

Jesuit Refuge Services has been active in Afghanistan since 2005.

Jesuit refugee service-

The Jesuit Refugee Service is an international body serving the forcibly displaced persons. With its headquarters in Rome and with teams working in nearly 50 countries, JRS provides education, health, social and other services to refugees, more than half of whom are women. JRS says that its services are provided to refugees regardless of race, ethnic origin or religious beliefs. 

 

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Robert Das sj. - Saturday, 28 February 2015 AT 07:00 PM IST

Great Camil. It will be good if you could also highlight the Jesuit Apostolates, besides education, Parishes. It would be good for you to contact Fr. Stan,and periodically present more social involvement of the Jesuits. Thanks. Robert Das sj.

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,

http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=4940465140058935219&SectionId=5171561142064258099&SectionName=Pune&NewsDate=20150217&NewsTitle=Christians%20in%20city%20to%20form%20united%20front%20to%20express%20concerns,%20issues

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. 

AAP Ki Dilli and aftermath

The AAP victory has created a political history in the whole country. The pollsters were off the mark when all of them predicted just a comfortable majority to the Aap Aadmi Party, forecasting over 20 seats for the BJP and almost writing off the Congress. The voters in Delhi have set off an avalanche. If 2014 Lok Sabha polls experienced a Modi tsunami, there is no word to describe AAP's victory in 67 of the total 70 assembly seats.

The debate on what exactly led to the AAP avalanche, Waterloo of the BJP and decimation of the Congress in the national capital will continue for next few weeks. The army of the Sangh Parivar, scores of Union ministers and nearly 150 MPs in the Delhi poll arena were outsmarted by the thousands of the AAP volunteers drawn from all over the country who had been tirelessly working in bylanes, slums and other areas of the walled city since a few months prior to the polls.

The poll verdict of the Delheites will indeed have a lasting impact on the national politics. Kiran Bedi who was 'paradropped' as the BJP's chief ministerial nominee failed to improve the BJP's sagging poll fortune. But when the party could just win three seats of the 70 seats, the blame has been fully shifted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

The Delhi poll debacle have left tremors in the BJP hierarchy as well as in the Congress camp. The second rung of party leaders in the BJP who had been totally sidelined for almost for a year in the process of decision making are now likely to be heard. The BJP was able to retain its core votes base but the AAP succeeded in attracting the votes shares of the Congress and other parties. This is a warning bells for all the traditional parties who have hitherto banked on castes, religion or region to win the votes. The AAP has indeed shattered all these barricades to win an unprecedented nearly 95 percent of the assembly seats. The Delhi success has now encouraged the AAP volunteers to undertake similar massive campaign in Mumbai and other metropolitan cities having polls in the next couple of years.

BJP's poll debacle has prompted its ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, to take pot shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  indicating the strained relationship in the saffron alliance government. Indeed there was always a tug of war even within the Congress-NCP government but it had become a matter of public concern only at the fag end of the third term of the government when NCP supremo Sharad Pawar charged that the state government was affected by a 'paralysis' of indecisiveness. Fireworks have began in the BJP-Shiv Sena government soon after completion of just 100 days in power.

If things are not sorted out by both parties well in time, the state may face fresh polls. Arvind Kejriwal succeeded in winning majority of seats in the assembly in the second attempt. Both BJP and Shiv Sena are keen on having their own government with a majority support in the state assembly and either of them may be tempted to follow Kejriwal's example to opt for the gamble and adventurism of fresh polls. If they have no such intentions, the two parties should bury the hatchets and work to fulfill the promise of clean governance and development.  

Ghar Wapsi: Catholic Church asks PM to intervene

Ghar Wapsi: Catholic Church asks PM to intervene

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Friday, 30 January 2015 AT 10:21 PM IST

    

Ghar Wapsi, reactions, Catholic Church, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Catholics Bishops Conference of India, CBCI, Narendra Modi, intervention

Pune: The Catholic Church in the country has issued letters to all its dioceses, asking the Christians to be firm in their faith in the wake of ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaign and also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene urgently to prevent incidents threatening unity of the secular nation.

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, President of the Catholics Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country, has issued a pastoral letter, following a CBCI meeting held in New Delhi on January 20 to discuss the reconversion and other issues.

The CBCI chief has said, Christians in the country need an assurance from the government that they are protected, secure and safe in their motherland.

In his letter, Cardinal Cleemis said, “The untoward incidents in the country in past few months have wounded the sentiments of the minority community especially the Christian community and has shaken the faith in the secular fabric of our nation.”

“The Ghar Wapsi programmes, the ‘saffronisation’ of education and culture, and the demands for a Hindu Rashtra are again posing challenges to the secular ethos of our beloved country,” he added.

The pastoral letter has said, “Conversions of a religious nature are an exercise of one’s free will and one’s constitutional/fundamental right and freedom of conscience and of religion. Ghar Wapsi is a political process, carried out by the powerful exponents of religious nationalism - much against the principle of secularism.”

Christianity has roots in India for 2000 years
CBCI chief Cardinal Baselios Cleemis said that Christianity has its roots in Indian soil for almost 2000 years. Christians in the country have been selflessly serving the people in the fields of education and health care without any discrimination on the basis of caste or religion, he said. 

