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May 29, 2020

Rain, flooding compound problems for state in eastern India

A man crosses a flooded street in Kolkata, India, May 21, 2020, after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall. Following the cyclone, incessant rain and floods have forced hundreds of thousands of people to move to safer places in eastern India's Assam state.

GUWAHATI, India -- Incessant rain and floods have forced hundreds of thousands of people to move to safer places in eastern India's Assam state, adding to the misery brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and a mid-May cyclone.

Published in International
May 4, 2020

Sacristan sentenced to life in prison for murder of Indian shrine rector

Father Xavier Thelakkat, rector of the shrine of St. Thomas in Malayattoor, India, pictured in a 2012 photo, was stabbed to death in 2018. An Indian court sentenced former sacristan Johny Vattaparamban, 54, to life imprisonment for the murder of Father Thelakkat in southern Kerala state.

COCHIN, India -- An Indian court sentenced former sacristan Johny Vattaparamban, 54, to life imprisonment for the 2018 murder of the rector of popular St. Thomas Shrine at Malayattoor, in southern Kerala state.

Published in International
February 14, 2020

Power to the people: Giving India's poor the tools to fight for their rights

A group of villagers in India listen to a Lok Manch speaker as he educates them on their rights under the National Food Security Act.

Even though a substantial number of people the Lok Manch organization serves are illiterate or never properly schooled, the easiest way to start a Lok Manch meeting is to have everyone stand up and recite the pre-amble to India’s constitution, said Jesuit lawyer Fr. Stanislaus Jebamalai.

Published in Canada
June 21, 2019

Sisters of St. Joseph supporting group working in rural India

SOPAR workers from India — Latha Dodda, Shobha Singareddy, Angel Gingras, Janice Aubrey and Jethrutha Reddy —visited the Sisters of St. Joseph in Toronto.

After 42 years of digging wells, setting up water purification systems, organizing villagers to demand better education, health care, roads and infrastructure, a little Canadian-Indian development agency estimates it has helped four million people live a better life in rural India.

Published in Canada
May 28, 2019

Financial controversy involving Indian cardinal flares anew

An Indian court has asked police to investigate allegations of breach of trust involving Cardinal George Alencherry of India, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Cardinal Alencherry is pictured in a 2012 photo.

COCHIN, India -- A financial controversy involving an Indian cardinal has taken another turn after his archdiocese demanded a federal investigation into allegedly fake documents it said are aimed at defaming him.

Published in International
May 6, 2019

Early evacuation in India spares more than 1 million from deadly cyclone

People walk past damaged trees May 4, 2019, following Cyclone Fani in Puri, India. The powerful cyclone ripped through eastern India and sideswiped Bangladesh, May 3, leaving a trail of destruction and more than 30 deaths.

NEW DELHI - A powerful cyclone ripped through eastern India and sideswiped Bangladesh, leaving a trail of destruction and more than 30 deaths.

Published in International
April 9, 2019

Indian police charge bishop with repeatedly raping nun

Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, India, is led away for questioning by police on the outskirts of Cochin Sept. 21, 2018. Indian police have charged Bishop Mulakkal of repeatedly raping a nun in her rural convent, the Associated Press reported April 9, 2019.

NEW DELHI - Indian police charged Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar of repeatedly raping a nun in her rural convent, the Associated Press reported.

Published in International
March 13, 2019

Indian bishop, guard hospitalized after 'planned attack' by parishioners

A woman prays at the Holy Family Church in Srinagar, India, Dec. 25, 2017.
NEW DELHI – A Catholic bishop was hospitalized after a group of parishioners attacked him, a security guard and a priest in a five-decade-old land dispute in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Published in International
March 12, 2019

Indian congregation joyfully awaits its founder's canonization

Worshippers pray at the Shrine of Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan in Kuzhikkattussery, India, Feb 18, 2019. Blessed Thresia has been approved for canonization.
THRISSUR, India – For the nearly 2,000 sisters and 200 women in formation who make up the Congregation of the Holy Family, the long wait is over.
Published in International
March 7, 2019

Indian police arrest one of 26 men accused in 1998 rape of four nuns

Nuns stand on a beach in Cochin, India, in this 2014 file photo.
BHOPAL, India – A man has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the mass rape of four Catholic nuns that occurred more than two decades ago in central India.
Published in International
March 5, 2019

Church leaders treat them as outcasts after going public, nuns in Indian rape case say

Missionaries of Jesus sisters pose for a photo Jan. 23, 2019, in Cochin, India. They prostested the alleged rape of their former superior by a bishop.
COCHIN, India – As the Vatican grapples to devise stronger protocols and responses following a historic summit focused on clergy sex abuse of minors, five nuns in India complain of church repression for their support of a former superior general who was allegedly raped by a bishop.
Published in International
March 4, 2019

'War is not an option': Pakistani Catholic groups join protest against military escalation

People ride motorbikes on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, March 1, 2019, before the arrival of an Indian air force pilot, who was captured by Pakistan two days earlier and later released. Catholic groups have joined the protest of military escalation in the region.
LAHORE, Pakistan – Catholic groups joined a protest against a military escalation in Pakistan and India following the recent suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir, reported ucanews.com.
Published in International
February 22, 2019

Cardinal Gracias asks clerics to cultivate 'culture of fraternal correction'

Pope Francis, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, attend the second day of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church, at the Vatican Feb. 22, 2019.
VATICAN – Only together, by humbly sharing their experiences, encouragement and corrective advice, can the bishops and leaders in the Catholic Church work to prevent the abuse of minors and help bring healing to survivors, said the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.
Published in International
February 13, 2019

Only a matter of time: Abuse allegations from Asia make some worry that more to follow

A boy attends Mass with his family at the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Singapore April 2, 2010. "The scandals abroad are a wake-up call for us, as the Catholic Church in Singapore has not been spared allegations of child abuse," Singapore Archbishop William Goh said.
BANGKOK – Recent credible sexual abuse allegations in India and East Timor have underscored the fears of many in the church that clerical sex abuse is rife in South, Southeast and North Asia, which have a collective population of at least 120 million Catholics.
Published in International
February 8, 2019

Anti-natalist in India wants to sue parents for giving birth to him

Anti-natalist in India wants to sue parents for giving birth to him
MUMBAI, India – An Indian businessman has expressed his intention to sue his parents for giving him life without his permission.
Published in International
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