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Diago Almeida - Sunday, 1 February 2015 AT 07:49 PM IST

At last we are seeing the writing on the wall. Thanks the cbci chief for taking up strongly with the government. President Obama has already worned the country and it's politicians of the draw back.

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Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 27 January 2015 AT 09:10 PM IST

    

Delhi Assembly polls, AAP, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi

The war for wresting power in Delhi state has finally began. In the earlier Delhi polls held last year, it was a triangular fight between the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP. Now it seems the AAP and the BJP are the main contestants and Congress has been relegated to the third position. What is most interesting is that two former comrades in the civic activists movement are now pitted each other. The BJP which had been attempting to put off the Delhi polls as long as possible has received a shot in the arm with Kiran Bedi joining its camp. The party will now have to contain the dissent among its senior leaders who fear they will have to play a second fiddle to the newcomer in the party.

I have had close association with Bedi when she was Deputy Superintendent of Police in Goa, looking after the traffic arrangement for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) retreat in Goa in 1983. Nearly 40 heads of Commonwealth states including Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Bob Hawke and others were to attend the retreat. As a reporter with the local daily 'The Navhind Times', I used to accompany her in a police Gypsy vehicle from Panaji to Fort Aquada for her rehearsals with she constantly instructing her subordinates on the walkie-talkie. That was the beginning of her career but that time too she was known as an upright and no-nonsense officer.

There has been indeed a strong reaction to Bedi's decision to join the BJP. Bedi was a forefront leader in the Anna Hazare Team and with her entry, BJP has dealt a heavy blow to the AAP. Bedi's past record as a dynamic IPS officer and her role in the Team Anna will be put to test in this political battle.

BJP's decision to declare her as the chief ministerial candidate has also exposed the party's lack of confidence in winning the prestigious polls with its own leaders.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar will have to use all its strength and resources to do well in Delhi polls. Teams of civic activists from all parts of the nation have also been working for the AAP in Delhi much before the poll schedule was announced. It is a prestigious battle for both the camps.

It will be yet another test to check whether the Modi wave still exists. The previous year Delhi state polls were fought when there was an anti- incumbency wave against the 15-year-old Congress regime led by Sheila Dixit. Now it will be a fight between the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal with Bedi and BJP president Amit Shah leading BJP from the front. It will be one of the most interesting and bitterly fought contest in the national capital.

Goa celebrates canonisation of St Joseph Vaz

Goa celebrates canonisation of St Joseph Vaz

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Friday, 16 January 2015 AT 12:05 AM IST

    

Joseph Vaz

Panaji: The excitement at the ancestral house and sanctuary of St Joseph Vaz at Sancoale is palpable. Sancoale will celebrate the feast of St Joseph Vaz on Friday, for the first time after the son of the soil became the first Goan to be declared a saint.

Hundreds of people have been visiting the oratory of St Joseph Vaz and his sanctuary at Sancoale during the ongoing novena of the new saint.

The feast mass will be celebrated at St Joseph Vaz Sanctuary at 10 am on Friday, January 16. Goa, Daman and Diu Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao who attended the canonisation ceremony in Sri Lanka on Wednesday will be the main celebrant at the feast mass.

The feast day is celebrated on the death anniversary of the saint who had died at Kandy in Sri Lanka on January 16, 1711. St Joseph Vaz’ oratory room, the only remaining portion of his ancestral house in the village, is maintained by the nuns belonging to a local congregation, Holy Family of Nazareth. The nuns said that a large number of devotees have been visiting their convent to pray at the oratory room of the new saint.

Holy Family of Nazareth congregation’s Mother General Alivita along with a team of a nuns had gone to Sri Lanka to witness canonisation of Joseph Vaz.

The nun’s congregation also runs a school in Sancoale which is named after the new saint.

‘Canonisation of St Joseph Vaz a memorable event’

‘Canonisation of St Vaz a memorable event’

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Sunday, 18 January 2015 AT 11:36 PM IST

    

St Joseph Vaz, Canonisation of St Vaz

Pune: For Fr Denis Joseph, who was among the group of 15 Puneites who recently flew to Colombo, witnessing the canonisation of St Joseph Vaz and watching Pope Francis from up close was an exciting and memorable experience.

“At the canonisations ceremony, I was hardly two feet away from the Holy Father. He is so humble and has an infectious smile,” says Fr Joseph, Principal of St Joseph School in Ghorpadi. The canonisation ceremony of Goa-born missionary Joseph Vaz was held on January 14.

Fr Joseph said that over a million people from Sri Lanka, India and other parts of the world had assembled to witness the ceremony, presided over by the pope.

“The flags of Vatican City and Sri Lanka greeted the visitors on a nearly 100-km stretch of road leading to Colombo. It was such a wonderful experience,” he says.

“St Joseph Vaz, the only Goan to be declared a saint, has done tremendous work in Sri Lanka. During our short visit there, we could see the fruits of his hard work in the island nation,” Fr Joseph told Sakal Times.  “That is why St Joseph Vaz, the pride of Goa, was also described at the ceremony as a gem of Sri Lanka,” the  priest added.